Level Agency

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the chief marketing officer for PSA Insurance and Financial Services, an independent insurance broker based in Baltimore, Md.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Webmechanix?

We engaged Webmechanix for SEO and digital marketing services after redesigning our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Webmechanix provides SEO services, including key word research and advice on ad placement for our core products. They've helped us focus our efforts on areas where we can get the most value and face the least competition, overseeing digital marketing strategy, PPC, email marketing, and analytics.

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with three people on their team.

How did you come to work with Webmechanix?

I already had a relationship with some of their staff, and their company had a good reputation in our community.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested about $10,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started collaborating in the summer of 2018 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Webmechanix has helped us dramatically improve our organic search rankings for a handful of keywords.

How did Webmechanix perform from a project management standpoint?

They're a very responsive, client-centric, and professional team. They come with up with creative, intelligent solutions and take the time to understand our mission.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're experts in their field and know how to implement effective strategies to deliver results.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. So far, so good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of marketing at Go Ape Treetop Adventure. We are a treetop obstacle and zipline company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebMechanix?

When I first came on board, it was quickly apparent to me that the agency we were working with for paid digital tasks was mismanaging our account. It was highly inefficient with high cost per acquisition figures. We needed a new firm to better manage our paid search.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They audited our Google AdWords and our Bing campaigns. In doing so, they cut out a lot of inefficient ad groups and keywords. They created a mixed, balanced approach to our search portfolio in each market. They identified the key traffic-driving keywords. Their optimization tasks are ongoing with us. They conduct audits of our creative assets each quarter, and they give us feedback about what produces the most engagement and the most conversion.

What is the team composition?

We have a dedicated account representative, but other members of the team join as needed. 

How did you come to work with WebMechanix?

I was familiar with them from my time with a different company. They were brought in to work with one of our accounts there, and while I didn’t work with them directly, I saw what they were able to do, and it was impressive.

How much have you invested with them?

Our business is very seasonal, so we might increase our account support at peak times, which will increase our fees, but we spend between $46,000 and $50,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2017, and they currently run all of our paid advertising on social media.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to decrease the average of the CPA from more than $60 to around $20, which is a significant cost improvement. We haven’t lost any traffic, and our conversion rate has increased.

How did WebMechanix perform from a project management standpoint?

Our account representatives are extremely accessible. Whenever we plan on larger projects, they pull in several new members to assist. They have provided tremendous documentation and reports for us to track our growth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like that they are transparent. You don't feel like you’re being taken advantage of. I feel very confident that we’re getting great quality for our money. Our account gets a lot of attention, and I’m sure we’re not one of their biggest accounts, but we don’t feel that way. They really put in the time and effort to build lasting relationships.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are responsive and detailed, it would be great if they could also highlight missed opportunities that we could take advantage of. 

Any advice for potential customers?

We found it valuable to have an onboarding meeting and give them as much information as we could to our account history and what our goals were.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a holistic, integrated medical practice with four locations in and around Washington D.C.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebMechanix?

We wanted to improve our online advertising and marketing. We worked with other agencies on our SEO, AdWords, and other PPC strategies and felt we could do better. We wanted to expand our budget while improving our cost efficiency.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They manage all our SEO and PPC campaigns and have successfully increased our new patient volume. They also took over development for our landing pages and our existing website. They do maintenance and make any changes we need.

How did you come to work with WebMechanix?

Our CMO brought them on.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together for the past three years and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen significant gains. Our new patient volume has increased by 400–500% and our acquisition cost per patient has decreased by half. They’ve done a great job and I’ve referred them to colleagues.

How did WebMechanix perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re good communicators and are willing to take the lead on projects. They are team players, collaborate well with the rest of the team, and deliver on time. We have weekly status meetings. If we ever have data needs, they are very responsive and get things done quickly. They often go above and beyond the scope of their contract.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They feel like part of the internal team and have as much stake in our success as we do. They work hard to accomplish our goals and support our strategies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re really good at PPC and SEO and we’d like to use them for more services. If they could expand their expertise into other areas like social media or content development, they’d increase their value.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Outline your key performance indicators and be clear about what you want them to accomplish. Tracking and regular status reports will also help you meet your goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Associate Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Associate (IPAA), which is the governing body for middle and high school athletics in the state.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebMechanix?

