Disruptive Advertising

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for Security National, an insurance company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive Advertising?

I came on board in the later part of 2018, and they’d already been with our company. Initially, we’d brought them on to assist with our Google lead generation, specifically to recruit new agents.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the beginning, Disruptive customized plans, promotions, and campaigns to support our recruiting efforts and attract new agents to our company. Over the years, we’ve evolved, although we’re still using Google Ads. Now, we’re also using them for lead generation on social media. Last year, we had them help us with Facebook for both recruitment purposes and consumer lead generation.

What is the team composition?

We have two people dedicated to us right now. Since we started, there have been between 4–6 people working with us. We’ve had account managers that have come and gone, others who have been promoted, and then they gave us a new team when we started with social media. I’ve also met with a good chunk of their team to get the project off the ground.

How did you come to work with Disruptive Advertising?

I think someone highly recommended Disruptive, and that was why we started working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

In the beginning, we were paying $2,500 a month. Now that we’re also doing social media, we’re in the neighborhood of $4,000 a month, without including our ad spend.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership with Disruptive started before I came in, and it’s still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Last year when we started social media, we had some goals about the specific amount of potential recruits that we wanted to get in the door, and they had to keep the good budget structure in place. As we transitioned a bit, they helped us get good leads and took it to the next level. Also, Disruptive tried new things for lead generation on social, and they got our people down really well.

Since then, we’ve made considerable efforts to do reports for them. We now have a person that handles our recruitment at Mandeville, Louisiana, and she’s done an excellent job of getting the metrics down. Therefore, we’ve been able to keep better track, which has helped them.

On social media, we’re still testing lead generation on Facebook, retargeting look-alike audiences. However, from January–July, our cost per lead has decreased, making my boss happy because we don’t have to pay as much to Google every month. Overall, we have a great system where we can provide them as much data as possible and ask them to helps us meet our goals.

How did Disruptive Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a weekly meeting with their team, and they’ve been very helpful. A lot depends on the project, but they’re usually very timely. Sometimes it may take them 1–2 days to get the order off the ground, but I understand that there’s a lot to building campaigns and getting them in place.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Customer service is a big piece, for sure. They’re responsive and available, and they really understand the technology behind what we’re trying to do. Moreover, they’re communicative, so if the team is testing something new, they’ll run it by us. We have a good rapport together, so we can be honest with them. They’re open to feedback, and if we need to pivot, we can do it fast.

Overall, they’re great listeners and just great people. Disruptive has taken a lot of time to understand our business and its needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so. They’ve done a phenomenal job and been a great partner to us. I always tell them that if business continues to go well, I want to do a lot more projects with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand your goals and business needs before you make the call or walk in the door. Also, if you’re just starting on this type of work, do the homework yourself and take the time to learn about what it means to advertise on Google or Facebook.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Marketing for a middle-market investment firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Disruptive to build a landing page and manage LinkedIn and Google Search campaigns to generate new leads for the business.

SOLUTION

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

The Account Executive was extremely knowledgeable and prepared to discuss solutions. I also appreciated the fact that he was very direct about expectations and implementation/launch timelines.

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

The team started off by understanding my goals and assigning team members to my project. Then, they built a landing page via Unbounce and set up LinkedIn ad campaigns for me. We will be launching Google Ad campaigns in the near future.

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

I've worked with an Account Executive, a social media expert, a paid search expert, and a handful of team leads who have served as strategic advisors.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our LinkedIn campaign launched very recently, so I don't have a complete list of deliverables yet. However, in the first week the social media expert made some small tweaks to our target audience and bidding strategy, which nearly doubled the CTR.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We meet regularly while kicking off the project and building the assets. Going forward we will meet bi-weekly to discuss results. The team is readily available via email to answer follow-up questions.

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

They are a one-stop shop for our digital marketing needs. However, I like the fact that they have subject-matter experts that are dedicated to a specific channel. Many other agencies I talked to have team members who manage strategy for all channels. I prefer Disruptive's channel-specific management approach.

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

Some of the initial campaign asset drafts didn't seem very complete. However, they were able to fine-tune all of the assets (e.g., landing page elements, ad copy, etc.) fairly quickly after I provided feedback.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing of an onboarding platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive Advertising?

We needed to extend our reach, bring our costs down, and increase our efficiency with PPC. In addition to that, we also wanted to increase the conversion rates on our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The partnership is an ongoing service-based process. Disruptive Advertising handles PPC for us. They tune and tweak our PPC campaigns and landing pages according to what’s working and what’s not. In terms of software, they use Google Analytics to make sure everything’s set up correctly, Unbounce for optimizing landing pages, Google Ads, and LinkedIn — they have a specialist for each one of those tools.  

