Kiosk

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for the city of Novato, California. We have around 53,000 residents and an organization of around 220 staff members.

I am the communications manager for the organization. I am responsible for all internal and external communication, marketing, public information, employee communications, business and community outreach, engagement, media relations, government relations, and so on.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kiosk?

A couple of years ago, we lost a redevelopment funding mechanism, and we no longer had the funding to perform some of the development activities that we previously had. Because of this, we needed to find help with our economic efforts. Kiosk became the ancillary staff and helped with business development, and kept an initiative going that was originally created when we still had the government funding.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Kiosk team has been integral for not only our business outreach but also for community outreach. They've helped us with our economic development efforts, launching our Shop Local Novato program three years ago. The program brought a new appreciation of staying local and spending within the community. It has also improved awareness for our businesses in the area, providing a marketing channel for them on our local site and social media profiles. To do so, the Kiosk team created and managed our website, social media profiles, and insular pages.

Kiosk has also worked on the North Bay Life Science Alliance platform, which is an extension of our economic development efforts. The platform builds brand awareness for Novato as a place where biotech businesses can be brought, as well as raising awareness for the businesses already here.

Kiosk has worked on branding and digital advertising, helping us promote our sites and the campaign in general. Not only did Kiosk provide strategic consultation, but they also gave us access to marketing acumen. Kiosk maintained the engine that was created during times when we still had redevelopment funding, filling that gap for us. It's been great for our community and economy.

How did you come to work with Kiosk?

I believe we met with them as part of our relaunch of our Economic Development program. We chose Kiosk because of their dynamic and progressive nature. Kiosk is a local company, but even if they weren't, we have a variety of tools to assist our collaboration. Kiosk was a part of our community from day one, so it was a natural choice.

How much have you invested with Kiosk?

The cost of Kiosk's services has been at least $300,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Kiosk in early 2013. We've been utilizing them ever since, and they have proven to be an important part of our community. They provide pro-bono work for our non-profits as well. Kiosk is always willing to provide assistance, even outside of our retainer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have more people engaged with our website and online profiles, driving them to visit Novato and building goodwill. We have increased awareness tenfold, and have gained much more traffic for the site. The Novato Shop Local portal features more than half of our 4,500 businesses.

How did Kiosk perform from a project management standpoint?

Kiosk takes project management seriously and has an almost immediate response time. Being a communications professional myself, I'm typically available 24/7; I've always been blown away by Kiosk's commitment and ability to anticipate trends and needs. There was never a time when I couldn't reach out to them. Kiosk truly cares about our city, has been prompt with monthly reports, and easily provides additional statistics when we need them. The work is extensively documented, making it easy for us to collaborate.

The work is conceptualized in a collaborative way. Kiosk is great at taking our ideas and creating something from it, making us feel as if we're a part of the process. Being a part of the government, we sometimes don't know what we don't know. Kiosk has stayed on top of trends.

What did you find most impressive about Kiosk?

Kiosk is community-oriented, making us feel as if we're their only client, even though they're an international group. It feels as if Kiosk is a part of our staff; the personal attention we've received is bar none.

Are there any areas Kiosk could improve?

No. I'm always blown away by Kiosk.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a public university in Nevada. I am the director of digital marketing for the institution. Our office is responsible for everything from web governance to digital campaigns, accessibility, SEO [search engine optimization], SEM [search engine marketing], and content production. We partner with individual colleges and administrative units to help them manage their own web pages and digital content.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kiosk?

Much of the work on our site is performed under resource constraints. It can often be difficult to reach an audience of prospective students, faculty, and internal campus members while managing multiple campaigns using a small team. We needed to find an external group on which to offload some of our digital campaigns.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We run campaigns across multiple channels, such as Google AdWords and Facebook. Kiosk has managed both programmatic and general campaigns aimed at student recruitment. Kiosk has provided end-to-end services and assisted with campaign planning, targeting, operation, and reporting.

How did you come to work with Kiosk?

Kiosk was referred to us by a mutual party. We connected with their founder and hit it off immediately. We quickly understood that Kiosk puts client success at the forefront of their work. This interpersonal connection and dedication to their clients made us feel comfortable moving ahead with Kiosk.

How much have you invested with Kiosk?

We are choosing not to provide this information.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Kiosk approximately one year ago, and have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Kiosk reached the outcomes we targeted. We've been pleased with the results, so we plan to continue the relationship. Kiosk's entire team is great to work with; they're extremely responsive, with talented digital professionals and excellent account representatives.

Kiosk has also shared ideas on how to improve the campaigns as they are running. They think about the changes and tweaks that can be made in order to improve results. I like the feedback loop which Kiosk established. We have developed a personal relationship with their founder, which speaks volumes about how Kiosk is run.

How did Kiosk perform from a project management standpoint?

We set solid deadlines upfront in terms of what was expected from both sides, so we've never had issues with timing, with not having campaigns updated, or any other major issues. Kiosk is on top of the work, and they set clear expectations.

What did you find most impressive about Kiosk?

The team from Kiosk is extremely knowledgeable, nice, and fun to work with. I can't speak for their other clients, but the individual relationship I've established with Kiosk's principal is important. I can call him on his cell phone, shoot him a text message, or send an email; he will get back to me at any time.

Are there any areas Kiosk could improve?

I don't have anything to mention at this point.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a chamber of commerce which is a business advocacy organization. We hold events for the business community so they can network and exchange business ideas. We also hold training seminars and workshops to train businesses on certain aspects of doing their jobs better. Also, we provide marketing and promotion services for them and promote their businesses and market them through various channels.

We also operate as a visitor’s information center for the city of Novato, providing tourism services and information. I’m the chief executive officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kiosk?

We approached Kiosk for work related to our tourism program. We do a lot of internet-based advertising to attract anyone coming to the Bay Area to visit Novato. We also needed to revamp our website and internet presence as a visitor’s center.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kiosk was engaged in the website redevelopment from the very beginning. They did focus groups on determining a new look and new taglines. Based on that, we made decisions on our design and brand images, and then Kiosk built sample website templates that we could select from. Kiosk also helped us with SEO and ad placement on travel-based websites. They’re doing some ad buys on Facebook and other social media, because our only advertising is internet based. We have integrated Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter into our redeveloped website, and Kiosk manages our social media as part of the monthly services they provide.

How did you come to work with Kiosk?

They’re based in Novato and are a member of our chamber. When we put out the bid for our website, we only considered chamber members, and they won the bid. We did the same thing with our later advertising bid, which they also won.

How much have you invested with Kiosk?

Overall, our engagement with Kiosk has been between $50,000 to $200,000 per year. The website contract is $18,000 per year, and the advertising contract is $65,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2013, and we are currently working with them. We have a monthly service agreement to provide fresh content to our tourism website and manage the social media. We have another contract with them to do the advertising campaign and media buy.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Every month we get a report from them to show the results of their work. Our old website was getting an average of 1,600 hits per month, and now we average 8,000 hits per month. When we launched that new site, we didn’t have any followers on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. We now have 7,000 to 9,000 followers on the social media sites, and that’s taken place over the past two years. The occupancy rate and revenue generation rate for hotel rooms in Novato went up 12% in 2015 and 11% in 2016.

How did Kiosk perform from a project management standpoint?

They met or exceeded every deadline and came on or under budget every time.

What did you find most impressive about Kiosk?

They are on the cutting edge and extremely knowledgeable about their industry from a technical and marketing perspective.

Are there any areas Kiosk could improve?

There are things we’d like them to do, but our budget limits us. I can’t think of anything they can improve.