When our previous web developer and database management company moved in new directions, we needed a new partner to support those areas and help us become more cutting-edge, interactive, and modern.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

WebMechanix did a complete redevelopment of our website about four years ago, and they also help with SEO, database management, and the marketing side of how we present ourselves online. Specifically, the site became much more interactive, cleared of old information, and flexible to update across multiple areas simultaneously.

What is the team dynamic?

We only work with Dave Brong [CTO, WebMechanix].

How did you come to work with WebMechanix?

There was a typical bid process for a project that Dave won about ten or twelve years ago, and we have just continued our relationship with him as he has moved into new companies, including WebMechanix in May 2014.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $300,000 to $350,000 with WebMechanix each year.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first time we interacted with WebMechanix was in May 2014, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work has bolstered our revenues by increasing our marketability to sponsors, but has also helped cut expenses by making our operations much more efficient, particularly by cutting down the amount of mailing we send out. They've proven to be an invaluable resource for us.

How did WebMechanix perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very proactive, considerate of our bottom line, and easy to work with. They also take copious notes and are helpful when we need a reminder on how to go about certain processes. We generally have monthly check-ins and speak somewhat frequently in between.

What did you find most impressive about them?

WebMechanix is extremely loyal, they have great customer service, and they seem to really understand that in our line of work you really need to be flexible because we can't possibly always hit timelines. Dave always picks up the phone and helps us out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only improvement he ought to make is to bring on more staff. It seems like we take up a lot of his time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Jensen Hughes is an engineering company that specializes in fire protection, security, fire and life safety consulting, risk management, forensics, litigation, and a slew of other services related to protecting life and property. I am the senior manager of marketing technology, in charge of our website and departmental workflow. The company’s headquarters are in Baltimore, Maryland, but my office is in Lincolnshire, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebMechanix?

We recently underwent a large, fast-paced growth cycle through mergers and acquisitions. We had to integrate all of these new acquisitions into our website, with new branding and content. To quickly attract new engineers to the company, we were tasked with overhauling and modernizing the website over a 60-day period. Our appearance needed to reflect the image of a major industry player.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since we had a 60-day challenge, we decided on a growth-driven design­­­–modifying the website as we went, instead of working fully behind the scenes. In that first 60 days, we built the homepage and organized the look and feel of sitewide navigation.  

They came up with a file mega menu for new imagery and designs, and now we’re working on the real meat of the website’s parent- and subpages. We’ve added new functionality for call-to-actions, and are working on conversion improvements to our Request Proposal, Finding an Expert, Career Opportunities, Technical Training, and Contact Us forms. We’ve also redesigned our locations maps to make them easier to find and to use.

We are currently updating our keywords and metadata to improve our organic search optimization. We’re digging deeper into our service and market sector pages, and we’re expanding the visibility of our branches in the U.S., Canada, Dubai, UAE, and other locations in Asia. Each market comes with different challenges, including translation, but WebMechanix is helping us improve the website’s overall design and functionality quickly. Once we finish reviewing our content and the analytics reports, we’ll have them help with a digital marketing plan. We want to observe the trends before we put money into pay-per-click advertising.

What is the team dynamic? 

They use a system called Asana to keep track of our priorities and the progress of each active task, and we have bi-weekly meetings. I mostly deal with the developer who does our programming, but they also have specialists in digital marketing and SEO [Search Engine Optimization].

How did you come to work with WebMechanix?

A staff member of theirs met our CEO at an event and followed up with an email. Her message made its way to me, so she was on our list of contacts when we started the 60-day challenge. The vendor we were working with wasn’t responsive and we couldn’t get the support we needed.

