Big Sea

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and CEO of Pin Chasers, a bowling entertainment company serving the west coast of Florida.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Sea?

The initially rebuilt our website, but now they handle our entire digital footprint and marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built us a WordPress website that includes information about our business and where to contact us. The site also includes features like a form generator add-on from wufoo.com that allows customers to reserve lanes and facilities for events. There’s a page where our competitive community can see weekly standings and updates. The site also enables customers to view and download our food and drink menus.

Along with building our website, Big Sea handles the entirety of our digital and footprint and SEO marketing. They manage our HubSpot CRM platform, schedule social media posts, handle our advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and maintain our Google AdWords account. They also create content for our blogs.

Currently, we’re working with them on a third upgrade for our website.

What is the team composition? 

We work with a client manager, as well as a developer, designer, and a content creator.

How did you come to work with Big Sea?

Big Sea acquired the company who built our first website, and we decided to continue partnering with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We have a budget of $2,500 per month with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve partnered with them since 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve helped us grow our business annually for the last three years — upwards of 8 percent and above. 

How did Big Sea perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good at keeping us apprised of our digital progress. They use an agile marketing system to manage everyone assigned to us. We meet monthly to go over the prior month’s performance. We meet four times a year to go over quarterly performances. Once a year, we’ll have an annual review of our progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Bowling is a very old industry, but not very well-known. They understand that in order to market for us, they have to get to know our business needs and our customers’ needs. Very few digital companies take the time to really study and listen to their client, but they’ve taken it upon themselves to do just that. That has allowed us to be on the forefront of digital marketing and set an example for the rest of the industry. Big Sea is a big piece of our success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set your own standards and expectations, regardless of who you work with, so they can best help you achieve that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for an institution of higher education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Sea?

The software system that we'd been using was antiquated, and we wanted to move to an inbound marketing software. We didn’t want to just increase the volume of applications; our goal was to improve quality and diversity of applicants.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did a ton of background research on who we are, our strengths, and weaknesses. Big Sea helped us figure out our value proposition, and then articulate it to prospective students from different walks of life.

They oversee our entire inbound marketing strategy. They create content—including smart, or dynamic, content—for the website, blog, email, and social media. They also execute an SEO [search engine optimization] plan.

What is the team dynamic?

Our lead contact is Maria [Content Director, Big Sea]. We’ve also worked with several other copywriters and designers.

How did you come to work with Big Sea?

We found them through the HubSpot website for certified marketing agencies. They were one of several vendors we sent an RFP [request for proposal] to.

What stood out in the proposal was their expertise with the entire HubSpot software system. They also had knowledge and experience working with other institutions of higher education that we didn’t find in other vendors.

We brought 3 vendors to campus and selected Big Sea. We liked their familiarity with our location, and their ability to talk without using technical jargon.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work began in September 2015, and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen improvements in the metrics used to measure class quality and diversity, as well as an increase in the total number of applications. The HubSpot software allows us to track year-over-year click rates, opt-out rates, open rates, and SEO performance data.

Big Sea has done a great job figuring out who we are as an institution and targeting our message to attract the right applicants.

How did Big Sea perform from a project management standpoint?

They use an Agile method of working in sprints, which we’ve found very helpful. They send weekly reports, quarterly reports, and hold bi-weekly phone calls. Day to day correspondence is done through the product management software, Teamwork. It allows us to go in and see what's going on, to make edits, and to send emails. We also use Google Docs. If there’s an urgent issue, we can reach them on their cell phones.

Maria is very responsive and flexible. If we ever asked them to change direction, there’s no resistance. She’s always willing to talk about our deliverables, figure out how to meet our needs, and not need to charge us more.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The way they took time to learn about the institution and figure out our voice. They create content that speaks to prospective students using language we would normally use.

Everything they do is custom. Their corporate culture is very much aligned with ours.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

 At Marcus Institute of Integrative Health we are a team of experienced clinicians dedicated to integrative health and who believe in the power of listening. Our evidence-based services diagnose and treat often-overlooked conditions that affect quality of life, including autoimmune disorders, chronic pain, metabolic disorders, etc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Sea?

We needed help with a website refresh.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Big Sea has worked closely with us on a website refresh that focuses on content strategy and optimization, copy refinement, and brand positioning. The team has also helped us with monthly blog posts, newsletter production, and social media content.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with 2–5 teammates from Big Sea.

How did you come to work with Big Sea?

I wasn't part of the hiring process.

How much have you invested with them?

Confidential

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2025, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've seen improvements in our website analytics, including traffic, engagement, and conversions.

How did Big Sea perform from a project management standpoint?

Big Sea's project management is good. The team delivers on time. We communicate via virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Big Sea is easy to reach, personable, and timely on deliverables.