Comrade Digital Marketing Agency

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of Great Lakes Advisory. We are a process improvement, process documentation, and training development company for small-to-medium-sized businesses. We make businesses easier to manage by documenting their processes, clearly defining their standard operating procedure, and building world-class training experience to get everyone aligned, so the business runs on repeatable processes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Comrade Digital Marketing Agency, and what were your goals?

We are in a very niche space. We originally hired Comrade for PPC and SEO, but we decided to end our PPC campaign a few months into our relationship due to the effectiveness of PPC within our space. We continue to use Comrade for SEO services with the goal of increasing our reach, improving domain authority, keyword rankings on Google, and generating +5 MQLs per month from our efforts.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I received a referral from a previous business coach, Scott Hansen, that introduced me to Comrade. I interviewed two other vendors, and I felt that Sasha's approach and insight into SEO were superior to the competitors. Pricing was comparable across all three vendors, but I thought Comrade was a better fit for our needs.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

Our engagement began with a discovery call, and we laid out our goals. We provided them with keywords, and we completed an onboarding questionnaire. From there, Comrade performed an onsite audit. After that, they developed a customized strategy based around our needs, keywords targeted, and goals. Comrade optimized our website for SEO purposes, corrected on-page performance, wrote service pages, backlinks, and began producing monthly blogs.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

If I remember correctly, Sasha (founder & partner) was the only team member involved during the initial sales process. After that, we were assigned a Project Manager (Maria). Maria is our main point of contact, but I believe there are a few other team members assigned to our account that work on the backend.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have improved our keyword rankings dramatically since we started working with SEO. We are consistently receiving +5 inbound leads on a monthly basis.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

I meet with Maria (Project Manager) every two weeks. We previously met every week during the initial launch, but every two weeks is better for me. We communicate via email outside of our meetings.

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

Everyone on the Comrade team is extremely professional. I appreciate their transparency on where we stand regarding performance.

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

I would love if they offered some form of a quarterly review based on the initial goals to reassess the strategy, keywords we are targeting, etc. and present fresh ideas on how we can execute better for the next quarter. We do monthly reviews, but the general strategy and ideas presented haven't changed much since we started our engagement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Marketing Manager at Metropolitan Skin Clinic in Edina, MN. Our services include but not limited to Botox, Filler, Laser skin treatments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

Our website was lacking content. It was a brief overview of who we were. It did not drive much if any new patients to our office. While to brand and aesthetics of the old website were what we wanted, it did not function properly for our goals.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We found Comrade through a mutual connection. They came highly recommended to us.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Initially, we were hoping that our existing site could be updated to perform better for google, but after lots of research on Comrade's side, it was concluded that a new website would need to be completed from scratch. After a series of meetings to discuss our current online presence and all the cleaning up that needed to happen, Comrade began the design process.

We then began to receive design concepts through Figma. Using Figma was great because we were able to make comments right where we needed to in order to let them know what we were looking for specifically.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with a project manager and a 2-3 others, but mainly our project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The overall look and function/flow of our new website is immaculate. We absolutely love the work that Comrade did. It is too early to tell its success, but I have no doubt the numbers with show quickly!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It took a bit to find a cadence in the beginning of this project just because there was so much being thrown at us, but we figured it out and the working relationship has been very amicable. Deadlines on their side were always met promptly. They were also very easy to get a hold of if we had a quick question throughout the entire process.

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

I was blown away by the knowledge they have about web design and the everchanging requirements of Google.

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

While they were very knowledgeable about web design and SEO, I am not which is why they were hired in the first place. Sometimes I would have liked to know a little bit more about why they were asking for certain things to be completed on my end. It would have helped me understand what I needed to do in order to complete a task for them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior digital marketing manager at a software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

We needed a company that could help us improve our SEO strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Comrade Digital Marketing Agency to provide us with SEO guidance that would help us improve our overall SEO plan of intent. They’re also tasked with handling our site’s technical SEO, which involves everything from website performance to experience items.

Comrade Digital Marketing Agency also created content that aimed to drive our SEO value and search results. We discussed our overall content strategy for SEO and identified the items that they believe will be useful for us in terms of optimizing our content. 

They then provided detailed recommendations and reports, including competitive insights and hypotheses, to synthesize all of the information and ensure that our blog posts end up ranking well on Google. At the same time, they helped us consolidate the backlog of content that might be cannibalizing some of our keywords.

We are still working with them, but we are planning on decelerating a bit of our investment on the content side of things because we recently a person in-house. But we will likely stay with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency for overall SEO guidance.

What is the team composition?

