Red Cow Media Ltd

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing director of a luxury home accessories website selling high end homeware, accessories and furniture direct to consumers via an ecommerce website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Red Cow Media Ltd, and what were your goals?

We were looking into ways of growing our website visitors and, having a digital marketing background, I began looking into digital marketing agencies. We ideally wanted an agency local to us, so we invited 3 companies in Manchester to come and pitch and Red Cow Media's proposal was by far the strongest. We asked them to put forward a proposal for SEO and paid social ads across Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok.

SOLUTION

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

It was clear from the outset that the team at Red Cow had a thorough technical understanding of SEO principles and of our chosen website platform - Shopify Plus. They also demonstrated that they understood our goals for organic traffic growth and were completely honest and open about the scope of work and what was achievable etc. We just felt that they had an overall understanding of what they were doing, no question threw them off, no matter how technical, and we liked that we were speaking directly to marketing people during the pitch process rather than sales staff.

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

Our new website had launched at the start of last year and we hadn't seen any pick up organically. We knew what needed to be done in terms of SEO, but didn't have the time or resource internally to manage it. The initial scope of work was to take over our paid social activity from a former agency who were vastly underachieving, and to get the campaigns profitable within the first 2 months, followed by achieving a minimum 4.5x ROAS. Red Cow did an initial assessment of the campaigns and immediately found some areas for improvement.

Upon implementation, we were achieving an average of 7x ROAS within just 6 weeks and couldn't be happier with this result. Red Cow were also simultaneously working on our SEO, completing initial keyword research and implementing it to the site. They also assisted with the restructure of some pages to increase the opportunities to rank organically in line with the findings from their research. After that, they moved on to content and link attraction work, increasing the authority of our site for Google's algorithm to improve rankings.

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

We work with a senior SEO executive and a digital marketing executive, with a director also involved in strategy. It makes a difference to us that they are always available to answer questions and we always feel in great hands.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were told by all other agencies we saw and have worked with that SEO is 'long term' and not to expect any results for 12 months or more, but after just a few months with Red Cow Media we're ranking for some great niche keywords that are very relevant to our products, with some high search volume terms moving gradually up the rankings. Organic traffic has increased by 35% already and each month it is seeing further improvement both month on month and year on year. We have also surpassed our goal ROAS on paid social and are now consistently between 6x and 8x ROAS on paid media.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have almost daily contact with the Red Cow team, they keep us updated and we always feel like we have a full understanding of what they're working on. More formally, we have a weekly update email summary of campaign performance and an in-depth monthly report followed by a face-to-face meeting to discuss.

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

What we find most impressive about the Red Cow Media Ltd team is that they always know what they're doing inside out. They also have a complete understanding of our business from a commercial perspective. Unfortunately, this is a feat that is rare when working with digital marketing agencies! Communication across the Red Cow team is also excellent compared to other agencies we have worked with. First and foremost though, we've been impressed by the results achieved as they speak for themselves.

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

The only slight criticism would be that when we have wanted to add more resources to our campaign, they're so busy that we sometimes have to wait a few weeks for the additional time to become available. I suppose this is also a positive though as they're very in demand!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Marketing

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Ecommerce brand selling home accessories and soft furnishings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Red Cow Media Ltd to accomplish?

• Improve SEO visibility
• Increase conversions
• Grow brand presence online

SOLUTION

How did you find Red Cow Media Ltd?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Red Cow Media Ltd over others?

• High ratings
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Highly knowledgable compared to others

How many teammates from Red Cow Media Ltd were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We were looking for someone to help us grow our brand online after a period where we'd had a bit of a lull in terms of growth. We engaged Red Cow Media to optimise our website specifically for one of our product lines that we were looking to push, which was cushions. We set them the task of increasing organic visitors to this part of our website, and they have since moved on to focus on other parts of the site too. We simultaneously asked them to run paid social media ads for us across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. We had some challenges with the TikTok advertising initially when we were trying to set it up ourselves, but Red Cow were able to get this resolved really quickly and efficiently.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We had a 72% increase in the organic visitors to our website within the first 8 months of our SEO campaign, which we were really impressed with as this exceeded our expectations. We also had an impressive increase in the click through rates and conversion rates from our social media advertising, with an improvement of 24% and 47% respectively. Overall we have been very happy with the improvements that have been made and they continue to perform on an ongoing basis.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Red Cow team are very responsive to communications and tie into the internal channels that we choose to use (Whatsapp and Slack). They stick to what they say they're going to do and are always honest and take the time to explain things in detail when we have any questions.

