Esper Inbound

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a wireless charging technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Esper Inbound?

We were essentially looking for a whole digital marketing strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Esper Inbound helped form our digital marketing strategy. They set up Walmart paid advertising and marketing funnels. Depending on what we needed at the time, their services would adapt. They set up a strategy around our Shark Tank appearance because, after airing, we knew there’d be a lot of Google traffic searching for our company.

Esper Inbound works with paid Facebook ads or other avenues that are more attention-grabbing. They’ve been an all-around, full-service digital advertising agency. They provide campaign strategy through the setup of Google Ads, Facebook advertising, and any other advertising platforms that they determine using the keywords or targets that we set.

Esper Inbound figured out the demographics for targeting through the funnel of landing page design and setup, lead capture, and even integration into the different sales tools that we use for our entire sales teams.

It’s a full service set up of startup strategy through all the details of what goes into and the actual implementation of a campaign. Esper Inbound provided us a project onboarding template that we filled out and walk through with them and that gave them an understanding of our company. They will also go through an exercise to figure out demographics.

There’s a process that Esper Inbound will go through to generate keywords and depending on the projects, we might pull it from existing assets. One of the things they do is creative design. All the things that were brought to the table came from them. We just offered insight and direction.

What is the team composition?

We work with 3–4 team members from Esper Inbound.
 
How did you come to work with Esper Inbound?

I met Jon (Co-Founder & CEO) through a business relationship and I was in the process of vetting different marketing agencies. I felt like they were a good fit for what we needed. Esper Inbound is confident and passionate about it all and willing to work hard. That's always a good recipe.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Esper Inbound in March 2018. It’s an ongoing engagement. There are times where we go a period without using some of the services, but over the years, we ramp up for weeks or months at a time. It just depends on the business needs, but we’re actively engaged.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the things that we did is we were preparing a launch campaign. We were building a pre-launch list of where to market to at launch. We also cut in half our average cost per email acquisition when we started working with Jon and his team. We were getting email signups into our list at half the cost. We ended up getting the list doubled for the same price.

How did Esper Inbound perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through Slack and that certainly works in terms of communication. They have a good process and they use Google Docs for documentation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Esper Inbound is hard-working, passionate, and great at what they do. They are there to get it done. I learned that the team that does the best job is the one that stays dedicated and really cares and they are that type of team. They have a high level of confidence in the services they provide and it’s been a good experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When I started working with Esper Inbound, they were really new, so there were some growing pains in terms of resources and I think those were resolved. I don’t know if there’s anything specific recently that they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have good and targeted objectives and ways to measure success. With that information, Esper Inbound can really do a good job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of TrophySmack. We design and manufacture custom fantasy football trophies, championship belts, and other various related products. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Esper Inbound?

Our digital marketing strategy is a huge component of our sales and revenue, we’ve fit in between marketing agencies that were either just subpar or were charging way too much for their services. We were bouncing around some agencies — some were great with Google but not with Facebook and other social media platforms.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Esper Inbound has essentially taken over our digital marketing — both from a strategy and deployment standpoint. Their tasks include overseeing our Google PPC, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat campaigns.

We rely on them for anything related to digital marketing and advertising from the discovery, validation, marketing, research, and deployment. The team is in charge of building and optimizing campaigns that work within our company’s budget. They also work to increase or decrease spend then report back on the analytics and results.

What is the team composition?

Jon (CEO) is our main point of contact but we also work with two other people. There is one staff that focuses on our analytics, and another one who focuses more on the design and creative aspects.

How did you come to work with Esper Inbound?

A personal friend of mine referred Esper Inbound to us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $4,000 each month for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing engagement started in August 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Esper Inbound helps us double our sales. I wouldn’t say that it was solely thanks to them but they certainly help us. They enable us to achieve faster results at a better cost for acquisition.

How did Esper Inbound perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great in terms of project management and communication. Esper Inbound is always available whenever we have questions and if there are uncertainties, they’re immediately on it.

