Mabbly

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Avenue, an organization that helps members of big companies enjoy their careers by finding out why people stay in their jobs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mabbly?

We had an initial brand that we weren’t happy with. The challenge was to create a holistic rebrand and repositioned our company in the market. We also asked them to build a web app for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The engagement started with market research. Their team looked into our competitors and value proposition. Within our value proposition, Mabbly went into how our company fits in the market, our ideal customers, and how our messaging would land with our prospects. They formulated a data-driven strategy before moving on to the naming aspect of the project.

Through the naming exercise, their team came up with several names. We had never thought about Avenue as a potential option, but when we looked at it in the context of career planning, it made sense to us.

The web application is designed to help users maintain a clear view of their career drivers. We define those as what gets people out of the bed in the morning. It also goes into clarifying their strengths. The app gets those to users within ten minutes through the swiping piece. Users can swipe right or left through different career drivers and strengths to make a choice. The app gets people down to the top five drivers or strengths that can help them inform their career decisions and development conversations. The platform also is built in a way where people can manage their career conversations within their inner circle at work.

What is the team composition?

In total, we worked with six people, including the salesperson at the beginning. We had a brand strategist that assisted us throughout the entire project as our main point of contact. Their tech expert worked with our tech expert on the app-building side. In the early days, we met with Hank (CEO & Managing Partner, Mabbly). We also had a team member that worked with SEO.

How did you come to work with Mabbly?

I received a referral from an industry expert.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Mabbly started in January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All the work Mabbly has created is high-quality and immensely valuable to us. The brand identity is finished. We went to market this month and are preparing to see how we will perform within the market. Mabbly’s entire workflow and process is phenomenal. Everything is extremely thorough and well-thought-out.

How did Mabbly perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication was top-notch. We used Google Docs primarily. On the tech side, the teams used Jira and other tools that I can’t speak to. Their whole team is amazing and full of high-level thinkers. Our brand strategist was exceptional throughout the process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Mabbly brings together different sets of expertise in one package. From naming to brand identity to technology and digital marketing, all of their team is top in their field. That isn’t common with other organizations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a good idea of what you want. Trust their process and expertise. The team at Mabbly delivers amazing results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m the chief brand officer with the Symphony Post Acute Network. We’re a network of 28 skilled and assisted living facilities, located mostly within the Midwest. I’m focused on our brand internally with our employees and externally with the markets we serve.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mabbly?

We’ve been working to develop our online presence. We needed a greater sense of brand identity and a true marketing strategy to help us navigate online spaces in a way that was standardized and uniform across all of our locations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Mabbly began with a deep dive analytical effort into our business and the industry as a whole, as well as a SWOT analysis. They got to know our different features in order to gain perspective on what a consumer would be looking for. Then they started building campaigns around what would give us a strategic advantage. 

We have a brand new logo that we designed together, and they've begun the process of developing the architecture of a new website. It will be an intuitive site focused on the consumer/user experience. They did extensive keyword research on how consumers look for us online. What they found was multiple terminologies being used: skilled nursing facility, nursing home, rehabilitation center, or post-acute center. They're developing a search bar menu where the consumer can find whatever it is that they’re looking for regardless of the terminology they use. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 15–20 people in total. At this point, it's down to a core group of 5–6. We have a project manager, a graphic designer, a web developer, an analytics developer, and a couple others.

How did you come to work with Mabbly? 

A family friend of mine works at Mabbly. We sent them the RFP and had them present. They were far beyond all the others we looked at. It was clear the other firms had a formula for their success that they wanted us to fit into. Mabbly was more focused on getting to know us and understanding what makes us tick. That made it a pretty easy decision to go with Mabbly. 

How much have you invested with them? 

We contracted for about $250,000, and we’ve probably spent closer to $300,000. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

Work started in January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing. A new acquisition after the project started caused the budget to increase. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We presented their vision of what the brand will look like at the end of the project to the internal team. It caused a great buzz and vibe. It’s already led to a greater sense of appeal with our employees, which improves retention and recruitment. There is definitely a lot of good movement already, so we know it's headed in the right direction. 

The website navigation they’re creating will make it easy for consumers to navigate our information and make sound decisions. That would be a huge advantage compared to the majority of our competitors. 

How did Mabbly perform from a project management standpoint? 

