SOLO MEDIA GROUP

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Vice President of a retail toy store pushing to go omnichannel.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group, and what were your goals?

To facilitate online ordering for pick up in store or curbside, we hired Solo Media Group to build a modal that would let customers know which locations have which product in stock.

SOLUTION

How did you select Solo Media Group and what were the deciding factors?

Value. We chose Solo Media Group because they were able to present a clear solution for the challenge that was creating a positive customer experience for customers wanting to know which locations have their desired products in stock.

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

We gave Solo Media Group the documentation to the service serving the inventory information as well as access to our Shopify site. We discussed the solution to make sure we agreed about what would meet our goals. Solo Media Group then created a modal and created an easy way for us to update parameters as needed.

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

1: Founder

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We discovered, initially, that customers were regularly shopping without using the modal but we attributed that to OUR poor choice in wording on the product pages. After our fix, the modal has contributed significantly to the in-store pickup process and has reduced the frequency of customers having the wrong expectations.

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

We tried to keep the communication in writing via Upwork.com but they still let us talk by phone to facilitate discussing certain details about the project.

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

We appreciate their understanding in our point of view. We tried to return the favor and to be easy to work with as clients by stating our goals up front but Solo Media Group was understanding of a few additional needs that we didn't anticipate.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

i am the Executive Director of a synagogue and a day-school.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group?

Our website went down and disabled due to memory, spam, and security reasons.

What were your goals for this project?

We had to make sure the website is operable and functional very quickly because it was at the same time school started and our parents couldn't access our information.

SOLUTION

How did you select Solo Media Group?

We looked for website design and repair companies in Miami that could do the job asap; Solo Media had great reviews, accommodated our timeline, and it was a pleasure talking to them and going thru the process with them.

Describe the project in detail.

We had several meetings to discuss our problems, timeline, etc. The representative acknowledge our needs and went to work.

What was the team composition?

I dealt with Jonathan who was very professional, knowledgeable and reliable.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website was back on after one day with a better server, better performance, more memory, and easier access for our parents. We were thrilled that they were able to fix our problem so quickly because a business with no website, is not in existence...especially because the sensitive timing that it went down (in the beginning of the school year).

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Jonathan was so professional and knowledgeable; It was absolute pleasure to work with him; Trustworthy and reliable.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

THe accommodations made to work with our deadlines; the recommendations made to ensure a similar problem will not repeat itself; the accessibility of the team throughout the project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very satisfied by the services we received.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing operations manager a company that provides tax filing services for American's living abroad.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group, and what were your goals?

We hired Solo Media Group to overhaul our website. It was very dated and built on old framework, leading the website to be slow and clunky and we wanted Solo Media Group to essentially rebuild our entire site.

SOLUTION

How did you select Solo Media Group and what were the deciding factors?

We were recommended them by our SEO consultant and loved Johnathan's communication. That really helped because he breaks down what's needed in a way that's totally understandable (not just developer speak).

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

The website overhaul was rebuilding our wordpress website on a new framework to bring up the speed of the website, incorporate new designs, and make the backend easier to make adjustments on.

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

We mainly worked with Johnathan who has a team of developers he manages.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Johnathan and his team did an amazing job and exceeded our expectations! We are thrilled about our new website, and have seen 90% increase in site-speed as a result.

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

Communication tools - email, SMG's support portal. They worked inside of our communication tool, Podio for a majority of the project. We also used Bugherd to identify any bugs on the website during launch.

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

Johnathan did an amazing job at communicating with us. We had a few snafu's with the project manager and Johnathan took back over and delivered on-time.

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

Nope- we love the SMG team. They are super quick at fixing bugs and implementing any changes that we ask them for.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a cofounder of a professional sign installation company. We install residential and commercial real estate signage for real estate agents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group?

We hired Solo Media Group to create our online ordering software.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to create a platform where real estate agents can easily make a request for a sign install. Then the system is to take that order, and export it to an API routing software.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found Solo Media Group in upwork.com.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They provided us with a very professional Wordpress online store. They provided us with very quick feedback, and resolutions on our initial issues. Solo Media Group also provided very strong communication lines to keep the project moving forward constantly.