We’ve been able to almost outsource our digital marketing to them. The team is able to report back all the data that we need so we don’t have to ask too many questions. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Esper Inbound understands the business that we’re in. We’re able to rely on them for more than one aspect of digital marketing — we can count on them for Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

They’re unlike other agencies who can only focus on one field or charge significantly more. The team is suitable for small businesses like us and thanks to them, we don’t have to manage multiple different agencies to handle our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re satisfied and happy customers. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to know your own budgets and limitations —  avoid selling too much, not having enough inventory, or not understanding your own overhead costs. In essence, know your own business, that is what enabled us to work well with Esper Inbound because we give them all the parameters and information they need to do their job best.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a dual diagnosis addiction treatment center owned and operated exclusively in San Juan Capistrano, California. I'm the director of the clinical outreach and CMO. My functions include all marketing, branding, media, TV, radio, and film appearances of our brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Esper Inbound?

We brought on Esper Inbound exclusively for two things, paid media and PPC for Google and Bing. In addition, we also hired them to take charge of our paid media for Facebook.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Originally, the engagement was mostly about building our landing pages. Later on, we decided we wanted to go the PPC route with Google and Bing. The team helps us craft our budget, develop our images, and build our landing pages.

Ultimately, we've launched PPC campaigns composed of hundreds of branded campaigns, competitor ads, and other unique ads, all in the space of Facebook, Bing, and Google.

Our company has already a strong media kit and brand image so they have been able to take the existing brand and media kit to build the ads. They assist in designing, layout, and curating landing pages using our general theme. The theme has been limited to our actual logo and branding colors. They ensure that people can identify our brands and that the ads our audiences see are synonymous with what they see everywhere else.

What is the team composition?

I work principally with two people, Jon (Founder & Owner) and Robert (Associate). There are also other people in charge of the graphic design side.

How did you come to work with Esper Inbound?

I found them through a referral during our hiring process. One of our candidates mentioned having worked with them. After that, we contacted Esper Inbound.

How much have you invested with them?

Our monthly rate is $3,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with them in March 2016, and we’re still working with them. Back in 2016, Esper Inbound didn’t exist, and eventually, the owner established his own company. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I get tons of metrics on the team's weekly performance report. The data, graphs, and charting have been helpful because it’s my duty to present it quarterly to owners and shareholders. So far, our PPC efforts are good.

I rate their performance based on their ability to be responsive and have fast turnarounds on new designs, development, and campaigns. I also based their results on my ability to reach them, how quickly they can change things such as changing budget, dropping a campaign, starting a new campaign, changing a photo, and so on.  

How did Esper Inbound perform from a project management standpoint?

Esper Inbound has a strong project management workflow. They have great reporting skills and provide great access to information.

Jon’s always at the forefront and he’s always working with people on Google. He never says he knows all the answers. Instead, he’ll go and find out the answers and resource others that may have access to better information. He always under-promises and over-delivers. He’s pragmatic, available, and comes on site — it's the reason why we've been working with them for four years. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with other providers and they promise you the moon. However, they use people who have 6 months –1 year experience who are just right out of college and try to imply they’re the best.

With Jon, he’s just more practical even though it may take 6–8 weeks to get where we want to be. They’re good at managing expectations and have realistic timelines on data gathering, how to conduct the project and campaigns, and ultimately, how to better source our target demographics.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, Jon can really be chatty and I’m usually not since I likely have eight more calls to do after. However, I probably need to learn from him and pick up on another way of doing business, be more at ease and at peace. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know your budget and stick to it. Let them take your budget and make it work for you. Don’t just jump in and say, we have three times the budget and we want to get three times the results. They will caution against that and recommend starting small. Furthermore, they will tell you to revisit it again and if you still feel the same way, they will proceed with it. 

Trust the process. More doesn’t necessarily equate to more of what you want. Give the project time to mature and develop. Don’t anticipate or expect immediate results. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the marketing manager for an online educational course.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Esper Inbound?

We hired Esper to improve our PPC profitability and CRO by reiterating on landing pages.

What were your goals for this project?

The ultimate goal was to achieve a higher ROAS and streamline our PPC operation - lower CPC and CPA.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I spoke with a few companies before selecting Esper. I thought Jon was quite knowledgable and some great ideas for specifically our campaign. And with a smaller team structure, I figured we would get better results than a large agency.

Describe the project in detail.

The onboarding consisted of identifying issues with the account and restructuring before we could get into the finer points. From there, we had weekly reports and optimization updates.op

What was the team composition?