Their team is excellent. Our preference within our organization is to communicate via email. They've had no problem adhering to that. The engagement has really been a lot of fun. They do a great job of keeping everybody involved by meeting with many of our locations and employees on different levels. Mabbly makes the effort to understand our employees' needs, which contributes to the positive vibe. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Mabbly team is all extremely talented in their specific areas, and pleasant people to work with. Above everything, they're just good people. They’re human focused. Mabbly has done a very good job of hiring a fantastic team.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, nothing that I can think of. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Allow them to take you through the analytical process of looking at data. That's been one of the more impressive things that they’ve done. They don’t just rely on their feeling of what would be nice or what looks cool. They looking at the actual true data of where traffic is going and what people are clicking on. Then they help us make sound decisions from an analytic standpoint.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior VP of GG + A SurveyLab, a consulting firm that conducts surveys and market research primarily for colleges and universities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mabbly?

We hired Mabbly to help us increase our brand awareness and generate new business leads. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Mabbly started with a comprehensive review of our digital ad and marketing strategy. This involved looking over our marketing plans, existing collateral, and digital layout. They used also tools like Google Analytics and Ahrefs to analyze the strength of our online real estate. 

From there, they worked on gaining a better understanding of our brand and how we fared in our space. The team interviewed a number of internal staff and clients to get a sense of our identity. Afterward, they performed a thorough competitor analysis, looking at our competitors’ sites as well as non-competitors that also operated in our market.

The main deliverable was an in-depth report that summarized their findings along with a tailored set of recommendations. There were tactical SEO/PPC recommendations around keywords, outreach strategies, and lead generation efforts as well as more creative suggestions around our visual identity.

Another focus was to outline how to recreate our website so that it could be the core of our online strategy. At the time, our site wasn’t findable on search engines. And, even if users did manage to find us, it wasn’t particularly clear what we did. They recommended ways to restructure the site and visuals, which have had a significant impact.

What is the team composition? 

We’ve directly interacted with five team members, including a project manager. I suspect that they’ve consulted with subject matter experts, so the whole team is probably closer to 10. 

How did you come to work with Mabbly?

I found them through a Google search while looking for Chicago-based firms. Rather than partnering with a traditional soup-to-nuts advertising firm, I wanted a relatively small agency that focused on digital strategy.

I ended up talking to six companies, Mabbly being the first. They were so overwhelmingly good that I just became increasingly demoralized as I interviewed the rest. It was their ability to restate what I understood our problems to be and convince me that they could operate in our niche that stood out.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $60,000 so far

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2019, and they delivered the official report at the end of May. Currently, we have a bridge agreement with them to help with smaller items as we figure out what our next big implementations will be.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Of the things we’ve implemented so far, we’ve already noticed improvements in our Google Analytics. We’re getting less traffic overall, but the leads are better quality, which has entirely made up for itself. People are also spending longer on the site, and our bounce rate has decreased considerably.

As for the visual identity, the shift away from a text-heavy look to something that’s much cleaner has been a huge help. People have responded well to the new logo, and the design is more consistent with our brand.

How did Mabbly perform from a project management standpoint?

I couldn’t have been happier about their performance. Our primary project manager has been our go-to for everything, from billing and scheduling questions to the actual delivery. They presented the report exactly on the date that we’d agreed to before we signed the contract. For the most part, we communicated through email and in-person meetings—I just do better in person. They used Google Docs to trade documents with us. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do a really nice job of combining a data-driven approach with a some of the more artistic aspects of brand strategy. 

It can be hard to convince a client to go through a branding exercise because, in many ways, a change in brand is a change in identity. But Mabbly was able to present a new direction while linking it to their market research. By comparing our site to our competitors’, they pointed out key differences that had demonstrable impacts.

I didn’t see their level of qualitative and quantitative analysis anywhere else in the marketplace. They’ve done a great job delivering on their promises.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have an advertising or brand strategy background, so my knowledge is limited in this area. But I would’ve liked to have had an even more tangible road map of recommendations. A lot of their suggestions required big investments to move forward, but it would’ve been nice if could explore a few more tactical steps than the ones presented.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?
 
Be ready on the client-side with your internal story. Do you know what your company is doing, now? Can you identify the best people for Mabbly to talk to?

I mistakenly had them interview mostly high-valued long-term clients who I knew would say wonderful things about us. However, it might’ve been helpful to steer them toward clients that didn’t have the best experience with us. That way, they could help us fix what we didn’t have rather than just leveraging what we did have.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of global marketing for a food production company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mabbly?

