CrowdSouth

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the President of Stewart Richey Construction. Stewart Richey provides Contracting and Service Repairs across multiple disciplines of skilled trades.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CrowdSouth?

CrowdSouth was hired to serve essentially as our Director of Marketing and Advertising.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found about about CrowdSouth by referral of others.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

What we enjoy most about CrowdSouth is their diversity and expertise in Advertising & Marketing. CrowdSouth takes care of our graphic design, social media, media content, advertisement negotiations, stationary design and future web design to list a few. What differentiates CrowdSouth from others is their specific staff expertise in each of these areas of service. They have staff members that are experts in these different areas of Advertising & Marketing.

What was the team composition?

The CrowdSouth Team being Owner to specific Specialized Associates are constantly engaged in our various projects. We have scheduled and well organized monthly meeting to discuss progression of current projects as well and future projects to begin planning for.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We recently completed a rebrand of our company letterheads and business cards. The project went very smooth and the TEAM at CrowdSouth was very patient and accommodating in making our requested changes along the way. It was the Perfect Experience!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We communicate very well so the effectiveness of the workflow is very efficient. CrowdSouth is very quick in getting our projects scheduled and completed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

What was most impressive to us was their friendly welcome and their close attention to understanding our needs. They’ve also been very understanding and accommodating in helping us live within our project budgets.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

I have no recommendation for improvements at this time. As already mentioned, it has been a Perfect Experience for me.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the President/CEO of LifeSkills, Inc. a community mental health center based in south central Kentucky. In 2019 we also merged with the Pennyroyal Center, a sister agency in an adjacent geography. Our combined organization supports 26,000 people annually, employees 900 FTEs, 150 more contractors and has annual revenues of $95MM. In 2020 we also created the Community Health Network of Ky (CHN) with three other agencies.

More on that affiliation can be found here: https://www.communityhealthky.com https://www.communityhealthky.com/?utm_source=lifeskills&utm_medium=hom…

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CrowdSouth, and what were your goals?

With the growth & expansion from a merger, plus an affiliation in less than 18 months, we needed help with the communication of those changes with internal & external stakeholders. We also needed to develop a digital strategy for LifeSkills and for our new affiliation.

Crowd South helped us define the vision, develop the plan, execute it, monitor and adjust it as we deployed it.

SOLUTION

How did you select CrowdSouth and what were the deciding factors?

Crowd South had a stellar reputation in our geography already and as I researched their work, found that they had success in a much broader geography as well. When we met with them to talk through our situation, they were very hands on.

They presented themselves as an extension of our team vs. an outside contractor. That resonated with our team and Crowd South was able to deliver that experience.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

 Ad Design & Buying, Social Media Posts/Ads & Management, Search Marketing Ads, Website Design & Updates, Graphic Design, Video & Photo Assets, Overall communications plans for Merger announcement, Overall communications plans for Affiliation announcement

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

Jason Heflin - Partner Chad Webb - Partner Chuck Gregory - Sr. Director of Operations Shelby Wheeler - Sr. Manager of Social Media Lindsey Martin - Customer Experience Representative Charlene Brock - Search Marketing Specialist Jennifer Melloan - Graphic Design Partner Tara McCarty - Graphic Design Partner.

Additionally, where there were needs for specific content experts, Crowd South brought in expert contractors to support the work with content, copy editing and videography

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall feedback from social media has been tremendous. Targeted search engine marketing has increased call volume by over 100%. Feedback on communications, video announcements and graphics used for both major announcements received accolades from our community partners and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have regular touch point meetings throughout the project life cycle. Early on, it was more frequent - at least once a week, at times more often. As the project got off the ground, we were able to move the project meetings to twice monthly, but the Crowd South team has always been available to our team as things came up.

This was particularly true during the initial COVID-19 crisis as we switched our focus from brand marketing and recognition to crisis management and providing resources to our communities.

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

Jason Heflin & Chad Webb spent the time to learn about who we are as an agency, who our key leaders are and why we do what we do. While it may have made for a longer runway to land the project ultimately, the end product was substantially better than we had hoped.

Additionally, Crowd South knows what it does really well and they have key partners they know that work well with them. I felt like we got access to a large, national firm but with a local, regional touch. They found the sweet spot of what they excel at, what they are passionate about, and can deliver value to customers.

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

It seems like Crowd South is growing quickly - and not surprising given the quality of their work product. I know there can be challenges keeping the personal touch they excel with as things scale up. So far they have managed that growth very well. I hope they can continue to do so as their company continues to excel.