What was your primary form of communication with Red Cow Media Ltd?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We find both their consultative communication style and the campaign results most impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Red Cow Media Ltd could have done differently?

Not really, we're very happy with their work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Marketing Manager of AER Rents / Chippindale Plant

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a group of independent specialist hire and sales companies providing machinery to construction projects across the UK&IRE 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Red Cow Media Ltd to accomplish?

• YoY website growth
• Increasing quantities of targeted leads
• Fast, responsive and accurate specialist advice

SOLUTION

How did you find Red Cow Media Ltd?

Online Search

Why did you select Red Cow Media Ltd over others?

• High ratings
• Impressive results and easy to work with

How many teammates from Red Cow Media Ltd were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We engaged with Red Cow Media (RCM) to help boost the performance of our website from an SEO perspective first with our initial WordPress site. We then engaged with a project to launch a new Shopify e-commerce website, where they worked seamlessly with our other suppliers to create a new optimised website build. 
RCM also perfectly handled the website migration and have been generating positive results since the launch of the new Shopify website, with impressive YoY growth figures.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

For us, it's directly linked to website performance, mainly including SEO, rankings and overall website growth. This also links to levels of organic enquiries and overall reach statistics.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Red Cow Media is very easy to work with, has fast responses, and you don't deal with sales teams; you deal with an extremely knowledgeable team at all times and build up key relationships.

What was your primary form of communication with Red Cow Media Ltd?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The level of knowledge and experience is immediately noticeable, along with how easy RCM is to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Red Cow Media Ltd could have done differently?

We have no complaints, fantastic service.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Managing Direction of Stamp Duty Claims

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Facilitates claims for incorrect stamp duty payments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Red Cow Media Ltd to accomplish?

• Lead Generation
• Social Media Advertising

SOLUTION

How did you find Red Cow Media Ltd?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Red Cow Media Ltd over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Red Cow Media Ltd were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our aim was to obtain a high volume of leads generated via social media that were qualified to the stamp duty claims process and people who wouldn't be interested in it. We wanted at least 10 leads per day that we could follow up. As part of this we also need an agency who would be able to set it up so that any leads that were generated were passed through in real time to us so that we could get back to them as soon as possible.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

From the third day of the campaign we were generating around 8 leads from Facebook/Instagram and a further 3 from TikTok, since the end of the first month when the campaign was fully optimised we have been receiving around 25 per day which has far exceeded our expectations. Not only that but the cost per lead is at around £5 which is unbelievably cheap compared to other marketing methods we have used in the past.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Items were delivered much quicker than expected. I was told to expect results after a couple of weeks of the social media campaigns running, in reality it was more like a couple of days. It is nice to deal with an agency that is the opposite of most others, normally I am told by agencies that I will get results quickly and then end up never seeing anything good at all. Project management is great, I am sent mockups of all adverts before they go live so i can check the imagery and text on them and i'm given almost daily updates of ad performance.

What was your primary form of communication with Red Cow Media Ltd?

Email or Messaging App

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

Red Cow Media Ltd's knowledge level and price are the two most outstanding things about them. They know their stuff, more so than any other agency I have used but then when you look at how much they charge compared to bigger, more well known agencies, they are a fraction of the cost which is unbelievable. Red Cow Media are the definition of a hidden gem!

Are there any areas for improvement or something Red Cow Media Ltd could have done differently?

I can't really think of anything, they could have perhaps looked at increasing budgets further since the results were so good but I am strict with budgets so can understand why they didn't.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Director of Candid Gifts

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Humorous candle gifts

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Red Cow Media Ltd to accomplish?

