New North

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am one of the owners and the President of the company. I oversee all aspects of the business and am one of the final decision makers for our company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were struggling to establish brand recognition in our target markets and lacking in our google search rankings. We also were putting a large focus on our Smart Fleet Management Technology and needed to find a way to market the tech in an effective manner. We felt that New North could help us acheive these goals with their own accomplishments in the B2B tech markets.

SOLUTION

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

We found New North on a blog article about tech marketing companies. After our first conversation with Tobin, it was clear that New North was the right choice for us.

When explaining our challenges within our market, he just "got it" which many other firms we interviewed did not and simply focused on basic deliverables they could provide whereas Tobin quickly showcased that they would be very valuable in marketing mind-share and strategy which was our main objective with our new marketing partner.

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

First, we went through our discovery phase where we helped educate New North on commercial indoor air quality practices and struggles within our sales process. New North's first and main objective was to clean up the brand presence with our website then begin to start a digital marketing strategy which would improve our search engine rankings, consumer education, and begin to bring in qualified leads to our website.

New North got our hubspot account up and running and improved our sales process. New North is very organized when it comes to tracking progress, deliverables, and budget making the management of the relationship, simple and straight forward.

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

We worked with 2 account managers and a marketing strategist

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The search engine rankings have improved dramatically taking us from maybe the 4th or 5th page of serch results to the 2nd page. We went from getting maybe 1 lead per month through our website to getting 2 much more qualified leads in one week. We are starting a new email campaign which we believe will bring great success as well.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our account manager has been excellent to work with and has really gone above and beyond to educate himself and learn about our industry and technology. He is always super responsive, open to discussion and provides great mind-share and strategic ideas.

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

They truly care about their clients, learning about their products and industry, and have a great approach to budget and how budget is spent on a month to month basis. They have worked with us to adjust as needed to fit our needs and have a unique approach to strategy. The owner of this company really seems to treat the employees well and they all seem happy in their positions and eager to help in anyway possible.

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

Their graphic design for marketing materials didn't completely wow us so we decided to continue to do that ourselves just for the simple fact of less back and forth for edits and more timely completion on our end. But, I will say we haven't used their graphic designer extensively to really understand their full capabilities and give them a real fair shot. This is just honestly the only area for slight improvment I could think of as they really do have a great team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-owner and VP of marketing of a commercial and industrial air purification manufacturer and supplier. We offer customized air purification solutions to commercial end-consumers such as hospitals, schools, government buildings, office spaces, retail spaces, manufacturing facilities, etc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our business was outgrowing our previous marketing and lead generation partner. We needed someone with experience in more high-tech industries to help us rebuild our website with appropriate messaging and content that fully captured our products and services. We also needed a new partner that was experienced in lead generation strategies for our industry.

SOLUTION

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

We searched online for marketing companies that specialized in more technical fields. We held a series of calls between our team and New North's to introduce them to our business and products/services. New North created a strategy and presented it to our team. Of the four groups that we interviewed, we felt that New North understood us the most, and we enjoyed our conversations with them as well.

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

First we went through a discovery phase and we shared our goals for restructuring our website. New North helped us create new content and rephrase some of our existing content. We created a multi-step plan that involved the overhaul of our website, creating blog and social media posts, and finally, an email campaign to target new lead generation.

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

We have worked with several team members including marketing manager, director, and even the founder of the company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been able to track website traffic more efficiently and effectively. We have had a significant increase in the number of contact forms filled out on our website, giving our sales team more opportunities to follow up with potential clients. We have also collaborated with New North to come up with new strategies and even new industries for our business to break into.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have bi-weekly metrics and campaign update meetings. We communicate effectively through email and New North is extremely responsive whenever we have any questions or requests for updates to a campaign or to the website.

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

The true collaboration between our teams and their desire to go above and beyond to deliver on what we set out to do together. They are extremely personable and strive to learn about and understand our business, the products, the manufacturing process, and the science behind our solutions.

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

We have an extremely unique product and service offering. We don't fit into a one-size fits all box, so we have been learning together with New North what the best strategy is for creating leads and building a new client base. There isn't anything that stands out that should have been done differently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and Managing Member of M and A advisory and consulting firm targetted at Small to medium-sized businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire New North?

I retained New North to redesign my website and create and execute a social messaging campaign.

What were your goals for this project?