An account manager and strategist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We reduced our CPC, increased CTR which lead to an overall improvement in ROAS.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They were always available on Slack if we had any questions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Things became tough for us with Covid-19, and they were extremely accommodating — I really appreciated his flexibility to make things work.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think some long term strategy could be beneficial for clients to be aware of and some routine competitor analysis to find areas for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the director of sales for a flight school.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Esper Inbound?

We wanted to completely revamp the way that we did paid marketing and advertising. Some new projects were in the works and we needed to boost the visibility of our programs.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to increase sales and be the first brand that aspiring pilots considered for training. We were looking to overhaul the view of traditional flight training.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were referred to them by another business associate of ours.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They create all content and strategy and propose tons of creative ideas to help our brand. They help us market events, programs, and specialized training nationwide or local to our specific school locations.

What was the team composition?

Our leaders meet bi-weekly via video conference to discuss new initiatives and events that we'd like to introduce to our platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we’ve thrown last-minute events, they have drawn over 100 sign-ups within a few weeks. Their effective management of our marketing makes my job much easier to accomplish.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I always receive immediate communication and action when I reach out. It is so nice to have an amazing rapport with a company that is vital to our success.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I love the level of communication and knowledge that I receive every time we talk. They always take the time to explain how something is done and why. They are also thorough in reporting what has been successful and how we can mix it up to yield higher results.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we’re completely satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I coordinate North American marketing efforts for a global steel processing machinery manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Esper Inbound?

We hired them for digital marketing services. We were not doing any paid advertising and needed to work with experts in the PPC/SEO industry. 

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to improve targeted keywords and set up and manage digital marketing accounts. We also wanted to start attracting new ads through a paid marketing approach while simultaneously generating organic traffic to the updated website. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We interviewed three companies that specialized in SEO and PPC. We ultimately chose Esper Inbound because they offered an in-depth, small team approach that would help us improve both the quantity and quality of leads and impressions in our extremely targeted customer base. We felt confident that a more personable partnership—as opposed to one with a larger company—would yield better results in the long term.

Describe the project in detail.

Esper Inbound is responsible for establishing and managing digital marketing accounts; creating copy and terms for our campaigns; and developing custom landing pages for improved lead acquisition and closing rates. 

What was the team composition?

One main contact from our company works with the co-founder and CEO, who serves as the liaison for others involved in the project. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any statistics or metrics that speak to the quality of their work and impact of the engagement?

We have seen a respectable return of immediate leads. With our long sales cycle—sometimes lasting over a year—judging instant success can be difficult, but we will continue to evaluate performance as we go. 

How did the Esper Inbound perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was fairly good. Esper Inbound directed the entire process with efficiency, including the initial establishment of digital marketing avenues. They have also been willing to step in and make decisions when directed.

What impresses you about the Esper Inbound?

They are clearly experts in PPC and SEO.  However, they are also incredibly eager to learn about our company, and dedicate themselves to gaining as much knowledge as possible. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

I would like to see more frequent reporting and updates. They can also break tasks and details down to a more basic level; not everyone understands marketing or the best product search terms, but asking questions about most requested customer features or product uniqueness can prepare Esper to make better marketing decisions for their clients.   

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of So Cal Bottling. We are an FDA registered white label bottling facility in California. We also create and distribute our own in house products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Esper Inbound?

We recently hired esper inbound to help with our paid online marketing. We wanted to expand our marketing efforts wile getting better results.

What were your goals for this project?

We had "High" goals for this project and are very excited to say that the goal was passed... the outcome was actually close to 10x our original goal.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I selected this vendor due to the track record and the experience they have with the platforms I was looking into. There is no one more qualified then esper inbound.

Describe the project in detail.

Paid online marketing on platforms like Facebook ads, google ads, Bing ads. And other online traffic sources.

What was the team composition?

I talked with Jon about all account set up and marketing efforts and communicated with Ryan about billing. They make a great team and very easy to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

within 3 days of Esper Inbound taking over marketing our Shopify store top day of sales went from $700/day to over $24,000... IN ONE DAY

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

HIGHLY EFFECTIVE.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The speed they completed work and the accuracy of the information were most impressive about this company.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None at all.