Skille

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of CraveLyfe, an online boutique with fashion and accessories for women.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Skille?

My company is brand new, so I was looking for help with advertising and marketing in general. I had no experience selling anything or doing any sort of social media marketing (SMM).

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Skille provides full-service Facebook and Instagram advertising. They create all of the ads and the copy, and they do the targeting. They also manage the budget.

What is the team composition?

I don’t know how many people work on the contact; I only talk to Kevin (Founder).

How did you come to work with Skille?

I did an exhaustive internet search, looking at lots of different companies I saw through ads on either Facebook or Instagram. I’d tried a couple of agencies before working with Skille, and it had been a complete disaster.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent $4,500, excluding ad spend.

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with them in February 2020, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The main metrics I’ve used to measure campaign success are total sales and return on ad spend (ROAS). I’ve been pretty pleased; all of my apparel and accessories are focused on summertime and traveling, so it’s been a little challenging with the current environment [COVID-19]. However, I went from 1–2 sales per month to being on pace for nearly 100 orders per month. Considering I don’t sell anything too unique – it’s just women’s clothing and handbags – they’ve gotten me to a ROAS of 2.5. Every month, they seem to get better and better, so I’m excited to see what happens when the lockdowns dissipate across the country.

How did Skille perform from a project management standpoint?

They don’t use any project management tools with me, but I have a weekly 30-minute call with Kevin. That pretty much covers everything major that we need to touch base on, and then throughout the rest of the week, we communicate by email. He’s extremely responsive; I’ve never had to look for him or follow up on something that I’ve sent him, so I think the communication is great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The two providers that I used before were absolutely horrendous, so I don’t know if Skille is amazing or the kind of quality that goes along with their fee, but I’m happy with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of.

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you have a good amount of creative assets. Since I’m a new company and am new to fashion, I just didn’t understand the sheer volume of materials you need so that your audience doesn’t get bored looking at the same stuff.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of an online women’s clothing boutique.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Skille?

I purchased an existing brand at the end of January, and we were trying to regrow the brand and take it into a little bit of a different direction. We brought in Skille to help with advertising and building our brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Right now we’re primarily using them for paid Facebook and Instagram advertising. We provide all the photos for the ads, but they did all the copy and set everything up for us. They do all of the backend work, as well as monitoring and optimizing them.

What is the team composition?

I work with Kevin (Owner) and he has a designer as well.

How did you come to work with Skille?

I found an ad on Instagram. They specialize in smaller to midrange brands on Facebook and Instagram, so that aligned with where I thought we had room to grow. They have experience with growing other companies in our space as well. I also appreciated that I got to work with them directly.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve invested between $5,000–$7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in April 2020 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re focused primarily on conversions, rather than traffic. We want to grow our sales. We set out with the goal of breaking even on our return on ad spend in the first month. Then we wanted to reach 1.5x return at the end of eight weeks. We’re not even at eight weeks yet, but we’ve already met 1.6x return on our investment. They’re definitely exceeding the benchmarks we had in place. They clearly know what they’re doing and have a strategy that works.

How did Skille perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re also really great with communication, and they’re very easy to get in contact with. I just told them that I wanted to do a Memorial Day ad, and they immediately started working with us on that. They have a super quick turnaround time, so that’s really great. We’re getting the results we asked for.

Right now  we just use Google Docs and email to communicate and for the approval process. It’s very easy and streamlined for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s great that we were able to work one-on-one with their team, as opposed to having to go through a lot of different people. They’re super quick to respond, so if we were having issues or not getting the results we expected, they’re always open to pivoting and changing directions. They always want to address concerns and figure out new strategies that will deliver results. They’re very flexible to business needs and want to get things done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not as of yet.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Absolutely go for it, especially if you’re in e-commerce. They know what strategies work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company called ipaymy. We’re a payment company that focuses on processing credit card payments for small businesses. Our platform’s mostly self-service.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Skille?

We wanted to use Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn as platforms to generate leads. Our goal was to find marketing folks who could drive conversions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Skille overhauled our paid acquisition efforts. They started with an audit, looking through our content to find what worked and what didn't. Then, their team restructured our campaigns and took over their management including the budget. They did some creative work too. Now, they manage campaigns via Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google marketing. Also, their team set up Google Analytics and tracking measures properly, which weren’t functioning properly previously.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people from Skille. Kevin (Founder, Skille) managed our account and supported the team that worked on this project. One person focused on analytics and then another person was an adverts specialist.