My goal was to more effectively communicate our business proposition, to better articulate our experience and values, and to more efficiently communicate with potential customers in what is a long lead time and complicated sales process.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched for possible vendors online and interviewed and referenced checked a shortlist of candidates.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We began with a series of exploratory calls to explain our business model and goals and for New North to explain how they could support us in our business building process. New North then redesigned our website to better conform to these parameters and to communicate more effectively and efficiently with customers and prospects. Concurrently, they developed a detailed social media campaign from scratch and executed across the platforms that we jointly believe would be most efficient in reaching our target audience.

What was the team composition?

I worked closely with Jacob Brain who was the project lead and with subject matter experts for various parts of the projected and with Tobin Lehman, New North's CEO.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Feedback on our new site has been outstanding. The discussions that we now have with prospects are much more efficient and our hit rate on conversion has increased dramatically. The counterparties we are speaking with are much better informed about us from a product and process standpoint and we spend much less time educating and much more time on a potential client's needs and objectives. The social media campaign has dramatically increased our traffic and supported our position as an influencer and forward thinker within our target universe.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

New North is very user friendly, highly proactive, and requires limited oversight and engagement to accomplish agreed objectives.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

These folks are very quick to overcome the curve in understanding a new business and industry, readily and effectively adapt their product suite to customize what they do for a client and are enthusiastic and continually creative in their execution of an agreed strategy.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not a one!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Publisher of Fit Fathers

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire New North?

Web maintenance, hosting and ultimately a site redesign.

What were your goals for this project?

Better site performance and reliable hosting services.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Prior content developer recommendation.

Describe the project in detail.

The worst experience out of 25 years of web business I have ever experienced. Their hourly rate at $125 is extremely high for the work they perform in comparison to competitors. As well, New North's basic hosting is 6x more than what I pay now at A2 Hosting. Though, when you use both services and there happens to be a server size issue, they will use the hourly rate and tell you it has nothing to do with the server.

For example, I kept having a site outage which they blamed on Securi (although they directed me to Securi for this very prevention) and ultimately couldn't fix. Securi said it was server side. So they keep billing me for the same issue although it was never resolved. Once I switched servers to A2 Hosting the outages never returned and no longer did I need Securi. Now I pay $75 quarterly for maintenance opposed to $125 an hour which would leave me with $450 and $625 monthly bills with the problems recurring. They told me the site was old and the reason for the outages.

Well, the new maintenance company laughed and said they just need to keep the plug-ins up-to-date. Then I tried to have New North build a new site which they kept telling me was running over my $5,000 budget and proceeded to charge hourly.

Moreover, they installed a complicated content management system opposed to Wordpress which is what we discussed and what I am used to. Most of my content didn't migrate over from the old which led to an attempt to bill me over the budget. Plus, the design was super basic even after giving them various styles I liked. 

What was the team composition?

I only dealt with two individuals.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ultimately, I discontinued the web project, lost my deposit and started fresh. It looks months to get off the pain of that debacle. Never again!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

In the beginning, the workflow was very effective, but it deteriorated after we switched our site on their servers.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their capabilities seem to be normal. Nothing spectaculiar but certainly they are knowledeable

Are there any areas for improvement?

Yes, pricing structure

Company Responses

The vendor responded on February 11, 2020.

Kimatni, it’s with such deep regret that this project and relationship ended as it did. We understand you were hurt by the outcome (we were too), yet we believe we took every measure to avoid and correct everything you discussed in your review multiple times over this five-month project. Yet in the end, our efforts did not seem to make a difference. We stand by the decisions that were made because we made them all with you and with your approval. Your words hurt, as they were intended to do. 

I would be happy to discuss this project and review with anyone who would be interested, with full disclosure on all communications from both parties. The review contains hyperbole and inaccuracies, and there is more to the issue than is represented here.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the president of Emily Bermes + Associates, a boutique human capital consulting group. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire New North?

We needed help in filling our sales funnel. As a small firm, we have limited resources to fill the top and middle of the funnel. This refers to finding new clients and expanding relationships with existing clients.

What were your goals for this project?

Bottom line growth is always the goal. I expected to see an increase in qualified leads, new opportunities with companies that were not connected to our existing network, and more projects from existing clients.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I was referred to New North by a friend who did a Google search for vendors that work with consulting firms. Even though I was skeptical, their online presence impressed me, so I scheduled an interview and immediately wanted to work with them.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

New North modified our website to be more sales oriented and to maximize our distribution list. The team initiated a video series that was fairly easy to implement. They also made us a lot more consistent in using social media and newsletters and in improving our site to increase engagement.

