Big Sea

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Center of Dickinson State University

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Higher education institution that is part of the North Dakota University System.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Big Sea to accomplish?

• Redesigned Website
• Website integration with database

SOLUTION

How did you find Big Sea?

Referral

Why did you select Big Sea over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Big Sea were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Big Sea were hired to redesign our website and integrate our extensive database with the new site. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Website design delivery; website integrated with our database. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Kristen Quinley managed the project. Not only did she (and Big Sea's wider team) deliver, they were a pleasure to work with. They always responded positively to our needs, even when curve balls came their way. They are total pros. 

What was your primary form of communication with Big Sea?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We felt like partners on this project. Even though we were the client, we felt that Kristen and Chasity Scoggins felt like part of our team. They made us feel as though they were as invested in the outcomes as we were. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Big Sea could have done differently?

None! I am a tough critic, and I cannot praise Big Sea enough. I will recommend them to everyone who will listen. From the outset, when we explained our tight budget, to the adjustments made throughout the project, Big Sea helped us step-by-step. They clearly have a strong customer service model, and they have amazing colleagues who make the company a success. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Communications Director of Florida Humanities

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Florida Humanities, the statewide, nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), is firmly committed to sharing Florida’s stories by promoting a better understanding of the state’s history, heritage, cultures and literature through grantmaking for nonprofit cultural organizations and offering public programs and resources rooted in the humanities. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Big Sea to accomplish?

• Develop a fresh, new look and feel for our website
• Improve the functionaity and user experience
• Streamline and bring focus and clarity to our branding and messaging on the website.

SOLUTION

How did you find Big Sea?

I liked Tampa Bay History Center's new site and asked them who did the redesign

Why did you select Big Sea over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Great timeline and organization

How many teammates from Big Sea were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Florida Humanities Communications Department worked as the project lead with Big Sea to redesign our website focusing on streamlining the look, navigation and feel for a more effective and smooth user experience.

Big Sea team was tasked with finding a way our broad mission and many, many programs on the homepage that wasn't overwhelming and confusing. We needed to make it who we are, what we do and how we can help you very clear and concise with a straightforward and intuitive navigation and presentation. We also desperately wanted a more user-friendly and attractive events calendar, which has been the subject of many pain points from staff and a variety of stakeholders. 

We also needed to transition all the storytelling content/multimedia assets from the site (magazine articles, podcasts, videos, etc.) to a new companion website that we were developing in-house (Floridahumanities.online). That required a lot of fact finding, review, logistics to figure out what was remaining on the site, what was being moved to FH Online and what was being erased completely.

We also needed to coordinate the timing of the launch with the FH Online completion so we could publicly launch both sites at the same time. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Positive reaction from stakeholders about the new look and design
• Ease and clarity of navigating through the site
• Launched completed on target date
• Goal to achieve steady web traffic

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Kristen and Chasity were perfect project managers and teammates during the entire process. I really appreciated their communication style, organization, patience, training and teaching, and being so responsive to any questions or concerns we had. They were both extremely knowledgeable and easy to talk through and troubleshoot and colloborate with when needed.

We all thorougly enjoyed working with them as they did an incredible job of walking us through the process every step of the way with thoughtfulness, great customer service and positive attitude. 

What was your primary form of communication with Big Sea?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I loved that many of their clients are nonprofits, which showed me that they could relate to similar challenges and goals we might have shared wtih other nonprofits. I also loved that there is a strong female presence and leadership at the company, and that they are willing to be adaptive and flexible to our needs. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Big Sea could have done differently?

I think we possibly could have had less meetings once the project got going, but there were so many moving parts at time it was necessary. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Managing Director of Marketing and Communications of a nonprofit company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a national education to workforce nonprofit organization whose goal is to help create economic mobility for historically marginalized communities by providing the skills relevant to the current workforce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Big Sea to accomplish?

• Assist with our brand positioning, creative, and design
• Establish a brand guideline that positions us differently from our previous company

SOLUTION

How did you find Big Sea?

