Holini

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CMO at Fractory, an online metal fabrication platform that connects engineers to manufacturing companies, taking full responsibility for the whole process from quoting to delivery and production quality.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We expanded to new markets and wanted to hand over the management of Google Ads to an external specialist. The aim was to lower our PPC CAC and be as hands-off as possible in the process.

SOLUTION

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

I had heard good things about them already from other startups working with them. For me, there were a few different things why to choose them - their focus on Google Ads (not offering every service available), a senior account manager appointed to us who wasn't juggling between 10s of projects at once and the evident domain knowledge they showed during the onboarding calls.

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

The main aim was to lower the customer acquisition costs compared to what we were already getting and setting up campaigns for new target markets. They thoroughly researched our goals at different levels to understand the process and value of each step in the customer journey. Then they overtook our existing setup and started making changes. And set up campaigns for new markets.

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

3 people in total. The co-founder Andres Ruul was part of the onboarding process and also consulted our account manager from time to time. Taavi Kalvi, the Analytics Developer, helped us set up proper tracking. And our account manager Mikolaj deals with us on a daily basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Very satisfied with their service and commitment as they have helped us in achieving our goal of bringing down costs and opening up Google Ads in new markets.

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

We have a weekly meeting with our account manager which is always informative and well-prepared. Communication is accessible and they are responsive outside the scheduled calls.

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

Their domain knowledge is excellent. Hitting a plateau means that we shall just try something a bit different, so there are always at least ideas to try for further improvement. Also, it was evident that they share knowledge and experiences in-house, discussing customer projects which can bring some new ideas to the table.

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

I don't think so. Expectation management was also spot-on, so we knew what to look forward to and they have delivered on their promises.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a marketing team-lead in SaaS company. We offer tech solutions that help eCommerce businesses strengthen their branding and automate shipping process.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our goal was to hire an agency that has good experience in Google Ads and Web Analytics, so they could help us in setting up proper tracking and lead scoring system for longer perspective. Also, we were needed PPC manager and we wanted to set up our Google Ads account.

SOLUTION

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

Me personally knew this agency, coz I am from the same city with Holini founders. And I have heard good comments about them from many people.

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

We cannot say many details about our advertising, but in few words process looked like this: we started with building analytics, because it was a priority to us. Then we identified the strategical goals and KPIs. After that PPC manager from Holini made a brief questionnaire and dive deeper into our business niche. After 2 weeks same PPC manager set up first campaigns and they were quite successful. So far we constantly communicating and adding the new campaigns and search tactics to our Ad account.

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

On a daily basis we work with 2 people from Holini: Web analyst and PPC manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We started to spend less for the leads and stabilized lead amount per month. I think our avg lead price dropped x2 after we started our cooperation with Holini. We receive on average about 90 leads per month for paid search and half of them are qualified. For B2B it's a quite good amount.

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

We communicate with them via email and they reply quite fast. With our PPC manager we communicate every week.

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

It may sound too obvious, but they just do their job good and they really understand Google products that well, so they always provide valuable feedback and successfully set up our ads.

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

We are happy with them for real.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is Sonarworks, and we're a software development company. I'm a digital marketing lead, and we are located in Latvia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Holini?

We hired Holini to provide digital marketing services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Holini has provided a wide range of marketing campaign ideas for our company; they develop concepts for digital marketing, and we implement them — our in-house team does social media marketing.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with high-level specialists from their team

How did you come to work with Holini?

We're a long-time running startup company, and we have our own dedicated Google manager with whom we are contacting directly. I talked to him about changing our agency, and he suggested Holini. We had a meeting where we discussed the project details, and I was impressed and convinced to work with them from the first meeting.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest around €35,000 (approximately $37,000 USD) with them per month.

What is the status of engagement?

We began our partnership in February 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I appreciate that they know more than I do; we have our own KPIs and track them, but we know that we have a recession in our market. With all that, they could lower our KPIs and perform better. We now have a lower-cost acquisition, which is amazing from their side with all those market problems we have in the industry.

How did Holini perform from a project management standpoint?

They are always delivering everything on time and are great with communication. They're also affordable compared to other service providers. In addition, they've helped us make the necessary improvements through their input.

In terms of communication, we use emails and weekly video calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like that they are very transparent with us regarding providing feedback.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on — there are no complaints about their work.

Any advice for potential customers?

Communicate your goals to them to ensure that you are all on the same page. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the head of marketing for a fast-growing SaaS that is looking to expand and create a truly global footprint.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking to expand into key target markets to expand our presence and accelerate our growth. We consulted with Holini to do that via the Google Ads platform. Their advice and know-how was practical and valuable both in the short-term and the long-term.

SOLUTION

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

We were referred to Holini by another Head of Marketing of a successful local startup. Positive reviews from trusted people, clear analytical ability and similar way of thinking were the deciding factors.