I contacted some individuals who were local to either our branch area near Chicago or our headquarters in Baltimore through SMPS [The Society for Marketing Professional Services]. We sent out a request for proposals, and WebMechanix responded with a reasonable price. They were thorough in their interview, and presented a smart, positive attitude in our conversations. We had an instant chemistry that made me comfortable to select them.

How much have you invested with them?

The initial 60-day challenge was a lump sum of $15,500. After that, our agreement is $4,500 per month, which is roughly a 30-hour plan. As of October 2017, we’ve spent about $33,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around April 2017, and the 60-day reskinning project finished around Mothers’ Day. We will continue our monthly agreement with them to the end of the year, and will renegotiate a new service contract in 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any real metrics right now, but our search rankings have gone up substantially. Since we implemented the changes, we appear on the first page of many keyword searches, which is a major improvement.  

We get good feedback from our employees and clients, and interaction with the site has also increased. Before the changes, we received one or two form submissions through the site every other day. Now we average closer to ten per day.

They've come up with ideas that helped make significant improvements to our site. A lot of those ideas will launch in the next month or two, including a resource library and an expert finder that sorts our staff by their field, with bios and contact information. We're not done by any means, but we’re continuously making huge improvements.

How did WebMechanix perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very well organized. They’ve got the tools and the knowledge, and make our previous vendors feel outdated in comparison.

They came in ahead of schedule for the 60-day challenge, and worked hard over a holiday weekend to achieve that. They’ve been showing me how to operate in WordPress so I can maintain the site. They’re responsive, helpful, and patient.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their professionalism, knowledge, and skill sets of their specialists make them stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No not really, they're doing a standup job and I have no complaints. I've been very satisfied with their responsiveness and their help that they've given us so far. We work remotely, and they do just as well as if we worked in person. I know I’ll get answers back right away.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was with a transportation software provider, operating as the director of marketing, responsible for all lead generation, including outbound email marketing campaign management, inbound digital search marketing, as well as lead development and sales qualification.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebMechanix?

We had multiple challenges with the ultimate goal being to drive high-quality lead conversions through paid and organic search platforms. Prior to partnering and collaborating with WebMechanix, the company had gone through several acquisitions, and instances of AdWords and other services needed to be consolidated and accounted for from a business perspective.

We had to go through a business review process, restructuring not only the technical environment and AdWords, but also our approach to make sure we had alignment and accuracy with our campaigns. In some cases, we needed to verify ads were pointing to the correct pieces of content. We needed a partner skilled in search and AdWords that could understand the strategic goals of the company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

WebMechanix spent some time with us to understand our business priorities and do some of the more painstaking work of organizing our campaigns and existing programs. We went through a process of identifying all opportunities, and they brought forth an onslaught of recommendations that we worked together, coordinating and figuring out their timing and prioritization. They helped us implement those ideas as well, over the course of time.

They helped us capitalize and take advantage of some market dynamics taking place, and repackage what we had done in the past from a search perspective. We approached the processes and the way we spoke through our ad copy in a more transactional manner. WebMechanix also helped us shift and create multiple testing environments where we deployed ads which looked at both research versus buying intent and combinations thereof. We constantly sought to optimize the top performing ads.

We went through a web consolidation initiative with a web development firm and brought in WebMechanix after the site had been planned, but before we went live so that we could implement the most critical, foundational SEO components. WebMechanix helped us put together a comprehensive plan to support and execute this. They made sure we didn’t have any failures in terms of people visiting previously existing content and that we had the infrastructure in place for a strong organic website.

When we initially engaged with them, the focus was more around the infrastructure for the organic site attributes, but, because WebMechanix had done such a good job, we made the choice to transition them onto the paid side. We partnered up with our communications team in terms of blog content, supporting terms, and areas being researched relating to our industry.

What is the team dynamic?

We had weekly hour-long calls going through general performance metrics and high-level status reports. We also received comprehensive monthly reporting. They were also available whenever I needed them.

My main point of contact was the primary account manager. There were two other people involved: the account manager’s senior, who got involved during calls and provided strategic guidance for our initiatives, as well as a technical person who got involved with the execution activities. WebMechanix also worked extra hours with my digital marketing manager, who spent more time on the execution side.