How did you come to work with Skille?

I came across Kevin’s profile on LinkedIn. I added him because I sought a partner for marketing services and his profile was interesting. I reached out to talk about working together and we ended up doing so.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $30,000 on their services so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the initial engagement in June 2019 but Skille manages our PPC efforts on an ongoing basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Largely, we look at transaction volume to gauge success. The initial challenge was not to find leads but to acquire customers to then transact and keep transacting. We didn’t want to work with an agency that only creates ads for the top of the sales funnel. We wanted an agency to reach down the sales funnel. We found a sophisticated team that actually helps us to drive conversions at Skille.

How did Skille perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, we’ve had a great experience working with Skille. We’re on the other side of the world from Skille but they’ve accommodated our schedule. We use Slack and video calls to communicate. We hold weekly check-ins and their team connects with us throughout the week. They always provide reports and complete assignments by the stated deadline. They're a good fit because the engagement's less formal and more flexible, which created a boutique agency feel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been most excited about the results relative to our specific problem. It was a big undertaking to review our campaigns and targets to restructure them properly but Skille did a good job. Coming into the project, they didn’t know our business. Their team has done e-commerce work but hadn’t done projects in Asia or for companies like ours. We were blown away by their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This is true for many agencies but I would like Skille to have different models for payment. Rather than just a flat retainer with additional cost options, they could offer percent of ad spend for example.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go for it. Our experience has been good. I’ve worked with numerous agencies for 15–16 years and can say that their founder’s knowledgeable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of digital strategy at Zutana, a brand that sells baby clothing and accessories.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Acquilead?

I was trying to improve the performance of our Facebook and Instagram ads.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, Acquilead did an audit of our account and suggested some areas where we could improve our structure, creative, and overall process. Now, they’re providing advanced training. Acquilead doesn’t run our account; instead, they train me on their system. 

What is the team composition?

I just work with Kevin (Founder, Acquilead). 

How did you come to work with Acquilead?

I came across an article that Kevin wrote. It was a really smart article, so I contacted him, and we went from there.

How much have you invested with them?

I paid an initial fee of $2,500 and am now paying a monthly fee of $1,500. In total, I’ve spent about $4,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

My work with Acquilead began in November 2019, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve learned a lot in the short time we’ve worked together. Kevin has really extensive knowledge of how Facebook Ads Manager works. Our account is pretty much fully restructured based on their suggestions, and our performance has improved. Since we’ve been working together, our Facebook revenue has increased 2.5-fold over this period last year.

How did Acquilead perform from a project management standpoint?

Kevin and I have weekly one-hour calls, during which we go through my accounts. He answers any questions I have and makes suggestions. We also talk on Slack pretty much every day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think what’s most impressive about Kevin is his experience. He’s worked on so many different accounts, and he has a lot of knowledge of the platform; he really knows everything about it. He also uniquely structures things, which makes the account easier to manage and improves performance.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I haven’t been working with them for too long, but so far, I don’t see any.

Any advice for potential customers?

My only advice would be to hire them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founder and designer of a swimwear brand

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Acquilead?

• Trying to grow our US customer list
• Struggles with recent social media algorithm changes we are no longer able to acquire new customers without putting money into marketing.

What were your goals for this project?

Build our US clientele

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We considered 4 companies. The main reason we went with Acquilead is that Kevin asked us so many questions no other companies asked. We felt that he was very transparent from the get-go. Both company owners were apart of the selection process.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

1. End to end strategy and execution of our Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns
2. We provided some video content for them to use in the campaigns
3. Increasing sales with Facebook and Instagram ads
4. The Black Friday campaign they made for us performed extremely well

What was the team composition?

Most of the time we are only dealing with one person

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

1. Return on ad spend increase, the volume of transaction, traffic to our site  
2. Exceeds our goal, we didn't expect to see a significant lift
3. Based on the results I feel like it went well

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Kevin was always great at managing my partner and I's expectations. At the end of the day, we just need the numbers to add up and make sense and Kevin really helps in that area.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Acquilead is great at communication, which is key.