Linkedin

Why did you select Big Sea over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Portfolio of relevant work

How many teammates from Big Sea were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

BigSea assisted us in realize our brand position and identity through figuring out a new name, design, look-and-feel, and brand authority. We're still in the middle of the process as we are working together to complete a set of brand guidelines/book and other marketing collateral templates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Time being a huge factor. BigSea and our internal teams were successful in completing the first phase of the new brand launch of ChooseU from Generation USA. We also saw subjective success from internal and external audience segments were understanding our position moving forward.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We used Asana and they invited me into their agency-to-client project boards. We had some missed deadlines here and there, but we were able to pick up some of the time and ultimately met the appropriate time to launch our new brand to meet disaffiliation requirements from Generation.

What was your primary form of communication with Big Sea?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

There sense of expertise towards our audience segment and sensitivity of understanding our needs to position ourselves to reach out and nurture that audience segment. I appreciate that their team consisted of different voices and insights.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Big Sea could have done differently?

Overall, I think Big Sea did an amazing job in assisting us with our brand launch. I would like to see clearer communication and expectations of timeline via Asana, with due dates. I think that would help me relaying that information to our internal teams.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Dir. of Marketing & Communications of Tampa Bay History Center

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Tampa Bay History Center is a Florida history museum and Smithsonian affiliate institution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Big Sea to accomplish?

• We hired Big Sea to develop a new website that will serve as a digital destination for storytelling.

SOLUTION

How did you find Big Sea?

• Referral

Why did you select Big Sea over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Other

What was the size of Big Sea’s team?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The team at BigSea provided an exhaustive overhaul of the museum's website while building upon its brand and providing an outstanding user experience.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We are tracking ad conversions (ticket sales), bounce rates, and overall traffic to the website as measures of success.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We used a project management application infused with elements of SCRUM to keep this project on track. As we progressed with the site, we openly communicated about deadlines and changes to our plan. BigSea provides timely updates and clear expectations. As a client, we also shared updates and information that helped inform the agency's strategy.

What was your primary form of communication with Big Sea?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

BigSea's approach makes collaboration easy. This was a true partnership between our in-house marketing team and this digital agency. We would not have been able to launch this website on deadline without BigSea's open communication, clear expectations, and experience marketing nonprofit organizations and museums.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Big Sea could have done differently?

Honestly, it was smooth sailing throughout the entire project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing specialist for Optimal Outcomes. We are a healthcare real estate development firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Sea?

We were struggling with SEO, and our website was outdated. We reached out to Big Sea to provide a fresh look that was also SEO friendly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We reached out to them for an RFP, and then had an introductory meeting. A week later, they came back to us with a plan, and we met one more time to go over everything in detail, like the budget, what they needed from us, and how we were going to collaborate.  

We had weekly calls to discuss the progress of the home page, a few other pages, and the website copy. We had two more meetings after that to ensure that the language aligned with our company and its values, and that we were happy with the overall look. Once the homepage was secured, we worked with the account executive to ensure that the rest of the pages were in line with our company. 

Big Sea compressed all of our high-resolution images and consolidated the two websites that we previously had into one website. They created four types of navigation tabs at the top of the page that easily display our portfolio, what we do, and how to contact us. It also features the ability to create a button that pops up when a space is available for lease or if something is coming up soon.

Big Sea also laid the groundwork for our SEO. They made sure that all meta descriptions were included on the home page, and that we were using the appropriate keywords. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account executive, a copywriter, a web developer, and a creative director. Our team had around eight people, but we dealt primarily with 1–2 people weekly. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $37,000 with Big Sea. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between April–September 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We have gotten a lot of compliments from people about how much easier the website is to read and navigate, and how it’s more modern. We won’t know the exact impact for a while, but the website is more mobile and desktop friendly, and it has higher upload speeds. 

It is now capable of highlighting 20 projects as opposed to four, and it showcases key highlights when someone clicks on a specific project. Customers can see the most important building information, like the description and tenants. It makes the entire experience more accessible. 

How did Big Sea perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything was delivered on time and within budget, and they were responsive to all our feedback and needs. We used Asana for project management and communication. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We liked their presentations and how much they listened to what we were looking for. We were initially looking at about three separate companies, and they were the only company that listened to our needs and set up a nice presentation for us. They were also very personable and came to our office. From the start, they put a lot of care and effort into the partnership. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Asana wasn’t the best way to send deliverables and communicate with us, but that isn’t a direct reflection of them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to talk to them about everything you are considering. Trust that they will take that information and interpret it in the best way possible to promote your business more on the marketing, SEO, and aesthetic side.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the US market lead for an education technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Sea?