What was the team composition?

I've worked with Tobin (President & Lead Strategist, New North) primarily and his writer Jon (Content Strategist, New North) as well as a few junior staff who keep projects moving. Every team member has a good sense of humor and is conscientious, adaptive, and open to feedback. It's a really strong group.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

New North tracks metrics that I don't always retain. All data points to greater visibility, increased web traffic, better search engine results, and other positive results. I've been impressed with the trend lines. But the bottom line of sales is my biggest focus, and we have grown about 30% per year since retaining New North. After 18 months, I have to say I didn't expect quite that much growth!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

New North’s project management is perfect. Highly available and professional, the team stays on us for things we need to provide so that we do not lose our cadence. I would never be this consistent without their constant attention to our goals. It makes a world of difference. I would never be as focused on marketing without New North’s leadership and persistence.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I've been consulting in a niche space for 20 years, and I'm blown away by how quickly New North catches on to our business: everything from our business strategy to our client base to the nuances in topics I consult on. The team does 100% of my marketing writing, and I’m thrilled that they can sound 95% like me with no background in my industry. It's incredibly impressive. I also love that, while I am quite a skeptic, New North does persuade me on what we need to do to move the needle. They are a great, humble, and effective team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I can’t think of anything. I had in mind to work with them for six months as a trial period. While they were not as fast as I expected, New North has over-delivered on results. You have to trust them, their expertise, and their process. Do what they tell you to do; it works. 

I've been with them for 18 months, and if anything, New North has helped us grow faster than we were quite prepared for. That's a great problem to have. I have referred them to personal friends with businesses that I think New North can help grow.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a digital marketing manager at an HR consultancy and marketing company that helps small and medium-sized businesses identify, attract, screen, schedule, and hire talent for job openings. Our solutions drive down the cost per hire, increase candidate flow, and reduce the time needed to fill open roles. We have less than 10 employees and serve clients in D.C., Northern Virginia, California, and Europe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire New North?

We hired New North to consult us on a website's redesign, identify keywords for SEO purposes, and to review and improve our blogging and email marketing strategy.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals for this project were to make our website SEO friendly, to develop a content strategy and to have an overall marketing strategy to attract new leads and increase our sales.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We met Tobin Lehman (President and Lead Strategist, New North) and realized he can help us with resources we didn't have inhouse. Shortly after introducing him to the whole team, we knew he is the one who will be able to lead this project to success.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They arranged weekly meetings to discuss the steps to moving forward in our marketing plan. New North implemented SEO best practices to our site and provided advice on our UX/UI. They also redesigned our email templates, helped create a content strategy to continue producing fresh content, and created an overall marketing strategy that fits into our brand.

What was the team composition?

We worked closely with the president of the company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

New North's made our site look more professional through their expert advice. We've seen an increase in referrals on the website and we're expecting to see more leads come through our website.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They made it easy to connect with the team and we had weekly meetings and bi-weekly meetings nearing the end of the project. Their team members were tasked with completing certain steps which allowed us to execute quickly and move rapidly towards our final goal.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They impressed us with their knowledge of the marketing space and ability to focus the project's most pressing needs. When the President first reviewed our marketing efforts, he immediately saw the need to redesign our website which has proven to be a great first step in our new marketing strategy.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, there are no areas for improvement. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of Yakabod, an enterprise software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with New North?

We're trying to overhaul our marketing efforts as most of it has historically been done with a business development model. We've more recently launched some derivative products to sell as commodity products rather than our complex consultative solutions sale. We hired New North for their expertise in market commodity product offerings.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

New North collaborated with us to overhaul the content layout our website and implemented the site to a HubSpot platform to enable support. Then, they designed our messaging/content around our new products.

They are currently experimenting with keywords, social ads, and podcast sponsorships to see what will drive traffic for each product offering.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with two of their marketing strategists, but we know they had some content writers in the background as well.

How did you come to work with New North?

We were referred to them by a friend.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested about $30,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2017 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped the one derivative product we focused on to gain some leads. We converted one of those leads into a sale and several others are in the pipeline. We gather clues into other avenues to advertise or to find sponsorships to drive additional leads from the initial success.

