PBJ Marketing

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the strategic directions coordinator for the National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation. We are an ocean conservation and work closely with the NOAA Office to support work in those marine protected areas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PBJ Marketing?

The website needed help and we were trying to increase recognition, as well as program development and fundraising. We wanted a digital strategy, given the organizational structure and the environment we were operating in.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us with all things digital. This included the website hosting, maintenance, and digital strategies. They’ve done our website design, content marketing, and strategy to help with social media and boost keywords. They’ve also worked with our AdWords, PPC, and SEO.

What is the team composition?

I am in regular contact with the CEO and his partner. We also work with their account manager and an account coordinator as well. I work comprehensively with the four of them, it's really touch and go depending on the project.

How did you come to work with PBJ Marketing?

I’d first heard about them through a referral from others who have used their services before.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested close to $250,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017 and are still currently working with them. We are about to renew our contract.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've noticed incredible results. Our previous firm wasn't really doing much to help get traffic to the website and they weren't tracking data the way PBJ does. That's something that I really appreciate about them. They are data driven.

Last year we created a microsite for one of our signature events. In the three months that it was launched, we got 20,000 views. That was 11 times more than what we had seen the entire previous year.

With the new website that we're getting ready to rollout, we've presented that to the board, our senior staff, some of our staff here at the foundation, and they're wowed by it. They're so excited because it looks much more modern, it's cleaner, and it's set up to do a variety of different functions, given the structure of our organization. Our team is really happy with those services.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

With their website development project, they give us access to the GAMP timeline. They're very communicative. When things are changing, they reach out, take feedback, and turn it around quickly.

They use Asana and they give us access to that through InstaGAMP, but we currently don’t use a project management tool in-house. We basically use whatever PBJ is working with, including corresponding over email and phone as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I find PBJ to be more agile, responsive, and prepared than previous firms we’ve worked with. They're much more knowledgeable about the full environment that we're operating in. They prepare comprehensive reports and they tell us about implementing future strategies.

When we have issues, they’re on it right away. If we ever get a website error, I email, and it's generally resolved within the hour. They're always happy to hop on the phone whenever we need them. Their availability is something I haven't experienced in my career so far. We very much appreciate that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As the company grows, I think they can add more people to take on new clients. They're great, especially with us being a nonprofit, and I feel like they could move into that space with more capacity. They’re small right now and there’s a lot of room for them to grow.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I suggest to show up with a loose idea of what you want or a developed plan. But also understand that PBJ has a great wealth of knowledge about the digital space. They come up with quite a bit of ideas and they're very willing to help if you want it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in a digital communications role for a private grantmaking foundation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PBJ Marketing?

We receive a monthly Google AdWords grant and needed someone to help us manage and build out our campaigns.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

PBJ helped us set up our Google AdWords campaigns and works closely with us to identify keywords. Additionally, they find ways to improve out digital ecosystem, which includes our website, two microsites, and our social properties.

They do a lot of proactive monitoring of user searches in order to provide recommendations. If we have a blog about a specific topic, for instance, they create specific AdWord campaigns around related keywords. They provide monthly reports about these digital metrics.

In the past, they’ve also helped us with SEO work after our website went through a redesign. This included tags, title and headline fields, and meta tagging to improve traffic and build our audience.

What is the team composition?

Our team has included various people. We spoke with the two co-founders in the beginning, and we’ve since worked with a project manager, data analysts, AdWords experts, and a strategist who helps us coordinate our message across our social media platforms. On average, we work with four or five individuals.

How did you come to work with PBJ Marketing?

We worked together on a previous project after they approached one of our staff members during a conference. We went through an RFP process for our current engagement and PBJ again impressed us with their expertise.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay a monthly rate and have spent between $100,000–$200,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2015 and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very satisfied. The monthly metrics they provide play an instrumental role in helping us retain our grants. They’re also nimble enough to adjust to shifting priorities. That responsiveness allows us to successfully execute any changes in goals.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

The initial part of our engagement was done remotely, but they’ve also visited our office to sit in on team meetings. They’ve conducted presentations on occasion, and do an excellent job responding to questions and explaining their process.

They’ve never missed a deadline. In addition to the monthly metrics, I reach out to them at least once a week for any updates.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're personable and client-focused in a way that feels genuine. Our relationship isn’t merely transactional; they feel like a real partner.