Are there any areas for improvement?

At the moment no. I am very happy with the wsuccesork that's being done and I'm getting results that I didn't think were achievable for such a saturated market.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Starpil Wax. We sell hair removal wax.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Acquilead?

I needed help with digital marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we had an exploratory research call to discuss Acquilead’s marketing plan and budget. They set up advertising on Facebook and Google, which they continue to manage. They also oversee our Google Shopping account. They’re broadening their scope of work to include YouTube and other areas.

What is the team composition?

One team member works on copy and another two manage Facebook and Google.

How did you come to work with Acquilead?

I found them on LinkedIn. I was considering other companies, but my introductory calls with Acquilead and their attention to detail stood out.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has invested over $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in April 2019, and our work together is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve put a good structure in place for my company’s advertising efforts. We’ve seen ROIs as high as 6.5% on some campaigns.

How did Acquilead perform from a project management standpoint?

They do very well. Acquilead drafts text and always send it to us for approval before using it in articles and product feeds. Their approach is very organized and transparent. We communicate weekly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’d been working with another company, and I thought it was going to be a very lengthy process for a new company to take over. I was impressed by how quickly they hit the ground running and got the ads going.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could do a bit more research, but I work in a difficult niche. Not many people know much about my industry.

Any advice for potential customers?

You should call them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COO of Noa Home

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

E-commerce company selling home furnishings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Grow traffic
• Increase Sales
• Scale the business

SOLUTION

How did you find Skille?

Online Search

Why did you select Skille over others?

Company values aligned

How many teammates from Skille were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Ongoing management of digital advertising.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Skilled helped us increase our ROAS

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

Skille always deliver on time, they are extremely professional

What was your primary form of communication with Skille?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They are extremely reliable and professional, and they know their craft.

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

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of (a/an) Retail

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Nursing activewear

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Facebook ads

SOLUTION

How did you find Skille?

Online Search

Why did you select Skille over others?

High ratings

What was the size of Skille’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

Facebook ads creative and media planning/buying

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• ROAS

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

They delivered the project on time. Very responsive.

What was your primary form of communication with Skille?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

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

Kevin spent a lot of time to get to know our unique products and customers. The ads are creative and performed well.

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

No. It's a great boutique agency. Highly recommend.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a health and wellness direct-to-consumer brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Skille?

Creative campaigns, media buying, performance marketing

SOLUTION

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

Kevin came highly recommended. We screened many different agencies for this role and decided to work with SKILLE and Kevin because of his experience, strategy, and dedication.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We needed to improve our media buying strategy, Kevin did a detailed breakdown of our issues and came up with actionable solutions for them. The execution was on point as well. We saw a significant improvement in results over the period.

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

Kevin himself and an account manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

During the period, we managed to improve channel advertising spending by 300%, whilst improving ROAS by 200%.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We met every Tuesday morning for a 30-minute meeting to discuss strategy and deliverables.

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

We really liked that Kevin did all of these himself and never delegated the work to anyone else on the team. He was hands-on throughout the whole process.

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

No real issues. If there was one thing that could be improved on, would be the intensity and cadence of the creative production perhaps.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Vice President of Marketing for an ecommerce start-up.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Skille?

We sell on Shopify Plus, and needed an agency to take over our Facebook Ads. We had done a lot on our own, but didn't have the time/bandwidth internally to scale as fast as we knew we could with expert help.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We interviewed at least 5 other agencies, and Skille was our top choice. Kevin the founder is incredible easy to work with, and really understood our needs because he has an ecommerce background. Other vendors had big promises and even higher retainers -- he gave us actionable insights and had a fair pricing structure that fit our budget.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Skille managed all aspects of our Facebook advertising account, including auditing our pixels and catalog, account setup, and creative strategy and execution. They developed new ads and campaigns for us, managed them, and provided detailed reporting.

What was the team composition?

I worked closely with Kevin the founder, as well as his team, through weekly calls and regular contact in Slack, Asana, and Notion.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had weekly calls to review the account, and they felt like an extension of our team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They worked with us in the tools we already used (ex: Slack and Asana). We had access to media buying, creative strategy and video editing, as well as reporting.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They really understood our brand and products.