How did New North perform from a project management standpoint?

They communicate several times a week with us on what the status of our product’s visibility is to customers and their team advises us with recommendations on what we ought to do next.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They impress us with their overall knowledge of the space and they come up with ideas that we'd have never thought of. Their team brings capabilities that we would not organically have.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there is nothing they can improve on so far.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Hire them. I have no hesitation in recommending them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of a firm focused on managed IT services for the mid-market in Washington, DC and Baltimore metro areas. We’re based out of Frederick, Maryland and service companies within a 50-mile radius.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with New North?

We needed consistent marketing services, especially for external digital work. I’ve had a lot of experience in this area over a 20-year career, during which I’ve worked with a handful of employees and 5–6 outside agencies who tackled some of these tasks. We knew what we wanted to do, whom we were trying to message, and how we were trying to narrow things down. We wanted to get rid of noisy leads coming from small organizations and needed help exposing a mid-market focus. We wanted to see our rankings and lead flow in a variety of areas improve.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a couple of meetings during which New North drew from our goals and repeated the ideas back to us in written form, proving that they heard what I was looking for. I didn’t try to push into the details at that point and gave them a couple of months to prove their effectiveness. While we did get into a one-year arrangement, I also made it clear that I wanted to see that we were moving in the right direction, and New North would deliver what they promised.

We had a kickoff meeting featuring many key stakeholders of the business with Tobin Lehman, New North’s principal. He spent close to a business day with us to understand what exactly we did and what differentiated us. It was a differentiated selling proposition workshop during which he learned what was different, unique, or better about us, and how that would be represented. He wanted to make sure that he understood the buyer persona we were after — what they looked like, how old they were, what kind and what size of businesses they worked in, what their roles and titles were, and what level of education they had. The first day consisted of a lot of questions, drawing information out of us. From the high-level ideas we talked about, Tobin came back to us with a more detailed marketing plan listing what he thought the team should execute in the next 30–90 days. He suggested that we work on a new website but work on what we had first and seek improvements.

New North quickly created improved content for us. They gave me the visibility I wanted, and I got weekly updates from them about the progress. When they came back at the end of the first year, they proposed diminishing the contract. New North felt they could give me the same things at a lower cost since they’d come to know our business better. I rejected that proposal and asked them for more services since I felt I was getting a good return on investment. I doubled the size of the contract, so, instead of getting the same for less money, that efficiency was applied in order to get more. Tobin was surprised by that, but I did it because we were getting a good return on market awareness, leads, and quality of content.

In year two, they redesigned the website, continued managing our AdWords campaign, increasing the scope, and performed some unrelated marketing duties for us including the update of a variety of sales sheets used by our team and a HubSpot implementation. They also helped us go after and identify particular markets we want to chase and develop strategies for them.

I asked and encouraged New North to be an outsourced marketing department for our IT sales team and wanted the two to interact.

What is the team composition?

We have worked with 3–4 people from their team in the course of our interactions, depending on the task at hand. We engage Tobin from time to time if there’s an escalation for strategic engagements or contract changes, but, on a daily basis, we deal with Jacob Brain [Inbound strategist, New North]. I interact with him around twice per month, and my team interacts with him twice per week. We also receive weekly updates. He’s done a good job of keeping us informed about what they’re doing.

How did you come to work with New North?

Tobin and I were members of the same association, which gave me an awareness of his company but didn’t give me any preference towards him. I felt compelled to check him out given that, out of the vendors in our local marketplace, we wanted someone we could meet with face-to-face frequently and felt there was a lack of vendors with a B2B focus. There are some good vendors around, but we wanted a well-rounded set of skills and a company small enough to make us feel like we mattered to them. We also wanted a group whose principal was not just a marketing person but a strategist. When we looked at some of the people we already knew in the area (six companies in total), we weren’t able to come up with someone who checked off all those boxes. This made me go back to the personal Rolodex and look at whom else I knew in the marketing space. I called Tobin and interviewed him on the availability of his team and his approach. He won me over quickly.

Tobin is a very bright person, and he spoke about marketing in a different way. The majority of agencies we’d talked to or worked with mainly saw their job as that of generating activity. Consistently throughout the conversation, Tobin translated the effectiveness of his work into leads and sales. There was a differentiator in terms of his focus on the actual business value being delivered by what he did, and he understood more about the B2B space. Tobin and his team had a lot of experience in the B2B space in terms of how they would onboard a customer and build a marketing plan.