We occupy a unique position. As a nonprofit, we don’t have the same KPIs of a for-profit organization, but we also don’t rely on fundraising. PBJ understands our particular challenges and adjusts to meet our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve addressed any concerns, so nothing comes to mind. For instance, their monthly metrics were, at first, too convoluted. They provided valuable information, but it was too much to digest. I raised this issue and they immediately began streamlining the reports to make them more accessible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as transparent as possible. Take comfort in PBJ’s discretion and share your long-term goals so they can help you achieve success.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of an astrology website. We produce astrology content for major media and for ourselves.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PBJ?

We were growing and wanted dedicated SEO work to make sure that our website is compliant and growing. We needed to keep up with our increasing traffic.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started by doing a deep dive analysis on the site to find all the keywords that our competitors’ sites were using. They did a UX [user experience] overview. They helped us come up with a strategy to get higher Google rankings. They got us on some search ranks and some search engines that weren’t on.

They also helped us decide what content to create and focus on and made a lot of improvements to our page theme. This included making images smaller and standardizing a lot of things. They taught us how to use an SEO plugin we needed and to create SEO friendly titles. Now, they’re helping us with the website redesign strategy.

What is the team composition?

There were 3–4 on the team. We worked with Phillip [CEO, PBJ Marketing] and David [Chief Security Officer, PBJ Marketing], the owners. They switch off depending on what we’re working on. We also work with Michael [Head of SEO, PBJ Marketing] who is the specialist who does the fast-linking, and Wenyi [Digital Strategist, PBJ Marketing] who does a lot of the competitive research.

How did you come to work with PBJ?

They were a referral from a web designer. We selected them because they understood our site feeds, where we needed to go, and what we needed to do next. It was clear that they had special skills that we didn’t. They were the first company we talked to, so we decided to give them a try on a monthly basis and ended up sticking with them.

How much have you invested with them?

$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2016 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Traffic has grown exponentially: there’s been a 400% to 500% increase in traffic to our site. When we started work, we received about 700,000 unique visitors and now we’re at 5 million. We’ve had a few of our pages rank number one on search results. Our page views went from 1 million to 15 million. Our programmatic ad revenue has increased as a result.

How did PBJ perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a smaller team and have grown along the way as we have. They have sometimes changed around some of the roles of the team, but it’s been fine. They’re responsive and are able to work very independently, then send us a monthly recap report. We always know what they’ve been doing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really understand the digital marketing aspect that goes into having a website. They really know what’s going on with digital strategy, media, and technology. They’re always current and even ahead of the curve. Their ideas are always really spot on, sharp, and based in the most current and relevant business practices in the digital media world. Their advice is related to revenue.
We’ve been able to grow with them. There were some months where we spent less and they helped us figure out what would be the smartest thing to spend on during that time. They really know where to put your dollars.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There could be a little more communication. Since they’re a smaller business, everyone is working all the time. Having a liaison or an account manager every now and then would be nice. The owners do that, but they sometimes get pulled into something else. They’re always responsive, but they could stand to hire a couple of dedicated account managers as they grow.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have them break down the phases of the work. Begin with a deep dive analysis.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of entrepreneurship and innovation programs at a university.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PBJ Marketing?

We were launching a new online graduate program and were interested in building our online presence and enrolling students in the program. We launched the program and had worked with a couple of other marketing agencies to build awareness and enrollment. None of the 3 other agencies really met our goals for enrollment.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Instead of simply marketing, PBJ Marketing took a good look at all of our content that was online, our social media presence, and the website that we had already built. They provided some guidance on refining it from a support site and making 2 sites. They worked with us to build a proper landing page as well as a more robust version of the website. From there, they helped us understand some of the opportunities with social media since we really weren’t optimized based on our talks with PBJ. They were very helpful in building a more comprehensive and cost-efficient way of generating leads for us in the social media space.

They also helped with including proper analytics on our site to let us understand the patterning our prospective students and how to target them more effectively. They did a lot of the content marketing and lead management. They helped us get the proper sales funnels established for both the earlier program and the new program.

They worked in 3 different areas over the different contracts we’ve had. The first was the refinement and enhancement of our web presence. They took a 1-page website and worked with us to create a comprehensive site as well as a landing page that would really convert for us. The second piece was creating our social media presence, including managing our ad campaigns on a variety of platforms. The third element was general online marketing—making it more display-based and advising us on both the creation of the creative elements and how to target and manage that effectively as well.

