Stay Calm Industries

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Manager of Downtown Allentown Business Alliance

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We improve the economy and quality of life in the Greater Lehigh Valley.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Stay Calm Industries to accomplish?

• To provide DABA with day of social media marketing for their annual Blues, Brews, & BBQ event
• We provide continued support for DABA in marketing strategy, implementation, and discovering new ways to complete their mission of making Downtown Allentown the best place to be.

SOLUTION

How did you find Stay Calm Industries?

Referral

Why did you select Stay Calm Industries over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Stay Calm Industries were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Met with team multiple times prior to execution day to plan and strategize
• Provided us with day of social media creation & management including the planning and creation of stories, static posts, live videos, etc.
• Created and managed budget for social media campaign
• Analyzed data and performance of campaign and posts
• Engaged and responded to any interaction on posts, stories, etc. which made for interactive content
• Was attentive, organized, and professional throughout entire experience.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Increased public knowledge around BBB, including where to park, where to buy refreshments, and when and where music acts are playing. This resulted in a better informed public that had a better time at the festival.

DABA is increasingly a important part of activating the downtown area of Allentown, in part due to our efforts in consulting on marketing strategy and how they can be most effective in their mission.

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

Extremely attentive, organized, time efficient, and timely. They responded to our needs with an appropriate sense of urgency and professionalism.

What was your primary form of communication with Stay Calm Industries?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were authentic, service-oriented, collaborative, driven, and creative.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Stay Calm Industries could have done differently?

No - we love working with them!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Hrysek Farms

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Hrysek Farms is a small-batch coffee roaster in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Stay Calm Industries to accomplish?

• Brand Creation, i.e. Logos, and Brand Guidelines
• Packaging Development, Stay Calm Industries designed all of our packaging.
• Graphic design work for our apparel collection
• Advertising for all social platforms to increase website traffic and brand awareness.

SOLUTION

How did you find Stay Calm Industries?

Clutch Site

Why did you select Stay Calm Industries over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Stay Calm Industries were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Our work with Stay Clam Industries is consistently evolving. As a full-service marketing agency, we are constantly working together to further the Hrysek Farms brand and its marketing efforts. Our first project was to create our logo and product packaging. Since then, we have worked together to develop designs for our merch, along with limited product designs, and are moving to video advertising to increase web traffic and overall awareness.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our measurable outcomes for our branding project is seeing the customer we attract. We have been using our logos and product package for over a year and it is very apparent that our consumers coincided with our target demographics. As we move toward paid advertising, we will be using content interaction, website traffic, and website sales to measure success.

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

Each project we have done has exceeded, expectations as far as timeline and quality.

What was your primary form of communication with Stay Calm Industries?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Our relaship, working with Stay Calm Industries means you have a partner that can take your product and make it sellable, and your adds to stand out against your competitors.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Stay Calm Industries could have done differently?

Not at this time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Peregrine Surgical, a family-run medical manufacturer. We’re primarily an OEM. We manufacture single-use devices for ophthalmic surgery. Over the past three years, we’ve been manufacturing endovascular catheters.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Stay Calm Industries?

We hired them to help with our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Evan (Owner) created our first website using Squarespace. The engagement involved Evan creating a website, doing a lot of photography, and organizing the site.  We engaged with them on a monthly retainer where he helps with digital marketing pieces and tools. He’s created posters that we use as visual tools to help our customers or our assemblers with training.

After the website was created, we started working with a catheter company. Evan helped us create sketches and posterboards to help owners or any investors who had a hard time understanding these catheters' design or engineering. They’re large sketches that really can identify the 30,000-foot level design of the product.

What is the team composition?

I work with Evan.

How did you come to work with Stay Calm Industries?

A few years ago, I came across Evan through a friend who had been using him for social media marketing. He came highly recommended.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the years, we’ve spent between $100,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Stay Calm Industries started in June 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s been a highly successful engagement. Evan created an easy to navigate website for us. He did a great job with the posters. The sketches helped people understand the device’s intricacies. They were able to understand the purpose of different designs better.

When we started with this catheter company four years ago, we brought a scientific advisory board on board, which are icons in the cardiovascular industry. These were physicians who were brought onto the board for their expertise.

When we initially brought them in, just to bring them into a board meeting and walk them through the product's design, we brought them into our facility, and we took these posters that Evan had created for us. We put them on the easels, and these board members came in.

As I was showing them the catheters themselves, I walk through the posters one at a time. We put them in a progression. They fully understood the device, which they wouldn’t have been able to without the posters.

One of the board members, an extremely experienced physician quoted by a number of the large manufacturers in the industry, walked out and said it was the best presentation he’s ever seen, which was a huge compliment. That comes to mind immediately when I think of the work that Evan’s done for us.

How did Stay Calm Industries perform from a project management standpoint?

Evan comes and visits every week. We go over the projects that I have. I explain to him what I want to accomplish. I tell him I want to have 5 or 6 slides where I’m walking the FDA through the pictures of the device and some bullet points, and I want to walk out of there where they understand the device and what we do.

