Intentional

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for a fully online home decor brand. I coordinate our strategies for marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Intentional?

We needed Intentional’s marketing services. They took over the engagement from our previous ad agency because they identified areas where they could bring in some extra value. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Intentional handles all of our ads for our platforms. That includes Facebook, Pinterest, and Google Ads. We meet with them every month to look at the ads we currently run. Then, we address any changes or revisions that need to be made. 

Moreover, our internal content team creates videos and designs for the ads. Intentional then finds and creates the audience for the ads. Their resources also write copy for the ads and choose how to market them on our platforms. 

What is the team composition?

We work with one account manager who’s also one of the organization’s co-founders. I meet with him monthly, and he liaises with the rest of his team. He essentially serves as our main point of contact. 

How did you come to work with Intentional?

I found Intentional through a working conference. Then, I started a conversation with them. They pitched their approach, which was slightly different from other ad agencies’ techniques. Their team focused more on the revenue that the business was producing rather than just the performance of the ad account and the return on ad spend (ROAS). As a result, they knew how the revenue could increase. That was why we decided to hire the, 

How much have you invested with them?

Their management fee is approximately $6,000 per month. Since this isn’t a one-off project, we pay them a monthly retainer. Meanwhile, our ad spend is around $30,000 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Intentional in November 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While we can’t typically rate an ad agency with less than six months of progress, Intentional has made decisions that seem to benefit us. They’ve restructured our ads to focus less on getting lots of people to the website and more on getting the right clients to engage with us. This has increased our conversion rate — the audience that Intentional picks have a greater intention of purchasing from us. 

How did Intentional perform from a project management standpoint?

Intentional’s project management is great. It helps that I’m communicating with only one central person. They also use a reporting tool called Funnel; they put our analytics into that, and we receive reports through it. We then simply meet monthly. Our internal staff uses Monday as a management tool. We’re also going to share this with them so they can see our side. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve worked with a large agency with a lot of employees. By contrast, Intentional’s services are more personal and a bit more tailored to our business. That’s a function of working with a more boutique agency. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. We’re quite satisfied with their work, and there isn’t anything we want to change. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I encourage you to trust in Intentional’s approach. They focus on increasing your revenue, which is ultimately what every business owner wants. However, that might come at a cost in terms of ROAS percentages. Ultimately, you’re going to have greater revenue. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Brand Manager for a Global Adhesives Technologies Manufacturer. We market an extensive range of brand-name products for consumers, do-it-yourselfers, craftsmen and trade as well as for maintenance and manufacturing professionals from more than 800 different industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Intentional?

Paid Media/Social Ad Campaign Management and Optimization to ensure the effectiveness of targeted ads, optimizing campaigns for both budget & performance, and identifying valuable learnings for future campaign implementation and optimization.

SOLUTION

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

We worked with a Through-The-Line Marketing Agency on a B2C campaign to activate a new product about 4 years ago and Intentional managed the Digital Marketing for the campaign. We have been using them since.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

They run our Social Media Paid Ad Campaigns (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube) across our B2C and B2B brands, as well an an Always-On Paid Search campaign. We provide the social media content and they manage the budget, performance and optimization of the campaigns.

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

We worked with the Digital Account Director and mostly the Managing Director.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We implemented an always-on Paid Search marketing strategy as suggested by Intentional, to ensure a consistent and long-term presence in the market and an ability to respond to market opportunities quicker. As a result, our search campaign performance increased while running a social media burst campaign. We saw a 47% increase in number of Clicks, 21% increase in number of Impressions 21% increase in CTR%, and 22% decrease in CPC. Budget optimisations to campaigns saw a decrease in overall CPC and reduction in total monthly budget.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We start with a kick-off meeting to go through the budget, goals and expectations of each campaign, followed by a review of the content and target audience. Once the campaign is live, we get detailed reports to update us on the performance, including suggestions on optimization for better ROI. We also have check-in's via email/phone during the campaign period.

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

They provided the in-depth knowledge, skills, and resources we require to scale up our business.  We've also reached new and targeted markets and optimize our spend and ROI.

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

As they are experts in their fields and more in-touch with the industry, sharing a quarterly or annual key trends/insights report would be valuable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

SMK is a specialist learning and development firm that focuses on digital marketing education and training. Our company is one of the world's leading providers of digital marketing education and we’ve been in the business for over 11 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Intentional?

we wanted a sophisticated approach to digital marketing because we were going up against some very aggressive and well-funded competitions — we needed to work with someone who was able to construct and deploy advanced marketing strategies.