• Increase traffic
• Increase sales
• Improve conversion rate

SOLUTION

How did you find Red Cow Media Ltd?

Online Search

Why did you select Red Cow Media Ltd over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

What was the size of Red Cow Media Ltd’s team?

12

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We were a startup company looking to promote aggressively across multiple channels, we wanted to conquer Google, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. The key was to increase traffic and sales significantly and push us on to the next level.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Increased website traffic by close to 900%
• Sales increased by 645%
• Average order value increased by 40%

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They have a set plan and timetable particularly regarding the SEO work that keeps you informed as to where you are on the journey. Most SEO agencies seem very cloak and dagger about their work but Red Cow Media Ltd is transparent about everything, every link they build and every minute they spend working on the account.

What was your primary form of communication with Red Cow Media Ltd?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The people who you speak to actually do the work themselves, there are no account managers which makes working so much easier and more efficient. There are less errors and things lost in translation.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Red Cow Media Ltd could have done differently?

We are over the moon with the results but it’s only human nature to always want more! They have been fantastic I don’t think they could have done anything differently so far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I work in operations at Crepslocker

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Crepslocker features established designers as well as emerging and avant-garde talent, our model revolves around the stocking and re-sale of extremely desirable and niche sneakers, designer clothing and accessories From women’s, men’s and kids’ fashion.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Red Cow Media Ltd to accomplish?

• Link Building
• SEO
• Ads

SOLUTION

How did you find Red Cow Media Ltd?

Online Search

Why did you select Red Cow Media Ltd over others?

Close to my geographic location

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Link building SEO optimisation google ads and facebook ads retargeting

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Improved search engine rankings
• Increased website traffic
• Link building

What was your primary form of communication with Red Cow Media Ltd?

In-Person Meeting

Are there any areas for improvement or something Red Cow Media could have done differently?

I cannot express enough how thoroughly disappointed I am with my experience with Red Cow Media. As a business owner, I trusted them to handle the crucial SEO and marketing side of my website, but they failed to deliver on their promises, leaving us with subpar work that had a significant negative impact on our website's rankings.

Their lack of attention to detail and sloppiness led to the creation of poor-quality backlinks that violated Google's policies, resulting in severe damage to our website's reputation. This is unacceptable and has caused irreversible harm to our business. Despite notifying them that we would no longer be using their services due to their unacceptable practices, they continue to harass us with invoices for work that has not been done by them.

They are stubborn, dismissive, and rude, and refuse to listen to our concerns, insisting that their work is correct and above board. Even after having two third parties confirm the poor quality of their work, they still refuse to take any responsibility. The fact that other businesses have had the same negative experience with this company, as evidenced by reviews such as the one by allvanleasing on 25/06/2020, is alarming and indicative of systemic issues within Red Cow Media.

We have written to the director of Red Cow Media, seeking a resolution to this issue, but she has ignored our attempts to communicate. Instead, they continue to send us invoice reminders and new invoices every month, trying to force us to pay for services that they have not provided and tying us into a contract that we no longer wish to be a part of.

I would also like to add that I am more than willing to provide examples of the links that Red Cow Media has created so that potential clients can make an informed decision before approaching them for SEO and link building services. I strongly urge anyone considering using their services to thoroughly research and review their work before entering into any contract with Red Cow Media.

We are left with no choice but to pursue legal action against Red Cow Media. We urge them to take responsibility for their unacceptable practices and to stop harassing us with invoices for services that they have not provided. We cannot recommend this company to anyone and strongly advise others to avoid their services at all costs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a gym and fitness apparel brand that's been going for about five years now. I’m the marketing manager and I started working for the company two years ago. I run most of the marketing activity with another employee in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cow Media Ltd?

We hit a wall with our marketing since all of our focus was all about conquering the influencer marketing space and we did quite well on that. We then hired Red Cow Media to grow and add different channels to our marketing efforts. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re responsible for SEO, Google Apps, Google Shopping, and unpaid social media. The Red Cow Media team doesn’t do our posting on social media since we do that in-house, but they create our ads that go out on the sponsored and boosted posts on the ad dashboard. 

