Disruptive Advertising

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of a wellness brand that helps people live healthier lives through nutrition and supplements. We sell products online and in the United States.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Disruptive Advertising?

We hired Disruptive Advertising to grow and manage our Facebook marketing campaigns.

What were your goals for this project?

Through these campaigns, we wanted to drive sales and boost revenue. We had a target customer-acquisition cost to reach for the various campaigns, including re-targeting, acquisition, and dynamic ads. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found a few agencies that met our criteria, which primarily involved experience in the health and wellness space for e-commerce retailers. Disruptive Advertising was confident that with their background they would be able to meet our goals.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We had a kick-off call to discuss the strategy for our ad campaigns. We worked with their creative team to come up with ideas for assets. We selected a few primary products, and they built campaigns around those products. They were also responsible for setting up the dynamic re-targeting ads.

What was the team composition?

Initially, we worked with a primary account manager and his associate manager. After two months, we were shifted to just the associate manager. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We did not reach our goals, and nearly all the campaigns failed to reach profitability or break even. After including their management fee, our return on investment was a significant loss.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had consistent communication through email messages and phone calls every two weeks.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They communicated clearly with me and were reachable throughout the project. If I couldn't immediately contact them, they would get back to me within 24–48 hours.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They used generic stock images and ineffective ad templates. Using current ad strategies, videos, and engaging content would have made a significant difference in the campaigns’ performance. 

Company Responses

We're glad to hear your relationship and communication with the team was positive but that does not make up for the lack of results you were looking for. We take seriously leaving everything on the table to help our clients be successful so that even if you weren't satisfied with the results you'd still be willing to recommend us; obviously, that is not the case here and we'd love the opportunity to make it right. Please reach out through your contact at Disruptive and let us know how we can do that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

U.S. LawShield is a legal services company based in Houston, Texas. We provide legal protection and education resources for concealed-carry types (i.e. any legal use of force in a self-defense situation). We’re a prepaid legal service that allows people to forego the financial risks of having to defend themselves. I’m the director of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive Advertising?

We needed to completely revitalive our advertising.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Disruptive has helped us with paid advertising, including PPC campaigns, Google Adwords, display ads, and Facebook ads. They’ve also helped with conversion rate optimization testing for our website. There hadn’t been a lot of SEO work done before my arrival, so we leveraged Disruptive to make sure we were making progress on both fronts.

We do a lot of events advertising via Facebook for educational seminars and workshops across the country. Logistically, it’s a challenge to ensure that those ads are being served to current and potential customers in different geographical areas. We hold 150–200 events per month.

Disruptive has also helped us increase our digital net and brand awareness for a rebranding initiative. There’s been a lot of foundational marketing work taking place since I came on, including building customer segments and driving more digital traffic.

They also helped refine our targeting, get our ad campaigns more organized, and move away from our old method of tracking performance in order to match our new campaign structure. We had to consider many aspects of the infrastructure in order to get things cleaned up. The infrastructure was poorly executed before, so Disruptive helped us build something that made more sense.

There’s no universal gun law, so we have to customize our event promotion according to state-specific information. It took quite a while, but we were able to go through all of our Facebook Ad Manager assets and set things up to accommodate this, which made it much easier to execute the ongoing support for events advertising. We also needed to get tracking elements set up on our website, which took about two months.

We didn’t have a CMS when I started, and we still don’t have one fully implemented. We had a custom, hard-coded PHP website, so things like conversions, revenue tracking, and getting the Facebook pixel to fire on our site were problematic for our IT department. Disruptive was vital in rapidly streamlining these processes so that we could start targeting and remarketing in a more effective way.

They also consulted us on website changes concerning events marketing. Their input was critical so that all of the moving parts could work together. They weren’t directly working on the website, but some of their testing and findings played critical roles in allowing us to get attribution.