Intentional has worked for us for a number of years with online advertising. They run our Google ads, social media ads, and essentially everything that’s related to our advertising efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Intentional is predominantly working with us to develop and implement advertising strategies and tactics, focusing on the digital media buying space. They have a variety of marketing services, but they help us come up with solutions to our issues related to digital marketing.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a lot of people from Intentional over the years, and most of our main contacts are the senior leaders, Chris (Mission Director & Partner) and Adam (Founder).

How did you come to work with Intentional?

When we went out to the market to find a supplier to look after our management on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis, we worked with lots of different providers for a number of years. It was a quite frustrating experience in the first three or four years of trying to find reliable partners that could run advanced campaigns because we tend to have quite advanced advertising strategies.

I was referred to Intentional by a Google analytics specialist who I knew and he told me that they’re smart and are particularly skilled in Google Ads. I first engaged with them around the discussion about running our Google search advertising, and it was very apparent that they run Google search ads to an exceptionally high level. From the quick conversation with them, we realized that they operated on high standards, so we engaged with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere between $800,000–$1.2 million USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership started in June 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we first started working with them, they doubled up performance from our Google search ads in just a week through efficient strategies and programs.

We put a strong focus on lead generation and general revenue growth as opposed to being very granular in terms of marketing performance. We don't have a very clear attribution model just because our business is quite convoluted in sense of processes involved in getting a customer — so we look at total revenue and CPL on a more granular basis. 

How did Intentional perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform very well. We’ve been engaged with them for a number of years, and the way we started working together was quite informal in terms of communication. We’ve maintained this approach because they’ve been able to produce great results and we prefer a more relaxed relationship.

We used to have in-person meetings, emails, and phone conversations but nowadays, we mainly use Zoom to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with the way they implement advanced advertising strategies. The way they operate and develop their strategies is on a higher level, and they’re also pragmatic and honest when it comes to recommendations — they’re aware of the deficiencies and weaknesses of various platforms such as Facebook and Google.

We work with other marketing specialists who refuse to criticize Google when it does something it’s not supposed to, so Intentional’s agnostic approach makes them stand out in this regard.

They have this rare ability to see the bigger picture and understand which marketing strategies to use.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could improve on because they’ve been growing through their scalable business solutions. They're a great operator and we recommend them very frequently to lots of other players in the space.

Any advice for potential customers?

I would advise them to trust and listen to Intentional. They operate at an advanced level and they know what they're talking about, so you don't need to tell them how to do their job. The reason we’ve worked with them for such a long time is they wanted us to win — it wasn't always about just making more money from the relationship.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Thankyou is a social enterprise that offers consumer products that exist all-for helping end extreme poverty. Thankyou is a movement of people who take the power of consumer choice and flip it for good. At Thankyou, I am the Marketing, Communications and Community Coordinator.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Digital advertising across Facebook. Instagram, Google Search and YouTube. We utilised Intentional for various ad campaigns including, but not limited to - product sales, brand awareness and consumer engagement.

SOLUTION

How did you select Intentional and what were the deciding factors?

Intentional's capability to holistically launch digital marketing campaigns and successfully achieve our required objectives.

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

For a recent product launch, Thankyou partnered with Intentional to help build brand awareness with a range of video & image assets. Intentional provided strategic guidance on creative formats during pre-production, before supplying a Playbook template for our internal team to complete.

In uploading campaigns they were able to use a setup to unearth the best performing creative, before optimising audiences to the best performers. At end of the campaign, Intentional provided a detailed report with insights and actions for improvement for future campaigns.

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

Our direct account manager was our main contact, with the use of a specialist paid social team that we worked with indirectly through our account manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With our latest campaign, we reached over 1 million Australians, surpassing our expectations for the budget. This was coupled with an 8% Ad Recall Rate. We valued the learnings from the campaign that Intentional provided during the campaign (to make optimisations towards) as well as with a detailed report at the end of the campaign.

Our account manager at Intentional met with our internal team to run through the specifics of the campaign, what worked and what didn't.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our two teams worked efficiently and effectively together, with a continual flow of communication. The team at Intentional are exceptional at taking us on the campaign journey, and work very transparently and collaboratively across all projects.

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

The in-depth knowledge and expertise of Intentional possess in the digital marketing field have been impressive. The team at Intentional internally review campaigns collaboratively, allowing the best outcome to be determined and produced for their clients.

As we have continued to partner with Intentional, our work has continuously grown into a two-way, collaborative digital marketing process.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a design company that makes bike and outdoor accessories. My role here is Digital Marketing Manager, overseeing all things digital, including our paid advertising strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Intentional?

