The Marketing Family

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Lemonade, a full-service advertising agency located in Oakland, California, and with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and a few other places.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Marketing Family?

We needed help with social media marketing (SMM) and content development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Marketing Family helped us with SMM and content development, focusing on LinkedIn. Initially, we went through a very thorough discovery and strategy development phase, where they focused on understanding our profiles and current status, as well as the market opportunities we were trying to explore.

After that initial process, The Marketing Family laid out a plan detailing how they would take us through monthly content creation and social media planning. For some time, they expanded their focus beyond LinkedIn and helped us with some Instagram and Twitter postings.

What is the team composition?

I worked with strategists, a content manager, 2–3 copywriters, a community manager, and a strategist/business partner.

How did you come to work with The Marketing Family?

I was searching on Google for LinkedIn marketing and came across The Marketing Family. Their expertise made them stand out from the rest when they presented their pitch to us.

How much have you invested with them?

In the first year of our engagement, we spent around $2,500 per month, and during the second year, we spent around $4,000 per month. In total, we spent about $60,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked from January 2019–May 2021. In 2021, our strategy changed, and we had to make some adjustments due to COVID-19, so we decided to end the partnership. Our collaboration’s ending wasn’t their fault.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As a result of our project, we saw a 10–20 times increase in our engagement rates and followers. Additionally, we went from having zero sales leads coming from LinkedIn to having an average of 3–5 booked appointments per month.

How did The Marketing Family perform from a project management standpoint?

The Marketing Family was always on time and budget, and they were really good at keeping us on track. We used Trello to manage the project, as well as Slack, email, and Zoom to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Marketing Family’s LinkedIn knowledge is unique — I haven’t seen anyone else compare to it. LinkedIn is a very specific platform that requires a different approach than other social media platforms, so having success through it requires people who really understand it and understand how to write content for it. The Marketing Family really understands the ins and outs of LinkedIn and how to leverage it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be committed and ready to create content. The Marketing Family will do the heavy lifting, but you need to be prepared to do your part of the work and provide them with enough information for them to create content on your behalf.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an Amazon accounts management agency. I am the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Marketing Family?

I contacted The Marketing Family when I needed to establish and grow my presence on LinkedIn. They offered me the Content package initially that included:

• conducting a content strategy
• creating content (both written and visual)
• managing one of my pages

SOLUTION

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

I learned about the agency from a common partner. She recommended them, saying they were a smart and dedicated team, who are easy to work with. What convinced me to work with them was their flexibility, the potential solutions that they presented + the pricing.

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

At the starting stage there were a couple of forms and interviews. They were trying to understand my story and my company in the best way possible. Also they were looking mostly for my audience's pain points - this was helpful when we were deciding the topics I was going to talk about. After the initial stage was finished, we kicked off the content efforts.

Now over the past 2 years we've been upgrading the efforts every 3-6 months. We either add a new feature to the marketing mix, or try a new innovation. I am delegating more and more of my Content marketing to them.

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

I've worked with Nikolay - the Project owner and Content strategist. I've also worked with their content creators (a copywriter, a designer, and a content manager). The majority of my discussions are with the copywriter and with Nikolay to make sure we are headed in the right direction.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For the past year my LinkedIn audience grew from below a thousand people to nearly 5K audience, full of Amazon sellers and enthusiast, and potential leads. The growth is progressive and stable, nothing rapid since everything is organic. The conversations, the impressions, and the connections. The intangible benefit is that I am more recognizable on conferences and networking events. I also get approached by other experts from my industry to exchange ideas, or partner up.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

As every workflow, since the beginning it has been optimized over and over again. Although sometimes they are slight hiccups, there haven't been any business-crucial gaps in their workflows. They are making it as smooth as possible in order to spare my time.

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

Their uniqueness comes from trying their best to put themselves in the shoes of their clients. In other words, they'll take your project and treat it as their own to make sure your business strives, and you achieve the results you've discussed in the beginning. They are down to earth, don't sell crazy ideas like an overnight success, and if they find a gap in their logic, they'll make sure to find a way to fill it.

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

Usually, there's always room for improvement. Some of their services can be a little bit more scalable, and they are not always free for a "rush order".