How did you come to work with WebMechanix?

They are a local business, and were referred to me by an employee. WebMechanix had a consultative approach and spent a lot of time with us trying to understand our business and needs. They were strategic, growth, and partnership oriented.

How much have you invested with them?

We had a monthly retainer with them, spending under $20K in fees. This included strategy, as well as execution work, landing page development, and content development recommendations.

What is the status of this engagement?

The original engagement started in September 2016. The site went live in October of that year. The relationship is ongoing to my knowledge.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We reached triple-digit growth in our paid programs going from approximately from a few hundred leads in PPC monthly to near or above 1,000. The major factor for us was increasing lead volume, which was achieved. Our cost per conversion went down significantly. The generated leads also turned into significant pipeline dollars for us. 

Our goal was to take advantage of unique market dynamic and ensure we were consistently ranked within the top three companies for these specific search terms, which were highly competitive. We were able to achieve this with WebMechanix rapidly and finished ahead of competitors. Even as demand increased, we are saving money, and generating better quality and higher volume of leads.

How did WebMechanix perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was one of the biggest differentiating factors. WebMechanix was always available, accessible, prepared and proactive in supporting us. They took the time to listen and responded by taking action.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their integrity and commitment to the client are the most impressive. I have worked with dozens of vendors in different areas, and feel that WebMechanix is the best partner I’ve had. They provide superior service, commitment, transparency, communication and performance. They performed in exactly the manner we needed them to in order to achieve results.

The company received awards and accolades for our lead generation program. This was certainly supported by Webmechanix exceptional efforts. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Providing balanced support for all initiatives covered within the retainer. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am one of the founders and the COO of Epitiro. Epitiro is a technology company located in Maryland. We are at an early stage having recently spun out a product line from a larger public company. We have recently re-engineered the solution and relaunched it. It assures Wi-Fi and cellular services for carriers and other parties. Our customers are businesses interested in providing a top-quality and cellular wireless experience to their customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebMechanix?

We wanted a new website to articulate what we do and what we offer. Along with that, we needed a content management system to enable customer support and interaction. It was important for us to be able to make changes without going through a third-party.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Initially, I wasn’t certain about how much help we’d need with the site architecture and creative issues, such as images, wording, positioning, and strategic marketing. As I dug into it and engaged with WebMechanix, it became clear that their forte is chiefly architecture, site design, and content management best practices. Essentially, content creation wasn’t their business, but they offered to put us in touch with some people that could help with that.

We chose to create the content ourselves, which for us probably ended up being the right thing since our business is quite niche and can be quite technical. 

Their job was to build the website and to give us input, guidance, and options for third-party solutions and templates. They helped guide us through those, and we decided to go with WordPress. They are primarily a WordPress business. We picked the template, went back and forth on some options, and took the structure and design through some iterations. They did layout, as well coding for the website to achieve an information flow that made sense for our business.

They also helped us with SEO. We came up with most of the keywords, since we are in a very specific technology industry. Those words, phrases, and acronyms needed to come from us.

What is the team dynamic?

I mostly dealt with Dave, their CTO. He was our primary contact and handled the technical side and customer engagement. I also worked with Walt, who is one of their technical people.

How did you come to work with WebMechanix?

I reached out to people I knew in the industry and got references for different agencies, many of which were out of town. I also did some web searches and called WebMechanix based on that research. 

I didn’t want to choose a company without meeting them to get a firsthand impression of the business and the people we would work with. Their office was fairly close to ours, so it was easy to drop by and meet them. They were a reasonably sized and responsive organization, and they had the competence to do what we wanted. 

How much have you invested in them?

It was in the range of $10,000—$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2017 and the project finished in September 2017, but the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We just launched this week, but the feedback so far has been positive. Industry colleagues have commented that the website looks really good. They said that it looks very clean and crisp, and the messaging is clear.

How did WebMechanix perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of responsiveness, communication, and project management, they have performed very well. I am very pleased with their collaborative approach.

