Digital Glue

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an investment manager for a venture capital firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Glue?

They provide PR services for us. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Every time we make an investment, we publish a press release — Digital Glue handles the writing of the press release. They take care of concerns relating to press publication contacts; they also work on getting us featured in publications. 

More recently, they’ve started managing our social media presence, taking care of our LinkedIn posts, and putting together content for them. For specific projects, we’ve done a two-day event for startups in the UK; their team managed the advertisements for that event and obtained the sign-ups we needed. 

How did you come to work with Digital Glue?

We initially engaged a different company. However, our main contact there left. As a result, we switched to Digital Glue, following that contact person. 

How much have you invested with them?

We pay around £25,000 (approximately $28,000 USD) per year. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Digital Glue since January 2018, and the partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Digital Glue sends us weekly KPI dashboards to measure success. On social media, we look at our engagement rate; our targets are a 6% engagement rate and 1,300 impressions. We also look at our new LinkedIn followers. Our target for LinkedIn is 10 new followers per week. Finally, we check the visits to our website from social media channels. The target for this is 10 visits per week. 

How did Digital Glue perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is great when it comes to meeting deadlines. They take no more than a week to put together a full press release and get it back to us for approval. We communicate mainly via emails. They send us their plans and achievements for the week every Mondays and Fridays. Their resources are truly responsive over the phone, too. If we need something quickly, I can call our account manager, and she’ll respond right away. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The social media strategies they put together are impressive. We do that by ourselves poorly, so they stay on top of that for us. As a result, we’ve seen an increase in business inquiries over the last six months that we’ve been using them for social media. 

Moreover, during the two-day event we recently ran, Digital Glue managed to obtain 60 sign-ups for us, which was more than double what we had the last time we ran the same event. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their social media content doesn’t always translate to new followers. This may be because the posts aren’t always specifically tailored toward new followers. Digital Glue is aware of this, and their team is working on it.

For instance, we had an engagement rate of 14% and 1,800 impressions last week. These are far higher than our targets for these categories. However, we only acquired four new followers, which was below our target of 10. Digital Glue has acknowledged they didn’t meet this target.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about your business goals. For context, our company didn’t initially prioritize our marketing; there was a period when they did press releases, but we didn’t use them to their full ability. We conducted a proper strategy session with them. We discussed our goals, which helped us understand what they’ve done for us during the past 6–8 months. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The Jewellery Quarter Business Improvement District (JQBID) not only helps support businesses in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, it also promotes the area as a destination to come and visit. My role as Marketing & Communications Manager is to increase footfall to the Jewellery quarter through traditional and digital channels.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Digital Glue?

To accompany our marketing strategy, we needed a channel that would promote the Jewellery Quarter in a highly engaging way that was not focused on the digital. As a result, we hired Digital Glue to create a magazine that promoted the Jewellery Quarter to Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. We have since worked with Digital Glue for nearly five years and produced 15 magazines.

SOLUTION

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

We initially went out to tender and asked agencies to present their pitch for a new Jewellery Quarter magazine. Our deciding factors when choosing Digital Glue was the level of customer service that they could bring to the project. Yes, the pricing was good and the pitch was excellent, but it was the people that we would be working with that swayed us in our decision.

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

Each magazine begins with an editorial meeting where we sit down with Digital Glue and discuss what we would like being featured in the upcoming issue. This is a two way, honest discussion where we end the meeting with a finalised list of features.

Digital Glue will then assign staff to each feature and will then liaise with the JQBID team in ensuring they have all the relevant contact details and information before beginning the research and copywriting. As pieces are written, features are then uploaded to Monday.com for myself to read through and approve.

Once copy has all been approved, we then have a design meeting where we discuss the look and feel for each of the features. As the features are designed, again, these are uploaded online for me to look through and approve. Once all features have been approved, the magazine is put together for Digital Glue's internal sign-off, before handing over to ourselves for the Client's sign-off.

Digital Glue then liaises directly with the printer. We then take delivery of the magazines within two weeks from sign-off.

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

Digital Glue have assigned me with an Account Manager that I liaise with on a very regular basis. I also work with the team's Graphic Designer and numerous copywriters.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

On average, we print approximately 7.5k magazines that are distributed to hotels, cafes and bars across Birmingham. Because the magazines always go so quickly, we are looking to increase volume, therefore illustrating their success. Digital Glue's copywriting has been excellent and has meant I have used the team on other projects outside of the magazine, including PR and social media.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

When we are working on a magazine, I receive a Monday email informing me on the work planned for the week ahead, and a Friday email to inform me on what has been achieved. I find this extremely useful and helps me feel confident that everything is on track.