We hired Big Sea to create and run a multi-channel marketing campaign to increase brand awareness. The campaign targets students from different universities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

To start the project, we had an initial kickoff call with Big Sea, during which we thoroughly explained what we needed. After that, they proceeded with the work, handling both the marketing strategy and creatives for our awareness campaign — they’ve actually managed to launch the campaign within a month. 

Additionally, they set up display ads programmatically, create TikTok ads in support of our campaign, and lead our media buying efforts. They also set up brand ambassadors on different campuses to hand out branded posters.

What is the team composition?

We work with different people from their team, including the content manager, creative director, head of media buying, a digital marketing expert, and two account managers.

How did you come to work with Big Sea?

We reached out to several agencies for this project. After shortlisting about five of them, we decided to go with Big Sea because they gave the best proposal, understood our needs, and had a strong understanding of our industry and media buying. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $46,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our campaign is awareness-based, so it’s pretty hard to measure its success. However, we’ve noticed a lot more people being led to the website despite the bounce rate being quite high.

How did Big Sea perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve managed the project relatively well, despite miscommunications in terms of expectations. We use Asana to communicate and keep track of tasks. We also interact through Google Meet at times.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I find most impressive about Big Sea is their creativity. They’ve produced ideas and outputs that strongly resonate with our target audience.

Are there any areas they could improve on?

They can do a better job of setting realistic expectations and delivering on their promises without delay.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to stay on top of things and don’t just completely rely on them to figure everything out as the project progresses.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Law Admissions at a small, private law school in central Ohio. I oversee enrollment, recruitment and financial aid for the college while working closely with the director of law communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Big Sea?

We hired Big Sea to assist our team in digital advertising in addition to content creation for website, social and emails.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to increase leads to in turn increase applications to the law school.

SOLUTION

How did you select Big Sea?

Our new dean had previously worked with Big Sea and their firm came highly recommended from another one of our consultants.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Big Sea provides our team with strategy, creative, paid media planning and buying as well as marketing execution. We meet on a bi-weekly basis to discuss our progress, goals and actionable projects. Our team provides comments, guidelines and other materials that Big Sea requests in order to efficiently complete all projects.

What was the team composition?

We have worked with 3 team members for the majority of our relationship - a project manager, content creator and social media/digital ad team member.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Since beginning our work together, our general brand awareness has increased, the number of leads has also increased as well as the total number of applications to our program.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication between our team and theirs has been streamlined throughout our entire relationship. Our project manager responds to our inquiries promptly. We recently started using the project management system Asana, which has also helped with our workflow.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

It is evident that Big Sea has a unique history working with other educational institutions. They are knowledgeable about market trends and relevant content.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are very pleased with our current relationship.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We own a beach wedding company based in St. Augustine. We mostly handle destination weddings and the majority of our clients come from outside the state, but we do local weddings too. Basically, we plan their events, and, do weddings and receptions for them. We also have a team in Tampa. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Sea?

We’ve been working with Big Sea for a long time, and their work mainly revolves around our website. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handle our month-to-month website work. They also conduct website redesign and perform SEO services. The Big Sea team has written our website in multiple versions, probably for the past eight years. We’ve also done other projects with them. 

What is the team composition?

Typically, I work with my project manager. Currently, I work with Krista (Marketing Coordinator). However, I probably have collaborated with 10 different employees from Big Sea.

How did you come to work with Big Sea?

They may have been referred to us locally in the Tampa market.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we’ve spent approximately $60,000–$70,000. We spend $1,500 a month on SEO services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working around June 2013, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve been very happy with our website. They’ve redesigned multiple versions of our website. Every time we follow their advice to redo things and spend the money to invest in the site, we’ve always ended up growing the business. It’s also important to note that the majority of all of our business comes from our website, and we’ve gotten good results from it as far as ROI is concerned. The team has not only increased our business but our market share as well.

How did Big Sea perform from a project management standpoint?