My initial point of contact was Sasha (VP Solutions). He has checked in on us a few times since our engagement began to make sure that our expectations are met and to see if there's any room for improvement. He is always making sure that our strategy aligns with our paid media, which we have a different firm running for us.

We also work with their account manager, who is the week-to-week face of their team. She's the one who provides me with the monthly reports of the overall SEO strategy. 

There have been a few other individuals, technical experts, that we've had on a few calls. We ended up doing quite a bit of optimization work from a technical angle, so we needed to get a couple of developers on a call to make sure that we smooth out any errors in the backend.

How did you come to work with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

I found Comrade Digital Marketing Agency through a Google search. I went on discovery calls with four other SEO firms, but I ultimately decided to go with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency because they were the first completely honest and straightforward firm that I talked to — Sasha gave me a pitch that didn’t talk down to me and respected my professional opinion on the matter.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend a little bit more than $7,000 per month, so I’d say we’ve spent somewhere around $35,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Comrade Digital Marketing Agency has really helped us improve our page speed and introduced us to a paid service plug-in, which we’re really happy with. We’re also seeing quite a few of the blog posts that we re-optimized and consolidated really start gaining traction. We’re definitely seeing a 15%-20% increase in our overall keywords, a 50% increase in our impressions, and a 20% increase in our overall keyword universe on the front page of Google.

We can’t really say how much of this success is attributed to Comrade Digital Marketing Agency, but I can definitely say that they consistently deliver high-quality work. Not only that, but they also provide useful guidance and insights as well as a holistic perspective of our market and keyword universe.

How did Comrade Digital Marketing Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Comrade Digital Marketing Agency has been able to meet their deadlines without any problems, and all the work products that they’ve delivered meet our expectations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I like the most about Comrade Digital Marketing Agency is that they’re very honest and straightforward about SEO and the web in general. My biggest gripe with other vendors in this space is that they tend to tell me what they think I want to hear, show me metrics that are rosy, and cherry-pick data. But this has never been the case with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency — they tell us things as they are and give us actionable advice to get to the outcome that we wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, the information or reports that they provide me feel redundant because they’re cookie-cutter. Our calls are probably better spent not discussing those reports anymore because I already know all of the information that they’re going to report.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you know what you actually want out of the engagement. You should go in with concrete traffic goals, conversion rate goals, or whatever you’re trying to achieve through the partnership.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a company that serves the real estate, mortgage, and financial industries. We’re a full-service marketing firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

We brought Comrade in to help us develop websites for our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Across all projects, Comrade developed and designed websites for our clients. They helped with the copy and with the overall presentation of each site as well as with the backend implementations. 

What is the team composition?

Several people from their team, over the years, have worked in various capacities. Our primary point person is Sasha (Managing Partner & VP of Client Solutions).

How did you come to work with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

Another company that we had worked with in Chicago several years ago introduced them to us. We had dinner with them and found that they really understood the website development process. We decided then that we were going to give them a try. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Comrade four years ago, around February 2018, and we have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One major success that has stemmed from our partnership with Comrade is when we were able to develop a website, which served as a major component to one of our marketing campaigns. What they do is very central and valuable to our efforts. 

How did Comrade Digital Marketing Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good at managing the project. We find Sasha, in particular, to be very client-centric. We’ve been in the business for almost 40 years and they’re easily one of the top vendors that we’ve worked with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What stands out to me about Comrade is their follow-through and ability to deliver what they say they will deliver.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I can think of. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open and candid with the team. Provide them with all the necessary information so that they can come back to you with the best results. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the sales and marketing coordinator for an IT company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

We had an old site that we needed to revamp.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Comrade Digital helped us with website development and design. We initially had a kickoff meeting with our project manager, and then my colleague and I worked with them to tell them what direction we wanted. We had weekly meetings to hit our time goal.

They used Webflow as a key differentiator for design.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with Reed (Senior Account Executive) and Anna (Former Project Manager). Everyone else was on the back — the web developers and staff would reply to us through comments.

How did you come to work with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

My boss found them. We were looking at Webflow website design companies, and they popped up somewhere. We had a few meetings with different companies and narrowed it down to two. In the end, we decided to go with Comrade Digital because we had a good experience working with Reed.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in July 2021 and launched the website in November 2021. We only reach out to them for project work, so we’re not working together full-time anymore.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In terms of results, the website looks very appealing. The designers did an excellent job, and it’s a significant upgrade from what we originally had.