We also have regular meetings to discuss editorial, design, and reviews. Digital Glue use Monday.com to share content with myself and this works perfectly. We are able to suggest edits and approve features for the next stage of either copy or design.

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

Digital Glue's copywriters research the features very well. Therefore it's very rare that large edits are needed when it comes to the JQBID for proofing. The ideas given for illustration and design are also great and are often outside the box which makes working on the mags very exciting.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Digital Marketing Manager of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. A membership-based business networking company providing events, government support and international support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

SEO - Improve our page ranking and CTA layout Google Ads - Run a variety of ad projects with the goal to increasing membership applications. Web development - Ongoing CMS upgrades and improvements

SOLUTION

How did you select Digital Blue and what were the deciding factors?

A reputable Birmingham based company with a variety of skill sets

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

Through a number of touchpoints and meetings, Digital Glue are always very proactive in campaign development. With excellent suggestions and then following up on those points, we have successfully run a number of projects in SEO and ad work that without their support, we would not be able to achieve.

They have a wide skill set ranging across multiple platforms so they are always suggesting excellent ideas

How many resources from theDigital Blue team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Three, mainly. Account managers and a web developer who know a vast variety of platforms and possess extensive knowledge.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

At least 30% increase in website enquiries, multiple google ranking improvements and 1000's of impressions and clicks on ad work. Long term project of creating a more reliable CMS on umbraco should help the website improve further.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent, they are always on hand on emails, especially with urgent cases, Scott will reply immidiatley and find solutions to the issue. Regular check ins each week also provide the weeks feedback and work they have completed.

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

The capabilities of everyone in the team there, although they specialise maybe in one or two areas under their job title, their knowledge of all areas of digital marketing is fantastic. So any question I have for example around 'XYZ' they will have or find an answer.

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

Not any I can think of immediately, continued competitor analysis is always useful to us as a company so maybe check ins each week on what the external climate is looking like but im sure if I suggested this they would action this easily.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Springboard are a corporate advisory firm. We deliver high quality advice on M&A solutions on mid market transactions to our clients. My job title is Origination Manager, I co-ordinate all marketing and BD activity within the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Digital Glue?

We hired Digital Glue to re-develop the Springboard website. It hadn't been refreshed for several years and needed a new look to reflect the fact that Springboard had grown considerably and is now part of a much larger group.

What were your goals for this project?

Springboard recently became part of BTG Advisory and has grown significantly over the past few years, so we wanted a new company website to reflect these developments. Over the past few years we have also started to work more with PE houses and sell businesses internationally, so we wanted to showcase our credentials in these areas. Finally, we wanted to be able to see who is looking at our website and how they are reaching us.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We shortlisted three agencies for the process. One was our current agency, the other two were selected by a combination of searching on google for local agencies and asking for recommendations. Clive Bawden (Operating Partner at Springboard) and I met all three agencies to brief them on the project and give them some examples of what we liked and didn't like from websites in a similar sector.

We received proposals from all three agencies which were initially reviewed by Clive and I and then passed to the partners of Springboard to ensure that they were happy with our decision. We chose Digital Glue as we felt they had taken time to really understand our objectives and their proposal made us feel comfortable that they would deliver what we were looking for.

Describe the project in detail.

After Digital Glue was selected as our preferred agency to develop our new website, we scheduled a 'Client Discovery session' where Ben and Javan came in to our offices and met all three partners plus me and Clive. We spent a few hours discussing Springboard's offering, specialisms, how the company has grown over the past few years and our clients. Ben and Javan went away to write up their findings while I was introduced to Ben Goodman who would be running the project on a day to day basis and developing the site. We met Ben after a few weeks to review the initial page designs.

Once we confirmed we were happy with the design, Ben started to create the site. I was called upon to regularly contribute images, logos and review the wireframes and text for the new website. We were consulted on several occasions to review progress and once we were able to access the full website, I spent a few hours connecting the correct teams with relevant deals and tweaking images and colours.

Once the site was live, I created a snagging list which Ben worked through with me. Finally, we had a meeting with Ben and Javan to review the project. We all agreed that one of the pages wasn't quite right and they kindly agreed to do some further work on it within the scope of the original project.

What was the team composition?