We needed someone to manage our digital advertising for us, primarily social, but also dabbling in Google Search Google Display and Youtube. We also needed an experienced agency that could provide advice on strategy and creative execution.

SOLUTION

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

I have worked with Chris, Intentional's 'Mission Director', many times over the years. I find him knowledgeable, extremely trustworthy and above all else has always helped brands I've worked for achieve strong results.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Intentional help us with 'always on' campaigns as well as project based. They help us focus our always on, or retargeting campaigns, on delivering strong ROAS, while providing advice around how we should approach our project based campaigns which often have different objectives. For example, brand or product awareness.

For the later, we would typically approach Intentional with a campaign brief and work with them to develop creative and content for the channels we've identified as targets. Once up and running, we will regularly touch base to refine channels / ad sets / ad creative based on what's kicking goals. We are then provided with month reporting, which is at quite a high level to be fair.

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

I have only ever worked directly with Chris, as our Account Manager. While I know much of the work is completed by others, I have yet to meet them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I would prefer not to share specifics here, but with the limitations we have had to work with, I am happy with what we've been able to achieve with Intentional.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow and communication has always been easy. Chris is always very responsive and on hand to provide advice or feedback. With regard to campaigns, when planned with appropriate lead time, they have never missed a kick-off. And when we throw something unexpected at them, they are always very accommodating.

We receive monthly reports that provide an overview of our campaigns. This is getting better and they have just introduced a new reporting template, but the reporting process still leaves a little to be desired in regard to what I would find useful in helping us review and improve.

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

The most impressive thing about this company is them. They always operate with integrity, help you achieve substantial results without overpromising, and are honest. On occasion when I feel a retainer or similar hasn't been fully utilised, they're open to adjusting invoices accordingly. They are fair.

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

From my experience, intentional could improve in the following areas: - creative examples to inspire our creative team - improve depth of reporting to ensure we're always getting better at how we do things.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the ECommerce Manager for Foreo Oceania. Foreo is a beauty and wellness company known for their range of skincare, cleansing and oral care devices that have revolutionised the beauty and oral care industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Intentional?

Being a global company, we were looking to enhance our marketing and bring our awareness, education and engagement with customers to another level. Whilst we do have a global, in-house digital advertising team overseas - we were looking for a team that was nimble, had experience in our industry specifically and knew the Australian market.

We needed a team that could be flexible as this way of working was new for Foreo and would require a high degree of working with uncertainty, and administrative work in order to set up the different advertising platforms to be incubated and run locally.

SOLUTION

How did you select Intentional?

Given we needed to onboard relatively quickly, we found 2 companies who fit the level of expertise that we required but were at a size where we weren't just a number, but felt like a valued client. Intentional showed not only professionalism and depth of knowledge, but an ability to adapt and evolve and be flexible given the pilot was somewhat a new thing we were incubating. Chris and the team showed a great deal of understanding and humility during the tender process despite us not having a lot of the answers - and provided a clear, costed plan that took into account next steps.

We felt that even during the tender process, that we were walking away with insights and improvements that we could take into the business and implement, even if the project did not go ahead.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

With a series of regular meetings and interactions, in the first few weeks we setup meetings with the global team to transition and provide access to our various platforms and ensure that the information flow was correctly set up. From there, we met on a regular monthly / fortnightly schedule to establish and execute an MVP, always-on advertising strategy coupled with ad-hoc campaign advertising.

As we established more learnings, optimisations and avenues of advertising, we have iteratively increased the scope of work across more channels. Part of the work required was to also ensure changes in the market / algorithm were adapted to, in order to ensure performance did not suffer - of which Intentional were always abreast of and forward thinking in communication and risk mitigation.

At current, we have regular meetings fortnightly in order to brief in new work (campaigns, ad refresh) and discuss performance and optimisations and tests of market that can be conducted.

What was the team composition?

We work closely with one of the founders, and another of the Account Management team, who then translate our business needs into actionables for their specialists who execute on the various advertising platforms we're on.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've established a holistic approach to our customer journey from advertising / awareness, consideration to purchase. We've successfully and seamlessly transitioned from a global to local model and been able to support the broader goals of our Marketing team to bring engagement and education to our Australian customers in a relevant and exciting way.