We looked at some of New North’s portfolio and felt that they had the design expertise we needed. We didn’t want to hire two firms but rather one which had the B2B understanding and could help with our strategic goals but also had design talent. We had to look good and needed them to be multi-purpose, an outsourced one-stop shop, and not just send emails, provide design, and so on. As a digital design firm, New North clearly has a focus, but they were more than glad to take on other duties as assigned.

In short, Tobin’s expertise and approach in translating everything to business value, along with the B2B focus of the firm, and the fact that they had good design expertise made us choose them.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the past two years, we spent around $144,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with New North in January 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve consistently put up information on our behalf building market awareness and credibility. An individual asked me how I find the time to post all the LinkedIn articles and site information. The truth is that I’m not generating any of that but simply sharing the work New North has already done. They send our team emails asking us to go to our social networks and distribute the latest content as widely as possible. While it’s great that they’re getting the content up, reminding us to distribute it is better because the people connected to everyone in our company end up seeing it. We have a large network; I’m personally connected to around 2,000 people and so are some of the other people working here. A 30-person team like ours can amplify a piece of content to 30,000 people quickly. There are many more people aware of our company, and we’ve had consistently good content coming out on a regular basis. It’s made a big difference in the awareness people have of who we are and what we do.

How did New North perform from a project management standpoint?

As with any vendor relationship, there are ups and downs. We’ve had to meet to coordinate and sync, but New North has been very responsive when learning about our concerns. They’ve always made time to meet with us and have been clear about representing their areas of strength. Even if someone else provided the same service for less money, we’ve asked New North to do it because of their familiarity with our offerings. We’ve never felt nickeled and dimed by them. We’ve been the ones pushing them at times, asking to pay extra in order to expand the list. It’s not only been a good breadth of services, but we’ve also felt safe in the relationship. New North never sold us something that wasn’t in our best interest or acted predatorily in any way. I don’t want to speak badly about any firms or individuals, but it’s a good hallmark for New North that our whole team feels safe in interacting with them and throwing out our big ideas and hopes without thinking that those will be turned into an oversized proposal which doesn’t fit the business or that they will charge us for something we didn’t know would be extra. New North has been over communicative in this regard.

They give us weekly updates, which I find to be a pleasant differentiator in the marketing space. Oftentimes, we have to chase our resources down in order to find out what is being done. The fact that we are kept updated on all the things which have been delivered or accomplished in a week gives us calm. We have a constant rhythm of things being done and good communication around updates.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their understanding of the B2B space and its complexity is impressive. We don’t have to educate them on nuances. They’ve realized that their job is not just to make noise or get traffic to our site but to help us get into the heads of potential buyer personas in a nuanced B2B space. This is their support for a complex sell.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We would like to see more focus on conversion. They ultimately do care a lot about getting leads, and while it’s the owner’s priority, I’m not sure if the team follows through in the same way, making sure that the ultimate value of what they do is the conversion of eyeballs into qualified leads. This is the only area, and, as a caveat, it’s also the challenge which everyone we’ve dealt with in the marketing industry has. People can become focused on the activity they’re performing and lose sight of what needs to be translated. As a firm, New North does better than average, but they’re so much better than average in many other areas, so this is the area they need to pull up in order to be on par with everything else they’re doing. It would make the team stand out as not only truly exceptional but unbeatable in the space.

Our website was delivered significantly late, partly because of our side, and I gave New North some push at the end stating that I expected them to project manage more and keep us on track. When I look to outsource something, I outsource the ownership of the deliverable, not co-own it with someone I’m contracting to.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

New North does a good job of drawing out requirements. The caveat I’ve mentioned — making sure that the work translates into qualified leads — is the only suggestion I could give. This is a concern I would raise to anyone hiring any marketing firm on the planet.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president of Veterinary Software Associates. We have developed a software reference tool for the pharmacy aspect of the veterinary world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with New North?

We needed help with marketing, specifically web-based marketing, for the launch of our new web product. We have a partner in Canada who developed the software we’re selling, as well as the frontend landing page for it. The marketing elements were developed off this, thematically. New North took the material and managed the marketing pages relating to it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They primarily worked on web-based marketing collateral, as well as on email and social media campaigns, website development, and even some database work. They also provided input for some print materials, although they didn’t design those. Based on our website’s existing design, they've worked a number of pages to sit better from an SEO and navigation standpoint, providing a better interaction with the website altogether.