We’ve worked with Mabbly on many different projects. Most recently, we’ve asked them to build out a marketing campaign around our company’s 100th anniversary.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

As part of the campaign, Mabbly developed a WordPress website that serves as a media hub. We leverage that website to get members of our organization excited about our anniversary and to flesh out a branding strategy that we plan to release to the external marketplace. It features a call to action and several goals that we’ve outlined. Mabbly developed the entire infrastructure for the site—from the necessary foundation through all of the creative elements. They were also involved in the creation and execution of content, as well.

Additionally, we’ve engaged Mabbly to develop the branding components of a new business unit within the organization. That project includes devising the name, positioning, and story, and we’re very excited about their progress with that.

What is the team composition?

Our primary contacts are Hank (CEO, Mabbly) and Sarah (Chief Strategy Officer, Mabbly), and there’s a fantastic team that works underneath them.

How did you come to work with Mabbly?

The partnership with Mabbly was in place before I came into my role in October 2018, so I am unsure of how they were initially selected.

How much have you invested with them?

Over 12 months, we expect to spend between $600,000–$700,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in June 2018 and remains ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In several respects, they’ve established a foundation that has fostered a groundswell of excitement regarding how our company is telling its story. The work Mabbly has delivered has done miracles in accelerating our purpose-driven strategy.

How did Mabbly perform from a project management standpoint?

Mabbly has consistently delivered on the scope of the project on time and budget. We can’t ask for much else. It helps that both of our companies are Chicago-based in case we need to meet in person, but we also accomplish a lot through phone calls and emails.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s been easy to work with them, and that translates to higher-quality deliverables.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been an excellent team to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We tend to receive the highest level of output when there’s a clear project brief established in the beginning along with defined timing and financial requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and president of a software company selling a tool for sending email. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mabbly?

We weren’t getting enough sales to achieve our growth goals, and our previous marketing was never based on research. We needed to understand our customers and learn how to speak to them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Mabbly for a complete brand redesign and the creation of a new website and advertising. They started their research by talking to a number of our best customers to find out themes in how we were perceived and how to attract more of that kind.

Next, they created positioning statements and client targets. It was amazing to go to their presentation and see the essence of who we were distilled into a few sentences. They took the time to understand us and how our customers see us, and they came up with a story for how to sell that. We struggle with many people wanting to use our software to send spam, and we don’t want to target them. We want to attract senders of legitimate mail, and it’s a matter of communicating that in the right way. Mabbly figured out a great brand story, which will powerfully communicate who we are and attract the right kind of people. We’re in the process of building that out with contextual examples.

Last week, they presented a mockup of our homepage. It was beautiful and distilled what we want to offer our clients well. They created a new logo and a tagline, which is part of the brand story. It states, “Get Send Smart”. It’s a nice double entendre in that not only are we giving people the tools to send their email in a smarter, better way, but we want the people who are smart senders (i.e., not spammers) to work with us. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with around five people from their team directly. They have many more, though. We have an account director and a creative director, and the two of them are the face of the company to us. They interface with the rest of the team. Working with only two people reduces the chance of things getting lost and simplifies communication.

How did you come to work with Mabbly?

We found them through a Google search for Chicago area marketing agencies. We talked to other agencies, but when we talked to Mabbly, their first presentation convinced us. Their sales person told us that, before doing any marketing, they wanted to do a three-month research engagement with us. That sounded fantastic to us. After we met and talked more, I was convinced that they knew what they were doing.

How much have you invested with them?

The total price of the engagement is $200,000, and we’re halfway through that.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Mabbly in November 2018, and we have a yearlong engagement. They’ve shown us plenty of work so far, and it’s been great.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still in the research phase. A couple of people on the management team who’ve been working with me are really excited about the work we’re doing. Our director of sales is both excited and impatient to get the site launched. The fact that it’s so good makes waiting all the harder for him. I’ve shared some of the big picture market research with the team, and people thought that it represented us well.

How did Mabbly perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s been good. They’ve hit deadlines, and they’re good at communication. We’re mainly using Google Docs and email to track the work. I’m hoping we’ll use something like Basecamp when we get to the implementation and many more parts are flying. We haven’t had too many things moving at the same time so far, so it’s been manageable with informal tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate their focus on doing the research. They’ve been flexible with a couple of things that we changed as we went along. As we got into it, we discussed changing our name, so we added to the engagement to look at that. The end result confirmed that we should keep our existing name. They were able to adjust easily.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the beginning, the challenge was figuring out what exactly some of the expectations were. We asked the right questions and got it figured out, so it wasn’t a problem. In the beginning, we didn’t know what the steps of this market research engagement were, but they were able to give us a picture.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I can’t think of anything I’d do differently.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of marketing for a digital transformation agency. We build custom software that typically optimizes our clients’ data usage or makes them more operationally efficient.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mabbly?

