Eucalypt Media

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the senior SEO manager at Zendesk, a customer service software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Eucalypt?

We hired them to help write new product marketing pages as we had limited bandwidth to write so many pages within a short time period.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to write 100–300 pages, have many of them rank well on search engines, and encourage trial sign-ups.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Eucalypt was recommended to me by a co-worker. After reviewing some writing samples, we chose them, as well as two other companies, to help us write the product marketing pages.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Their work was focused on copywriting for product marketing pages and geared toward boosting search rankings. I gave them guidelines, feedback, and tools for their work to make sure they adhered to both brand and SEO standards.

What was the team composition?

I believe one or two people were involved on this project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to successfully complete the project within the time period required. The project doubled or tripled traffic to the new pages and, in turn, increased trial sign-ups. As a whole, it was a huge success.  

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I trained them on specific software to enhance workflow, so it was an effective process. We also collaborated via email.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quality of the writing and the ease with which they worked within our company's guidelines and with our tools was extremely high—so high, in fact, that they are a team I would recommend working with again in the future.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't think of any at this time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior content marketing manager for Iterable, the growth marking platform that powers "omnichannel relevance" - at scale. I’m responsible for all marketing related content for our blog, our social platforms, and our resources such as our white papers, ebooks, and other long-form content.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Eucalypt?

When I started at Iterable there were only about 30 employees. We've grown rapidly in the first year, but we only had a small team for marketing. I needed assistance managing content for our editorial calendar, doing market research for long-form projects, and repurposing already available content.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For this particular project over the course of six months, they helped us with our overall content marketing needs. This typically involved creating blog posts and doing market research for our vertical industry guides. They did research for our guides on entertainment and recruiting, and worked on several customer case studies. 

What is the team composition?

They’re a boutique firm, so I primarily worked with Kathryn [Founder and Managing Director, Eucalypt] and one of their employees. They were my two primary points of contact, and then my employees worked with them on separate pieces as well. 

How did you come to work with Eucalypt?

I've known Kathryn for several years, and I’ve worked with her in a variety of different companies and positions. Our CMO was interested in scaling some of our content marketing efforts, and she asked me for recommendations on agencies. I recommended Eucalypt because of my previous work experiences with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together June 2017 and finished working together December 2017. We had signed a six-month contract on a monthly retainer, so we could receive 60 hours of work per month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I hired them before hiring people internally, which allowed me to scale up my efforts. They produced gated and ungated content for us, and they produced our white paper on how to gamify the e-commerce experience. We received hundreds of downloads of that white paper that they created since it was published in July 2017.

How did Eucalypt perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very structured in the way they work with content marketers. They have technology and platforms that allowed my editorial calendar and their calendar to sync up appropriately. It was easy to understand what their deliverables were, when they were going to be produced, and how to track and monitor their work. They were transparent about the hours it took to produce a certain piece. For example, even though we had a six-month contract, I was working with them after our last month because we had rollover hours. At certain points, I could have had a more refined content strategy, so I would be able to prioritize them effectively.

They're very flexible in working with the client and always put the client first. I enjoyed working with Kathryn in particular. She's a pleasant, positive person, and I would recommend her because of the energy and attitude she brings to a project. They have a great sense of voice and can easily fit into an existing workflow. They manage projects and deliver content in a timely manner. Whether it's creating new content or repurposing existing content, they make sure to produce big results. Our work experience makes me inclined to work with them in the future.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've worked with individual freelancers for content marketing, but I appreciate their ability to understand a company's particular tone, voice, and messaging. They've been extremely professional and take feedback well. It was easy to mold them into an asset for us; it was as if they were part of our internal team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of their strengths is top of funnel content such as blog posts, thought leadership pieces, or listicles. They’re better at creating nonproduct related content that gets people interested and clicking, and they’re better equipped for handling thought leadership content. They could use improvement in handling customer case studies or content relying heavily on product messaging.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s better to provide as much information as you can at the frontend. They appreciate clients that do the legwork by providing messaging documentation, brand guidelines, and information. If you have a sense of what your company stands for and how your company should sound externally, then they're going to be able to create better content on your behalf.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was updated on November 22, 2019 by Joey Ta (Senior Manager, Iterable). New content is below.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Iterable is a cross-channel marketing platform that is built for marketers, trusted by engineers, and designed with intelligence. I'm the Senior Manager of Website and Digital Marketing here and I'm responsible for our website and SEO strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Eucalypt Media?