They worked on social media campaigns for our company, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, along with blog and newsletter campaigns connecting to those. They helped us create original content, including interviewing our significant staff. The team will get original content from other sources as well, and work with us to create new posts, and push them to the blog and newsletter, as well as link them to social media.

In terms of other content creation, we don’t have to write a lot, but they work with our key players and make sure that we’re not just copying things from other websites. We have had discussions about paid advertising management and may launch this at a point in time, but we aren’t doing any paid advertising presently.

What is the team dynamic?

I’ve worked with 2 people from their team: Jacob Brain [Inbound strategist] and Tobin Lehman, their president. They picked out the resources who best fit our needs. For a while, we interacted weekly through conference calls. Currently, we have scheduled calls every 2 weeks, and other interactions in-between, via email and other channels.

How did you come to work with New North?

I received references from 2 clients from an accounting firm I run. New North actually ended up becoming a client on the accounting side and we contacted them, along with a couple of other sources, to quote this project. Another one of the companies never gave us a quote, while the other one gave us a comparable offer. We went with the one we found to be a better deal, which was New North.

The selection process was very straightforward: New North clearly defined what they could and couldn’t do, and what they would be charging. The understanding of our project scope was very clean.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend approximately $2,300 per month on their services. The total across 2 years has been in the ballpark of $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with New North in May 2016. They’re still on retainer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve received very good feedback, and have continually grown the database of what we call non-integrated users. This is our main focus at the moment, and we’ve seen exponential growth in the last 5–6 months. Among the things we can evaluate, we’ve had very good measurables, namely a substantial growth in our database, which was our goal.

For the first 6 months of the engagement, we were still working on the products internally and weren’t launching anything. From there, we spent a lot of time with integrated partners, some of whom don’t do a very good job, but New North was successful in creating launch packages for our integrated partners.

The latest launch went well. They allowed us to handle it, and the New North team was able to do their job. We’ve just launched, and are still trying to measure results, in terms of how many of those integrated users will ultimately purchase our product.

How did New North perform from a project management standpoint?

They set clear and concise goals: we know what our measurables are, they meet expectations, and most of our issues have had nothing to do with New North, but rather with us or an integrated partner. The team tends to meet deadlines well and be clear. This arena can be a bit vague, in terms of what measurables are, but they do a good job of providing an understanding. Email has been our primary means of ongoing communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to understand our market and industry. They are software people, not veterinarians, so walking in and creating content for a very specific niche of veterinary pharmaceutics in a way which makes sense and appeals to our customer base, has been impressive. They take the industry, focus and learn about it, and put out relevant content in a short period of time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I never like to say that someone’s perfect, and I’m sure there are things they could do better, but I can’t think of one now.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The key is to ask a lot of questions. When we first went into this, we didn’t have too many prepared, but they did a good job of raising issues we should have been asking about so that they could do a better job of understanding the project scope.

Knowing what needs to be accomplished will help them to set their fee and create a scope. Are we trying to sell more of a product, build a customer database, or simply trying to get the word out about who we are? We needed to be walked through the pricing structure and scope, since we simply asked for help, and they did a good job of defining our terms better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The Ammerman Experience was founded by my father, Dan Ammerman, who was a reporter and an anchorman in the Houston area. Our focus is teaching highly technical people in oil, gas, chemical companies, and other industries to talk to the press, make an effective presentation, or deal with angry people in a public meeting. We work with everyone from people in refineries to people who are putting pipelines into neighborhoods where they’re not wanted. I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with New North?

I was just getting started making a website social media friendly. I didn’t know what I needed. I wanted to appeal to a younger audience. I’m looking at communications people who do everything on social media, who look for services on their cell phones more than they do on their computers.

I wanted online visibility. We were at a point when everyone was getting into social media, and people told us we needed a blog or a Facebook page. I kept saying that I would do it when it became of true value to our client base and when I can do it consistently and well. I was hoping to build a stronger customer base, to have a social media presence that would keep us progressive, and reach out to the clientele who would be hiring us.