Our advertising metrics have increased significantly (versus prior to working with them, where advertising was sporadic) and are being optimised and retained at healthy levels. Together, we have executed multiple campaigns (BFCM, Christmas, Flash Sales, Birthday, Seasonal Campaigns) and Always On advertising refreshes that have resulted in increased awareness and attributable revenue improvements.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Initially with monthly meetings and regular emails, this worked somewhat well. However, there was a gap in understanding the work that Intentional were doing and the visibility from client side. It took a little while for us to establish a cadence that brought more transparency, but we now meet fortnightly and this has worked perfectly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their knowledge of the industry, action orientation, and ability to execute has been impressive. But the most critical part has been that relationship is central to what they do. They really value us not just as company/brand, but as humans - and have such a high level of humility to be upfront with any gaps or even mistakes, and work through any issues or problems in a collaborative way. We truly appreciate the care in relationship that Intentional have provided.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

I wish that we had established the cadence of fortnightly meetings earlier, to avoid any uncertainty and create alignment. Also wished we had a better dashboard/regular reporting tool (which will be launched shortly!).

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a digital marketer who manages multi-channel digital marketing campaigns for acquisition and brand building

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were a challenger brand in the market and wanted to differentiate from the rest with the brand personality. We wanted to leverage digital platforms to drive customer acquisition while building a brand for long term growth. So we wanted an agency that specialised in full-funnel and have a deep understanding of overall marketing and how to integrate with TVC.

SOLUTION

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

We went through a tender process and carefully assessed submitted proposals to select the best fit for our requirements.

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

First, we share our overall campaign briefs and then concepts with Intentional and then developed a channel strategy based on campaign objectives and budget. They also provide us feedback on the creative strategy on digital platforms. When we have all the creatives, copy and landing pages ready, Intentional build and manage multiple campaigns on Google and Facebook.

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

we mostly worked with Chris and time to time with Adam and Josh for more operations optimisations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been achieving over 300% ROAS over the years. In addition, our share of search on Google has improved over the years and now sitting as the most search brand in the category.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

we have weekly meetings with Chris and monthly meetings with FB account managers which Intentional also participate.

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

Their speciality is in both Facebook and Google. Also, I appreciate their ability to deliver effective strategies to grow our business.

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

They do a great job overall. An area of improvement could be to communicate or discuss the rationale of some strategies with clients.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Managing Director of Sitting Pretty, a Hair Care brand selling Direct To Consumer via Ecommerce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Intentional?

Facebook and Google advertising management.

SOLUTION

How did you select Intentional?

We had been working with other service providers but our experience was that the other vendors didn't really know what they were doing and didn't really care to put in the extra effort.

Our previous providers had always adopted a "set-and-forget" attitude to the management of our accounts. We were recommended to Intentional through a friend, and we knew straight away from speaking to them that they were the real deal.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The project covered the ongoing management of our Facebook and Google advertising accounts. Intentional were tasked with complete oversight of our ads platforms, which extended to the management of our overall campaign strategy/structure. They even managed some aspects that fell somewhat out of the scope, such as pixel tracking set up on our site, which requires ongoing maintenance.

What was the team composition?

We worked directly with Adam, who is one of the owners as well as Account Manager. Adam dealt with us as a strategic partner and met with us on a bi-weekly basis to discuss our accounts in detail. From time to time he would bring into the fold a member from his team to provide input.

As for the total composition of the team; although I didn't meet everyone who had a hand in our project over the 4 year term that we worked with Intentional, we met with Chantelle, the Facebook PPC Manager, Adam, the other partner and head of Google Ads Management within the agency, and we were aware of several other people who had input via email and such over the years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had a very successful campaign working with Intentional, achieving over 10x ROAS across Facebook and Google for several years. Towards the end the results suffered due to the iOS14.5 transition.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Working with an external agency always poses collaboration issues. However, dealing with Intentional was fairly seamless. They were very responsive to our needs and attentive to our questions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

All agencies say that they care about their customers, and that they put their customers before their own growth. However, Intentional is one of the only agencies that I've actually seen that genuinely do this. It's very clear in the attention they give to each of their accounts.

They are a small agency in the scheme of things, but they have maintained this on purpose to ensure the quality comes first. I find that very impressive. Their craft and in-depth knowledge of Facebook and Google platforms and personal relationships were impressive.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

I think Intentional have a pretty complete package. They offer market insights, they are attentive, and they understand good advertising. I have little to say to criticise them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the digital and brand manager for a health and wellness company that represents many brands that are primarily sold in pharmacies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

PPC services - to expand our digital reach and sales through our online store iHealthSphere.

SOLUTION

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

Unsure this was the company we used prior to me beginning in the company.

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

Google ad words, digital sales.

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

Just Chris, our project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Keeping our sales on budget and in line with projected sales targets

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

Chris is great, we have a monthly online meeting to ensure everything stays on track and talk mostly via email when a new project comes along.

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

We're impressed with their professionalism — they send reports on time and are knowledgeable about industry trends.

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

Not really.