What was the team composition?

The project had a team of numerous individuals. Johnathan took the lead and was our shepherd who lead us to the end of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our launch is still very new at this point. I do not have any concrete information yet that demonstrates the effect that the project has had on the business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was extremely impressive. Made adjustments and delays accordingly, as our business was affected deeply by covid-19.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

What I found most impressive was their communication. Johnathan was always available when I needed him. Also the speed in which certain tasks were completed was also very impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Very few areas for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the IT Director. We are a manufacturer of hair, skin and body products made specifically for tweens.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group?

We hired Solo Media Group because we need an experienced and efficient developer group to help us migrate from a WooCommerce e-comm site platform to Shopify.

What were your goals for this project?

Our primary goal of this project was to have Solo develop a stable and integrated e-comm website on the Shopify platform that was mobile responsive and support complex coupon promotional elements and an integrated rewards program.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We posted this job on UpWork and Solo Media responded to the job posting. We vetted over 20 companies for this job and Solo was who we decided to go with because they had amazing reviews from previous customers and had vast experience in the development and platform that we were needing for this specific project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We hired Solo Media Group to help us migrate our existing site from a WooCommerce e-comm engine framework to Shopify. They initially recreated a mirror of our existing website that was on Woo on Shopify and the help us by developing multiple custom functions on the Shopify framework to support or site and system needs to promotions and our rewards program. Then we decided to redesign our website before launching it on Shopify and Solo coded in an entirely new website front-end for our final launch.

What was the team composition?

Our main point of contact was with John at Solo but there were multiple resources involved on their end but I was not directly in contact with them through the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The overall impact that this project will have on our business will be shown more over time but the biggest obvious impact is this project resulted in a more stable website and online shopping experience for our customers.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was seamless and effective. John managed his team of resources perfectly and it was easy for me to add tasks and feedback to the project through the development process. We used Google Hangout calls to discuss progress and share our screens. Also John used and would share tasks lists via Google Docs to make it easy for me to see what was being worked on and what was completed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The communication and ability to be flexible with ongoing project changes and shifts was what I found most impressive with Solo Media and John and his team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No areas of improvement that I could think of from my end.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My position is Co-founder and COO of Beam St.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group?

I hired Solo Media Group in hopes of turning over my website to make it editable, user-friendly, and functional.

What were your goals for this project?

My goals were to make our website even more consumer-friendly in the healthcare space.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

This vendor was referred to me by another colleague. Three other companies were considered and the turnover and trust in this team were the reasons why Solo Media Group was our favorite.

Describe the project in detail.

Our previous coder did not allow us to make any necessary content changes and I needed a team who could unlock that for us and to make some content changes as well as some design changes.

What was the team composition?

I worked exclusively with one member on the team and had great one-on-one feedback.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Outcomes were phenomenal. The team was EXTREMELY efficient, effective and concise. It was easy to communicate and the team was able to break down our needs in laymen terms so we were on the same page at all times. Our expectations were exceeded.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was seamless. We were able to put all our thoughts into a word document and crank it out one by one thoroughly and into detail. They really cared about our project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their honesty, their quality of work, as well as their communication were the most impressive. They were able to complete our requests immediately because they made us their priority and I am sure they do the same for all their clients.

Are there any areas for improvement?

N/A.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I own a small online retail business where we private label our own health & wellness products for sale on Amazon. We wanted our own website for our new brand and went to SMG to get set up.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group?

I did know the first thing about web dev, design, infrastructure, nor what tools or apps I needed.

What were your goals for this project?

I needed someone who was well versed in constructing a platform based on my needs and preferences.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

A good friend referred me over and spoke highly of John. After one phone call he was the winner against the 4 others that I vetted.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They created a wordpress site, connecting it to Shopify and designed the shopify site. I provided images and listings to borrow content from in order to design the website that would be ready to convert traffic.