Disruptive also brought their developers in to help us solve some coding issues. When it came to 100% attribution, we were duplicating fires on our Facebook Pixel for conversion tracking and incorrect revenue values. They helped us work through these issues and also got the developer on our team at the same level of understanding so that we could actually get some usable data.

We worked with Google AdWords, Facebook Ad Manager, Facebook Audience Insights, Google Analytics, SEMrush, and a third-party email matching service called Tower Data for building customer profiles. There may have been other tools involved, but these were the most prominent ones.

What is the team composition?

Our internal team included me and our ad manager. Disruptive assigned a senior account strategist who was our main point of contact. We also had primary contact with the CRO on their side. I also talked to Daryl [Director, Disruptive Advertising] initially before becoming involved with other team members. He is one of the senior client strategy people at their company.

How did you come to work with Disruptive Advertising?

I searched Google for PPC companies in the country. It was a challenge for us because we’d accumulated around 13,000 ads over 9 years of business which all had to be gone through in order to move away from the old tracking methods.

I completely built our team, so I needed someone who could work well with us, offer a level of guidance for the junior marketers I was bringing on, and make sure we got the work done.

I stumbled across an article in Inc. Magazine that talked about PPC firms in the U.S., which is where I found Disruptive. I reached out to a couple of companies, but I had a good feeling about Disruptive after speaking with Daryl a couple times. Those initial interactions were a deciding factor. It was easy to talk to them about our problem, which indicated that we would have a good business relationship and partnership.

How much have you invested with them?

Their management fee is $16,000 per month, which includes ad spending and CRO testing. Our ad spending is somewhere between $80,000–$100,000 per month, so the management fee for it is between $10,000–$11,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking with them in July 2017, and officially started the program in August.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we began working with them, we’ve been able to get online sales up by 82.5%, and we’ve cut our ad spend by 40%. We increased the ROI on our digital sales by 65% in 30 days. We’re now getting 415% ROI on our digital spend, which is extremely good.

I’ve reached out to Jacob [CEO, Disruptive] and told him what a positive experience we’ve had. I let him know what a great job the team was doing.

How did Disruptive Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

I talk to our account manager two or three times per week at minimum. At the very least, we have a static weekly call to discuss issues. The calls were much more frequent in the beginning as we were trying to streamline and clean up past issues. Disruptive is involved, willing to help, and positive.

They have an intimate communication style. The process is never frantic, even though we’re one of their bigger clients. They are involved and active in participation. I’m happy with their project management. It’s very effective.

I’ve never had a problem with availability. They’re always responsive, but we have had to adjust schedules. It’s never hindered our operation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to understand complex business challenges is impressive. They do very well in translating business goals and challenges into actionable strategies and methods, despite being involved in an outsourced engagement.

They’ve been able to look at the lack of infrastructure and work with us on getting some short and long-term goals in place. We’ve been in build mode, so I know they don’t have many things at their disposal that we would normally expect to see in a traditional marketing program. I appreciate their flexibility and expertise.

Any marketer who is getting good results will use data, and they’ve been reliable in this sense. A part of their process is their unwillingness to compromise on the data aspect. Their decisions are always supported.

We’re spending a lot of money, and scaling up to spending $1 million per quarter would mean paying $40,000 per month in management fees. Disruptive was invested in our relationship, so they proposed capping the management fee. This shows another layer of professionalism in their service—they were here for the long-term, and weren’t going to stick to a percentage-based structure.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The impact we’ve been able to create has been astonishing, and I can’t think of a weakness at this point.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

My advice is to trust the team. I find that one of the big frustrations marketers and business owners face is being able to trust a company, even if they’re brought in for their expertise. The best thing a potential client can do is trust Disruptive to do their job. They have a proven track record of performance. They test and measure everything, and this is what ultimately drives results in a marketing program.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of marketing in a medical device company. We have a technology device that we invented, which is a breathalyzer combined with a camera that uses facial recognition software to confirm identities, and gives blood alcohol content results in real time.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive Advertising?

