SEO for Cycling Nonprofit
- Pay Per Click Search Engine Optimization
- $10,000 to $49,999
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"Ignite's staff is extremely attentive and engaged, talking to us on a weekly basis or even more."
- Other industries
- San Diego, California
- 11-50 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
Ignite Visibility helped a local non-profit raise its online profile and awareness in the San Diego market and beyond to push more event participation and donations.
Ignite Visibility worked with the client's limited budget to improve their online presence and community awareness. They provide great service and grew social media presence in an impressive fashion.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We are a non-profit organization based out of San Diego, California, organizing a 2-day cycling event that raises money for local cancer research within 4 institutions. I am the director of marketing and communications. I handle all the communication intended for our audience.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Ignite?
We needed help raising the profile of our organization throughout San Diego as well as nationally. Our website, social media and overall digital footprint were limited, confined to the small amount of work we'd done in-house. We had not worked with a digital agency in the past, so we wanted an agency that could help us grow this presence.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
Ignite has provided SEO work for our web profiles, particularly on Google. On the social media side, they have helped tighten up our profiles and processes, creating a marketing plan for regular content. This included individual posts, blog articles, infographics, and other assets which can be used for keeping our content engine going.
Ignite has also helped us on the structural side, making our backend more SEO-friendly. We're currently undergoing a migration of our site to a new domain as well as performing an entire redesign. Ignite is putting together a plan for that move, making it as painless as possible from an SEO and ranking standpoint.
How did you come to work with Ignite?
I had originally talked to a few agencies in town, not necessarily looking to put one on retainer or to set up a long-term engagement, but rather for one-off projects. After meeting Ignite, we had big conversations around what we were trying to do. They were open to the idea of helping us and offered some pro bono work. As a non-profit, we don't have the kind of budget that a typical business might have. Ignite has a program by which a non-profit is selected every year for help on a pro bono basis. They were drawn to our concept and reason for being, and Ignite has even participated in our event. We were thrilled to engage an agency of their stature on that basis and everything has worked out. I'm sure that Ignite offers services beyond what they offered us and I appreciate not being offered more. Our budget is limited, and it may have turned us off to working with them.
How much have you invested with Ignite?
Ignite's work was pro bono, but its annual value is around $45,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our original 1-year term will run out in the summer of 2017, but we plan to keep working together in the same capacity. Ignite is looking to extend that through to the end of the year. Our event is held once every year, with the November 2017 one being our 5th edition. It's been a great relationship and we're happy to count Ignite as a partner.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
I come from an agency background and have been the main contact person for our work with Ignite. I'm familiar with how the process works on the other side of things, but I've also worked with many groups on the client side. Ignite has been one of the best agencies I've worked with, not only from a technical expertise standpoint—even though I'm impressed with that side of things—but rather from a service side. Ignite understands our organization and has engaged with us, taking the time to understand our business, audience, and mission. Ignite pitched us a menu of services which they felt would align with our goals, rather than giving a set approach from the start.
It's safe to say that we've doubled our social media presence overall, in terms of fans and followers, likes and views. Ignite was instrumental in helping us have our most successful year to date. We have grown our fundraising to $2 million, up from 1.3 in 2015. More impressive was the number of riders we were able to secure: our participation went from 820 in 2015 to 1,500 in 2016. Ignite has played a huge role in that by helping raise our profile, engage on social media, and connect with our audience. Social media plays a huge role in our activity, given that our model is peer-to-peer fundraising. People participate in our event and spread the word to their friends, basically soliciting donations. Everything is based on volume and spreading the word, and Ignite has helped us craft our approach and use it to our advantage.
How did Ignite perform from a project management standpoint?
Ignite's staff is extremely attentive and engaged, talking to us on a weekly basis or even more. We often communicate via email and Basecamp. There were times when I called on Ignite for tasks which either fell outside of the scope of our engagement or were last-minute. They've always responded to the call with a smile on their face. If every vendor I've used was as easy to work with as Ignite, my job would be a whole lot easier.
What did you find most impressive about Ignite?
Ignite is a homegrown agency from San Diego, which is great for us. Being based in the same city, it's good to see that all the money we raise stays in San Diego. To have an agency of Ignite's caliber in our backyard has meant that our identity was immediately embraced. I'm sure that there are a number of agencies in town which could do the same job, but not many of them would give us the same level of service.
Are there any areas Ignite could improve?
I couldn't begin to point something out, given how satisfied I've been.
What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Ignite?
It’s important to be open and upfront about the goal at hand. Clients should put everything out on the table and be honest with Ignite. They're receptive to that kind of communication. Ignite wasn't immediately turned off upon hearing that we didn't have a lot of money to pay them, but that we had some very specific needs. Ignite embraced our project and did what was right for us.
I come from the agency world, so I know what it's like to be driven by big accounts and what that can mean for smaller ones. I've not gotten the sense that Ignite operates that way, at least not with us.
RATINGS
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Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
"Ignite has consistently met or exceeded our expectations. They took the initiative in suggesting solutions which we weren't expecting or considering. Ignite went above and beyond what we were looking for."
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Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
"For the most part, Ignite has been great in meeting all of our deadlines."
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Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
"Ignite was flexible with our organization's setup, which showed that they weren't looking only for the money and for high-paying clients."
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Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
"I've already referred 2 clients to Ignite. Given my background with agencies, I can be picky with whom I work with, but I have no reservations about Ignite.