This week, we are launching a second master’s program with them. It’s essentially a repeat of what we’ve learned with the first program. The first involved technology entrepreneurship, and the second involves corporate innovations. We were able to do the corporate innovation master’s this week based on the lessons we learned from before. We worked with PBJ to create the right landing page, create the right website, get the social media things in order, and have our ad strategy worked out.

Our target audience for a technology entrepreneurship master’s degree is generally 25–35 years old, and our gender representation is relatively equal. We were targeting an international market as well as a US market, thinking that the global accessibility of the program would make sense. We found that predominantly a US audience is enrolling with us. This is diversified somewhat. About 40% of our enrollment comes from business backgrounds, about 40% comes from technology, and about 20% is from a mix of other backgrounds. Since we offer a master’s program, everybody has a bachelor’s degree. Behaviorally, we cater to individuals who are interested in developing their own startup company.

We worked with PBJ’s CEO, Phillip, in developing the proposal and communicating the vision of what we wanted to do within the program. David [CSO, PBJ Marketing] is our daily point of contact who assists on both the creative side as well as the technical aspects. He makes sure that we have a good strategy behind what we’re doing and that we’re able to track and understand the data.

How did you come to work with PBJ Marketing?

We started by looking at 3 local providers in the Washington, DC area. We identified these options based on relationships, referrals, and asking around. We were not really happy with those results after trying them for a few months. We were familiar with Phillip because he was an alumnus of the university. We visited their website, looked at their portfolio, and talked with them a bit about what we’ve done and what they might recommend.

How much have you invested with PBJ Marketing?

The last 6-month contract was $50,000. The contract before that was $20,000, so we’ve spent a total of approximately $70,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June of 2016, and the work is ongoing. We started with a short contract, added a 6-month contract, and now we’re in the process of renewing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We typically enroll a class of 30 and do 2 intakes per year. In the year that PBJ’s been with us, we probably have 30 graduate students that we might not have had otherwise. We offer a $20,000 program, so that translates to $600,000 in added revenue. When I look at the sophistication of our marketing campaigns, I know my cost-per-lead, what we’re spending, what the results are, what the path of a student is to us, how we’re doing our lead management of these students, and why we’re doing all these things. I think that we are the most effective team on campus for doing that.

A lot of university marketing is still very traditional. Many departments on campus are still doing billboards and radio. When we’re in meetings with other groups on campus and discussing our marketing activities, we get a lot of blank stares. I think it’s to PBJ’s credit that they stay current on some of the latest strategies and techniques for branding and marketing something traditional like a degree in an innovative space and a cost-effective way.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They balance being data-driven but also being highly attentive and responsive. Although we have some scheduled time together periodically, if we do have a question or a concern, if something looks broken, or if we feel like we broke something accidentally, we reach out to them and get a quick response. We use LuckyOrange for the general site traffic management. We use ActiveCampaign for our content marketing and broadcast emails. We use Funnel.io as our reporting system to track our performance on the different media channels.

What did you find most impressive about PBJ Marketing?

Compared to other providers, PBJ has more expert knowledge on how to use various social media marketing tools. We had similar ad budgets for Facebook, Twitter, and a variety of other areas. We found that the volume and the quality of the leads exceeded that of any of the other 3 providers. Maybe a lot of people can figure out how to manage a Facebook campaign, but they may not necessarily have the level of expertise. PBJ has a superior level of familiarity and expertise. I think they have a data-driven mentality of what we’re doing and where we’re doing it. They’ve also exceeded my expectations as far as their technical acumen on the web design as far as how to use tracking codes and integrate a lot of the technical pieces to make the data manageable. The other agencies were creative in the context that they could use Photoshop, but I didn’t really get the sense that they understood as much of the data and analytics.

Are there any areas PBJ Marketing could improve?

I feel like we are highly dependent on a single person. If David decided to leave, I think we could be stuck. That’s a byproduct of working with smaller firms, but I do think that PBJ is highly reliant on him, and I’m not real sure what they would do if he left. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Foremost Medical Equipment is a medical device distribution company that sells new and refurbished medical equipment. I’m the president. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PBJ Marketing?