We wanted to increase our reach and improve our results through advertising on our social media platforms, whether it be Facebook, Google AdWords, or Bing. We wanted to make sure that we are doing what we can to get the best value for money.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Social media advertising makes up around 50% of our total advertising budget and they control every dime of it. They were hired to make sure that we focus on the terms that will create the biggest traffic for us and complete the funnel transaction. We have top-of-funnel strategies, middle funnel strategies, and we have the end-of-funnel strategies — they have been able to execute on all 3. They have also helped us with some lead conversion strategies too.

What is the team dynamic?

We work mainly with a project manager and there is someone above him, Cory [VP of Operations, Disruptive Advertising], who comes in every once in a while, to make sure everything is running smoothly and that we are happy with our service. They are great and I feel like we are recognized as a partner of theirs.

How did you come to work with Disruptive Advertising?

We found them through a mutual contact we met at a social media conference. We looked them up and saw they had good SEO [search engine optimization]. We thought that if they know how to advertise their own brand, they would be able to do something similar for us.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend around $3,000–$5,000 per month.

The cost fluctuates depending on our strategies, which I like. They have always been fair, and when we change strategies, they are very dynamic in changing the way they bill for their services, and I appreciate that flexibility. What we are paying them to do is right on par with what we have seen in the past.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March of this year, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have had at least a 20% increase in our reach. They have been able to target our spend better, they have been able to take our spend and increase our reach, which has been great. The people we are reaching are now are those who we really wanted to reach. The small tweaks they implement to our set audiences worked and they tweak those daily, which I like. They are always looking at the data to see how they can improve. Their services have rendered a good return for our business.

How did Disruptive Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

Our main point of contact is always accessible, and provides good summaries and feedback on what they have been doing. It has been great. They have some good internal reporting systems that they use and everything they give us is in 1 document, which is nice as we have multiple platforms. Seeing it all in one place helps me cut down on time to analyze and it is nice to know where all the information is so I can go access it whenever I want.

It has been really nice because sometimes you engage with either a marketing or SEO firm, and there is little transparency which makes it hard to see the results of the labor. They have been really good at providing metrics on how they drive traffic, which we can look at it in real time to see how things are progressing. The reporting that they provide really helps our organization understand what they do on a daily basis and that what they are doing is working.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their transparency. Sometimes this type of work can be a bit mysterious, and I like that they’re not shy to share exactly what they are doing. They take the time to walk me through it so that we can fully understand their actions to improve reach and lead generation.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They do what they do really well, but I always wonder if they could expand their offerings. I know they concentrate in optimizing reach and social media advertising, but if they had a more diverse marketing team, I might even think about using them more because I have been satisfied with what they have brought to the table.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take your time in the onboarding process because sometimes it can be quick. They are patient, they take the time to understand, and are good at taking information in. Give them all the information you can so that they can be as helpful as possible quickly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Navigator Business Solutions implements SAP software for small to mid-sized businesses. We're the top cloud partner running in this sector. I am the marketing manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive Advertising?

Disruptive was here when I came into this position. We've trusted them to handle all our AdWords advertising on display and search.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They've primarily worked on our paid search and display on AdWords. The way things were set up in the beginning, we weren't seeing great results, as the previous person wasn't handling them well. We came in asking questions and following their advice. I also suggested a few things and they fulfilled them quickly.

The accounts started providing a lot more leads at a lot less cost. They’ve done a good job remarketing campaigns and targeting audiences that respond well.

They optimize the accounts well too. Any time I check the history, there are always changes they've made, trying to optimize the account. Many improvements are around keyword targeting, scheduling, advertising assets, audience targeting, and ad creative. They often swap those out and test new ones. They've done a good job on A/B testing our landing pages per conversion rate optimization efforts.

What is the team dynamic?

Nikki [Account Strategist, Disruptive Advertising] always keeps me up to date, even if they're falling behind.

How did you come to work with Disruptive Advertising?

Previous people got in touch with them, I'm not sure exactly how.

How much have you invested with them?