We needed a partner to refine our message and support some of our marketing initiatives.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The initial engagement was to help define our purpose, promise, and values, creating a unified message for both our internal team as well as our external market. They created a short and simple mission statement that highlights our desire to provide better customer service and experiences for our clients.

Beyond that, they’ve helped refine our culture and determine where we want to go in the market and what kind of language we want to use. They built our WordPress website and incorporated a lot of our marketing messages into the content, including a new logo they designed and the color scheme. Currently, they’re helping us reach new audiences through thought leadership initiatives and creating a broader digital footprint. We’re creating digital ads, of which Mabbly writes about 90% of the content.

What is the team composition?

We interact with about 15 people, including the founder, content strategists, digital strategists, and an account team.

How did you come to work with Mabbly?

They approached me.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in November 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We did a company-wide survey recently, and everyone gave four out of five stars for each of the categories. Mabbly has helped us articulate our values and engrain them into our culture. Customers have responded positively to the new brand, saying we’re a forward-thinking tech company.

How did Mabbly perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a project management team that meets my expectations for a professional service firm. They keep us on budget and make sure we’re staying in step with our long-term goals. We’ve had a few issues when they were still figuring out their internal structure, but things are better now. They let us know what they’ve accomplished and what they plan on doing next, providing an itemized list of projects that allows for full transparency. We use Google Docs to track progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They hire well-rounded people who are creative and always willing to help.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they acknowledge their weaknesses and work to meet my standards.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Collaborate on the vision for your project and listen to Mabbly’s ideas. Optimize the partnership by letting them be involved in more than just tactical execution.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Safe Rate. We create new mortgage products that are new to the mortgage market. This product is based on research by a couple of professors at the University of Chicago, and I was a research assistant for the book in which the product was proposed. My wife is also my co-founder, and we’ve been working on commercializing the idea for about five years. It’s complex, and it’s based on what we learned during the great recession when housing prices fell 30% nationwide. When house prices fall, it makes sense to borrow monthly payments to help homeowners stay current and avoid foreclosure. That protection is what is built into our product to protect borrowers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mabbly?

We needed help with brand strategy for our firm.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We reached out to Mabbly to help bring our mortgage product to market. We wanted an agency that could help us explain the product, the complexity, and the story. We initially engaged with them to develop the brand strategy and to figure out how we position ourselves for mortgage borrowers and investors about who we are and what we do. Over an initial three-month period, we worked together on brand positioning and logo ideas and gave a voice to our brand. We knew the mortgage market and the mortgage followers we wanted to attract, and they made custom illustrations and updated the logo to help us speak to the borrower and present ourselves as innovative and fresh. They took care of everything from imagery to copywriting, to style, to our point of view, and they did it all from scratch.

For the most recent three months, they have been helping us with a couple of different versions of a video. One is a long one that tells our founder story, the story of our product, and why we are doing the work we are doing. They did a full-day video shoot and produced it themselves.

They have also been helping us figure out the marketing campaigns. Part of our goal is to get 10,000 borrowers to sign up on our WordPress website. They are moving into the role of making that webpage and creating digital ads, messaging to consumers about what our product is. That campaign will start shortly. I can build websites, and my wife does UX, but we needed a level of professionalism that was above our own capabilities. 

Everything was custom. They have done everything creative for our firm. 

What is the team composition?

The team size has expanded and shrunk as needed. The team is roughly 4–5 people. We work with a customer lead who coordinates everything, plans out the budget, manages the timeline, and brings people in and out. One person was doing all the creative work and illustrations. We also have someone that has been doing all the digital marketing work who helps us understand when we are kicking off our campaign, which social media platforms we are advertising on, and what the content should look like. We had someone more involved with the video side and helped us with custom photography. There is also someone that has become more involved since the creative shoot, who helped with the video editing. We also have a technology lead who is helping on the WordPress site and setting up the hosting. 

How did you come to work with Mabbly?