We knew we had existing challenges with our website platform and e-commerce platform, and we wanted to make some changes. We also knew that we were not succeeding at the level we wanted to with our AdWords, PPC [pay-per-click], and organic SEO [search engine optimization]. We wanted to find a company who could help guide us through those three areas. Previous firms that we worked with didn’t have a good understanding of our business, and we were wasting money. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their involvement has been just incredible. We talk almost on a daily basis. I don’t think any of us anticipated the daily interactions that we’ve been having, mainly because we were accustomed to our previous vendor who we would talk to once a month or once every six weeks, which probably was indicative of some of the challenges we were having. PBJ was able to do an under-the-hood assessment of all three target areas, and they identified several red flags for us to be concerned about. They put forth a proposal to address those red flags. They also helped us in what we needed to do to accelerate and increase our success rate on PPC and AdWords and also SEO which we’d never done before.

When we decided to work with PBJ, one of the first things that we did was just start to overhaul our website. Our website has tens of thousands of items, and it needed a major overhaul just because of the years of mistakes. They’ve done extensive work with just renaming photos, renaming product descriptions, working on our search filter, and working on the overall feel of the website as far as the interaction on the site itself and interaction on the cart.

We consider PBJ part of our company because they know everything about our products. They know where we want to spend, how we want to spend, and take into consideration our high-profit margin products. They have taken a comprehensive approach to how we’re spending our money and making sure that we’re getting the biggest bang for our buck.

On the SEO side, one of the biggest components that we’re learning is getting back links to non-affiliated sites to Foremost but sending them over to our website. What we did over the past six weeks is launch a blog. They’re in charge of doing all of our blog entries, which have been pretty extensive, along with a calendar of when those blog entries will go up over the next six months, twelve months, etc. They’re responsible for writing all of those blogs, finding the information, and putting the keywords into those paragraphs so that we can get higher results on organic search.

They’ve also taken on our email marketing campaign. We’re reaching out and targeting specific current customers of ours, and then we’ll expand that to include future customers.

We have four people from PBJ who we work with consistently, including Philip [CEO], David [CSO], Michael [Head of SEO], and Bennett [Digital Marketing Analyst]. I know there are people behind the scenes working with them on their team.

How did you come to work with PBJ Marketing?

We had talked to a lot of other companies by doing an interview process. It really seemed that PBJ knew what they were talking about, but they weren’t just interested in what they were talking about. They were really interested in us as a company. When they started talking to us about profit margins and making sure that we were spending money on products that we’d make money on, it was really fantastic. They really care about how our company succeeds, not just about how they look on the clicks. We felt that they had the most detailed assessment and were the most engaging and articulate. In the tech world, one of the challenges is that sometimes when you deal with people that are non-tech oriented, such as us, things get lost in translation. Being able to communicate what they were trying to achieve but also listen to us was really paramount in making sure that we had a company that we wanted to partner with.

How much have you invested with PBJ Marketing?

We’ve spent between $40,000 and $50,000 on their services. Including our AdWords spend, we’ve spent between $120,000 and $150,000. We’ve increased our budget consistently because we’re really satisfied with the results and trust them. It is really a sign of our true partnership, I think.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January of 2017, and the work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen the biggest impact in AdWords and PPC. They’ve done a phenomenal job. We consider them part of our company. We just got the SEO started. In terms of PPC, we’ve had our highest revenue month ever as a company online, so to us that’s a huge indicator. We’ve seen our transactions become higher in revenue dollars, and we’re spending less for them. Before PBJ, we had a lot of transactions, but the return on the ad spend was much smaller. Now, we’re getting big-ticket, high-dollar items coming through online, so that’s really something that we care about. With our website, sometimes people just come in for information because they want to get a quote or they need pricing or something. We’ve seen an uptick in high-ticket items being requested for quotes. We know that we are seeing fantastic results based on our history as a company.

Our website was done a few years ago on a limited budget, so it’s been kind of clunky. For PBJ to make some immediate changes to make it more modern has been great. The customer experience is so much more satisfactory, which I think leads to business as well.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They do really well. What we really like is that they keep us updated. We have a recap almost every four weeks where we can review everything that they’ve done. They keep us informed, but they don’t overwhelm us. We’re not techies, so we pay them to take on these projects and to implement them. We don’t need to babysit them. That’s what’s been really beneficial about them: they take care of it. They know the level of interaction that we want. We interact with them on a daily basis for questions or things with the website, but on the long-term projects, they really just take it and put a timeline on it. They’ve hit every single timeline they’ve set, and then we work together just to make sure we’re on the same page for the next set of projects.

What did you find most impressive about PBJ Marketing?