Our budget is $7,000 a month in ads, and PLA is $2,000–$2,500 a month. They changed their pricing structure and were nice enough to keep us at a grandfather level even as they improve their process and their offer to us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with Disruptive since March 2015. I started working with them in March 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

If they were our employees, they'd be great employees. They perform well when the leadership and vision are there, and the only time they faltered was when they were being led improperly.

Our cost per conversion dropped 50%, which is the main thing we care about. The conversions are lead gen form submissions, which happened over the last quarter. Our cost per click has also dropped.

How did Disruptive Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

They were effective. What I care about are implementing strategies, reporting on them, and optimizing them, and they do each of those well. We haven't used any project management software.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We recently went over an entirely different strategy, where we would focus on the entire funnel and make different campaigns for each stage in our buying cycle, which is quite long. Nikki was helpful in strategizing this new plan and implementing it.

Nikki's always good about not just doing whatever I say but being smart and making good decisions about each of our strategies. We made implementations 2 months ago, and our cost has dropped by about 60%.

They make sure that whatever needs to be done is done and whatever is promised is implemented. I didn't think that was a big thing, but it is.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their conversion rate optimization efforts could be improved, instead of just A/B testing. Our pages haven't been touched.

I'd also like to see more competency or eagerness for them to get into Facebook or paid social. I don't feel they're as confident as they are with Google, and I'd like to see that improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the marketing director of Sticker Giant. We are a manufacturer of custom stickers and labels for small businesses. We primarily operate through our e-commerce website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive Advertising.

We were looking for assistance with website conversions and fine tuning. We had never been consistent with A-B testing the website, so the goal was for them to help us strategize tests for and ultimately increase conversions of the traffic we were getting to the site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They primarily helped strategize with A-B testing on typical places on the website. This includes button placements, text, images, and changes to the cart workflow that result in more conversions. They made it more consistent and come up with strategies around these tests, and how to run them. They introduced us to several testing software options, one of which we selected to plug in and use on the site.

They recommended using Hotjar for heat mapping, and did a lot of work with that to see how people were interacting with our site at first to understand what was happening with the traffic we were getting. They also used VWO and Google Optimize for testing. Most of our platform runs through Google, and we ultimately decided to use Optimize for the majority of our tests.

How did you come to work with Disruptive Advertising?

I saw Chris [Dayley, VP of Testing and Site Optimization] at Social Media Marketing World last year. He put on an impressive talk and really seemed to know what he was doing. He mentioned the firm and we connected on LinkedIn.  Then, I reached out to him for help through their company.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $3,000 a month on average. The fee is based on the number of tests they run each month, which is a minimum of 3, but the fee changes based on that.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen an increase in our overall leads. Our lead number is what we get from people reaching the end of the funnel on the website and then internally we have to convert those to jobs once they get to our customer service team. From July to now, we've seen leads increase from 1,200 leads per week to 1,700 leads per week. With our growth of the company and working with them on testing and implementing new things, we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of people getting through our cart and checking out on the website.

Customers are getting further along in the cart, and they've helped increase traffic to certain landing pages and increase the win percentages. In addition, they’ve increased website traffic to the cart page by 7%. This is a big win because it shows us where we need to improve based on the results of the simple tests they’ve done for us.

How did Disruptive Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate primarily through phone and email. They’re really good about providing a weekly email that recaps everything going on with the project. It’s very consistent. We’re also both on Google Drive and share spreadsheets and things of that nature.

Our project manager is very organized and we’ve been meeting weekly or biweekly since the beginning. It’s the same time, same day, every week. He runs through our agenda and what test ideas they have, what they’re developing, what they’re currently running and the results even if they’re not finalized.