We needed to develop a new set of Solutions pages that would help us rank for our priority keywords and hired Kathryn and her team to write all of the SEO content for these pages.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to rank for our priority keywords as well as give our website visitors useful educational marketing content around our solutions.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our Director of Brand worked with Kathryn and her agency in the past and referred her with very high recommendations. I had an initial call with her and it was clear she and her team were well qualified for the job.

Describe the project in detail.

We started with a kick-off call to go over the scope of the project and what her team would be delivering, which was 7 pages of content written specifically for SEO. Each page needed 1,500+ words or more.

What was the team composition?

We were in direct communication with Kathryn through the entire process, while she managed her team to deliver on the content.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We immediately placed in SERPs for the 7 pages a week after launch, and now need to work on improving our backlink profile to increase our position.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I really enjoyed working with Kathryn. She was responsive and flexible and made every effort to deliver quality work.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive aspect of this project for me was how well written the content was upon initial delivery. I expected to go through an extensive review process with many edits, but it turned out that 90% of the content was ready to go and required very little edits.

What's even more impressive is the fact that I don't think her team was extensively educated in the content they needed to write, but clearly did a lot of research to make sure it was as valuable and accurate as possible.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No areas of improvement from me.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Instore is a SaaS [software-as-a-service] business helping small retail businesses succeed. We are based in San Francisco and sell a point-of-sale solution that uses iPad tablets and a cloud backend.

I am Instore's CEO, responsible for marketing among other duties.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Eucalypt?

Selling software to SMBs [small and mid-sized businesses] is challenging, particularly when done by phone. To be successful, we need to build trust with small retail business owners so they are open to discussing our product in a consultative way.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Writing regular blog articles with tips for SMB success is a way to build trust without coming across as too salesy. We have been working with Eucalypt to accomplish this goal for almost 4 years. Based on our sales and marketing objectives, they come up with article ideas and write most of our blog content three times a month. I edit the content before it’s published. They've also produced a few e-books designed to drive web traffic for Instore. They are bright, hardworking, and reasonably-priced for startups like us.

How did you come to work with Eucalypt?

Eucalypt responded to a job we posted online.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2013, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As our tenure with them suggests, we've been happy with Eucalypt's work. We use the blog posts as a way to engage with sales agents. We’ve received nothing but positive feedback about the blogs. They generally maintain a consistent voice in their writing, being insightful without getting too technical and always coming across as the small business champion.

How did Eucalypt perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through a project management system and they are very responsive. We talk once a quarter on the phone as well. We are a small company and I wear a lot of hats, so it’s helpful to have someone managing this part of the business.

What did you find most impressive about Eucalypt?

What I’ve been most happy about is that over the course of four years, they’ve found a way to continue to add newness to our content. They’ve also been good at bringing new ideas like e-books, etc.

Are there any areas Eucalypt could improve?

They’re an outsourced marketing company for a company like ours. The more they can come to the table with ideas and recommendations from their experience, the more helpful they can be.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Double Dutch creates mobile applications for events, conferences and trade shows with a backend analytic dashboard that helps event marketers measure and demonstrate the performance of their events, and impact the success of their event.

What is your position?

I’m the Senior Marketing Manager. I head up our content marketing strategy and social media.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Eucalypt Media?

The number one reason for engaging Eucalypt is around content creation for the purpose of lead generation, lead nurturing and customer acquisition. The primary purpose we were trying to solve was the ability to create content and scale it.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

The initial project was to produce an industry through a leadership white paper. It’s about 44 pages long. From that white paper, we’re also working with them to create several eBooks and infographics that will span the breadth of our marketing collateral and materials for the next 6 - 12 months. The primary idea is that we wanted to work with them to establish this overarching theme that would carry through to the rest of our marketing collateral whether that’s events or content for events, content for trade publications or blogs.

How did you come to work with Eucalypt Media?

