Red Mallard

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I own a wealth management firm called Ark Wealth Advisors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Red Mallard, and what were your goals?

I hired Red Mallard to build a website along with build content.

SOLUTION

How did you select Red Mallard and what were the deciding factors?

After working on different boards and seeing the work of others I decided to hire John and his team at Red Mallard. Instantly I knew that John had my best interest in mind and really helped me articulate the information inside my head into words and images that further my cause.

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

The key deliverables were to develop a website and content from scratch. After a few meetings they had a clear understanding of what I was looking for and created a better product than i could imagine.

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

3-4 people helped me through the whole process, from John the owner, to content creators to web developers they made the process easy and seamless.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The week after publishing my new website I received referrals that called in. I was not expecting this but i was pleasantly surprised. I saw an immediate return on investment.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

John and his team was really relational and easy to speak with. I looked forward to connecting to them through the whole process. I had a clear understanding of what needed to be accomplished by when and they stuck to the timeline.

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

I found their professionalism and friendliness a really enjoyable experience.

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

They did a wonderful job and I highly recommend them to anyone interested in content creation and website development. I will be doing much more work with them in the future.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the external communications manager of a renewable energy firm. We’re one of the largest owner-operators of wind farms in the world. We develop, construct, and operate wind farms and solar parts. In my role, I oversee various external communications strategies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Mallard?

We brought them on to build our new website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Mallard built us a site on WordPress that we’ve been running for the last 6–7 years. Their team also provides customized solutions for our site. Additionally, they’re our primary PR agency and support our content creation. Their team develops fact sheets, designs logos, as well as provides an array of different services including as-needed support for design and creative communications.

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with John (President), but I also work with a handful of his staff, about 5–10 team members.

How did you come to work with Red Mallard?

They’ve worked with my company prior to my joining. We selected them because they understood our business and particular needs.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in June 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re satisfied with the work they do and believe they have a positive impact on our business. They’re responsive and flexible in meeting the deadlines and demands we ask of them.

How did Red Mallard perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is great. We always have a direct line to them. They’ve handled project management really well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to take on new and diverse challenges is very impressive. If we present them with a problem, they’re good about finding a solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear on your scope of work and expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CRO for 33Floors, an IT consulting company for software in the real estate industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Mallard?

We needed support so we could release a steady stream of content.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide us with multiple pieces of short- and long-form content every month. Then they distribute that content through our mailing list. Now our content development efforts are entirely outsourced to them.

They’ve helped us optimize our mailing list and have changed our writing style so we are targeting the right people. They’ve adjusted our email format as well to encourage engagement

In addition to that, they’ve advised us on how we can improve our content strategy, web presence, and SEO. They also conduct keyword research and monitor our rankings for select keywords.

What is the team composition?

Our team consists of two writers, a project coordinator, and the owner of Red Mallard.

How did you come to work with Red Mallard?

They were introduced to us by one of our peers at a networking event.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $4,000 a month (approximately $64,000 in total).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in October 2019 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Red Mallard has played an essential part in helping our business grow.  They consistently create high-quality content. Since we’ve begun working with them, our click-through rates have increased and our rankings on SERPs have improved. They’re very proactive and they regularly look for new ways we can add value to the market.

How did Red Mallard perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. They tactfully follow up with us to review their work and approve content when we haven’t responded quickly.

We usually communicate via email, but they will also interview subject matter experts on our team over Zoom. I also meet up with the owner of Red Mallard about once a quarter. They’re also available in person, but most of the writers aren’t local.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our industry is very niche, but they understand it. They quickly picked up what we were about and have been able to communicate it in a way that people can understand. They removed all technical jargon and acronyms to make the tone more conversational.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of the writers on our account left part of the way through the project, which was a bummer because we had invested a lot there. Although that’s a pretty normal problem, we lost a little bit of time because we had to spend about six weeks getting another person up to speed. The rest of the team has been consistent.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would definitely recommend them. I’ve referred them to a few other clients that I work with too. Receiving 2–3 pieces a month can be extremely valuable for your social media and brand presence

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing and communications for the UCI Paul Merage School Of Business. Our school is located in Southern California, and it roughly has 15,000 alumni serving MBAs and specialty master business programs. My team and I steward the nine master programs, our reputation, and everything related to marketing communications.

Every year for the last five years, we’ve been delivering a product called Research and Action. It is an annual piece that consolidates 6–12 high-value articles that we give to local business partners and companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Mallard?