Generally, they laid out a project plan. It was a little slow-going at first, because we weren’t entirely clear on what we wanted. Once we established the structure and flow of information, the project moved quite quickly. If there were delays along the way, it was typically on our end, because we were taking time to create the content.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I have been most impressed with their flexibility and responsiveness. They’ve gone the extra mile more than once, which is something you want in who you work with.

Even when the project finished, they offered to do a quick follow-up call to give instructions on handling the content management system on an administrative level. Once the payment is in process, a lot of other companies close up shop. WebMechanix have been very good about continuing to support us. To me, that's a strength and a differentiator. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

While we were happy to create our own content, there were a few times when we’d have appreciated expertise that comes with daily design work, as well as more familiarity with image libraries and style guides. It might’ve been helpful to have someone with more of a designer’s eye who could offer editorial oversight or suggestions for copy and images.  I didn’t receive much feedback on my writing, which would’ve been helpful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

We are a healthcare company that specializes in healthcare after you get out of the hospital. If you need extended care or if you need care in the home, this is where we come in. We have an array of healthcare services, including home health, hospice, and personal home care assistance. Essentially, we have all of the needs after you get out of a traditional hospital. I am the enterprise marketing manager, and one of my tasks is to oversee our PPC campaign.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebMechanix? 

We really were trying to show up at the top of Google. There is a lot of competition with home health and hospice locations around the country. There was so much competition that it’s hard to achieve a high search result organically. We wanted to make sure that people were familiar with our name whenever we were hitting and matching with their keywords. In short, our goal was to assess the bottom line and drive admissions through our PPC campaign. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

They executed the campaign strategy. They’ve really helped increase ROI, which in turn, has helped us gain leadership buy-in where we’re not only maintaining the campaign, but growing the campaign, the budget, and the market. Through their actions, they’ve helped build a solid business case. 

They’ve taught me what to look for and what to strategically think about so that we can come to the table on our weekly status calls and be on the same page. When we’re on weekly calls with our support, Ameet [Digital Strategist, WebMechanix], we can come to the table as equals. He’s much more of a subject matter expert than I am. He’s been really able to educate me on everything to do with PPC. We can both make suggestions and we can meet each other at that table.

They’ve done a lot of keyword research. We just rolled out a new keyword strategy. We have a central call center that all of our landing pages direct to. We were noticing that a lot of our calls were either for competitors or they were to get the local number of a branch. He was able to isolate some of the long tail keywords and the keywords that were driving actual admissions, which was fantastic.

He has given some great recommendations for landing page optimization and helped with our copy tremendously. One of the best optimizations we made is we used to target on a DMA level. So some of our markets would be huge and ridiculously expensive, but last year we decided to take our targeting down to a radius around each location. This helped us acquire the most qualified people and convert them into admissions at a much higher level. They took a holistic view, thinking not just about keywords or landing pages, but also about the strategy as a whole. It’s one of the main reasons our ROI has increased as much as it has.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $200,000 and $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together almost two years ago and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Currently, we support all of our home health and hospice locations, which amounts to just under 500. WebMechanix creates and maintains all of the campaigns and the different targeting for all 500 locations. We did a small pilot, which went really well. We were showing up high in the rankings. All of our conversions are sent to a central call center, and we were able to track our ROI. 

Then we went into a fully fledged campaign where we then supported all of our home health and hospice locations. It took a little while to gain traction. We have since really felt that traction build. We’ve been able to gain leadership buy-in and increase our budgets. We did a 20% increase in budget this year and our increase in the budget is completely dependent on results. If we’re not driving results, we’re not going to get an increase in budget. Through WebMechanix’s expertise, suggestions, and optimizations, we’ve really been able to access the bottom line such that we’re able to not only keep the campaign going but also increase our funding.

Every industry has their own industry averages. In healthcare, our click-through rates are way above the industry average. Our cost per acquisition is way below industry average. The industry average in the Google Search is three and we’re at 1.5. Almost every category that we look at both on the brand awareness side and that direct response admissions side, we outrank the industry average by an exponential amount. Our ROI hinges on how much money each different company is investing and what they consider a conversion. For us, we’ve increased our ROI year over year by either 100 or 150%. We’ve seen incredible results just in the two years that we’ve been with WebMechanix.