When I’m working with them on a project, they always assign a project manager to work with them. So far, the project manager they assign has always been great. Krista is my project manager now and she’s been very responsive. She gets back to me quickly whenever we have an issue with the website or if something goes wrong. Overall, she has been very helpful. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their overall quality, quality control, and ideas are sharper. We’ve had other web designers, but Big Sea has always come up with better ideas, which is what we’re looking for because we’re not experts in the field. In the past, we’ve had people there who just leaned on us to give them ideas. What makes Big Sea different is they come with pitches to us, on what we need to do and they present it based on their web world expertise on things we need to do to stay current. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’ve been pretty happy with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Working with a web designer may be a bit of a learning curve, but just make sure you give them clear direction on what you want upfront. Do your research and let them give you advice. However, when it comes to designing stuff, make sure that you have clear expectations. 

I’ve sat with them many times where I didn’t give them clear advice and when they came back with something that’s not what we’re thinking — I ended up paying for what they did since they work by the hour. Additionally, we’ve needed to pay for a whole redesign. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the manager of strategic communications and outreach at a space nonprofit that inspires, educates, connects, and advocates on behalf of the global space community. We try to bring awareness and host activity educational programs in addition to major industry events. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Sea?

We brought on Big Sea to help with the marketing and advertising for our new subscription-based program. They were responsible for helping us reach out to new audiences and markets.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Big Sea promoted our new space program through paid social media advertising on Facebook and LinkedIn. They also did some Google Ads work. For each platform, they would create the ads and publish them for us.

Their team also helped put together organic social posts. That involved typing up a Google Sheet with a written post for each scheduled day. We gave them some of the stuff that we’d been doing for the space program, which they used to develop the copy. Then, I or another team member would approve the content before posting the copy alongside pictures or videos.

What is the team composition? 

I worked with Zakary (Office Director) who oversaw our account, Ben (VP of Marketing), and Kevin F. (Search Marketing Coordinator).

How did you come to work with Big Sea?

At the time, I’d just started at the foundation, so I don’t know the full details. But, I believe we won free advertising and marketing help a year ago through one of their grants. It was for a philanthropy effort that we’d been working on. Because our team enjoyed working with Big Sea, we wanted to work with them again for this opportunity.

How much have you invested with them?

It was roughly $10,000–$20,000, not including ad spend.

What is the status of this engagement?

This specific project started with Big Sea in September 2020, and the bulk of the project was completed in December 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It was a successful project. We ended up adding Facebook and LinkedIn ads, which, granted, we’d never done in the past. That was a new strategy for us. However, we didn’t get as many registrants for our program as we’d hoped. And, we were hoping to identify more audiences, but we were able to get the word out about our new program to a lot of people.

How did Big Sea perform from a project management standpoint?

Everyone was great. Every time I had a question about Google Ads or wanted some advice on our social accounts, Kevin was always willing to walk me through those issues. Zakary was also constantly communicating with us. She got us sorted on our ad copy and reported on calls to explain what she was seeing and her recommendations. 

In terms of project management tools, they shared a dashboard with us. I wasn’t a huge fan, but they kept well-organized using it. The team also collaborated on Google Docs when it came to providing content, ad copy, and creatives.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We gave them a big ask. We knew that we weren’t giving them a whole lot to work with, especially at the beginning of the partnerships. Regardless, the deliverables that they were able to give to us were really impressive, and we valued their help.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One thing that we were a little disappointed with was that it took a bit longer than we’d thought to get the ball rolling once we’d signed the contract. As a result, it took a bit longer for some of the deliverables and ads that we’d agreed upon.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come fully prepared with clear ideas and a defined mission to get the ball rolling. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Champions for Children is a nonprofit based in Tampa, Florida that prevents child abuse through family education services. I’m the director of development and communications, which means I oversee fundraising as well as our external relationships and marketing communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Sea?

Prior to a couple of years ago, marketing wasn’t a focus for us. We’d started to make some time investments in marketing but didn’t have much of a budget. Not to mention, our website and social media were pretty weak — even our overall messaging lacked brand consistency. We eventually asked Big Sea to help us with our branding and web design needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Big Sea has created some initial language, content templates, and strategies to expand our community’s brand awareness. They were also tasked with building up our internal capacity to continue our improved marketing efforts after the engagement was complete.

We loved working with them so much that we decided to engage them on overhauling our website. That’s been the biggest project so far, and we’ve just completed it. Our second main project has been developing a formal case for support for our organization as well as strategizing and implementing our end-of-the-year fundraising appeal.