How did Comrade Digital Marketing Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

We just had weekly meetings through Google Meet; we didn’t use any other software. Their communication was good; they didn’t let anything slip through the cracks and always responded to our needs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The designers were great; it was definitely a deciding factor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It wasn’t in their control, but there was a turnover with our project manager in the middle of our process. However, they handled the transition very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you want to transition from WordPress, Webflow is a good product. It’s user-friendly for people who aren’t experienced with that type of software.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing for Europa Eyewear. We manufacture, design, brand, and distribute eyewear. We have 11 collections — three are sold directly to consumers, and the rest are sold to optometrist offices and other places.

We’ve built our business through relationships; we have long-term relationships with our customers and vendor partners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

Our relationships with our customers were driving our business, but if you looked up any of our brands online, it was a bit disappointing. Our digital presence felt outdated, which harmed the brand's overall perception.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our first project with Comrade was to redesign and launch a complete website with better UI/UX for prospective customers. It was a pretty significant endeavor for us, and concurrent with this project, we had to develop an API for our ERP system from scratch.

Their team was pretty instrumental in helping us think through the UX that we wanted prospective customers to have. We wanted customers to log into an online portal to order from and check their account details. We needed a competent team of developers and designers, and they definitely gave us that.

Our second project with them was to redesign and launch an e-commerce website for one of our direct-to-consumer brands. They worked with us from a strategy standpoint to find which conversion rate optimization techniques we should use. Additionally, they did a third site. It was basically the same thing, but for a different brand.

What is the team composition?

We talked the most with three people. We had an account manager as our primary point person, and there was a lead developer and an art director on each project. Those three people worked with a distributed team to get the project across the finish line.

How did you come to work with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

We worked with a consultant, and he recommended a couple of agencies to fulfill our digital needs — Comrade was one of those. After we had interviewed those agencies, Comrade was the one that felt like the best fit.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent about $100,000 on the first project, $50,000 on the second project, and $30,000 on the third.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in January 2018, and the relationship is ongoing. We have more projects with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we’ve relaunched the site, the perception of Europa as a business has really changed in and outside of the industry. We’ve attracted top-level talent to our team and increased our average order sizes and the number of online business transactions with our customers. Overall, it has taken some of the burdens off our customer service department.

How did Comrade Digital Marketing Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very organized and proactive about mapping out a successful project. Comrade’s team is conscious of ideas, requests, and issues as they come up. They don’t take everything we say; they push back when we’re suggesting or requesting something that doesn’t make sense for our site goals, the UX, or other practical reasons.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really come to the table as business partners. We’ve never felt it’s just a client and vendor relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they seem to have our best interest and business goals at heart. We’ve been able to grow together.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Start the conversation with a clear idea of where you want to end up; they can help you flush that out. Also, capitalize on their momentum by staying responsive and alert to the updates.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

EZ Blockchain LLC, Marketing Specialist

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Comrade Digital Marketing Agency, and what were your goals?

We started developing a new website at the end of September 2020 and wanted to get first positions in Google search, get ahead of our competitors. We did it! We’ve gained top SEO positions with main KWs, and our content became so popular on the internet so even our competitors can’t miss a new blog.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Google and Comrade Web Portfolio

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

It’s the 2nd year that we’re working with Comrade Digital Marketing and we’re very happy with our results.

What was done:

* Completed full marketing audit

* Crafted an SEO strategy

* Onsite and off-site SEO, speed, and technical optimizations were made

* Implemented a content marketing campaign

* Backlinks implementation strategy

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

2 SEO specialists and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We’ve gained top SEO positions. We have only TOP positions with brand search queries in Google before SEO optimization.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

It was a pleasure to communicate with the Comrade team. The project manager is always attentive and informs us about the progress and results of the project in a timely manner, all deadlines are met.

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

They have solid SEO expertise in both on-page and off-page SEO. They provided us with expert strategic planning.

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

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BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and manager of Career Concepts, a staffing and recruitment agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

Our previous website was outdated and not mobile-friendly, so we needed someone who could update it and make it more user-friendly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started the project with a kick-off meeting, wherein we discussed what we wanted for the site in more detail. We had an in-depth look at the number of pages and forms we wanted on the site and how we wanted it to look.

Throughout the development process, we would meet with Anna (Project Manager) virtually to go over specifics, after which she would delegate tasks to their development team. Their team would then create the pages and Anna would present them to us so we could provide our feedback and they could make the necessary changes.

We’re officially done with the project, but if we have any issues or concerns with the site, we can just call them and get those taken care of for us.

What is the team composition?

We only worked with Anna, who was our main point of contact, but Reed (Senior Account Executive) did check in on us towards the end of the project as well.

How did you come to work with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

We did some research and interviewed four different companies to find one that we felt most comfortable with. We ultimately decided to hire Comrade Digital Marketing Agency because they were really transparent about what they could do for us and what their limitations were. Their price point was also really competitive — they offered us a discounted package, which was really nice.
 