They’ve really become a true partner. That’s what all vendors say to you, but it really is truthful with these guys. They care about our company’s success, not just theirs; they really have invested the time to understand our products, the nomenclature, how we sell, and all of that means a lot to us.

They’re very accessible. I can text, call, or email them at any time. They’re just in it to win it with us, and that really means a lot. Their communication is another thing that sets them apart. When you’re interacting with folks who are not necessarily techies, you sometimes can get lost pretty fast in the communication. They have a way of communicating with us in layman’s terms so that we can understand. It also helps us make decisions a lot faster as opposed to having to decipher what they’re saying.

Are there any areas PBJ Marketing could improve?

I don’t think so. We’re continuing to send them business. I told Philip I think we’re going to have to hire more people, which isn’t a problem. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of the New York office of CzechTourism USA.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PBJ Marketing?

We wanted to promote new nonstop flights from Canada to the Czech Republic. We had a campaign with one airline, and we came up with the idea of creating a Facebook contest. It was a giveaway contest for a free trip to the Czech Republic. We were looking for someone who would create a landing page for this contest. We also needed someone to promote the contest, create ads, and manage the whole paid campaign on Facebook.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

PBJ Marketing handled just one small project for us. They built the landing page in English and French. We provided the copy for the landing page so they didn't do any creative writing. They built the landing page, the graphics and all the visual components of it. Then, they created a series of online ads and came up with a Facebook campaign strategy. They were responsible for the whole campaign from A to Z, from creative development to implementation and budget control. They delivered the KPIs [key performance indicators] we set at the beginning, and then provided us with a final report.

How did you come to work with PBJ Marketing?

It was through a personal recommendation from someone who has worked with them before. I was looking at other companies as well but, after a personal meeting with PBJ Marketing, we felt that we are on the same page for this project. I decided to give it a go and try them based on their references and what they proposed to do.

How much have you invested with PBJ Marketing?

Our spending was slightly less than $10,000 for this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking about initial ideas in December 2015. Back then, we were still looking for the right timing to launch the campaign. That's because the nonstop connection between Canada and Prague only started to operate at the end of May. The main workload was done in April, May, and June [of 2016]. We finished up our work with PBJ Marketing in June.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I think that they were able to build a very engaging landing page. We had a very good conversion rate based on how many people took the quiz on the landing page. The final conversion rate was around 44 percent, which was incredible. Of the people who came to the landing page through the ad, 44 percent took the quiz and entered the contest. We had a high level of engagement.

Also, if I look at some analytical information from the website like bounce rate and time spent on the website, the bounce rate was low. A customer spent almost four minutes on our website. That actually shows a very good engagement with the website, so we were satisfied with that point. The Facebook sweepstakes campaign resulted in 600,000 impressions on our ads. The CTR [click-through rate] was somewhere around 1 percent, which was not that bad. As I said, of all those who came to the website, 44 percent did the action we want them to do. That was a very good conversion rate.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They tried their best. I have to say that PBJ Marketing is still a small, young company with a few young professionals who are experienced in doing projects. But, I'm not sure if they have done any major tasks in the last few years. I could tell that after working with them for a short period. Sometimes, we ended up doing the project management on their behalf. Not entirely, but sometimes, some of their employees weren't that organized. After a few misunderstandings, we were able to clear everything up and make sure that everyone is on the same page. We successfully implemented the whole campaign, and the results were very good.

What did you find most impressive about PBJ Marketing?

I would say that these guys try to be innovative. They are very tech-based and are always looking for new trends. They always try to give us many options based on case studies and research. They were very thorough and, at the same time, very tech-oriented. They came up with many interesting apps, devices, and tools that made that campaign successful. That's something I appreciated. Overall, it was a very good experience.

Are there any areas PBJ Marketing could improve?

If there is something that PBJ Marketing needs to improve, it's their project management. As I said, the conversation sometimes got a little tense from that perspective. We should have created a timeline of activities that they were supposed to do at the beginning. We were doing some stuff in the initial phase of the project on the run, so that caused some confusion at the beginning. But, again, we resolved everything. I would say they need a deeper focus on project management.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I have a food and nutrition blog, drtaylorwallace.com, and I am also the senior director of science, policy, and government affairs at the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with PBJ Marketing?

