ROAST

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior search marketing manager for the London Stock Exchange Group. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ROAST?

We needed help with SEO and organic search efforts. We wanted it to be easy to find our products and websites.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our company has been working with ROAST for a long time now. They audit our websites and come up with a plan for us on how to grow and expand. They analyze everything and then go through strategies for different activities in weekly and monthly reports. We give them suggestions for keywords and they normally take it from there. 

We have many different websites across the world and in different languages, and they support all of them for us. For the most part, the work centers on SEO and optimizing our campaigns and websites. Sometimes we have specific needs like website migration, and they help us with that as well. 

They use Myposeo, Semrush, Oncrawl, and Screaming Frog. 

What is the team composition?

The people working on the account change sometimes, but for the most part, we work with 5–6 people on a regular basis. The team normally consists of an account director, an account manager, executives, and we have a client services person. 

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested around £120,000 (approximately $135,000 USD) in 2022. 

In past years we’ve invested anywhere between $200,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them for about three years now. 

We began working with them this year in March 2022, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re having good success with keyword rankings and traffic. We’re also seeing really good improvement on Core Web Vitals based on their recommendations.

We have some ongoing efforts right now that we’re looking forward to seeing the results of.  

How did ROAST perform from a project management standpoint?

They assigned us a new client services person who is really great. They make sure everything is being delivered on time, and if there is a delay they reach out to us and explain why that’s happening.

Overall, ROAST is pretty good with timelines and deadlines, but they are also very strong communicators which helps a lot. 

We have in-person meetings every quarter, but the primary format of communication we use is through virtual programs like Microsoft Teams, Trello, and sometimes Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

When it comes to SEO, they have good expertise and they deliver. They aren’t doing anything for show, and they continue to bring new ideas to the table. They have a modern way of viewing SEO, and the people that they put on our account are helpful in reaching the goals that we are trying to accomplish. 

We believe that they’re providing really good value for the money we pay them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been a few times that projects take a little longer, and sometimes we feel like we need bigger suggestions for projects that are more innovative. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a plan and an approach from the beginning, and be clear about who you want on your project and the level of expertise you need.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I head up the web team in a fast growing business software company serving the mid-market in multiple sectors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our company grows through M&A and we initially hired ROAST to assist with our website migrations of these acquisitions to ensure we're capturing the SEO equity of those websites to bring into the 'mothership' website. We also had a site without an IA strategy.

As the business had grown, new parts of the site were bolted on in siloes. We're hired ROAST to work on us to solve this too. In addition, we also work with ROAST on a retainer for our day to day SEO activities.

SOLUTION

How did you select ROAST and what were the deciding factors?

I'd worked with ROAST in a previous company and was happy to find out the company I was moving to was also already working with ROAST because I knew they're a team of experts, who are great to work with and reliable. I'd hired them in my previous role based on a pitch against several other agencies to complete an IA structure in that company too. Their pitch was the most comprehensive, methodical and focused on results.

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

For the migrations, they are multiple and on a continual roadmap. Each one starts with a discovery meeting for that batch, a detailed project plan is drawn up, stakeholders from the acquisition and internal teams are consulted along the way, ROAST and our team work collaboratively to ensure keyword and page mapping, page creation and technical aspects are covered.

KPIs for a successful migration are tracked and updated regularly so we're able to communicate with stakeholders on the success of a migration. The IA project involved a discovery session, a lot of data processing, over 27k keywords were analysed and mapped. Again, it was a really collaborative project with the ROAST team becoming an extension of our internal team to deliver this piece of work.

The end result saw an increase in organic search of 18% in the first 2 months. Through our ongoing SEO retainer with ROAST, we have weekly updates on email with status updates, the 'so what' and actions, fortnightly catch-ups and monthly strategy meetings.

ROAST provide essential and time intensive keyword tracking, analysis and recommendations, freeing up my team to work on other strategic projects.

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

We have an account director who is my first port of call for communications between our teams. We also work closely with the SEO Director as well as the 2 SEO execs who also work on our account. My team and I are in regular contact with these 4 people as our team within their agency.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Together, we've successfully delivered 8 website migrations this year and we are queuing up the next 9 migrations for 2021. Through the completion of the IA project, we've seen an 18% increase in organic traffic. We have greater visibility of our keyword ranking across multiple topic areas and sectors and actionable recommendations for improvement.

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

We have regular project Zoom/Teams calls, email most days on various projects, share Google docs so we can see progress and collaborate in real time. They're good as managing expectations with deadlines and hitting them.