How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,500 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency from February 2021–August 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because our site is significantly more user-friendly than our previous one, we’ve seen an increase in our site traffic as well as in the number of people contacting us through our site. Now, visitors could just fill out a few questions, send them to us, and we could get back to them right away.

How did Comrade Digital Marketing Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Comrade Digital Marketing Agency did great in terms of project management — they checked in routinely with us to make sure that everything was running smoothly. They used a platform wherein we could see their progress and give them feedback in real-time, which was very helpful.

We primarily communicated with them through email, but we also had Zoom meetings from time to time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m really impressed that Comrade Digital Marketing Agency delivered exactly what they promised they would in the timeframe that we agreed on in the beginning. I also appreciated their honesty in terms of what they could do and what their limitations were.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some communication issues because of language barriers. Our project manager’s first language was not English, so we had some trouble staying on the same page in terms of the terminologies that we used throughout the project. There were instances when we had to take more time explaining what we wanted, which was a bit frustrating.

Another thing that I think they could improve on is their QA. When they delivered the site to us, right before launching it, we discovered several formatting issues that we felt should have been caught before they presented the site to us.

Overall, they did everything that they said they would within budget and within the timeframe we agreed on, so we were still very happy with what they delivered and it was still a wonderful experience for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to be honest with them. Even if you don’t exactly know what you’re looking for, you just have to give them the best description that you can and they will work with you to expand on your ideas.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the administrator and accounting controller for an ophthalmology and refractive surgery practice. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

We moved from another marketing company when we were introduced to Comrade, which was hired to give us more insights about the refractive surgery market and practice. We wanted to capture greater traffic and understand where our demographics were coming. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the beginning, there was a transition period since we were working with another company. Comrade picked up the job from where we were and implemented key features to take us to the next level.

At present, Comrade helps us navigate through different demographics in the city. That way, we can pinpoint where our patients are coming from and to get our name out in the market as we compete with bigger players. Moving forward, we’ll go over our metrics and look back at what they’ve been doing. Everything’s changing, and it will take us some time to move forward again. 

What is the team composition?

We work with two project managers from Comrade, though they have a whole team behind them. Our main points of contact communicate with us on a regular basis, and then they report back to the whole team. 

How did you come to work with Comrade Digital Marketing Agency?

We found Comrade through word-of-mouth recommendations. They were referred to us by another physician group. 

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested around $120,000. Our team initially invested about $60,000–$80,000, and then we upped our marketing and research dollars with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our partnership in January 2020, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Comrade produces results. We see what type of traffic is coming to our website, and we know how many patients are scheduling consultations from that traffic. 

How did Comrade Digital Marketing Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve seen an increase in what they’re able to produce, and they work hard. Our teams have had to backpedal a little because Comrade had to learn about our entire operation. They’ve also had to understand the ophthalmology industry as a whole, including our busy and slow times of the year. That being said, we’ve opened up the lines of communication to let them see how their efforts are making a difference. 

In terms of communication, we do a lot of virtual meetings. We’ve had a couple of on-site meetings prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but everything’s been done online so far. Comrade has also provided us with spreadsheets and other tools for reporting. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have an enthusiastic contact person that works like they’re a true part of our team. Moreover, our team feels comfortable with them, and they serve as an extension of our team. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. We’re evolving, and they’re doing their best to point out what they need from us. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep your lines of communication open. I’d recommend having a point person that you can call quickly. The Comrade team is receptive when it comes to communication. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of serviceminder, a SaaS platform for managing and operating franchised home services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Comrade Digital Marketing Agency, and what were your goals?

Our business is largely referral based with low search volume so we wanted to both improve our "searchability" and also implement retargeting for when prospects are referred to us to check us out but aren't ready to take action immediately.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

They provide content for our site, recommendations on technical SEO improvements, reporting and execute various SEO and remarketing campaigns across various networks.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

The initial phase was a bit of a shotgun style approach with some content, some PPC and some remarketing. We evaluated keywords as well as keywords used by various competitors. They also began to systematically get us registered with common online directories to improve our searchability. We monitored the reporting and activities to fine tune the strategy going forward.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

2-3. Our primary contact is the project manager. The back end team involved content writers and technical campaign execution.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our goal was to find at least one new prospect that was not referred to us or that we could trace to other direct actions by us. We got our first solid lead in September. While they aren't a perfect fit for us, their profile is a good match.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

2-3 meetings per month to review reporting, action items, etc.

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

They know their stuff. Very strong in SEO and PPC strategies.

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

It took us a little while to get to the strategy we felt was the right one but through the journey of trying alternate tactics, we felt we learned a lot about our market and audience.