How did WebMechanix perform from a project management standpoint?

For PPC specifically, they’ve been outstanding. Ameet [Digital Strategist, WebMechanix] is on Slack with me. I can always message him. He’s always responsive through email. I typically don’t call him because I’m much more of an emailer. I’m sure if I called him, he’d answer the phone. He’s always asking what else he can do for me. I’ve been very pleased with their performance in that respect. I don’t have any experience with any other PPC vendors, but just through experience with other vendors, they rank very high.

Our representative Ameet [Digital Strategist, WebMechanix], has such intricate knowledge of the inner workings of PPC and always comes to the table with testing opportunities, recommendations, and is always willing to sit down and explain something to me if I have extra questions. We have a weekly call, but I’m not an audio learner. So it’s really hard for me when he’s trying to explain something about PPC that’s really complicated and complex. So Ameet [Digital Strategist, WebMechanix] has always taken the time to really sit down with me either later through a Google Hangout or through an email to really explain something to me so that I can make the appropriate decision based on a better understanding of what’s going on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their very specific and intricate knowledge of PPC and their ability to explain that to someone less familiar with the topic is very impressive. It’s very easy to be extremely knowledgeable about something, but it’s a new level to be able to explain it in a way that someone who has never worked in AdWords is able to understand. This has been extremely important and very helpful. They are much more of a partner rather than a vendor.

One of my favorite things about WebMechanix is they truly feel like an extension of our team and a great partner. They are always making recommendations and always trying to learn more about our business, which is really key. Ameet [Digital Strategist, WebMechanix] is always asking questions like, “I noticed this. Can you tell me a little bit more about why home health does this? Or can you tell me a little bit more about the service area for hospice and maybe that’ll help spark a little question in me or spark an optimization?” So he’s always asking questions of me in addition to me asking questions of him. Just in working with other vendors, they don’t always do that. WebMechanix and Ameet [Digital Strategist, WebMechanix] specifically, take the time to get to know us as a client and have our best interest at heart.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can articulate ad copy recommendations, but based on my knowledge of the company and our brand standards, I’m always the one writing the ad copy. It’s not that big of a deal. They can make recommendations about more consumer-focused language or benefits driven language, but it’s usually me who ends up writing it. That might just be because we have a very specific brand voice that we have to adhere to. I’m not sure if that’s common with other clients.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is called Inteleos, which is a nonprofit organization. It consists of a family of certification councils, including ARDMS, which is a 40-year-old brand, and APCA or Alliance for Physician Certification and Advancement. We award credentials and certifications in the areas of medical imaging. We have 125,000 + individuals who have one of our certifications around the world. In my role as Director of Marketing and Communications, I oversee the marketing and communications for all of our brands. I've been with the company for over 10 years. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebMechanix? 

When we initially partnered with WebMechanix, we were still ARDMS, which is our older, core brand. Under this brand, we serve as both physicians and sonographers, and we’re established in the community. We already had the traffic, but we needed to turn that traffic into people who would come to the site and actually take our examinations. There are eligibility requirements around our product and so it's not a straight buy. We needed to optimize the site and also create a much better user experience. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

When WebMechanix was brought on, and we were focusing on certain products and exams, they helped us optimize the site over all. During our website redesign, they were also heavily involved in the user interface or user experience. They set up very robust analytics, which we did not have before. We were never able to relate the revenues or the exam orders against the website traffic, so it was very helpful for us to finally see that correlation.

About five years ago, they became an extension of our organization. When we rebranded and launched Inteleos and also the Alliance for Physicians Certification and Advancement, which is essentially two new sites, this involved a complete redesign and rebrand of ARDMS. WebMechnanix helped us with the redirects. They made sure that ARDMS didn't lose any visitors, and that we were able to redirect the right audience from ARDMS to our new site, which had no brand equity in the community.