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

They're conscientious, experts in their field, take feedback on board and feed learnings into their internal processes so everyone gets better. They're a lovely bunch of people without big egos — they're a great match for our team. We're able to be really productive as well as enjoy what we're working on together.

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

Sometimes, as digital folk, we can be very pure in our field and need to take a step back to think about what we can communicate with certain stakeholders to make the most impact.

ROAST are really good at telling the story and backing up their approach with the methodology behind it - senior stakeholders often don't need/want/understand this detail and just want to skip to the bit that's important to them. T

his is something we're working on together to hone an approach to communicate complex work in an impactful way. It's definitely moved forward massively in the last few weeks with a very successful meeting this week. More of this!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing lead of an insurance company. We provide accessible and easy-to-understand home, car, and pet insurance, serving over 1.5 million customers and earning high ratings for customer satisfaction.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ROAST?

We needed help redefining our website's navigability and SEO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ROAST is looking after our blog migration, content creation, UX, SEO, and site navigability.

What is the team composition?

We work with six teammates from ROAST.

How did you come to work with ROAST?

We found them through a referral. We chose them because they truly understood our business and needs. They were able to transform data-driven insights into clear action items.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2024, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

ROAST's action items have led to our commercial success.

How did ROAST perform from a project management standpoint?

All deliverables have been handled in a timely manner. We communicate via emails, meetings, and conference calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ROAST has proven to be an invaluable partner. Their ability to truly understand our business needs is impressive.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Kharisma, a marketing consultancy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ROAST?

We needed help with media buying and digital marketing services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ROAST has bought the media for the Flash Kitchen Roll launch. Additionally, they have built the Flash Kitchen Roll website for us.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four teammates from ROAST.

How did you come to work with ROAST?

We found ROAST through an industry contact referral. We chose them because they offered great value for money. Moreover, they were very responsive and nimble and were happy to share some background information on the industry before we started working with them formally.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a sizeable amount.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2024, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

ROAST has delivered a successful launch campaign that drove awareness and recall.

How did ROAST perform from a project management standpoint?

ROAST’s project management is strong. They deliver on time and in full. We communicate via email, meetings, and calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ROAST is a smaller boutique agency with a challenger mindset, and they give tailored advice.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren't any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Marketing of Goat Interactive

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Sportsbetting and casino online operator

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire ROAST to accomplish?

• Paid user acquisition

SOLUTION

How did you find ROAST?

Referral

Why did you select ROAST over others?

Company values aligned

How many teammates from ROAST were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

First time depositor driving mediabuying, optimised on ROAS. Sub-Saharan African region exclusively.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

the dashboards Roast kindly set up for us using our tracking platform

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

Absolutely, always solution minded and a great reporting routine.

What was your primary form of communication with ROAST?

Virtual Meeting

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

resilient, flexible & great communicators

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

lots of experimentation which is good, but sometimes perhaps as a go-to attitude rather than uncovering underlying challenges

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Demand Gen of my company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Mobile Technology Company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire ROAST to accomplish?

• Increase ROI
• Increase Conversiona
• Optimize Campaigns

SOLUTION

How did you find ROAST?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select ROAST over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from ROAST were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We needed an agency to manage our Google accounts and provide recommendations for all paid activities. Specifically we wanted to restructure from country focused to region, implement the latest optimization tactics (value-based bidding) and other tactics so we could continue to grow our ROI

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We increased lead volume by over 70% while reducing CPC, CPA and most other performance metrics

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

Great group to work with, always responding in a timely manner and working within our deadlines

What was your primary form of communication with ROAST?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They're a really nice team to work with, and they take the time to understand our needs and goals.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head Of Marketing of Best At Travel

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Luxury tour operator

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire ROAST to accomplish?

• To efficiently deliver a steep growth in lead volume through paid search
• To ensure a high quality of leads was maintained to support strong overall business revenue growth targets

SOLUTION

How did you find ROAST?

Referral

Why did you select ROAST over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from ROAST were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Targets were set for an aggressive increase in lead volume for our peak trading months having seen a notable increase in efficiency from PPC activity since appointing ROAST. Our objectives were:

• Grow lead volume
• Increase acquisition efficiency
• Maintain lead quality

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Initial 48% YoY growth in number of leads
• 15% reduction in media costs
• 24% increase in overall business revenue

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

Without fail delivered on schedule, with efficient and timely communication

What was your primary form of communication with ROAST?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were one of the most commercially astute agencies we had ever worked with. They had a good understanding of client-side challenges and the application of best practice digital marketing in 'real world' scenarios.

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

None that I can recall