RIVET Agency

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of brand, marketing, and communications for an environmental firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RIVET Agency?

We hired RIVET Agency for demand generation, creating campaigns to drive traffic, and also to help promote our products and generate sales.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

RIVET Agency really works with anything digital from landing pages to strategic campaigns. They help with podcasts, creating email marketing, smart online calculators that measure ROI, a variety of different tools, videos, collateral, case studies, project profiles, and infographics.

What is the team composition?

Lance (Ringleader) is my main point of contact. We also work with Tina (Demand Generation Magician) and Rich (Co-Founder & Mastermind).

How did you come to work with RIVET Agency?

RIVET Agency was already a select vendor when I joined the company. However, we had several vendors, and over time RIVET Agency just delivered higher quality and more end-to-end integrated marketing programs versus the other companies that were very narrow on what their deliverable was. So, I chose to work with them and engage with them because I know they’re going to deliver me an end-to-end overall program that is of high quality and creative. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in early 2018 and the relationship is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All of the feedback from teammates and clients is positive. For most of the things they do, we have metrics that we set in advance as part of the process. They’ve closed one lost deal and have increased deals and sales.

How did RIVET Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good. Tina is particularly good with project management. We’re not easy to work with and we all juggle a million different things and they’re good at keeping us on track, communicating, and giving us very clear action items of what they need from us in order to keep the project going. If we’re going to delay it for any reason on our end, they give us a little nudge. Any delay was always on our end and not their fault. Our communication is mainly through email with a list of to-dos as well as some phone calls and text messages. We don’t really have access to the file-sharing tool as much. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

RIVET Agency really takes the time to understand so that they can deliver a great product in the end. The team gives us attention and makes us feel important. They do it the proper way – they try to figure out what the need is and then come up with a solution, whereas a lot of agencies just do what you ask without helping you think it through. 

They’re a true partner and feel like an extension of the business. I don’t often think of them as an agency. Very rarely are they off; maybe sometimes we have to make some edits but usually, they’re right there on the stump. They give us a good jumpstart so I’m able to delegate to them and they really come through.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing that we haven’t resolved, but I think if we’re a cause of delay, be more proactive in reaching out to us in advance like babysitting us. When on the retainer model, I would hope that they suggest things to do versus wait for us to request items. These are minor because on the big projects they’re outstanding.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should work with RIVET Agency if you’re looking for a true partner for the long haul. You’ll be getting the most out of them if you’re looking for that type of partnership.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Vixxo is a B2B facilities management firm and I’m the VP of marketing. We help brands that you know and trust to deliver on their brand promises. For example, when you walk into a Starbucks, we make sure that it smells and feels the way it’s supposed to, and every drop of coffee tastes the way you expect it to be. It’s also the same thing with brands such as 7-Eleven. Essentially, we help companies bring their promises to you in reality. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RIVET Agency?

We hired them to help us with our net new business growth. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They develop, design, and deploy a go-to-market campaign to go after four verticals. Then, they help us execute against those campaigns. 

They’re more than just a marketing agency and more of a business partner to us — they help us get our systems in line. RIVET Agency also assists us in developing de facto service-level agreements (SLAs) between the marketing and sales organization. They help us understand the value of the different campaigns and assist us in making decisions concerning budget allocation. 

What is the team composition?

We work with four people from RIVET Agency.

How did you come to work with RIVET Agency?

I’ve known RIVET Agency even before they’ve established the company. I’ve worked with them before. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $50,000–$200,000 for this specific project. For the totality of all the projects they’ve finished, we’ve probably spent over $1 million already.  

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement for this project started in May 2020, and the collaboration is ongoing. However, I’ve started my relationship with them back in 2017. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had a collaborative process with creating campaigns. For the hard metrics, we base it on the leads that we’ve generated, and the number of opportunities that have been created. Then, we check the dollar value of those leads and opportunities. We’ve also based their performance based on whether they stayed on budget, on spec, and on time. In connection with that, the team has helped us deliver 300% against our goal and almost $100 million in net new business opportunities.

On the other hand, for the soft metrics, we’ve based it on general opinions, perspectives, and thoughts. Overall, their outputs have been well-received by our internal team. 

How did RIVET Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent from a project management standpoint. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take the time to understand our business challenges and goals. That way they’ve made sure that they tailor the solution to fit our needs. Additionally, they’re extremely flexible and easy to work with. Overall, I would highly recommend them to a friend or a colleague.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, because there’s such a close partner on things, there will be assumptions that are made that can create confusion within the organization — since we have them work directly with other team members. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand your goals, and make sure that they are very clear and measurable. Give the details early on in the project. Moreover, ensure that the structure and process of the checkpoints are in place. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Catalyst is comprised of two companies -- Catalyst Experiential develops unique OOH assets, and Catalyst Outdoor manages and sells outdoor advertising. I am Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for both brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RIVET Agency, and what were your goals?

Catalyst Outdoor -- old website had been hacked, and need someone to re-develop in a secure environment. Goals where to have a more modern design, be responsive (old site wasn't), be secure, and be easy for a person without programming knowledge to edit site as well as add new sign locations.

Catalyst Experiential -- we had a site under development, but at launch it was not well optimized for mobile, and videos were too big, so goal was to optimize and prepare the site for launch over a weekend. For both companies - develop strategies for digital advertising, including lead generation, geotargeting, SEO/SEM.

SOLUTION

How did you select RIVET Agency and what were the deciding factors?

For the Experiential project, we had been delivered a site that was not working properly on a Friday, and needed to launch Monday. Lance and the team at Rivet jumped on it, and saved my ass.

So selection was me reaching out to various people, and Rivet saying they could help. That led to the website. They jumped in and did something the company developing the other website said couldn't be done. So they earned a shot at the new website.

They had a competitive and comprehensive quote. I had cheaper quotes -- some companies just use off the shelf templates, and I wanted/needed a custom design and knew they were capable of that.

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

They delivered the site on time/on budget. They were clever in adapting a store locator to our signs, so that someone could easily manage our sign locations as if they were managing a store location.

Developed so that we can manage in Wordpress. Design was a dramatic improvement, and site is very responsive, working well on mobile, tablet, or desktop.

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

Lance, lead contact and founder. Rich, cofounder and digital strategist and technology. Tina, project management.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Catalyst Experiential -- site is well optimized, and pages of photos and video rank well by google for optimization on mobile and desktop. Catalyst Outdoor -- site was well received and is core part of sales process and easily managed in-house.

The team hits their dates, and has solved every wrinkle that as come up on the projects -- as well as some wrinkles I threw at them that other agencies weren't able to solve. Blend creative and technology in a way many agencies don't.

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

Don't remember exact tools other than email, but put detailed timelines in front of me.

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

They are nimble and strategic problem solvers. I want a partner in an agency that understands what I need to accomplish and then can have candid discussions about the best way to get there.

No matter what the task, they strive to understand the business rational and goals, and design and make recommendations accordingly.

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

This probably isn't a negative, but I had a digital advertising project with very specific parameters, and they weren't confident in the strategy and didn't believe they could deliver the desire outcomes. So they turned the business down.