Now that we have the sites operating under the correct brand, their current role is in product conversion. On the one hand, they are helping us with the individual websites, in terms of optimization and what we call the drumbeat marketing. The other side is increasing the website ROI and working on particular campaigns or products and increasing the conversion rate.

The campaign framework consists of generating awareness for an individual market that we're trying to reach and where they're congregating online. WebMechanix does this through product specific ads or product specific display advertising on each website. The overarching goal is to drive the market from being unaware or uninformed to being aware, and to move into the next phase of consideration. They have built pages for us based on the keywords. They create links to other sites, identify and reach out to new sites for backlinks per campaign, and create product specific paid search and re-marketing list for search ads. They also create products, specifically marketing on the display network, social media, and creating and testing landing pages. They test the call to action buttons and forms that will then lead to offering promotions, and then, conversions.

How did you come to work with WebMechanix? 

I found them randomly on an A.M.A. site or a referral site, and I called them up. At that time, I was working with Chris Mechanic, the CEO and Founder of WebMechanix, and we just started the conversation. I really liked their optimism and the way that they were open to learning our issues. Being a nonprofit in the association and credentialing world, we were probably one of the first ones to actually initiate and hire an SEO firm. At that time, it was just about optimizing the site. They were really impressed with how well our site was performing even without any optimization but they still became an extension of our department. I like their ability to see beyond what is obvious and understand the audience and what your organization is about. They see the bigger picture and are mission oriented. They work with a lot of for profit and corporates, and so working with nonprofit, they were still able to hone in on what we're doing and appeal to our customers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with them for over nine years and the collaboration is ongoing.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to help us understand the correlation between the visitors on our website and the increase in our products and revenues. Now, we can actually track and analyze the data. Their ideas are new and innovative, and their work is not templated. It is custom, well thought out, and personal.

Additionally, they have improved the user experience. We were already ranked pretty high in ARDMS, but with our new brands, they were able to carry that same ranking. Even though we had zero brand equity in the market, we are still appearing high up in the search engines ranking. They’re able to continue those drumbeat activities and increase brand equity for our newer brands. Specifically, with our international products, or exams, they've been able to utilize other resources outside of Google and other search engines. We were also able to improve our user portal usability based on their analysis of implementing tools like hot jars and things like that. That dramatically increased the conversion by 25 percent of people actually clicking on the call to action and then applying for our exams, which was impressive.

How did WebMechanix perform from a project management standpoint? 

We've had three different people work on our accounts throughout the nine-year partnership. This is good, considering the usual, high turnover in firms, and there's never been a doubt in my mind that we were a top priority, regardless of our budget or the size of our organization. I would call them and they would be available just like I would be to an internal staffer.

We do in person meetings. We have a digital marketer who manages them on a day to day basis. Communication is frequent, and we have ongoing strategy meetings that are in person and over the phone.

What do you find most impressive about them? 

We work with a number of vendors and firms, and WebMechanix definitely offers an expertise in what we do. We look to them as an extension of our staff. They always remain very professional.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

There's always things that we can learn from. Honestly, I can't pinpoint a certain characteristic, because our open line of communication allows us not to have anything that builds up over time. If there are disagreements about the direction of the campaign, it's always just better to discuss it at the outset. We're always able to address any issues by maintaining this direct communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the digital marketing specialist for Clements Worldwide. We are an international insurance provider for expats and have been in the business since 1947, specializing in unique insurance solutions. My role is anything that has to do with our digital marketing, from PPC [pay-per-click] to SEO [search engine optimization], to email marketing and social media.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebMechanix?

We’ve been in a relationship with WebMechanix for about 6 years. Initially, WebMechanix was brought in to assist with our SEO and PPC campaigns. Since that time, the relationship has morphed and now they are our agency of record.