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

We had multiple long conversations (90+ minutes) discussing our goals, going through the budgets, expected CPLs, search volumes and all the details. Then they came back with practical advice and know-how we could improve our campaign planning and implementation. The campaigns impacted include highly competitive markets like the UK. They really helped us to reach one of our goals of being competitive with a smaller initial budget.

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

We only worked with one person as our account currently is on the smaller side but he was one of the senior people in their organisation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our Google Ads ad account is now structured appropriately for our growth model and our key markets, allowing the Google machine learning algorithms to work to our advantage with the relatively small budgets we have.

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

Communicating with Holini is a pleasure. I always look forward to calls with them. They have the practical, no-nonsense style of true experts in the field.

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

Their down-to-earth approach combined with the deep value services, and willingness to go the extra mile were amazing.

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

Nothing in particular.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of sales at Passware, an IT company working in forensics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Holini?

We were unhappy with our Google Ads provider because we were breaking even, so we turned to Holini to see if they could make us some revenue.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Holini is our PPC and analytics service provider. First, we gave them access to our accounts. They had a look at our Google Ads, and based on that, they provided us with new keywords, and we collaborated on which ones to use. They’ve helped us in terms of development as well. As for PPC, the team runs our campaigns on Google Ads and Bing using Microsoft Advertising. They also help us track the results.

What is the team composition?

We work with an account manager and a technical person in charge of the tracking. In the beginning stages, the CEO was involved because he did the analysis. Although we switched account managers at one point, we’re back to working with the person we started with. 

How did you come to work with Holini?

We found them through referrals; we had two recommendations, so we contacted Holini. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our primary metric is sales conversions. With our previous provider, our ROI was 100%, and we had to pay for the agency fees, so we were losing money. Since working with Holini, our ROI has increased to 180%–200%. 

How did Holini perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re good at project management. Although we don’t have deadlines, we know we have nothing to worry about; they’re constantly engaged and finding ways to improve their work. The team proposes the timelines for us to approve, and we haven’t had any issues with them. They also stick to the budget.

We have a Zoom call every two weeks, and they have their own reporting tools where we can see the status of the ads.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with their knowledge of what Google is doing and how. Plus, we’re actually making money off our consumer products; we’re seeing growth, which is most important to me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They’re good at their job, and we’re very happy with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to give Holini credit and trust them. Some companies don’t want to provide access to their Google Ads account. You should give them access and have them look at your accounts to give their honest opinion on what can be done — have some faith in them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing of Bigbank, a financial solutions company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Holini?

We needed someone to take care of our Google marketing activities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Holini has been doing SEM strategy and implementation for us. We outsource all of our Google campaigns to them, and they report to me with the metrics of their work. They also have a proactive attitude and view of things that we could start working on.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been in contact only with Nele (Senior Google Ads Growth Consultant).

How did you come to work with Holini?

They’ve been working with our company for a long time. They found them online and chose them based on their price.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest around €300,000 (approximately $350,000 USD) with them every year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The ROI of their work is great, and they’ve gone above and beyond our expectations. Overall, they’ve been doing an excellent job.

How did Holini perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great and run everything efficiently; they communicate what they need from me and are always willing to help us out. In terms of communication, we use emails and have biweekly meetings and 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

They provide excellent value for the money that we pay.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had a couple of account manager changes, which can get bumpy at the beginning. Each of them ended up being great and running things smoothly, but it took a little time to get it done.

Any advice for potential customers?

Set clear targets and KPIs with them for the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Baltic LEI OU is a global LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) agency operating in 20+ countries and managing more than 20 000 corporate clients. I am the co-founder and CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Holini?

We started partnering Holini in summer 2018, when we saw that our budgets in Google Ads have increased to a level where it is getting more important to start using it right. We needed a partner who could help to improve the efficiency of our Google Ads campaigns and increase conversions.

What were your goals for this project?

We expected to reduce client acquisition cost targets by 20-30%, which would allow us to buy more traffic from Goolge Ads that in the end would result as more sales.

SOLUTION

How did you select Holini?

We were looking for an experienced partner managing our Google Ads account and were choosing between 4-5 different players on the market. Andres and the team let us the most professional impression.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We gave them a full access to our Google Ads account and the data which allowed them to make the first audit of our current campaigns. After that they started re-building our campaigns, improve tracking, we agreed on the new targets and basically gave them "free-hands" to change everything they believed it is necessary.

What was the team composition?