A year and a half ago, we found out that our associate communications director hadn’t been working on our Research and Action project. We only had about a month to get this whole thing done, and since we didn’t have any in-house resources, we hired Red Mallard to accomplish the project.

What we do with these researches is put them into layman’s terms because for the average person, it’s difficult to understand. We have to distill the information into a more readable version, and deliver it in a cleaner, and more cohesive language. This shows other schools and local businesses that we are actively putting out research that’s understandable to the average person.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Mallard was tasked with interviewing eight faculty members who wrote eight different research pieces. They read through the original research documents, which were quite dense, and made sure they understood them correctly. From there they put together an article from each faculty member to encapsulate their researches.

Once we got the actual heart of the message, we brought the articles to our in-house team to design the layout with our branding. This year, we only published it through PDF but last year, when we first hired them, we actually had printed pieces.

What is the team composition?

John (President) was the first person we encountered. He was the one who got us to believe that they were qualified for the job. After we hired them, that’s when he brought in Alex (Chief Content Strategist) who was the one who conducted the interviews. I believe they also had two other people who worked in the backend, but John and Alex were the two who we interfaced with.

How did you come to work with Red Mallard?

We came across Red Mallard through a referral. We gave them a call and benchmarked them with a couple of other companies, and it made sense to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested a total of $12,000 with them so far. This includes the article booklet, which cost $5,000, and the ongoing engagement we currently have with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

They worked on this project from September–October 2019. I’ve since re-hired them to write monthly recurring articles that can be found on our website.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Timing was initially an important metric for us. We got a lot of pushback from the other companies we benchmarked them against, but they assured us the timing was good.

The other metric was the quality of work, which was a little harder to measure. However, I can say that the actual authors of the researches were quite pleased with how Red Mallard interpreted their work. The way they were able to complement the academic world was stunning.

They surprisingly got all the work we needed done last year in much less time than before. They saved the day on our first encounter.

How did Red Mallard perform from a project management standpoint?

Our interaction was actually rather human. John made himself readily available through phone and email if we had any questions. The communication was painless, and they were very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their white glove type of service. We just felt very comfortable and taken care of—we didn’t feel like we were working with a big system. They’re a small boutique shop so in this sense, it was kind of nice to work with a small shop. 

We also love the quality of their work. As a writer, it’s really tough to take jargony complex research and make it an enjoyable two-page article, but they accomplished it quickly. They really have gifted writers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything they can improve on. They did everything we needed from them. I know they’re a full shop that could’ve done the design and printing for us, but since we have a fair amount of resources in-house, we just needed one thing from them and they did it really well.

I’m sure if I lose my whole team tomorrow, they could probably help pick up some of the slack.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Since I work with a lot of third-party vendors, I see most of them as just vendors or tools—Red Mallard was more of a strategic partner. My advice would be to approach it as forming a new partnership. Red Mallard felt like an extension of my team so that was nice.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Pattern Energy Group in a project management role. We’re one of the leading global and few North American-based renewable energy developers. We’re the largest operator of renewable projects in Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Mallard?

Our customers are utilities or a large commercial or industrial business, like Amazon Web Services or Walmart. We started working with Red Mallard because we had a very old website and were in the mindset of wondering how a company with customers like ours should build properties to connect with our customers. We’re trying to tailor our new builds to our customers, and that’s what Red Mallard helps us with.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked with our in-house graphic and creative services team who had a dream of what they wanted to do. Red Mallard helped them run and operate that internal process of storyboarding, planning, executive, and coding a website and developing all the associated content for it. Then, they’ve been involved in keeping it fresh and growing it. They’ve also done smaller, off-shoot digital products like project-specific websites. These are smaller digital campaigns. They also coordinate with our other consultants, quarterbacking the process.

What is the team composition?

Becky (Graphic Artist) and John (President) are probably the two I worked with the most, and then Brent and Brett (Strategic Communications Consultant), who were on the website build-out process. Becky and John were the project leads.

How did you come to work with Red Mallard?

They came in through an RFP process. I originally met them during an RFP when I worked for another company back in 2012. They won that RFP and I loved what they did. I forwarded them this RFP and they won the contract.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a lot on a bunch of projects with them. The initial project was around $100,000, including a lot of content and editorial work. Right now, we’re probably spending around $200,000 with them every year. A lot of it is content going out on our company intranet.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since October 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The biggest piece is the level of information on the website. Our previous site was more like a simple brochure that led to more questions than answers. This transformation has led to happier landowners and others who come seeking information on our projects. We used to be a publicly-traded company before we were bought by a pension fund, and that status requires a lot of information and work and John’s team brought us into the modern era.