I did a lot of online research. I went to major content syndication sites like The Content Marketing Institute to get a feel for what agency services were out there. I found a number of agencies that I spoke with and evaluated. Eucalypt, interestingly enough, actually reached out to me via LinkedIn as a cold outreach email at the right place and right time. I decided to explore them as well. A lot of the agencies I was looking at felt really big. They were these monster agencies that felt more like executors rather than strategic partners. In speaking with Eucalypt, I liked that they were a small and nimble team that could work fast. They had similar customers in our space. More importantly for me, was the small team aspect and the family aspect that they have, which led to my decision to work with them.

There are other factors like price, timing and ability to execute on the deadlines that we had, but ultimately the reason I was so excited to work with them was that small team feel, and the fact that they felt like an extension of our marketing team rather than contractors or freelancers.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We have spent $50,000. We’re looking at creating a longstanding relationship with them. We are working towards an annual contract where they’re helping out with all aspects of content marketing.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged Eucalypt officially at the beginning of December 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

One thing that is unmeasurable is Eucalypt’s ability to create content at scale. I’m a one man content marketing team so while I have support from the rest of the marketing team in producing, creating and strategizing about content, at the end of the day I’m still one person that has to write it all, edit it all and do all of that work. Eucalypt Media really helped me scale our content marketing efforts in a huge way. We just launched the white paper a couple weeks ago, so I don’t have a whole lot of measurable stats that I can share. But the ability to scale not just the production of content, but the strategy of content and the editing process and everything that comes with it was awesome.

What distinguishes Eucalypt Media from other providers?

The biggest thing is that Eucalypt Media truly feels like a strategic partner for us. They’re not only taking my feedback and implementing it, they are actually coming back and making their own suggestions and it’s their equal investment in the success of Double Dutch.

Is there anything Eucalypt Media could have improved or done differently?

In comparison to other agencies I’ve worked with in the past Eucalypt really took the time to not just turn and burn and write a piece of content, they’ve taken the time to learn our brand and product and everything about Double Dutch that they can. They’re writing is really fantastic. I have a hard time thinking of something that they can improve on. Time zone can sometimes be a challenge, given I’m in San Francisco and they’re on the East Coast but we make it work easily. 

BACKGROUND

The company is a growing software-as-a-service [SaaS] startup based in San Francisco that focuses on helping enterprise-level organizations create and distribute mobile-first content.

My role is content marketing lead, meaning anything and everything content-related, from blog posts to white papers, webinar, and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Our challenge was that we didn't have the bandwidth in-house to create the amount of blog and social media content we needed to be able to fuel our campaigns and demand generation programs. 

SOLUTION

By partnering with Eucalypt Media, we were able to fully hand over 100% of blog content production and posting, and about 80% of our social media posting as well, all within the span of a few weeks. Kathryn and her team were able to start providing value, especially with their abilities to quickly absorb our style, tone, and audiences, and producing high-quality content practically right away. I've been really impressed!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

The Eucalypt team has completely exceeded my expectations with their intelligence, organization, and willingness to learn quickly from my feedback. It's no easy feat to suddenly start producing a lot of high-quality content, on-time and without mistakes, yet Eucalypt Media has done it with apparent ease. The best part of it all is that it has made my life easier, knowing that I can rely on our team at Eucalypt Media to do what they say they're going to do, and to do it well. 

BACKGROUND

[We are] an academic center that brings students, faculty, and staff together to make connections between work in the classroom and contemporary political, economic, social, and environmental issues. We are housed within a college in Maine, with a full-time staff of five. As assistant director, I work primarily on event coordination, communications, and operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

The center went under new leadership in 2013, which lead to a review of the center's communications strategy. At the time, the center communicated primarily through email newsletters and rather inconsistently through social media. We needed to branch out in the way we communicated to our constituency base, which includes current students, community members and leaders, alumni, and donors.

SOLUTION

Part of this strategy involved developing an annual magazine that would highlight the year's work and tell our story through interesting articles and photography. I had previous experience working with Eucalypt Media during my time at [another] university. They provided writing services for the university's alumni magazine. They indicated they expanded to design and project management, so I contacted them to see if this is a project they could help us with. We were able to make an arrangement where Eucalypt Media would provide design work and assistance in writing the feature article and several other components. We began work with the company in April and the project was completed in mid-September.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

We have now published two editions of the annual magazine, and it has been a great success for us. Our first issue received very positive feedback, and thus we have decided to continue with this model each year. Through this initiative, we have been able to build stronger connections and build awareness about our work to new constituencies.