Some of the business challenges that we face include getting closed-loop reporting together and ensuring that we are getting the maximum amount of work out of every dollar spent in order to get the ROI [return on investment] back.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Over the years, WebMechanix has done a whole myriad of things. Some of the work that their team has completed for us ranges from the detailed management of the PPC AdWords account, assisting in SEO strategy and content writing, and helping to identify reputable partnerships for our affiliate publishing. They've worked on the security patches for the host of our website and assisted in some of the development work that we do for the web. Most recently, we’ve been focusing on the PPC and SEO side.

They’ve helped my boss better understand the direction that the website needs to go in. With their assistance, we’re talking about switching from Drupal to WordPress, which is really exciting — they helped build a business case for that. They really know where some of the issues remain based on the numbers and data that they’ve been able to put together, along with us working together for 6 years.

What is the team dynamic?

Since I came on board, the account manager left from WebMechanix and we got a new one. Since that switch, we’ve been able to reverse some negative trends that we were seeing and get things going in the direction they needed to be going.

From there, we’ve built a strong relationship. The account executive and I work very closely to build out an appropriate strategy based on some of the focus areas on our end. Some of the members of his team do more of the nitty gritty things, such as build out a matrix or figure out what key words we should be bidding on, and they really understand the ins and outs of AdWords. It is not a system that I particularly enjoy working on regularly, so having their support there has been wonderful in this process.

How did you come to work with WebMechanix?

My boss met Chris Mechanic, their CEO, at a conference back when WebMechanix was in their infancy. They decided to form the relationship from that initial engagement, which is how we came to work together.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend between $50,000 and $100,000 with them annually.

What is the status of this engagement?

It is my understanding that we started working together in 2012, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Most recently, we saw a change in our cost per lead. We are in a very competitive market in terms of the words that people are bidding on. Unfortunately, whether we are an expat or regular insurance market, the financial services market remains highly competitive. We saw our cost per lead impressively jump from $60 on average to about $20.

In terms of ranking, we are always in the first 3–4 slots. While my company is very niche, there are some big players out there that are also in the same space. Bidding in the same space as those competitors has its challenges, therefore SEO strategies are always crucial to us as we don’t necessarily have the same budget and digital spend that some of these bigger companies have. It has been nice to rely on the SEO strategies that we have implemented, especially for something like the health market where it is almost exorbitant in terms of cost.

Year over year, we’ve seen a steady increase in the type of traffic we are getting. More recently, we have seen a change in the leads, where previously it was a little more generic traffic that was coming in. We’ve also seen a change in terms of conversion rates, and have seen that the leads that are coming in are a lot warmer.

How did WebMechanix perform from a project management standpoint?

WebMechanix is really on top of things. They share trackers with me, so we know who is working on what and when; conversely, I share my own project scopes with them and they add where they can assist. They’re really on the ball in terms of what needs to happen, when it needs to happen, and who is responsible for particular content pieces, or which item needs to be delivered.

Generally, we will use text messaging, Slack, email, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings when it comes to communication. I can call them without hesitation if something has changed or if we need to pull an ad, and they’re always there —I can always rely on them.

We have regular bi-monthly meetings where we have a walkthrough of how we're performing with analytics, and then quarterly, we do a big review in-person. Together, we closely track everything that is happening. We are really in tune with each other and we really collaborate in terms of what the overarching strategy is.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the challenges that we overcame recently was getting the expenditure down and getting the dollar to work for us. My position was open for 4 months, and on their end, the account manager left, so the account was left to its own devices for a while. We’ve really been able to reverse some of those negative trends, which has been really incredible to see.

While WebMechanix has subject matter experts in the digital sphere, they don’t claim to be subject matter experts in our sphere. This is something I find really impressive as I know that when people are trying to sell to you, they pretend that they know exactly what is going on in your particular sphere. This can be a challenge to work with, particularly because we are a very niche organization. It is enjoyable to work with a team who can say they are not sure, but suggest doing some market research, get CRO [conversion rate optimization] going, and recommend figuring it out together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Currently, the relationship is going well. In the past, they let things slide a little and weren’t super aligned with us. However, at that time, it could’ve been because of previous personalities that were on the account. They can use that when looking backward in order to be better in the future and ensure that they are always aligned.