How did Red Mallard perform from a project management standpoint?

The fact that they’re still working with us is a testament to this. We can be a challenging client when we need executives brought in. Non-creatives sometimes don’t understand the order of operations on things, and both John and Beck are exceedingly patient and good at explaining things. We’ve changed things at the eleventh hour many times, and they do a good job at not hitting us with a million change orders. They’ll always give us a heads up if something is going to cost a lot. Over the years, they’ve adjusted how they communicate with us to prompt us to as to points of no return as to the scope of work. This transparency helps us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re genuinely kind and passionate about the work. There are lots of competent shops that do similar work, and especially with WordPress, but having someone that builds a relationship and takes the time to understand what you do makes a huge difference.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The biggest thing is to be more clear and understand how corporate hierarchies work. That was the biggest learning curve at the beginning. If our CEO asked for a change, sometimes we have to just say “yes,” regardless of the cost, to maintain the same schedule. That’s the hardest part when they have developers working on other projects; they have to rely on their outside resources to get it done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Establish your expectations on what you want. Make sure you’re clear in your RFP and have a scoped-out and priced-out blueprint of what you want. You can add on things that quadruple the price easily, so be cognizant of that. Have that early on in your discussion. Monthly operating expenses factor into that like maintenance and updating plugins. That could amount to an extra thousand or so per month. Factor that into your bill no matter what vendor you’re working with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a business school with programs for undergraduate students, graduate students and executives. My role is to develop and disseminate stories of student, faculty and school excellence. My title is Associate Director of Communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Red Mallard?

Each year we choose four pieces of faculty research to "translate" or showcase to the business community. We call them research translations, because they package a piece of research that may be full of jargon or complicated language into a more accessible piece of content that is attractive to our audiences. This kind of project can be time consuming and requires the writer to be a good interviewer and work with our faculty.

What were your goals for this project?

To create four pieces of great content that showcased who we are as a school--and to make this a monthly project so that we can show our research strengths as a school.

SOLUTION

How did you select Red Mallard?

We considered 4-5 different writers and companies. We selected Red Mallard because of the quality of their work and price.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

• read the research piece and understand it (already a difficult project)
• interview faculty member about research in an informed and respectful way
• write the translation based off the research and the interview
• work with faculty to implement any major edits

What was the team composition?

two people from the vendor side were involved, a writer and project manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

we received a lot of positive feedback on the research pieces from other business schools and from faculty members

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They met every deadline and required very little management. I was free to do my own job and know that the project was in good hands without having to check in and check progress.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quality of the work vs the time given. Their work is high quality and they always deliver this high caliber.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nope :)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

At Burns & McDonnell, we provide strategic communications support for industrial projects throughout the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Red Mallard, and what were your goals?

Red Mallard was hired to provide a online platform for a virtual job fair for one of our clients. They were given a short turn around to deliver a site that provided the public with information about the project, job descriptions and the ability to schedule interviews in a virtual setting.

SOLUTION

How did you select Red Mallard and what were the deciding factors?

Red Mallard was chosen due to their ability to respond quickly, understanding of both our needs and the needs of the end users, and value for the cost.

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

We met with the client and Red Mallard to develop a strategy for development and execution. We created a schedule for delivery. Red Mallard provided a framework for the site that we then reviewed with the client, incorporated edits and suggestions and completed the site on time and on budget.

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

there were three people working with us on the project. the Project Manager, a creative specialist, and the web designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

the site was successful. We scheduled over 40 interviews and had several offers. Local officials and the client were very pleased with the results.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We used Teams to coordinate meetings and complete the project.

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

Flexibility and responsiveness. Our first ideas were refined, reviewed and evaluated. Then alternates were suggested that either enhanced or replaced our ideas. Red Mallard worked hard to make sure we had all we needed, when we needed it.

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

Red Mallard did a great job. I'd like to include more time for further development in the future.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of talent development and internal communications at Pattern Energy. We’re a renewable energy company with a mission to transform the world to renewable energy through primarily wind and secondarily solar. We’re based in North America with new emerging markets in Japan.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Mallard?

We brought them on for creative services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we are doing things around employee engagement, that’s where we’ve really used them. At the beginning of our engagement, we utilized them to provide content for our internal platforms for our employees. That involved writing articles and things like that. Then, we moved onto a creative services piece with them.