We wanted a local presence, and we evaluated about five marketing firms in Chicago. Mabbly was the first firm to respond, and they showed an interest in our product. We had a sit-down meeting with their business development director after responding to a message I sent on the website within a couple of hours. We were incredibly impressed. They were the only agency who responded and showed real interest in our product. Mabbly is the only company that didn’t shy away from the task and wanted to be a part of it. We fell in love with their vision and enthusiasm for the work we were doing. We see them as a partner. They are almost like an outsourced creative and marketing team.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in September 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their enthusiasm for the product has been incredible and exactly what we need as a startup. We are trying to convince a lot of groups, from investors to real estate agents, from lenders to borrowers that this product is the way the mortgage market should be. We are taking a stance, and that requires a lot of change and upsets a lot of incumbents. We’re facing challenges every day in creating this new mortgage product, and Mabbly responds by creating great content, believing in our vision, having a grounded approach and understanding how these campaigns work. Their work is so crucial for our success. It’s incredible.

We had raised $200,000 in funding, and since our work with Mabbly, we’ve raised $315,000 altogether in funding. They helped us bring in an additional $115,000 through the work that they are doing and communicating the vision and sharing the video with potential investors.

People say they like the logo, the content looks fresh, and that it looks like a real company. A lot of people have said they haven’t seen anything like it before. The logo is strong and sleek and truly resonates with our brand. People have had positive feedback on all the creative work. 

How did Mabbly perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been incredible. They’ve met deadlines and been ahead of deadlines. When they say they are going to do something, they do it. They communicate upfront, and it’s been refreshing that the timelines are strict and that they stick to them. They do such a good job. I usually give them a little bit of guidance, and then they come back with something that is thought through, and if it needs tweaks, they are minor. It’s been great to see what they said they would do, what they did, and that they also crushed it. 

We usually communicate through email. We have a pretty simple working relationship. They do a lot of the administrative work themselves. We do check-ins to make sure everything is going well. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Every time we go to visit their office, we feel inspired and refreshed. There is a raw, genuine spirit there. What attracted us to Mabbly was this indescribable quality of them being good people, and they believe in the work they are doing. They want to be good at that work, and it isn’t just a paycheck for them. They are genuine people that connected with our product. We needed someone who has the spirit of innovation and creativity because we need a spark to light and help create our brand; Mabbly does that so well. They have a unique spirit.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve been successful in what they’ve done with us. We are extremely happy and inspired. They’ve delivered 100% of what we have asked of them and have gone above and beyond in a lot of cases.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go to Mabbly if you want to bring something to life. You have to want and need that spirit that Mabbly has for your product. If you believe there is something unique and different about your products, you should engage with Mabbly because they are great at what they do. 

Have buy-in with Mabbly from all levels of the organization so that you aren’t impeding progress, because they do good work and they do it fast. You want to build a relationship with them because they are relationship people. It doesn’t seem like they are transactional at all, and you need buy-in and a little bit of patience to make that a reality.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Sales & Marketing at Gonnella Baking Company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mabbly?

We wanted to grow our brand presence, and we needed help to establish a wider footprint.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mabblycame up with a strategic plan to get our name out to corporate headquarters and retailers. They presented a customer-focused approach, breaking down what we were looking for and choosing to work with chefs that were directly involved in our key markets. We then did quite a few promotional videos with these chefs from across the country.

They also worked on strategy and getting our message out socially and digitally. That included social media and content production. Mabbly really got us started on Facebook and Instagram, with their recommendations forming the basis of our strategies. It helped us establish a public reputation as a national consumer brand, with which our fans were able to connect and engage.

They’ve now set up a strategic map for 2019. It has our goals and KPIs, ongoing social media, and describes how data will drive the creative strategy. In April, they will present the execution strategy for the rest of the year, which I’m excited to see. They’ve spoken to the VPs of our different divisions and gotten some terrific feedback, as well as with some of our customers to get their input on working with our company.

What is the team composition?

They're a great team. They are led by Hand (CEO, Mabbly), Tess (Senior Director of Strategy, Mabbly) is our team coordinator, and there's also Nic (Brand Manager, Mabbley) and three other team members I feel confident reaching out to at any time.

How did you come to work with Mabbly?

We were referred to them by a business consultant that we had hired to help us sharpen a focus on our brand image.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $500,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in April 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve done a terrific job of showing our products in their best light with the up-to-date, fresh, clean look that I was looking for. The visual identity that they helped establish through the social media really solidified my conviction that they are a great team. For 2019, I’m pleased with what I’ve seen so far in Q1, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.