We had our personal account manager from the agency and another partner, who helped to put the tracking systems in place. In addition, we had our internal marketing specialist to support the agency.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As a result of this more than 2 years of cooperation, Holini has helped us to increase our sales via Google Ads more than 5 times and we are still growing!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It is important to put the weekly meetings in place already in the beginning and make it as a routine for the follow-ups, this worked us well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We appreciate that they only focus on one specific marketing segment. They are very enthusiastic and passionate about what they do. And that is the most important thing to deliver great results.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always a possibility to reach even better targets, but we are happy with their current service quality and results.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Digital Acquisition Manager at Estonian SaaS startup company called Xolo. We’ll take care of getting your one-person business up and running. You’ll have an option to start your own Estonian limited liability company or you can send invoices in partnership with us without founding a company.

We have customers in 119 countries and a dedicated team of 80 people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Holini?

We were looking for an agency to help us grow using paid marketing channels. With a relatively small in-house team we needed external support with ideas, execution and everything in between.

What were your goals for this project?

We need to test new ideas to see what works for us from a direct response perspective and continuously optimise campaigns towards profitability and scale.

SOLUTION

How did you select Holini?

I don't have that information as the decision was done before I joined Xolo.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Holini has been a close partner for me and Xolo with all things related to Google Ads. They started with rebuilding the account structure and conversion tracking from the scratch.

Our Google Ads account has been evolving constantly and by now we've successfully tested most of what the platform has to offer for us. They've also helped us a lot with our tracking and marketing analytics setup, especially with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager.

This has been a huge bonus working with them.

What was the team composition?

For the past 2 years we've had the same consultant working for us. Occasionally we've been in contact with a few more people when it came to more admin, strategy or technology-related topics.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've been able to test extensively and quickly - messages, targeting options, creative types, audiences, markets, channels, new betas available for limited customers, etc.

This is a very important part of our cooperation with Holini as Xolo is a startup. All this has been done while growing the number of leads from Google Ads and keeping the profitability of the platform as a whole.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our cooperation has been very good! Between bi-weekly meetings and monthly reporting our everyday cooperation over Slack is very smooth. There's a good balance between flexibility and keeping an eye on long term objectives.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Very good understanding of what Google Ads has to offer. They know all the latest news, so that I can concentrate on other areas of paid acquisition. Our consultant is a smart, friendly and hard-working person with a can-do attitude.

There's never a need to double-check if and what was executed. Their detailed understanding of tracking, and willingness to investigate and help beyond Google Ads has been very valuable.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We haven't been able to unlock the profitability of some of the campaign types to scale these to new levels. But we haven't given up either and continue learning.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company owns different shopping malls and an e-commerce marketplace to offer clients an omnichannel solution. I work as a digital marketing specialist and mostly focus on the e-commerce side of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Holini?

The biggest challenge was to realise the full potential of the e-commerce site. It's growth had slowed down in the past year and our previous PPC partner did not meet our goals. We began looking for a new partner who could help us grow.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main goal was to build better performing campaigns and retargeting campaigns to raise ROAS and increase sales in goole ads and Facebook ads. As well as fix our tracking and pixel issues.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

There were a couple of other companies we were considering. In addition to their competence in the field they were quick to answer any questions we had and came with great recommendations.

Describe the project in detail.

We started off by going over our business model and explaining our platform. Then they did a review of our google ads, facebook and google analytics. We had a meeting where they showed our current situation and where we could improve. After that they helped us fix our issues with google analytics. We agreed on goals for Facebook and Google ads and got to work.

What was the team composition?

Our main team has two people, one for Google ads and one for Facebook ads. In addition to that we have a third contact we can reach out to in case we have any questions about Google analytics.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the first months working with Holini we already saw a significant increase in sales and roas. We have seen steady growth ever since we started working with them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow has been very effective. We hold meetings every two weeks to go over the main points. In addition to that we are in constant communication through email and so far haven't had any communication errors.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are very professional and have a very good knowledge of their field. In addition they go the extra mile and give ideas and suggestions for improvement in related fields.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Can't think of anything that needs improvement, the experience so far has been extraordinary.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an online furniture retailer. We do not sell very high end nor we sell very cheap furniture - right in the middle.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Holini?

We first hired Holini for Analytics set up improvement in the early days but have been involving them more and more over the years. Now Holini also takes care of our Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals are always divided into two: 1. Improve our tracking/data 2. Reach new customers and/or expand into new markets

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After approaching different potential vendors, we decided to proceed with Holini since they understood our business/target audience and do not give unrealistic promises which often is done by marketing agencies.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We have tried different strategies over the years and track all our changes closely. Once you have explained your business in detail, Holini is able to come back with good road map / action plan.

What was the team composition?

There are different people for different services. All the team members we have met, have been very professional (I have met around 5-6 people).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Results are easily measured: 1. Our analytics performance tracking has improved each time. 2. Our ads performance has improved since we handed our accounts over to Holini.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything went (still goes) smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I like that Holini has hands on approach and they take the time to understand the client and offer very personalised solutions. We work in very small niche and we appreciate that very much!

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, not that I experienced. We're very satisfied and planning to work with them again.