Right now, they’re doing special projects for us. They did our holiday show and live-streamed it because we couldn’t do our traditional office holiday parties. Red Mallard produced two videos for that livestream. One video was a bunch of clips of Santa walking around our empty office and doing all these crazy things. We sent the clips to Red Mallard and they compiled them with music and made it really funny and silly; which was our goal.

Additionally, they created a video featuring all the employees’ favorite holiday traditions and future wishes. It was about six minutes long and helped hone in on our objective of increasing employee engagement and bringing everyone together.

What is the team composition?

Our direct contact is John (President).

How did you come to work with Red Mallard?

Our creative services team found them. Both of our companies are located in San Diego.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested close to $35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in June 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our employees praise and compliment the videos, even asking to see them again. We post the videos and they get so many views because people want to see them. They’re all very well done. Red Mallard has grown with us and has been very adaptable.

How did Red Mallard perform from a project management standpoint?

We always have a prelaunch discussion to go over the scope and expectations. Then, we drop all the files we want Red Mallard to work on. John’s great about following up and asking about what else we need to add or saying if they don’t see anything. They stay on top of us to ensure we get the content submitted in a timely fashion so they can pull it all together.

Red Mallard is so easy to work with. We utilize emails to kick off the project and jump on calls to talk about specifics, deadlines, and what success looks like. They always deliver on time; which is great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s their willingness to do a great job. They’re more of a partner than a contractor. Red Mallard wants to do the best possible job they can for us. I believe that and see it in their dedicated work ethic. They go above and beyond.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. They do a really good job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust in the work they do and the ideas they provide. They’re always spot-on. John always comes to me with suggestions and tweaks and I tell him to go for it because I trust them. I always get a top-notch product from them; the results are always positive.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP and Sales Manager at First Packaging Systems, My role also encompasses marketing efforts for the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Red Mallard, and what were your goals?

Our project parameters included a complete rebrand of the business including color scheme, logo & all collateral media. A total tear down and rebuild of website is ongoing including blog & white paper development. Strategy development & implementation on social media sites is also included. Utilization of video will be implemented in 2021.

SOLUTION

How did you select Red Mallard and what were the deciding factors?

Red Mallards offerings and our needs were a hand in glove fit. They were able to quickly understand our challenges, provide recommended plans of action & implement within our time & people resource limitations.

The most striking factor in our decision to engage Red Mallard was their ability to ask the right questions and then actually listen to the answers. This allowed for a clear understanding of purpose and streamlined communications through the process.

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

The challenges described above have all been addressed. Red Mallard can provide better narrative to "how & what" than a non-technical business owner can!

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

We have been engaged at appropriate times by a half dozen members of Red Mallard's team. These interactions have been focused on planning, website development, content development, creative & professional writing & Social Media optimization.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our company visibility has improved immeasurably. The website reflects our business today and our vision for tomorrow. We are seeing many more web based inquiries which lead to development of new customers & business growth.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Red Mallard is willing and able to adapt their offerings to our business needs and style. They are light on their feet and very adaptable to what is happening in our business.

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

The team was organized, planned well, listened to us attentively.

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

Red Mallard has been great! There are times when we could be a better more responsive client.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Connect Staffing, Inc is a light industrial staffing firm based in Southern California.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Red Mallard?

We hired Red Mallard to do a complete website from scratch, complete with blogs and an ongoing content marketing campaign.

What were your goals for this project?

A sharp and fresh look highlighting our branding and our company's values that set us apart from competitors.

SOLUTION

How did you select Red Mallard?

Red Mallard was referred to us by a trusted business associate. We'd already been exploring possibilities with one of our industry's leading marketing firms but went with Red Mallard for a few reasons.

Their founder John asked the right questions and quickly got a feel for our company culture which focuses on respect, courtesy, and employee safety as well as making the right match between people and jobs.

We also wanted to stand out from our competition rather than have another "cookie-cutter" type site.

Lastly, we wanted fresh content and insights to share with our clients and candidates, rather than something that felt re-hashed.

Describe the project in detail.

All content was created fresh by Red Mallard. A full-featured website with compelling content. Not too wordy - just right.

What was the team composition?

Account manager, project manager, web designer, and content writer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Rave reviews from internal staff, clients, and friends of the business.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They took care of almost everything. It was my job (a team of 1) to review and approve. They were very receptive to my requests for edits.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their sense of "getting it" when it comes to your company's values and characteristics. Their flexibility when it comes to time constraints on the customer side was impressive. Crisp and lively designs. High-quality content writing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really - very happy with the outcome. Any challenges during the process were addressed promptly and successfully.