Foundations First Marketing

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Coordinator of a financial services company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

For businesses that need experienced guidance for the long-term health and growth of their company, our Fractional CFOs offer seasoned financial leadership. Our focus is on delivering top-tier CFO services to our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Foundations First Marketing to accomplish?

• Improve Website SEO
• Professional Development for Marketing Lead

SOLUTION

How did you find Foundations First Marketing?

Referral

Why did you select Foundations First Marketing over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Foundations First Marketing were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Foundations First Marketing worked closely with our existing marketing coordinator to perform a gap analysis on the website SEO,coaching our marketing lead through identifying issues, how to fix them, as well as best practices for content creation. In addition, Foundations First Marketing provided invaluable mentorship and coaching to our marketing lead.

Deliverables included conducting a content audite through an SEO lens; process and guidelines for naming URLs and URL hierarchy; optimizing headings, page titles, and meta descriptions; reviewing site map for accuracy; utilizing Search Console and other web master tools; and more.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

At the end of our work with Foundations First Marketing Academy, our team was trained and confident with best practices for SEO and SEM. This was demonstrated by a 3x increase in the number of e-book downloads, improved ranking across several relevant keywords, and improved process for content creation.

Most importantly, our team felt more confident in making marketing decisions, was better able to articulate the rationale behind marketing projects and budgeting needs, and was able to ask better questions of both vendors and stakeholders in order to facilitate strategic marketing projects.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Foundations First over-delivered. We covered all facets of the SEO marketing strategy in the agreed-upon time frame. Michelle also replied to all questions/inquiries in a timely manner, providing extra value in between coaching sessions.

What was your primary form of communication with Foundations First Marketing?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The guidance and skills of Foundations First Marketing have helped take our team to the next level. As a mentor, Michelle is incredible: she explains things well, and approaches her clients with the right balance of honesty and professionalism. She won't tell you what you want to hear - she will tell you what you need to hear, while also providing you with ideas and solutions.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Foundations First Marketing could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of VisibilEDI, an electronic data interchange (EDI) gateway that provides data cleansing between hospitals, clinics, and health plans that pay billed clients. We also provide data cleansing and submission services to the federal and state governments based on their Medicare Advantage requirements from health plans and Medicaid programs. In my role, I run our day-to-day operations and strategic initiatives with the leadership team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Foundations First Marketing?

We didn’t know how to communicate our message to our target market to create greater awareness of our products and services. Therefore, Foundations First came in to help us convey our message.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Foundations First helped us look at ourselves, our message, and our market with greater awareness, and they created our brand identity. Initially, they did some research and a thorough analysis of the competitors we provided them with, and they also found a couple of other companies we didn’t know about. 

As part of the deliverables, Foundations First provided us with style guides, a branding toolkit, and a roadmap of the roles and responsibilities of people across the marketing spectrum. They also taught us how a marketing department works and interacts with others, such as the sales and the product development departments.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people from Foundations First: Michelle (Marketing Execution Strategist & Co-Founder) and Cindy (Fractional CMO & Co-Founder).

How did you come to work with Foundations First Marketing?

We’ve been working with a management consultant for years. In one of our strategy meetings, the theme on the table was marketing, so we decided to take action in that vertical, and this person recommended Foundations First.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $50,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2021, and we ended our engagement in August 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before working with Foundations First, we felt that we didn’t have an identity, but we now feel like we do. As a result of their efforts, we received more inquiries via our website, and we saw more awareness in the market. As we attended conferences, we noticed that our name was being recognized better than in the past. That level of awareness was the success metric we were looking for.

How did Foundations First Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

Foundations First’s project management was fantastic. They used a project management program that was very easy to understand, and their communication, attention to detail, milestone tracking, and detailed activities were spot on. I was impressed with their performance. Overall, they were very responsive and kept us on track throughout the project.

We had weekly meetings to go over the tasks. We also had milestone meetings, leadership-level meetings, and task-based meetings, all of which were hosted on Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Foundations First is very insightful, and they can quickly understand a business model. They quickly understood the problems our business was facing regarding branding our story, and they demonstrated a great ability to tailor our marketing program to our unique situation.

Michelle offered very good insights into marketing, and she really knew the tools and techniques used in the space very well. We were very impressed by her technical knowledge and her business acumen.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything that Foundations First could have improved on. We were very pleased with their services, so I would highly recommend them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very open and honest because they really need to know the problems you’re facing so that they can work very easily.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Operations at Enterprise Consulting, Inc., an IT consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Foundations First Marketing?

As a small consulting firm, we didn’t have any in-house marketing expertise, so we were looking to bolster that aspect of our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Foundations First Marketing is our primary marketing strategy firm and they provide us with comprehensive marketing strategies and tactics to improve our campaigns.

We started with a discovery phase to discuss our needs and explain our business. They then researched the marketplace, looked at the backend of our website, and completed an analysis of our competitors. By the time they returned to us, they knew more about us in terms of our online marketing footprint. 

What is the team composition?

We work with the two partners, who both have top-level strategic and comprehensive marketing experience and knowledge.

How did you come to work with Foundations First Marketing?

I found Foundations First Marketing through a mutual connection on LinkedIn. I reached out and hired them because of their excellent social media posts.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested about $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in May 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work is of the highest quality and always exceeds our expectations from a consultation perspective. Their services are also fairly-priced and well worth the investment.

How did Foundations First Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They meet our deadlines and adhere to our budget. We typically communicate through Zoom and Loom and manage the project in Asana.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their comprehensive industry and marketing knowledge and strategies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing they need to improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise you to always be available throughout the partnership and follow their lead.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing manager at DACO Corporation. We are a material handling, storage and packaging distributor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Foundations First Marketing, and what were your goals?

We are a small 2 person team and needed guidance on which digital marketing channels are best for us to focus to increase our exposure and increase leads for our sales team. They have been very helpful in helping us to understand what is import to focus on and what isn't. Understand how to work with analytical programs like Google Analytics and SEMRush , as well as make recommendations on additional resources like Screaming Frog that could help us. We just completed rebranding our company, and are also building a new website, which they have already given us some great guidance on how to do things different with the new website to better assist our customers and increase traffic.

SOLUTION

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

We hired a marketing consultant who has worked with Michelle at Foundations many times, and she introduced her to us.

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

We meet twice a month for 45 minutes to talk about whatever subjects/issues we want to discuss each month. They reviewed all of our marketing efforts and channels and provided us with a 5 month To do List on things we should work on to improve our marketing efforts. It was very detailed and provided resource links. They provided assistance in researching why our website traffic was dropping and if there was cause for concern. This included researching our competitors to see if they were having the same issues.

We used Google Analytics and SEMRush to look at stats. One of our big projects right now is building a new website. They helped us obtain quotes from several companies to help us decide who to go with. They have also provided us with several spreadsheet tools to ensure that we have everything coded correctly for the new website, as well as all URL going to correct places.

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

One, Michelle Tresemer, Marketing Consultant

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

She is very detailed, and really knows her stuff. The tools and resources she has provided have been very helpful. You can tell she has been doing this a long time and really loves what she does. Her enthusiasm is contagious.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We work very well with Michelle. She gets so excited about what she does and investigating things, and gets us excited as well.

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

She is able to help us in all areas of digital marketing and she breadth of knowledge is very impressive. No question is a dumb question and all she wants to do is help us. She is always prompt to our meetings and responds quickly to any questions we may have.

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

None, we are extremely pleased with the assistance we have received and will continue to work with her on a monthly basis.