Eucalypt Media was truly great to work with. They were timely, efficient, and excellent communicators. They listened to our needs and provided different options for us to choose from. It was evident that they took this project very seriously and worked hard to ensure it met our expectations. [The school] has rigorous standards for communication materials, and they were able to work within the standards to produce a truly great product.

Eucalypt Media stands out above other service providers because of their experience, quick service, and attention to detail on all aspects of the project. They work hard to become an integral part of the team to ensure needs are met, which is not something you find with every service provider. I always recommend them before anyone else.

BACKGROUND

Please give a brief description of your company. What is your role at the company?

I am the founder and director of a mobile, social, and Web applications developing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address when you approached Eucalypt Media?

Our company was originally writing all of our published articles without any outside help, and we wanted to ensure that the articles were guided properly. Some of our projects are confidential. In those cases, we are not allowed to gain recognition for our achievements. So, we needed to find a way to publicize and convey the general topics and products that we are researching without being too specific. We needed a partner to help us create the content and develop a content marketing strategy.

SOLUTION

Can you talk about the scope of the project?

We partnered with Eucalypt Media to develop a content marketing strategy for our company. They helped us create content, publish it, and set up an editorial calendar.

In what parts of the project was Eucalypt Media involved?

Eucalypt Media worked with us to produce highly technical content. They also helped us create an editorial calendar with specific deadlines so that we had a smooth flow of published articles and blog posts. In order to convey the highly technical nature of our work we built a custom solution with Eucalypt Media. We now have outlines for blog articles and have the Eucalypt Media writers help our staff members write them in a timely manner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What are the results of the project, and are there any metrics that you can share?

We've been able to produce high-quality content for our blog that actually outlines the work that we do at our company. It is thoughtful and engaging for the target audiences. We accomplished exactly what we had set out to do when we partnered with Eucalypt Media.

How did Eucalypt Media perform?

They did a great job with our project. The strategy that they helped us set up allows us to gain recognition for our confidential work, which is exactly what we wanted.

BACKGROUND

We are a marketing technology startup based in New York City. I am the VP of marketing, heading up all aspects of marketing for a small marketing team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

As a small, early stage company, we needed to build relationships with customers and generate leads quickly and cost effectively. We were already aggressively curating content and developing original content in-house. We wanted to invest in cost-per-download programs, which meant we needed to create more in-depth content [like] white papers, and generate more frequent original blog posts. Our goal was to increase traffic to the site, generate more leads, and convert more leads to customers. 

SOLUTION

We found Eucalypt Media through an online search. After evaluating and testing a few other content agencies and freelancers, we decided to engage Eucalypt Media to help us with a white paper. The content was strong and the process moved so seamlessly that we decided to enlist them for support in developing regular blog content.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Eucalypt has been attentive, effective, and timely in delivery. While it's a bit early to say that our blog content has driven more results [because] it's a newer project, the cost-per-download campaigns generated a good base of leads that we are now nurturing. I've been very pleased with the professional experience. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We offer an alternative to traditional power service through companies in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

What are your role and responsibilities?

I’m the director of media strategy and content. My responsibilities include media buying and negotiations, public relations, and blog and website content development and editing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Eucalypt Media?

Our primary goal was to do a better job of highlighting the things that make us different from other power companies operating in New England. As a New England company, we compete at a local level, a level that national and regional companies can’t match. Even though our customers and partners knew this, we didn’t have a good way to share that knowledge other than traditional press releases.

So, as part of our strategic marketing plan, we put together a website, which we use to address issues we believe are important to our consumers about what we do. We also wanted to highlight other companies and nonprofits that do business in the areas that we serve.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

Eucalypt Media helps us present community and regional issues related to energy, energy costs, and conservation.

They are very good at knowing when something is hot in the media and whether the issue should be addressed through content. Beyond that, we have a list of types of stories we want them to cover. Since we have three different brands in three different states under three different names, our content needs to be geographically relevant.

What was your process for selecting Eucalypt Media with which to work?