They’ve always thought through the projects and have been very willing to learn more about our company in implementing them. They've made it really easy to utilize their knowledge and their skills to get the right business results we're looking for.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their level of communication. In all the firms and agencies we’ve worked with, none of them are as detailed or timely with recaps in meetings and overall being on top of everything. They always seem to be a step in front of me at all times on what we want to do with the site. That’s been really helpful and they've been flexible when we bring up our own ideas. They’re good at working that into their strategy and what they have upcoming.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of an app development firm. We build our products from scratch.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive Advertising?

We wanted a manager for a PPC [pay-per-click] campaign.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Based upon our market knowledge, we started with a solid base of keywords. Disruptive refined what we needed, and gave us a more robust solution. They determined the best geographic markets and target display times for our ads, and they modified our list of keywords.

What is the team dynamic?

Our account manager, Reed [Thuet], really feels like a part of our team. He is interested in our business, and very quick to respond, day or night. We also work with Chad [de Lisle].

They shared their proprietary communication software with us. It’s skinned for them, so I assume they built it themselves as a channel to display their work to their clients. The software is clean and easy to use, with several filters.

How did you come to work with Disruptive Advertising?

We did our due diligence on several PPC companies, and Disruptive was ranked highly on Clutch and the other lists we looked at. They seemed like the best fit for us of the three or four companies we considered; their structure suited our needs, and we liked the price.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we’ve spent $6,000–$7,500. About $2,500 of that was in ad spending.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2017, and have a monthly contract.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still early in the process. We’re currently connecting our PPC into our CRM [customer relationship management] to compare notes and find out which leads made it into the software and became actual customers. We are already seeing a return on investment, and turned a profit in the second month of our contract with them.

They definitely helped us reduce our cost per click and cost of conversion. We’ve had success already, and are pleased with how quickly we’re seeing results. They’re helping us combat a learning curve as we accumulate data and refine our needs.

How did Disruptive Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re attentive and thorough. Just recently, Reed sent us six paragraphs of answers to questions we had. They’re transparent, which solves a large portion of our PPC puzzle. Chad has been very helpful, and every couple of weeks spends half an hour on the phone with us to explain points and fine tune them. The open dialog generates more quality leads.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They impressed me early on. They hit the ground running with a low cost per conversion, and generated more leads than we anticipated for our budget. They’re the reason we did so well and see these returns on our investment. I was able to demonstrate much higher client and revenue numbers to our investors than we originally projected. A previous company took three years to achieve the numbers we’re getting after just a few months.

I’ve had a very good experience with them, and I’m pleased that our company is growing because of it. I have nothing but good things to say.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide asphalt maintenance and paving services. My current position is the marketing manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what reason(s) did your company hire Disruptive Advertising?

We hired them to manage our AdWords account.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to lower our pay-per-click costs and increase quality leads. We needed someone to manage the campaigns and remain informed of Google's algorithm changes.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I spent a lot of time researching and reading reviews of agencies all over the country. I was very impressed when I started talking with them. They wanted to make sure it was a good fit for them, and that they could meet my expectations.

Describe the project in detail.

They managed our Google AdWords account including budget and campaigns.

What was the team composition?

Jacob [Baadsgaard, Founder] has been my single point of contact; he's been incredible to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have significantly reduced our cost per click. The amount and quality of the leads that come in at a lower cost are even more impressive. If I was doing this myself or hired another agency to do it, we would be spending a lot more money for fewer results.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Jacob has been incredible to work with. He has never missed a phone call. He always responds to e-mails in a timely manner. When we decide to make changes to the campaign, he is in control and gets things done, and I don't have to worry. I know he has my back. I really don't think I could be more impressed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Since the beginning, they have been so professional and friendly. They make me feel valued as a customer and they don't just settle for a "good" campaign. They are always looking for ways to improve and maintain results!

Are there any areas for improvement?

I honestly cannot think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an e-commerce company. I’m the owner and president. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive Advertising?

We were trying to bring new customers to our website and have an increase in sales. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re doing Facebook advertising and recently began with YouTube ads.

How did you come to work with Disruptive Advertising?

They actually found me.

How much have you invested with Disruptive Advertising?