Ben King and Javan Bramhall handled the initial pitch and follow up ideal client session. Ben Goodman handled the day to day project management and development of the site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Springboard partners are all very happy with the new website. We are waiting to receive our first SEO report - we didn't have access to the stats from the old site so it is difficult to measure whether we have seen an uplift in traffic yet.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Digital Glue's communication was excellent - they sent progress emails at the start and end of each week detailing what they'd like to achieve and what they had achieved. Once the project was underway, I had regular emails and calls from Ben if he needed something from me or had a question.

There were, however, a few instances when I was told something would be done and the timeline drifted a little - it would have been useful to have a quick call explaining why this had happened. They also introduced us to a project management tool called Wrike - I'm afraid I found this a little confusing at times as I got lots of notification emails from it and it wasn't always clear whether I needed to act on them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I felt that Digital Glue really understood what we were looking for with our site. We were really impressed with the first drafts of the pages they produced, they had the look and feel that we were looking for. Ben was also very patient and adaptable - on a couple of occasions we gave him some fairly comprehensive feedback on amendments we'd like to be made to the site and he listened, went away and executed the changes perfectly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Wrike didn't really work for us, I understand that it is probably a useful project management tool for the vendor, but I thought the weekly update emails were sufficient.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m a commercial director at a small risk intelligence consultancy in the UK. We provide strategic analysis of geopolitical affairs for multinational corporations. I have overall responsibility for customer experience, product development, sales, and marketing. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Glue? 

I needed help redeveloping a customer portal for a subscription product. The challenge was to update the rudimentary and outdated customer platform into something that can compete in a dynamic market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Digital Glue primarily led backend development and frontend design of a new web application. They focused on the aesthetics while creating new features and functionality to improve UX on the platform. I provided the technical and functional specifications. They took that text-heavy document and created wireframes as a visual outline of what needed to occur. 

As an intelligence provider, we have millions of words in high-level analytical reports that date back a number of years. A key part of the new platform was having a way to present the information visually. Digital Glue created an infographic for each country with dynamic ratings that show our forecasts of how trends will evolve in key areas of risk. They also built an advanced search functionality that enables users to query data based upon a number of fields. The parameters include geographic region, risk taxonomy for different types of grants, date ranges, or keywords. 

What is the team composition? 

I worked with 4–5 people including a lead developer, a project manager, designers, and UX experts. 

How did you come to work with Digital Glue? 

When I joined the company, they were already engaged as our design agency. I went through a tender process and invited several other companies to bid. Digital Glue expressed interest and their bid was most compelling. I wasn't expecting them to be victorious, but they came out on top in our scoring mechanism. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent just over $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

Work kicked off in May 2018 and we delivered to market in October 2018. They’re still working on a second phase to create a mobile app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've had excellent customer feedback on the platform. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on shiny features that the customer didn't need. Digital Glue struck the right balance so that the visual aesthetics didn’t dilute the main intelligence content. The new search functionality is very powerful. 

How did Digital Glue perform from a project management standpoint? 

I had an extremely good working relationship with the team at Digital Glue. The project was well-coordinated and effectively managed. They used a number of communication, virtual meeting, and project management tools, such as Trello. We had weekly calls to go over the progress on each task and discuss any issues. While everyone was involved in the weekly meetings, they also were pragmatic about having breakout sessions with just the relevant people so as not to waste everyone's time. For example, I met one-on-one with the lead developer if we had to go down a rabbit hole on a technical issue. 

Also, I personally hate the concept of agile development. I made it clear from the start that I wasn’t okay with a never-ending development cycle. Digital Glue brought our strategy to life at a competitive price, and delivered it on time and on budget. They met every development milestone on our road map.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Digital Glue truly understood our specific business needs. I've been doing this about 15 years at various companies. I've worked with developers who made it sound as if they understood what we wanted, yet came back with something totally different. I had developers that tried to make the scope many times larger in order to make more money. Digital Glue was good at coming up with ideas we hadn't thought of. Their ideas were actually useful and not about trying to extend the budget. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

Not really. They're a small organization and they run quite lean. In the beginning, the project is quite heavily reliant on the lead developer. The project would be in trouble if that role was suddenly vacated. Additional resiliency is the only improvement I can think of. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Be clear on your desired outcomes and help them understand your business. The full context of your industry and competitors will enable them to determine the best approach. They can better manage your project if they know everything in advance. I laid out what I expected and how I like to work. I left it open for Digital Glue to contribute around design and development.