Reach Digital

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a chain with four retail stores, preparing to launch a fifth, and we also run an e-commerce site. I'm our marketing manager. I've been here for five years now, and I've been working with Reach for the past three years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reach Digital?

Our SEO values were dropping off and our previous service provider was resistant to modernizing their offerings, so we decided to look for someone else who could bring us fully into the digital age. We wanted to make general improvements to our e-commerce site and explore new digital strategies rather than being confined to AdWords, which is all our previous provider offered.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Reach has a great sense of the big picture and they're highly involved in our process. They handle our SEO and conversion rate optimization (CRO), and they've helped us set up display ads on our site.

What is the team composition?

Melissa Linseman, their director of digital strategy, is my primary point of contact, but I also work directly with everyone else on their team, and then we have an account manager.

How did you come to work with Reach Digital?

Their original founder was one of my former professors.

How much have you invested with them?

Probably about $20,000 annually, including ad spending.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2014 and it's an ongoing engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Prior to bringing Reach onboard, our key performance indicators (KPIs) weren't performing well due to our SEO issues. We've seen about a 30% increase in organic search hits and performance since they started working with us and revamped everything. We're receiving higher search rankings and people are spending more time on the site now, so we're seeing a lot more benefit from our content.

We’ve also seen our online store consistently perform better year over year, but it's hard to tease out how much of that is due to the SEO changes versus natural growth. That said, we've been seeing 48% increases every year for the past few years, which is unusual.

How did Reach Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate mostly via phone and email, but we also use Slack occasionally for quick messages. They're incredibly responsive, even if it's just to acknowledge that they received my inquiries and need more time to get back to me in detail later. If there are any issues, they get them resolved within the next day or two.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They always have new and fresh ideas, as opposed to sticking with a single strategy. They're also very transparent in their business practices. There's never any smoke and mirrors with regard to what's going on. I have access to everything they're working on and I can track their progress.

Another thing that impresses me is how well their departments work together—they meet once a month to review our account and check on different sections of the project so that everything integrates smoothly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing manager for McMaster University Center for Continuing Education. The university is very large and mostly undergrad-based, but our department does continuing education for folks mostly who are finished with undergrad and have been in the workforce for a while. They generally need to come back to upgrade their skills or to make a career change. We run professional development and for-credit courses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reach Digital?

To put it broadly, we needed help with the switch from traditional advertising to digital. We used to do some Google Adwords in-house, but with the volume of marketing we do and with Google always changing their algorithms and adding new features, we felt like we couldn't keep up with it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The focus is on website performance and they have been helping mostly with Google AdWords but also with other SEM and SEO pieces. They're doing everything from actually setting up new AdWords campaigns for us to analyzing how we can maximize our search share within the confines of our budget. For SEO they've done a lot of testing on our site, including heat map and speed tests. They're also helping with the basics of content management, including meta tags and that sort of thing.

What is the team composition?

Our account manager is Ben Koster, who has been our main point of contact. I've also interfaced with Melissa Linseman [Director of Digital Strategy and Business Development, Reach Digital] and Dave Gregor [SEO Manager, Reach Digital], and they've pulled in others as needed.

How did you come to work with Reach Digital?

I was searching for someone local, and they're actually in our same neighborhood here in Hamilton, Ontario. I found them online, spoke with a couple of references and then set up an initial meeting. They presented some interesting rankings and showed me what we could be doing better, and that really convinced me that they would be really helpful to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend somewhere in the range of $40,000 annually.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first started talking with them in April 2015 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I know that our search rankings have been improving, but I don't have the exact details. Their work has met our expectations and we're pleased with their effort. I also appreciate that they consider our business problems holistically, beyond the basic services of what they currently provide, they're always thinking about how they might be able to help us more in the future.

How did Reach Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They are incredibly easy to reach and always get back to me within a couple of hours. They're very good in terms of keeping track of what they're working on. We get monthly reports on their accomplishments and goals and we also communicate frequently by email and phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The thing that sets them apart is their business solutions mentality. They always keep our general business goals in mind and come at the projects from that perspective. They're all so fun and easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really, we've had a great experience with them. It might be a good idea to set up a project management software to make sure we're always on the same page, but that hasn't been an issue.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as clear as you can about your business goals and budget because things always end up costing more than you think they will in marketing and advertising. They're good at checking in, but it's also been really helpful for us to have monthly meetings.