It’s around $30,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’ve been working with them since September 2016. The work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

I'm satisfied in how successfully they have helped grow our sales and leads. We are at around a 5% return. With Facebook, we see certain times where there are good results. With YouTube and Google ads, it’s too soon to tell because we started that a week ago.

How did Disruptive Advertising perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s been good so far.

Are there any areas Disruptive Advertising could improve?

There could be more communication so that I can understand it thoroughly and understand where my money is going. They could be more transparent in telling me what they’re doing behind the scenes, and I’ve been meaning to talk to them about that. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a mobile software provider. We create a CRM. It’s a build sales application. We’ve been in business for about four years and we’ve cornered the market for our particular product. I’m the Vice President of Business Development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive?

Lead acquisition.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It’s all pay-per-click and some pay-per-lead.

How did you come to work with Disruptive?

I wasn’t involved in the selection process; I took over the account and manage it, but it was selected prior to my arrival here.

How much have you invested with Disruptive?

Our pay-per-click budget is about $5,000/month.

What is the status of this engagement?

It’s been about 15 months now, so it was December 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

They’ve absolutely been successful. They’re excellent at client relationship management. They’re excellent at being attentive to reporting and analytics. They’re excellent at creating a continual plan to manage and optimize the account. They create their own initiatives and present those initiatives to you for approval. It makes the process more one of not having to manage a ton, but just having to approve new initiatives. The regular maintenance of the account is very consistent and detailed, a weekly phone call at the same time, always an agenda. It’s just very detailed and organized and lightweight in terms of management.

What did you find most impressive about Disruptive?

Like any consultancy firm, they have experts for each aspect of the business. We only use one segment of their offerings, but we’ve run into situations where we’ve received advisement from other individuals in different departments to make sure we get best in class treatment.

Are there any areas Disruptive could improve?

I’m honestly quite pleased with the relationship. Any time I’ve needed to improve something, it’s been improved. I wouldn’t say that they don’t need to improve; it’s that if anything when improvement is identified, it’s acted upon.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Disruptive?

To have a strong plan in regards to your copy and content that you’re going to be using, to have a library of images and branding guidelines, and to have content pieces that are available to use as click bait.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Chief Marketing Officer at a financial technology startup. We have about 30 employees right now.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Disruptive?

Dramatic client growth, so customer acquisition.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Disruptive did social media and AdWords, basically all our direct digital response channels. That encompasses funnel optimization as well.

How did you come to work with Disruptive?

This is the fourth company that I’ve been with where I’ve hired Disruptive as my go-to direct response digital partner. Where I go, they go.

How much have you invested with Disruptive?

It’s been all over the place. Sometimes they’re managing hundreds of thousands of dollars per month and other times it’s $20,000-$30,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

The owner used to work for me a long time ago. I’ve known him for six years now, and I’ve been a client from the outset. I guess I’ve been a client of Disruptive for four years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

It’s absolutely been successful. The number one benefit is that they know what they’re good at, so I hire them for what they’re good at. They don’t try to be everything. They’re a team that’s really strong at digital direct response in FaceBook, AdWords, and Bing. I know that they’re good at that. They have a pricing structure where you don’t feel like they’re trying to make you spend more because they make more. I feel like I can give them clear direction on my acquisition cost targets and they hit those targets. They can run with minimal guidance.

What did you find most impressive about Disruptive?

There are two or three things that I think help other people see the value in them. Number one is they are not some sort of full-service agency: they are a digital direct response firm, and they stick with what they know and what they’re good at, so you’re not going to waste money with them trying to help you in any way possible. They stick to what they know. They are one of the few firms I’ve ever worked with where I have complete confidence that their goals are my success, not maximizing their billable feed. They just come across as very flexible, ethical people. That means you don’t have to wonder about motive whenever they have recommendations for you.

Are there any areas Disruptive could improve?

Everybody has room for improvement, but I don’t think there’s anything I would call out as a problem area. They just keep growing and improving on what they’re doing.