He will take a couple of weeks to create this PowerPoint presentation or these posters, but he works on them on his time. He provides them to me on an interim basis. We’ll go back and forth over two weeks. He will manage that time, and I’ll tell him what my deadline is, staying on time and within budget.

We have a regular Tuesday call over the phone or in-person. Sometimes we’re in touch several times a day or several times a week, depending on my level of need. He always accommodates, including evenings and weekends.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Evan is creative. He knows what people are looking for when they look at a website or poster. He avoids clutter, emphasizing minimization. He’s extremely good at organization.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have a great relationship with Evan. He listens to what I say and want but still gives his honest opinion. I don’t have any concerns about Evan.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have a company with several layers of marketing, it’d probably be helpful to create a Gantt chart or spreadsheet that would allow you to manage several projects together.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business manager and operator of a wood-fired barbecue grill company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Stay Calm Industries?

We were looking to increase our online presence and digital marketing efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Stay Calm helped us to start taking advantage of social media, upgrade our web store, and handle general advertising and marketing. The first part of the project was a website redesign, including of our online store, followed by optimizing the organization and code and making sure everything was up and running successfully.

From there, they got to work with SEO, both through advertising and content creation on our blog. They have also assisted with social media advertising on Instagram and Facebook, and are currently putting together a YouTube channel for us as well.

The content creation efforts include research, photography, and email marketing as well.

What was the team composition?

I know that there are a number of their staff members working on the project in some capacity, but my main point of contact is Evan (Creative Director).

How did you come to work with Stay Calm Industries?

I was looking for a smaller boutique company to work with so that I could interact with the owner and approach the project more collaboratively with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of our work with them has been around $50,000–$75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together on the initial website redevelopment about three years ago in July 2017 and have worked together ever since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen an increase in sales since we started the project, up 10% in the first year alone. In 2019, we were up 30% over 2018, and despite thinking all bets were off with the way this year started, we have actually caught up to where we were last year at this time. We are consistently growing our campaigns with Stay Calm and are very pleased with the results they have provided.

How did Stay Calm Industries perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything has been delivered on time and within budget, and they have done an excellent job of breaking down all of our requirements into tasks that we can tackle one by one and really start seeing results as quickly as possible. Typically, I have weekly meetings with Evan and he generates reports for me that we discuss and decide how to move forward from there.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Evan is really willing to work closely with the client and wear many hats depending on our needs. He really has become an extension of our company that has allowed us to do a lot of things that we otherwise couldn’t have.

For example, some of my clients are chefs who will suggest collaborating on social media, and Evan will even help with the handyman work of delivering the grill just so that he can be there to sit down with me for that discussion and provide his expertise in terms of how that collaboration could go.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Of course, there is always room for improvement, but everything that he does, he does very well. The only thing I think would help him is to continue to bring in other resources to his team so that they can handle an even wider range of tasks.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just sit down with Evan and have an honest conversation about how to develop a real, organic relationship. If you’re looking for prepackaged services, they might not be the best fit, because their strength lies in developing a deep understanding of your business and meeting whatever needs might arise during their partnership with you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a private not-for-profit economic development organization, and I’m the executive director there.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Stay Calm Industries?

We’d completed a marketing plan previously, and one of the recommendations within it was to establish a brand for each of our three primary programs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They primarily took care of the rebranding for us. We met with them several times to walk through the marketing plan and help them understand our business before jumping in.

He took the time to understand what we do and then packaged different brands for the programs. In that effort, he handled graphic design for logos and web as well as the build of our site. 

What is the team composition?

Evan (Creative Director) was our only point of contact. He had subcontractors assigned to the project as well. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$25,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February 2018–June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work dramatically improved our ability to communicate the specifics of our programs to stakeholders quickly and seamlessly. It made our communication process more efficient and brand more discernible.

How did Stay Calm Industries perform from a project management standpoint?

There were no issues with project management because they handled themselves efficiently. They delivered on time and within budget.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Evan is a talented designer with a strong sense of marketing. He put a lot of effort into understanding our company before diving into the project. I appreciate them taking the time to educate themselves on our complex industry. It felt like he was an in-house employee.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of a food & beverages company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We make gourmet pre-packaged cheese balls & dog treats!

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Stay Calm Industries to accomplish?

• Label Design Work
• Advertisting
• Marketing

SOLUTION

How did you find Stay Calm Industries?

Social Media

Why did you select Stay Calm Industries over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Stay Calm Industries were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Stay Calm Industries captured our brand and vision from the very beginning. SCI helped us in defining who we are, what we do, and how we deliver our product to consumers. From logo design work, to label designs, marketing, website design and more SCI has grounded us and our company to be what we are today.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our increased growth of customers knowing our product & brand, and the repeat customers/wholesalers we capture.

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

They are always timely on projects and responsive to their clients.

What was your primary form of communication with Stay Calm Industries?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

SCI's creativity, professionalism, and work ethic.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Stay Calm Industries could have done differently?

N/A, we are happy with all the services we've received through SCI.