What is the team composition?

I’ve been working with Kate on LinkedIn, Patrick on Google Ads, and Taylor. 

How did you come to work with Disruptive Advertising?

I found them on the internet, and we worked together on another project in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $5,000 with them so far; it’s a recurring monthly payment.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s too soon to tell, but with Disruptive Advertising, we’ve been able to decrease our cost-per-click spend by 30%, and we’ve also increased our conversion rates by 2.4%.

How did Disruptive Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

We have biweekly meetings where there are always deliverables involved — they always deliver on time. They also report to us with results and ensure we have all the information about the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re reliable with the results. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their onboarding process because it can be confusing sometimes. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you’re the partner you need to be; provide them all the required information to know your value proposition and your benefit statements so they can succeed in doing an incredible job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Digital marketing specialist with responsibility for pay per click spending and strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Hired Distruptive to do the day-to-day management and optimization or our Google Ads account.

SOLUTION

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

I took advantage of the company's free account audit. They called me immediately for some quick feedback, then prepared a presentation with more detail in a few days. They showed where we were wasting spend.

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

Disruptive met with us to discuss our goals and assigned an account manager. The account manager put us on track to measure out performance by conversions and did a complete restructure of our Google Ads account, researching keywords and writing new ads. Disruptive has helped with out display and search and has offered assistance on landing pages and other projects.

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

We have 1 account manager, but we have regular connections with other managers who regularly ask for feedback and if we have what we need.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since starting with Disruptive our click through rate has improved 3x to 5x, depending on keywords.

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

Disruptive holds bi-weekly checkins and plans an agenda that is sent out ahead of time and can adjust to our needs. Work we discuss at meetings is done quickly. Plenty of communication but not needy. They are patient when we're busy.

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

They have great expertise and management process.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Marketing Manager for Master Muffler Shops, Inc. We are a chain of full service automotive shops and currently have 12 corporate locations, 8 franchised locations and are across Utah, Idaho and Oregon.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Since late 2008 (before my time), we've been using Disruptive Advertising to create, execute and maintain our paid search campaigns for Google and Bing. Our goals are to supplement our organic and traditional traffic and maintain a low cost per call.

SOLUTION

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

Initially we had selected Disruptive based off locality and they were pretty much one of the only businesses in the space. We stay with them because of our long term business relationship with the owner and our current account rep, Lui.

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

Create, execute and maintain our paid search campaigns for Google and Bing. This initially started at the end of 2008 and has been refined and expanded throughout the years. Currently we have 20 locations and each location has an individually catered strategy based off of competitors and services offered. Main KPIs we look at are cost per call, and conversion rate.

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

Work with just one mainly, but there are a few supporting people that help him. His role is currently Pod Lead and the various others were Marketing Consultants

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall we have had great success with Disruptive Advertising, and without a doubt we wouldn't be where we are today without their help. Throughout the years, our call volume has gone up and quite recently we've changed up the strategy and focused on better keywords that have driven our cost per call down.

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

Overall requests are completed very quickly, often times within a couple hours. They're very attentive, especially when the requests are time sensitive.

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

I feel like we may get some special treatment based on the length of our business relationship. We're definitely not their biggest client, but they'll move mountains for us if they need to. I think the way they value relationships speaks volumes.

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

The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Occasionally, it takes a few conversations to get something fixed or get things working more efficiently. Sometimes you have to be borderline annoying to get things the way that you want.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is in the HR Technology space. I am the manager of demand generation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Disruptive to manage our paid search and paid social campaigns.

SOLUTION

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

The agency was hired by a former colleague.

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

Initially, the agency was responsible for building out campaigns and paid search and paid social demand gen strategy for the US. We later expanded into more countries. This involved global keyword research, strategy and ad copy. The agency provided weekly reporting and helped us track KPIs like MQLs.

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

We worked with three members of the Disruptive team. One person who managed US paid search, one person who managed paid social and one who managed global paid search.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Disruptive team was a pleasure to work with. They really care that they are helping you meet your goals and if they can't, they are honest about it. They were great at creating a full funnel program, focused on generating top of funnel MQLs.

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

They were very organized. I preferred bi-weekly meetings, but they sent weekly summaries. They also used Data Studio for monthly reporting.

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

The team was very honest about what they could and couldn't deliver on. Reports and deliverables were on time. We had a certain amount of creative credits a month, which helped us get ads created quickly.