What is the team composition?

We have two points of contact, namely Steven (Director) and Phil (SEO Manager).

How did you come to work with Red Cow Media Ltd?

We came to them because they had experiences in some sectors with brands that were similar to us. We did a search on Google, and we shortlisted around five agencies and contacted them. Then, we had an in-house pitching process which was led by one of our directors, and we asked them for an RFI document. 

After that, we narrowed down our choices to three agencies. Red Cow Media stood out because we liked their ROI-driven approach, which was in line with the path we wanted to take. We also noticed that they had some great experience with some of the bigger brands in the UK. Above all, they clearly communicated things in a detailed way. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend roughly £8,000 (approximately $11,000 USD)  a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our partnership with Red Cow Media in October 2019, and we continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve noticed many changes because of Red Cow Media’s work. On the paid side, we’ve had 33 times ROI which has been phenomenal, and we haven’t had that level of return from any other channel that we’ve used. We’ve also had a 30% increase in our organic traffic which has resulted in a 35% uplift in revenue. Overall, we’re really pleased since we began working with Red Cow Media.

How did Red Cow Media Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

We typically communicate via email and calls, and we don’t have any project management tools. We tried Trello at one point internally and Red Cow media was happy to plug into that. However, it didn’t work for us as a company and the team had nothing to do with why we scrapped it.

Overall, we have no trouble communicating with Red Cow Media. They send us weekly updates, and we always know what’s going on. They also provide in-depth monthly reporting — the level of detail that they go into has blown us away. With their efforts, we’re well-informed. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their results and communication skills have been impressive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I prefer to reach out to only one main point of contact since I receive messages from two people, and that’s probably the only criticism I have. Sometimes, it’s easier to have one point of communication.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give clear directions and relay information to Red Cow Media in the first couple of months. Give them as much information as possible so that they can effectively draw a plan from your goals. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager for All Car Leasing. We’re a vehicle leasing broker who offers finance agreements for people to be able to lease cars.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cow Media Ltd?

We engaged with them because we have a sister website called All Van Leasing that was bringing in very little work but we wanted to get it off the ground. We weren’t able to do it internally because we didn’t have the manpower.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were going to look at the basic principles of SEO including content on the site and links with the goal of increasing our visibility on search engines organically. We’d already done the keywords, but they did their own audit to determine them as well, so their campaigns focused on their keywords. Because van leasing is a smaller section than car leasing, the amount of target keywords isn’t too massive. They also built backlinks toward the end of the project.

What is the team dynamic?

We were in contact with one person mostly, Marco (Tech Lead), but also the two directors who oversaw it: Steven (Director) and Kelly (Managing Director).

How did you come to work with Red Cow Media Ltd?

They originally pitched us to help with All Car Leasing, but we went with another provider for that. When we realized we needed help with van leasing we remembered that their pitch was strong and that they were somewhat local so we decided to utilize their skills.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent £2,200 ($2,730 USD) per month, and just over £10,000 ($12,400 USD) total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June until November 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

I was quite pleased in the beginning of the project when they were working on the content and doing the audit. We could even feel rumblings of some positive impacts from their work, but this was quite basic stuff. Good work, but very basic. Things turned bad when they started to build links in August and September. The methods they used went against Google’s guidelines, so the articles they were linking weren’t very trustworthy, and the links would always be an exact keyword match, or keyword rich. Google sees that as spammy and not best practices. It’s a relatively easy way to catch the attention of one of Google’s manual graders. We had to disavow those links. Stephen stopped communicating with us after we presented them with evidence and just told us to pay the last invoice. They’ve actually engaged with a collections company to collect the invoice, which we haven’t paid because the work was not done.

How did Red Cow Media Ltd address the challenges that arose?

When we challenged Red Cow about it they denied the poor quality despite the irrefutable evidence in Google’s guidelines. From there, we had to pause our cooperation since we were having some staffing issues. We also realized that they weren’t going to change their behavior.