I have worked with PBJ in two different capacities. They developed, designed, and managed my blog, and they have done general marketing for the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

PBJ Marketing has done different types of advertising and have updated the website for the National Osteoporosis Foundation. They do a lot of search engine optimization and are able to help an organization gain a larger following online. They also created a flipbook for people that have recently been diagnosed with osteoporosis that explains the medications and physical activities you should do to prevent the disease from progressing. We've been impressed by them.

How did you come to work with PBJ Marketing?

I met them through one of their clients who was satisfied with their work. I was looking for some professional help as I started my blog and, once we met, we hit it off from there. That was three or four years ago.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The cost of the work for my blog was about $10,000, and the work for the National Osteoporosis Foundation is between $50,000 and $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I've worked with them for a little more than three years on my blog, and I'm very satisfied. We actually just relaunched a new blog with catchy designs. It's fantastic.

I started working with them at the National Osteoporosis Foundation about two and a half years ago, and we are still very engaged with them. I don't even put out RFPs [request for proposals] any more. We exclusively use PBJ Marketing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Our online community at the National Osteoporosis Foundation has grown substantially. The amount of followers has tripled during the last two years. Much of the stuff that they have designed for us are downloadable pamphlets and informational kits, which are downloaded very frequently.

As for my blog, they created it about three years ago. We now have more than 60,000 followers, and it's been very cost-effective.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They're quick, organized, efficient, and very communicative. I don't speak well of many consultants, but PBJ has always been extremely available, and they work well with their clients. Many times, it's hard to have an online presence in the science field because it's very technical, but they're able to work through that. They are very cost-effective, and they can really rock and roll on stuff.

What distinguishes PBJ Marketing from other providers?

Their customer service is fantastic, and I wouldn't say that if it weren't true. They've been fantastic to work with during the last three years, and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with them.

Is there anything PBJ Marketing could have improved or done differently?

No. I've been very satisfied with them. They've been great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a creative and branding agency in Brooklyn, New York.

What is your position?

I am a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer/Director of Strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with PBJ Marketing?

Though we primarily handle creative and branding projects, we brand ourselves as a full-service agency. When our clients come to us in need of something that’s out of our purview, we turn to our network for those services. We needed a partner that we could use on a more consistent basis in order to offer our clients a more robust suite of services.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We have a partnership with PBJ, so any client we work with that needs paid media management through social media, AdWords, or any other platform, will be referred to them. We manage the creative and strategy, and PBJ manages the campaigns, reporting, and analytics.

How did you come to work with PBJ Marketing?

I found out about them through a mutual connection that I work pretty closely with. I set up a phone call and it was clear that we have similar cultures. We decided to work together about six months ago.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We work with them on a management basis for our clients’ paid media, so it’s a monthly recurring agreement that continues as long as we have the client. Over the course of a year, we will have spent between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Given that our relationship is a partnership, I foresee it lasting indefinitely. We bring each other clients and are therefore mutually beneficial to one another. We each have our respective strengths, and when we work together, it works very nicely.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

One example I have is from a client in the industrial manufacturing and sales space for HVAC equipment. Since PBJ has taken over their paid media activities about three months ago, they’ve doubled the number of leads they’re getting per month and have dropped the cost of acquisition by half.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

I work pretty closely with the founders, Phillip and David, and communicate with them at least a few times a week regarding various clients. The quality of their work and delivery has been very consistent and very high. They make it extremely easy for us to operate as the middle man. Since they operate as a white label service provider to us, they provide unbranded reports that we can add our own information to and label as our own. Everything is very smooth and easy.

What distinguishes PBJ Marketing from other providers?

Working with PBJ has been our first time going outside of our agency for paid media management, and the transition has been very easy. I am able to trust their judgment and expertise so that when I’m communicating with my clients about something that PBJ has done, I can feel good about the fact that if they say it’s going to work, it will work.

Additionally, they have a great company culture and method of operating that really aligns with ours. They are innovative and creative in the way that they approach the work, which cannot be said about a lot of other agencies. Being data driven is great, but they also add a human aspect that rounds out their work.

Is there anything PBJ Marketing could have improved or done differently?

Right now they’re in a growth phase, which will benefit us and their other clients in the long run, but has slowed down their turnaround and response time in the past couple of months. They approached us beforehand and let us know that their hiring was going to cause a bit of a bottleneck, which was really great in the sense that they were holding themselves accountable.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a startup online retailer that to provides made-to-order shoes handmade in Spain.

What is your position?