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

The agency shifted away from being an optimization agency, which meant that they couldn't help us with quality score improvements, etc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the director of marketing and responsible for managing out digital ad budget, marketing funnel and marketing/sales intergradation at the top of our funnel.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our digital ad strategy was in complete chaos when I was hired in Jan of 2021, and Disruptive had been our agency of record, but we as a client, had not done an even kinda ok job of communicating what we needed. Despite that Disruptive was batting slightly above avg conversion in an incredibly challenging market (security). They kept pushing and grinding and working. Once I started giving them targeted personas, company vision, targeting information- we took off like a rocket ship, and their hard work and commitment to us (as a small account by their standards) only increased.

SOLUTION

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

They had every incentive to let off the gas and just sort of cash the check- we, as a client, we're not doing what we needed for them in order to be a good partner and grow the relationship prior to my getting here. They never quit, they never just cashed the check- they kept working. Now, as we are becoming true partners in our digital ad strategy, they are even more invested and working even harder. Really excited.

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

We ripped everything down to the absolute basics and we're building it back up. Let me put it like this: My ONE standing rule for my Disruptive team is "talk to me like I'm 5 and assume I'm stupid." They are never rude or demeaning in fulfilling my request, but there is so much to do and so much to clean up we took it all the way back to formula so to speak. And they've been great true partners.

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

• Account manager
• Facebook Ad Specialist
• Copy Writer
• Google Ad Specialist
• Landing Page Expert
• Email/Strategic Funnel Consultant (as of 1 July)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Crushing it so far. Leads are up 67% since we formally revamped the process and installed end-to-end tracking. Lead quality score is also up significantly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent.

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

They keep working. Their work ethic has been impeccable. They also listen, absolute sponges of knowledge and they apply it effectively.

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

Not yet, honestly. They have been very attentive and patient with the changeover and I am really grateful to have them as my digital ad agency partner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I own a dental center.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive Advertising?

We needed their help in getting the word out about our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Some of Disruptive Advertising’s initial tasks were designing our landing page and advertising our business online to help us extend our services to more patients. We had an existing landing page, but they made it more Google-friendly and derived the original content.

As for the lead generation, their team first listed down what keywords they could use to promote our services effectively and help us reach an organic audience. They also briefed me on their existing brand guidelines before conducting their market research to identify what strategies they could utilize.

Disruptive Advertising currently monitors our ROI and ad spend via Google Analytics, and they produce advertising materials from time to time.

What is the team composition?

I currently work with an account manager from their team.

How did you come to work with Disruptive Advertising?

I found their team online after looking for potential marketing agencies to partner with. I liked Disruptive Advertising’s business model, and they received credible reviews from different clients, so I was happy to onboard them.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent around $5,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked off the engagement in December 2018, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Disruptive Advertising’s efforts have rewarded me with an impressive ROI rate. I’m constantly getting new patients who find me via Google, and that’s because of their team’s hard work and impressive performance.

How did Disruptive Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate via Google Meet and email. Disruptive Advertising has a very systematic approach that allows them to deliver quality solutions, meet deadlines, and communicate effectively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their transparency definitely stands out — I’m always updated with accurate ad spend reports, so my team and I are certain that we made the right decision by hiring Disruptive Advertising to manage our Google advertising budget. I’ve worked with a company in the same field that delivered lackluster solutions, so I’m really thankful for Disruptive Advertising’s credible team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be more flexible in setting up meetings. Not everyone has access to a single communication software or website, so we can all benefit from additional options to join meetings.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work closely with their team and make sure that you’re present during the regular meetings that they set. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a brokerage and advisory firm for accredited high-net-worth investors in the US. We consult clients on buying portions of real estate. We don’t make the deals, but we work with investors to find the deals that work for them. For example, instead of buying a whole building, someone can buy a part of it and rent it to FedEx as distribution facilities. Typically, the minimum investment is $100,000.

A lot of people choose our investments as part of a 1031 exchange. When they sell a piece of property and replace it with another one of equal or greater value, they’re able to defer any capital gains taxes on that sale. However, the investors are in a particular timeframe because of the rules of the IRS. They’ll often search Google for 1031 investment opportunities, or they’ll know what a Delaware statutory trust is — in which we specialize.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive Advertising?

Over the last several years, Disruptive has helped us operate a PPC campaign to get leads.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Disruptive has done some PPC and PPC-related work for us. The ads lead to a landing page that Disruptive has set up.

What is the team composition?