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

They were causing us more harm than good and wasting our money. Rather than apologizing and doing better, they only wanted to argue and defend themselves. The website hasn’t gained the traction we wanted it to, and we’re not in a rush to engage with another agency because we got our fingers burned with Red Cow. Our experience has made us distrust the agency sector as a whole. We’ll have to insist that other contracts moving forward have wording that will protect us since the wording in this contract forced us to pay the final invoice.

How was project management handled?

The communication was quite regular when we were doing the basic content stuff. We mostly spoke over email. They were fine from that point of view, but links were the next natural step and their work was dangerous to us.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

No.

In what specific areas can they improve?

If they had apologized and not chased the last invoice, then I wouldn’t have been instructed to take these steps and review their performance. We wanted to advise potential future clients not to take up with them or at least ask them specifically what kind of links they are building.

They also need to build links in a completely different way.

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

You should straight up ask them if the keywords they build will be anchor-rich, within Google’s guidelines, and organic. Also, ensure you can terminate the contract mutually, with no penalty.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the Communications Manager for Apadmi, a mobile tech company that builds everything from apps and software platforms to Alexa voice skills. We work with clients of all sizes to understand how and where to use mobile in their organisation to improve operations – and then deliver the solutions to make it happen.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cow Media?

We needed a partner to add search and SEO value to our website. Our goal was to boost search rankings in Google and to attract more organic traffic to increase our conversion rate.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Cow Media worked on various SEO components, such as content creation and keyword optimization. They created pages for our website that would increase our keywords rankings and collaborated with our in-house team to make minor content changes. Our team wrote the copy, and they tailored it to improve our ranking. They also helped with our website migration and improved our domain authority.

What is the team composition?

We interface with the operations director.

How did you come to work with Red Cow Media?

We put the project out to tender and heard back from numerous companies. Red Cow Media seemed to understand our business and took an active interest in our company objectives, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been partners since early 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our organic traffic has increased by 128%, our conversion rate is up, and our domain authority has also improved. Ever since hiring them, the quality of the traffic into our site is much better and more targeted.

How did Red Cow Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They have good communication and resolve any concerns quickly. We have monthly meetings but are able to talk to them whenever we need to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re easy to work with and extremely knowledgeable. The entire team is personable and approachable, unlike many other firms. They proactively make suggestions to help us best meet our goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We're working together to make our partnership as effective as possible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director and owner of Wish Upon A Sparkle Ltd. We are a face and body art company specializing in glitter, face painting, and hair. We work at corporate events and festivals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cow Media Ltd.?

We needed help with SEO and media strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Cow made some backend adjustments to our website and linked it to Google Analytics to help improve our search rankings. Their team has access to all of our information and accounts, but they always check with us before making any changes.

Additionally, they help with our social media outreach efforts. Each month they run sponsored Facebook ads that target one of our many objectives. Their campaign’s strategy focuses on gaining followers, and we can further tailor it to boost online sales or to bring awareness to our services by adjusting the demographics.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team leader.

How did you come to work with Red Cow Media Ltd.?

Previously, we tried to improve our social media with a PR company, but weren’t satisfied. We had a different company work on SEO, but we didn’t find them professional. We were searching for a partner to fulfill both these needs.

Our old PR company recommended Red Cow. We were located in the same area, which we found convenient. In our additional meeting, their team was welcoming and approachable. They promised high-quality results, and they delivered.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend £1,800 pounds per month ($2,369 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in December 2016, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Red Cow sends a monthly report detailing our Google search rankings and we are happy with the progress. We are now ranking above some of our competitors. We have also experienced notable increases in website traffic since the start of our engagement.

How did Red Cow Media Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

Our team leader is very attentive. If there are any delays, it is usually due to a busy schedule on my end. On their side, all of their services have been great and they always deliver on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We really appreciate their loyalty. A competitor tried to hire them, but they decided to continue their relationship with us. We are very grateful because their efforts continue to drive incoming inquiries.