I'm one of the co-founders.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with PBJ Marketing?

First, we wanted to understand our market position and competition in the digital market. We also wanted to set up a strategy to get better recognition and stronger ROI [return on investment] from our marketing efforts. We wanted to work on our social media and traditional digital advertising.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

PBJ Marketing has provided research on our strategy, competitors, and competitive landscape. They did an SEO [search engine optimization] audit of the site, created a blog to improve our ranking, and designed content for multiple special events invites. We're currently developing our go-to-market advertising and customer retention plan with them.

How did you come to work with PBJ Marketing?

I interviewed a bunch of agencies that I found through referrals and through the WeWork coworking network. I was looking for a smaller agency that was agile and used to working with startups. We needed more attention and focus.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We spend an estimated $60,000 to $100,000 yearly.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them for about five months. We consider them an agency of record, meaning that they have a pivotal role on our team. They provide us with connections to other providers, and they help us coordinate, schedule, and manage other vendors. We're about to enter into the next phase of our relationship, which is the heavy roll out and launch of our targeted online advertising.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We will be getting more specific metrics in the next two to four months, but I know that when we started with them we were far from the first result in searches and now we're all over the place. We're highly visible, and we catch all the terms for our category and name. They also supported us on a pop-up we recently did in New York City, which generated more than 800,000 mentions on social media.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

We've asked them to provide specific project management capabilities for our launch. They were integral in putting together all of the different pieces, including customer service, printing materials, in-store details and social media. They've been kept in the loop and have taken on a central role in terms of overall project management that is way beyond the purview of their role and market.

What distinguishes PBJ Marketing from other providers?

The founders are very available and committed to their clients, and they make you feel like you're part of the same team. Their team has strong, complementary skills in strategy, digital marketing, metrics, and other key areas that get things done. They're balanced and make themselves available to clients like me.

Is there anything PBJ Marketing could have improved or done differently?

Not right now. As the relationship progresses, we'll be getting into more measurable work like conversion rates, ROI, and so on. At this point, they've done everything that we've asked them to extremely well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an education tech start-up. We create SAT, ACT, and TOEFL prep products for students. We’re largely app-based, but we also do Internet-based tutoring.

What is your position?

I am the Director of Marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with PBJ Marketing?

When we started with PBJ, all of our products were app-based, so we needed experts who understood how to both integrate all of our marketing, analytics, data, and channels into our apps, and also effectively improve our visibility both in the app stores and in the broader education market.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

I was actually brought on initially as a way to support PBJ’s efforts. When they were first hired, they handled all of our marketing efforts, which included everything from implementation of analytics to paid search, social media marketing, app store advertising, and app integration.

How did you come to work with PBJ Marketing?

My company hired PBJ because they were expanding and didn’t have all the necessary marketing capabilities in-house.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It falls in the range between $50,000 to $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with PBJ about a year and a half ago [early 2015]. We no longer work with them because we now have in-house marketing capabilities. We had an awesome experience with them and they absolutely laid down the foundation that we needed in terms of technical implementation and direction. Once all of that was set up, we transferred it to an internal team and amicably parted ways.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We saw a dramatic improvement to our website design and an increase in traffic. We saw improvement in our app downloads and rank in both the Android and iTunes app stores. We also saw significant growth and retention on our social media accounts.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

Along with their technical know-how, their project management was what I was most impressed with. PBJ does a very good job of determining exactly how frequently you want to be in communication, and making sure you know exactly what’s going on with them. They are very receptive to feedback and they provide very detailed reporting at the end of each month, or more frequently if you request it. Their project management was absolutely excellent and very transparent.

What distinguishes PBJ Marketing from other providers?

I would first say as a general note, I had an absolutely incredible experience working with them, and we continue to be in touch even though we’re not necessarily working together. PBJ offers two things that are absolutely key for a good marketing agency. First, they have the savvy and the know-how, but also the willingness to learn something new if they need to for a client. I have never seen a team that learns as fast and is able to adapt to new problems as well as PBJ Marketing.

Secondly, their team is super transparent and happy to keep you in the loop. For anyone that wants to improve their own marketing knowledge, PBJ is an awesome team to work with to learn some new strategies and get a handle on your market.

Is there anything PBJ Marketing could have improved or done differently?

Personally, I had a great experience working with them directly. One area that my team would have been more interested in is cost assessment. If you’re not familiar with marketing it can be hard to understand the cost of things.