We have a database of former participants and existing clients. One of my goals was to keep our name in front of those people who have already done business with us so that when they were ready to do business again they would think of us. In our business of media and presentations training, we may work with a client, and then they may not work with us again for a year. I wanted them to remember us. Secondly, I wanted to have a strong enough presence online that when people were looking for someone to do what we do, that they clicked on us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tobin Lehman, the President, reached out to me with a plan that he thought would work for us. Tobin did an excellent job of creating what worked for us that was very true to who we are. We did a monthly newsletter. One of my guys is very academic, and he writes thought-provoking and deep articles. Tobin suggested that we should do articles that are more like snacks rather than the whole meal because the new people we’re reaching out to are not going to read the longer articles. He recommended Twitter and e-blasts. He was well versed in what words to use so that when people clicked and were looking for a media-training firm, we came up. He sold me on the idea. We sat down and wrote out an editorial calendar detailing what our articles were going to be about. They interviewed me on this content, and they have been doing an excellent job of writing in my voice.

The articles are easier to read and more general so that they appeal to a larger audience. We do a newsletter once a month. We send it out twice a month to the people who didn’t open it the first time. We also tweet twice a day, post articles on my LinkedIn page, and do e-blasts on occasion when we have something that’s going on within the company that people need to know about.

All the archived newsletters that we’ve sent out over the previous years are on our WordPress website now. We also put our prices on the website so that people could look at it and make decisions to qualify them early. Also, we have educational pieces that people can download like a press briefing kit and how to write a press briefing, and we keep those up to date.

What is the team dynamic?

The people I work with the most are Tobin Lehman and Jon Anderson. Usually, Tobin interviews me, and Jon sits in on the call and writes the articles. Jon puts together the editorial calendar for Twitter. He reaches out to me with ideas. For example, I wanted to send out an e-blast when we were in the midst of the hurricane and people were canceling business and homes were flooded, so he helped me write what would be appropriate to send out.

How did you come to work with New North?

One of my colleagues had a relationship with Think Baseline. We were in the market for a new website, and he met this woman when she was visiting in Houston. We interviewed her and thought she would be a perfect candidate. She used New North in the process so when we had website issues, we would go to New North. Once she created the website, New North was in charge of maintenance and making any changes, so I developed a relationship with Tobin in that process. I asked him questions and he gave suggestions. He presented a proposal to me that seemed doable, and that’s when we started working together.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend an average of $24,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2014, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are heavily oil and gas related. Several years ago, the drop in the price of oil resulted in a challenging economic environment. If it hadn’t been for the online presence and continued marketing, we wouldn’t be as solvent as we are today.

Recently, I was trying to reach out to a former client. I had worked with her communications person years ago, but she retired, so I was trying to find out whom to go to next, but I wasn’t successful. The right person looked up media training in Houston and found us. She reached out to me and wanted information about our company. I told her that we had worked for them over the past 15 years and we had a relationship. I knew their company and their issues. I’ve trained their executives, and she didn’t know that because she was new. This demonstrated to me that we’ve successfully bridged the gap between the people that I worked with years ago to the Millennials to the new people that have come on board. This was an example of why we’re doing this. I’m confident that it’s working.

How did New North perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. I’m President and CEO of a small company and I’ve got a million hats that I wear, but they’re patient and persistent. If we need to set up an interview and I have to cancel it, they’ll persist to reschedule it. They drive the train, and that’s exactly what I need. That was why it took me so long to get into this because I knew if I drove the train it wouldn’t be consistent. They keep us consistent and they’re very thorough and efficient.

We communicate twice a week on some things. When the Academy Awards were on and they opened the wrong envelope, I said I want to speak about that. They always encourage me to be the industry expert and speak about things that are going on out in the world. Jon might reach out to me about a current issue and ask if I want to comment. I write a paragraph or 2, and he tweaks it and sends it out.

Everything’s done virtually or by telephone. Tobin comes to Houston once a year and we meet and set up a yearly calendar and talk about new things that we want to do. They’re focused on keeping it fresh and dynamic.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was learning as we went, and Tobin is good about explaining new concepts and ideas to me in a way I can understand and trust.

When they interview me for an article, the article that they write is truly in my voice and that impresses me. It’s taken a while. When Jon came on board it was a perfect match. I rarely make changes to the articles.

They are lovely, kind people. We’ve developed a nice relationship; I consider them friends as well as business associates.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust the process. They walked me through it and helped me become more comfortable with what we’re doing.