What is the team composition? 

We work with a core team across St. Pete, Florida and Colorado. Zak (Office Director) is our project manager. She’s the one who runs the show. There’s also Ben (VP of Marketing) who handles our strategy, a designer, and a content specialist. The extended team consists of SEO specialists and web developers who work behind the scenes.

The CEO who initiated the engagement paired us up with this team because some of the marketing experts had previously worked in nonprofits like ours. That deep experience and personal understanding of our challenges made all the difference.

How did you come to work with Big Sea?

We got to know Big Sea because we applied for and won a $30,000 in-kind services grant from them (called their “Wavemakers Grant”). The grant covers one year of services, and we’re about half-way through.

When we applied, I remember thinking that it was a long shot. I told another marketing person on an unrelated project that we’d won, and they assured us of how lucky we were.

How much have you invested with them?

The initial grant was worth $30,000 but was provided pro bono. We then put in another $25,000 for the website and a small additional project. They’ve given us a great nonprofit rate so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2020 and are still in touch. We actually have a small additional project that we’re looking to start with them in 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Big Sea is excellent about anticipating our concerns, and they’ve taken the time to learn why we have them in the first place. From there, they work within our comfort zone (occasionally pushing us out of it where appropriate) to get us to the right place in terms of marketing best practices. It’s about helping us think through our problems so that we can shape and then meet our goals.

They’re also considerate of our needs and budget constraints as a nonprofit. Sometimes, rather than doing something themselves, they’ll make a video to show me how I can do something myself so that I can have the option of completing the task independently. 

Finally, Big Sea understands the complex relationships involved in a nonprofit with diverse stakeholders. I have a lot of stakeholders to deal with in the background such as board members who care about the outcome of our efforts. Not only has their team anticipated those needs, but they’ve also worked with me to make sure that I have the proper tools and deliverables at my disposal to satisfy my board members.

How did Big Sea perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re extremely well-organized, using one-week sprints to complete tasks. Zak is on every call, taking notes on everyone’s comments so that we can all focus on the content of the work itself. She’s also great at following up quickly. All communication is run through her, which can seem indirect. But, they do it this way to ensure that one person is staying on top of everything.

During the last five days of the website project, I started to communicate more directly with individual team members, which ended up working really well, too. That shows that they’re able to shift their project management style over the course of a project to meet client needs. In fact, we had that project up and running in under three months with days to spare.

I also appreciate that they draw knowledge from their various teams. For example, there have been a couple of times when they’d tell us that they haven’t done a task before, but another team of theirs is working with a client with a similar problem. They’d then lean on their internal talent to collect information and feedback, which would benefit us. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Of all the vendor relationships that I’ve had, this has been one of the most overwhelmingly positive experiences. I’ve been thrilled about it!

They’ve adapted well to working virtually — probably because they have teams in St. Pete and Colorado. As a result, they have a tight grasp on collaborative tools that allow for successful remote work. 

They’re fantastic at the creative side of things. From digital marketing strategy to creative design, content development, and brand messaging, they take a thoughtful approach. Even our board present who is a retired, high-powered communications executive came away impressed with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

When minor things come up with any vendor, I always care a lot less about what happened and more about how someone responds to it. 

There was one minor issue that we encountered, which was nobody’s fault, but we still had to address it. One of the members of their extended team was handling our paid advertising on our site. But, because they were more behind-the-scenes, I didn’t necessarily know what they were up to all the time.

I would’ve liked them to have communicated important progress done outside of the core team to us a little more strongly. After I brought it up, Big Sea’s team was non-defensive, took a solutions-oriented approach, and treated it seriously to fix it. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Before you engage them, you should do your own work and have your initial goals set up. You should also make sure that you have the staff time to dedicate. They are really organized, but you need to be there, too, if you’re going to stay on top of things. 

One of the reasons they picked us for the grant was because we specifically expressed that we wanted them to help us build our own marketing capacity. They did a lot of video tutorials for us so that we could do things on our own, but we wouldn’t have learned anything if we hadn’t dedicated the staff time. That’s the only way they could’ve provided the right impact for us. 

I’m not sure that it’s worth booking any marketing firm if you’re just looking for them to do everything for you because it doesn’t work that way.