John used the images, content, and pricing to make a clean website that was viable to generate sales. John connected apps in order to fulfill orders through Amazon's fulfillment where we store our inventory, and fine-tuned preferences like free shipping on all orders.

What was the team composition?

John and 2 others were on the project while I interacted with John the most.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The turnaround time was very fast, and his response time was as well. I felt like I was taken seriously, and that the project was a priority. Everything was done timely with professionalism, and came along with consultative recommendations which is what I love.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Slack and Email for communication, we used a shared google doc for content storage and milestones/project timelines

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They provide incredible insight into how a site should be constructed and why. There were very helpful tips along the way and incredible communication which is important on a timeline

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at all, this was incredible!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a regenerative medicine company that distributes stem cell recruitment products throughout the country. This includes products from placental tissue and other regenerative products that cover medical specialties like wound care, orthopedics, podiatry, dental, cosmetic, and pain management. I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Solo Media Group?

We wanted to create an online ordering platform that allowed our customers to easily access our products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built and customized our online ordering platform in WordPress and WooCommerce. The platform required a lot of customizations for our complex invoicing process. They integrated a lot of that with our accounting and sales rep commission software. The backend allows us to provide certain customers with unique features, and the whole project encompassed a lot of elements.

What is the team composition?

We had one main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Solo Media Group?

Our marketing lead referred them to us. He felt they'd be a great fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in August 2019 and was completed in mid-October. We added a few additional features after that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We already had a large customer base, and we had to onboard those existing customers onto the new portal right after we built it. It was a complex process, and they did very well. They provided great quality work, and we already have another project in mind for them. We'll start production on that soon. The platform is an absolute game-changer for us, and we're much more efficient and streamlined than before. It eliminates a lot of human error, and our customers are very happy.

How did Solo Media Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Our main contact replied to all our inquiries. There were some bugs and other issues initially, but they communicated well through text, email, or phone. We also uploaded any bugs or fixes to our shared Google Drive. They were always available, which made the process much less stressful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The fact that they're a smaller company really helps. They're much better than any larger firm I've worked with. They made sure that all the functionality was air-tight.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have provided more realistic expectations. Some things ran longer than we expected, and some of the features had a few bugs to work out. Knowing that upfront would have been helpful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have a line of communication set up with them and be sure to clarify all the expectations at the beginning.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a luxury women's wear fashion brand. I am the President & founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group ?

Website design and development.

What were your goals for this project?

To improve our website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Referral.

Describe the project in detail.

Updating our website located at www.layo-g.com

What was the team composition?

2 of us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I loved all the work they did for us. They understood what we wanted and delivered it!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They knew exactly what I wanted and implemented it exactly how I needed it. Loved working with them. They understood our company and executed upon what we needed very well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None, they exceeded my expectations. They went above and beyond and helped me fix all our issues on our website.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the operating partner of Select Influencer, an internet marketing services platform. We mainly assist influencers with growing their following and engagement on Instagram.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solo Media Group?

We needed them to develop our site and provide consulting along the way. We now use Solo for all web development projects.

What were your goals for this project?

The initial project was to build the site and then iterate based on customer use cases. It needed to be user-friendly, and functional and responsive across all devices.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We went through about 50 applicants and narrowed it down based on conversations and portfolios. Jon (CEO, Solo Media Group) stood out because he always made himself available and communicated clearly.

Describe the project in detail.

They built a SaaS website including a client portal.

What was the team composition?

I only have to speak with Jon (CEO, Solo Media Group), who relays the message and goals to his team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Visitors to the site are converting, resulting in new business and revenue.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything was very smooth. We never needed to go back and forth with them; they get the job done exactly how we requested or, sometimes, even better than how we explained it. They stick to deadlines and communicate when needed. They were available via phone or messaging and are accommodating to what type of communication we preferred. Half of the team works while we sleep which confirms that the project is being worked on around the clock until completed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have a good business model. They can quickly, successfully, and consistently deliver quality work. They're also very professional; we felt very comfortable giving them constructive criticism along the way.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I have not found any yet.