We’ve increased our followers on social media, and they’ve created an environment for people to engage with our social media. We’ve seen an increase in followers just under 10% per month, which is huge. They came up with the idea of having a contest to give away tickets to a sporting event where we supply products to the stadium. The days leading up to that contest, our followers quadrupled.

How did Mabbly perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very organized and thorough. We have great idea sessions, and everybody contributes to coming up with a solution. They’re thoughtful, curious, and get us as a company, which makes them so easy to work with. They’re also flexible, creative, young, and fun.

We use email and phone with face-to-face meetings at least once a quarter. They have always listened and are flexible. Though a team coordinator was missing for a bit, I never felt my business wasn't on their mind. Everybody stepped up and would reach out to me and continue every other week calls to give updates and ensure we received any necessary information.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I have complete faith in them and their ability to strategically implement what we need in this space. They look from an analytical point of view and have a focus on execution that brings together the scope of our business and goals. I’m really excited to get the project fully executed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing they need to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Tell them what you’re looking for and help them understand your business. Once they understand what you’re trying to achieve, they will get it done—trust them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Jenzy, a mobile app whose mission is to make it easier for parents to buy perfectly fitting shoes for young kids.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mabbly?

Once we mapped out our tech plan and began looking for investors, we needed a digital marketing partner to get the word out.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re a direct consumer brand and needed help with our marketing once our service launched. For three weeks, Mabbly spent time analyzing our metrics and paid social aids, looking at what we were doing across all our marketing channels. They then took what we had and suggested ways to optimize it and also identified other avenues we could tap into. So far, they’ve helped with our marketing plan, including email strategy, social media management, and some content creation. They’ve done paid search and social, essentially acting as our outsourced CMO.

We’ve recently been working on a social media and influencer campaign, finding the most cost-effective solutions that fit our scale and budget. They’ve even worked on side projects, like a fun run we’re planning and some graphic design work.

What is the team composition? 

We work with an account liaison, account manager, some developers, and a social media expert.

How did you come to work with Mabbly?

We wanted a direct marketing team that was also creative, so we began looking at all the major cities like New York, Chicago, and LA. We found Mabbly online, and they were excited to get to know our company, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in August 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work resulted in a low cost per install—less than $2. The number of downloads per month has increased, from a couple hundred to over a thousand a month. When they began working on our social media, they doubled our followers within the first three weeks.

How did Mabbly perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate via Slack, and Mabbly provides a burn report that outlines exactly how they’re spending their time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They educate us on the marketing world, making sure we understand the analytics and what they’re doing. They answer all of our questions and understand our business objectives to execute the marketing. I don’t know where our business would be without them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should continue to expand their capabilities as they grow.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Have a conversation with them and their references to determine if they’re a good fit.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing for Sagegreenlife, a company that creates living walls to promote healthy environments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mabbly?

We’d just launched a new product collection and needed a partner to help us spread the word about it in a market that didn’t really know it existed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the beginning of our engagement, Mabbly took about three months to understand and do market research on our stakeholders, investors, employees, partners, and clients. They then took that information and created a design strategy, which essentially focuses on how living walls help humans connect back to nature. The design is minimalistic and modern, letting our walls speak for themselves as the visual brand. They also help with digital marketing, SEO, and keyword optimization, with the overall goal of turning us into a thought leader in our industry.

What is the team composition? 

We work with an analyst, account manager, account director, and the CEO.

How did you come to work with Mabbly?

We found them on Clutch. We wanted a partner that understood SEO, branding, and design and Mabbly seemed to be the best fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in April 2018, and the work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our clickthrough rates started at .05%, and we’ve now seen a 3% conversion rate. Our lead quality has drastically improved, which our sales team is incredibly happy about. We’ve gotten lots of traction in our local area, and the ROI is 22 to 1.

How did Mabbly perform from a project management standpoint?

We work together every day and hold weekly meetings. They’re like part of our team, maintaining clear and effective communication. The CEO makes himself available as needed, and we mainly communicate via Zoom, email, and phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They took time to understand the complexities of our business, which not many firms will do. They’re a partner in its purest sense, working hard to provide real results instead of just checking off boxes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’d love to see results faster, but that’s more about the industry and not Mabbly.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Trust their process and give it time to produce results. Mabbly will help you accomplish both long- and short-term goals.