Shannon (Senior Marketing Consultant) has been our main strategy lead over the last few years. More recently, we’ve onboarded Conrad (Account Strategist) because Shannon is going to be transitioning. Paul (CRO Marketing Consultant) is helping us with conversion-rate optimization.

We’ve worked with other people from Disruptive in the past, but it’s been a while since then.

How did you come to work with Disruptive Advertising?

I wasn’t part of the company when Disruptive was brought in. I believe it was through paid search.

How much have you invested with them?

For 2018–2019, we spent around $500,000 per year. We spent $1 million–$1.5 million in 2020, and we’re on pace to pay $1.8 million in 2021. However, their actual fee is lower, since that’s just the money they spend on our behalf.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started a contract in November 2017, but that might not have been the first one. We continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Leads are flowing in. We track the cost per lead and conversions, and our return on ad spend for the past year has been positive for both initial investors and lifetime value.

We get a lot of support from the Disruptive team on running analysis, but it also involves our accounting and CRM. We recently integrated Google Analytics to track the people signing up with us, but we haven’t seen significant reporting. Moreover, Disruptive may report exactly how much money we’re getting from our investment in the future.

How did Disruptive Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication is good and consistent. It can take more than a couple of days for Disruptive to get back to us, but we understand that they have more than one client. However, if it’s an urgent issue, they usually get back to us within a matter of hours.

They’ve met the deadlines that we’ve set for them within reason. There’s a one or 2-day wiggle room on certain items, but they haven’t completely missed or neglected anything. We have regular check-ins to review everything and make decisions on how to go forward.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing I’ve thought of recently is that Disruptive could be more forthcoming with ideas for improvement and not just leave it up to us to ask how we can get better. They could make new suggestions.

Also, we’d like to hear data-driven recommendations on where we could spend more and what would come from it. We’ve worked together for a while, and they should take the lead on that sort of thing. They’ve made some recommendations, but continuing to be forthcoming would be great.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’ve been here less than six months. The advice given to me was to stay on top of Disruptive and ask them constantly how we can improve. Being able to ask those questions seems important, as is reviewing the QA work once in a while.

Furthermore, our business strategy may change based on marketing conditions. Disruptive manages a huge amount of our advertising dollars, and there’s the possibility of errors being made, so we need to be constantly alert. Therefore, we must have complete visibility of what’s happening.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Marketing Director. we provide corporate communications and HR professionals with email measurement and design services within Microsoft Office 365.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Initially, we started working with Disruptive to help with our Google Ads Campaigns. We were working with another vendor who didn't really understand B2B marketing or take the time to understand our goals and objectives. It a completely different experience working with Disruptive! We have since expanded to LinkedIn Ads and email marketing.

SOLUTION

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

We chose to work with Disruptive because they had a very hands on approach to took the time to understand our needs before making any recommendations. All the reviews I had found online about them were phenomenal (and accurate)!

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

To start, we spent some time defining goals and objectives, defining our target audience, ICP, and established a budget we both felt comfortable with. We launched Google Ads and immediately saw an increase in performance. Based on the performance of the Google campaigns our marketing strategist recommended we refine our strategy and try using LinkedIn Ads.

With more the more advanced targeting LinkedIn offered we were able to better reach our audience and surpassed our goals. After a few months of great performance we added email marketing to our mix through the use of Microsoft Dynamics 365. Although the project was a bit difficult and took some time to get setup (Dynamics is a VERY complicated and not so user friendly system) we are really happy with the results.

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

We worked with our Marketing Strategist, Garret for PPC and Email Marketing Strategist, Kalin. Both are excellent!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because of the nature of our business, we were better able to identify and target our audience using LinkedIn and outperformed our target metrics. This success came at a critical time for us as the COVID-19 Pandemic had disrupted our in person events and left a gap in our lead generation efforts. With the leads generated with LinkedIn we were able to beat our 2020 lead generation goal. We could not have done this without Disruptive!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

My team is always in the know and in touch with the team at Disruptive constantly. It doesn't feel like you are working with an outside vendor, but rather an extension of your team. It's comforting to know they have our best interest in mind.

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

Our Marketing Strategists are always up-to-date on things that may affect our projects. Changes to tracking, new LinkedIn strategies, etc. that help us stay on top of things. We recently launched Facebook Ads internally and our Marketing Strategist offered to help set up tracking pixels to make sure we are doing it correctly. It's great to know we can rely on them for help if we get stuck!

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

One of the best things about our partnership is the continued dialogue about areas of improvement. If we aren't 100% satisfied they want to know so they can fix it.