We put together an RFP [request for proposal], which we distributed regionally. We also contacted several big national firms as well as smaller niche companies, agencies and individuals who we thought would be a good fit for us. Eucalypt Media stood out by far as the most compelling provider very early in the process.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

Eucalypt Media provides us with somewhere between seven and twelve pieces of content a month. At a minimum, we need a certain amount of new content that we post every week about our three companies.

What is the schedule of your work with Eucalypt Media?

The work is ongoing and is completed each month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

Our metrics have to do with return visitors to the site as well as the number of people who subscribe or choose to receive content in the future. We use companies like Marketo to help us collect that data. So far we have been very pleased with the information we have been getting back.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

Yes. One important aspect of working with Eucalypt is that they are very close to us here in Maine. They’re always available for face-to-face conversations as well as phone calls. In addition, Eucalypt Media took a long time to review the history of our company. They had thoughts on what we could do better even outside the scope of what we had laid out. Because they have a local perspective, they brought ideas to the table about things that they saw as relevant to consumers in the area that we serve.

One of the other strengths of Eucalypt Media is that their team of writers can often weave in a regional perspective in a story that is primarily about only one of the three states we serve.

Is there anything unique about Eucalypt Media that really makes them stand out, compared to other online marketing companies?

They took the time to get to know us. What we got from the larger agencies in Chicago and New York were basically stock responses, which did not address what we were asking for. Eucalypt, however, took the time to read our comprehensive media and our strategic marketing plans. They didn’t try to oversell us on anything we didn’t put in the RFP while a lot of the other people who responded to us did. Eucalypt Media brought us the New England small business values that we were looking for.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

No. Everything has been very positive. Eucalypt Media is really interested in content marketing, doesn’t try to sell us other products, provides great content based on our needs, shares our New England values and has established a personal relationship with us. Eucalypt has far exceeded our expectations and hopes up to this point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

The company is ThingLogix. We are an Internet services and solutions company. We provide technology and consulting services to customers looking to accelerate their IT [information technology] adoption within their enterprise.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the CEO and one of the founders.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Eucalypt Media?

One of the challenges that we have as a startup is devoting resources and focus to our marketing efforts. Eucalypt was brought in initially to help us develop customer case studies for our partner companies. We partner with Salesforce.com, Service Max, and a couple others, and they were looking for customer proof-points of our approach and our technology services. We had Eucalypt interview some of our customers and pull together those customer case studies.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

As we started working with them, we realized that they could provide more, so we’ve actually contracted with them now to develop a content marketing plan, and to execute that. They’re helping us develop content that we’re pushing out on our website and through social media. They’re helping tweak and tune our messaging and our approach to the market. They’re sort of like our outsourced marketing department right now.

What was your process for selecting Eucalypt Media with which to work?

They came recommended from one of my previous coworkers. We did a couple brief interviews with them and decided we would start small and give them a trial run. We started with the case studies and a small content marketing engagement.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

They produce a blog post a week, and as part of that there’s an interview process where we go through and prioritize our list of content topics that we want to tackle. We work with them to give them the information they need. They do the blog post as well as social media pushes, tweets, postings, and things like that for us on a weekly basis. Right now, I suspect they’re overdelivering on what we expected because their responsiveness has been pretty incredible. I would suspect they’re putting in probably eight or so hours a week on it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

I think they’ve performed really well. We’ve been operating in our partner channels without doing much marketing, so this was the first time we’ve tried to go outside those channels. They’ve met all of our expectations to date, and I think they’ve gone above and beyond in a few areas. They’ve suggested good topics to us and really brought some thinking and content to the party that we probably didn’t think to provide. They came up to speed really quickly. We certainly didn’t burn any hours getting them up to speed.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

In previous work, I’ve always used an internal marketing and media department, so this is the first time that we’ve gone external for services. I like having Eucalypt they can provide a bunch of different services, like the PR [public relations] aspect they offer us. They can quickly tee up guest blog posts. What we have them do could be a full-time person’s job, and they still wouldn’t be able to cover all the different areas that we want to hit right now.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

The hardest thing for us is that they’re not located here. The ability to sit down with them face to face and show them stuff is difficult. If I had something that I would suggest they work on, it’s that initial face-time, as they on board for an account. That I believe will help them build a stronger relationship and understand their client a little faster. They’ve done a fine job of it, but I think if we were a more complex business and had a more focused objective, it would have been harder to operate with them as a partner.