Strategic Media Inc

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Bay Area Bookkeeping & Accounting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Strategic Media Inc?

We wanted to increase our rankings on Google to help increase our site’s traffic. I also wasn’t very happy with the website that we had, so we decided to hire someone who could develop a new site and handle our SEO efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Strategic Media Inc designed and developed our new website, and they’re currently handling our SEO.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is Tony (Digital Marketing Manager), but I also work with two other people  — one was in charge of web development and the other is handling SEO and our Google My Business profile.

How did you come to work with Strategic Media Inc?

Tony and I are members of the same international networking group, so we decided to go with their company for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $1,800 on the website, but we have a contract signed for $9,000 for everything, including SEO work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Strategic Media Inc in October 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Strategic Media Inc provides me with the data from our Google Analytics to see our site’s traffic and the number of calls that we’ve gotten through our site.

So far, I’ve already gotten a number of calls from people who found our site from Google. This has never happened before, so I’m definitely very pleased with the work they’ve done so far.

How did Strategic Media Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

Strategic Media Inc has performed very well in terms of project management. They’re great at sticking to the schedule and budget.

We primarily communicate through email, which is how they usually send me the breakdown of our analytics and results. We also sometimes communicate through Zoom, phone calls, and Facebook Messenger.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m really impressed with how goal-oriented and dedicated Strategic Media Inc is in helping us grow our business — I can actually see that they’re committed to seeing us succeed. They take the project seriously and as if it was their own, and that’s something that you don’t usually get with other companies. 

They’re constantly giving us recommendations on what we should do next or what path we should take to further move our business forward. It’s very hard to find that level of customer service anywhere else, so I’m extremely happy with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m quite impressed with their work — I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re trying to grow your business and you don’t show up on Google, it would be a good idea to work with Strategic Media Inc. They will work with you and surely get your business up and running.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is Bay Area Auto Glass. We do automotive and medical window replacement using tempered or laminated glass.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Strategic Media Inc?

My website wasn't reaching enough people. It also wasn't very user-friendly, had a slow response time, and couldn’t provide quotes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Strategic Media Inc redesigned my existing website. We first had a discovery phase we discussed what we could improve. First, they explained how different domain hosts operate differently, so we decided to switch to a different domain. We also talked about SEO, response times, speed, and so on. I then gave them some documentation, like my logo and the contents of my old website. However, I honestly didn’t give them much to go on. I’m not very proficient with technology, so I let them take the reigns and deliver what they thought was best.

The team typed up the new content that they enhanced with keywords, and they then sent the copy for me to proofread and the list of keywords. I changed some information regarding my expertise and sent it back to them, taking care to keep the keywords they put in. They then worked on the design — I left it solely up to them because I wasn’t very knowledgeable about what colors and graphics were attractive. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with Tony (Digital Marketing Manager), the project manager, and Katherine (Web Developer), who created the pages.

How did you come to work with Strategic Media Inc?

I found Strategic Media Inc through a networking group.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was $3,500–$4,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was from November 2020–February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They created a site that has been getting more healthy, organic leads than other marketing techniques I’ve used. Since the site was launched, I’ve had around 125 requests for quotes. The conversion rate has been about 40%, which is crazy. Furthermore, the team came up with an excellent copy that required minimal edits from me. I can’t rave enough about Strategic Media Inc — they did a great job.

How did Strategic Media Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was very helpful and completed everything within the time frame they promised. They were very informative — I’m not very tech-savvy, but they were able to explain things to me clearly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The amount of business their redesign has driven is impressive, and the closing ratio has been outstanding. I’m not even paying for SEO, so it’s all been organic, which is phenomenal. I also appreciate that they broke up the payments, so I paid a certain amount to get started, and then they collected the rest of the cost only when I was happy with the product. The price was reasonable — I’m surprised they didn’t charge more for what they did.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could’ve done better. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Once everything is live, make sure to check your submission form and be prepared to answer the influx of new clients you will get.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the VP and co-owner of West Shore Construction. We are a state-certified building contractor. We’ve been in business for 37 years, and we do specialty remodeling, hurricane protection, windows, and other services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Strategic Media Inc?

In today's market, our website should be drawing in a very large portion of our clients. I’m a carpenter by trade, so I don’t know much about computers. We needed someone with SEO knowledge that I could trust, so we hired Strategic Media.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Strategic Media redesigned my website. We have worked collaboratively to change content and images on my site. We gave them content, images, and keywords we want to be found for, and they helped pull images from our vendors’ websites that we’re permitted to use. They asked me a lot of questions about who my target is.

They provide ongoing SEO services. Beyond the website, they also do Facebook marketing and create posts. For instance, they compile images of a job we’ve done and set it to music. Those kinds of posts attract attention.

What is the team composition?

Tony (Digital Marketing Manager) is my main contact. We have also worked with one web developer and a couple of other office staff members. They work closely with my partner, who is a bit more tech-savvy than I am.

How did you come to work with Strategic Media Inc?

I used to belong to a networking group and found them through that. We also heard about them through referrals and people who have worked with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested somewhere around $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started collaborating in September 2018, and we still use their services today. We’ve become friends at this point.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My rankings have gone way up — when people search for me, they find me. We track analytics based on sales and where they are coming from. Right now, around 62% of leads are generated from my website’s quote submission form, which is huge.

In the past, I wasted a bunch of money on other people that didn’t deliver. At this point, I’m open to spending whatever I need to because the ROI is huge. We did a little over $3 million in business last year, and I'm already at $2 million this year. 

The feedback from clients is that they’ve been able to find everything they needed to know on our site. The site is easy and viable. Tony shares a lot of statistics about things like engagement, but I don’t quite understand that. 

How did Strategic Media Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is key for me, and Strategic Media is excellent with that. Communication has been one of my main problems with some of my subcontractors, but they’re always available. I can call them or go to their office any time.

The communication isn’t 100% seamless — things always come up — but they always respond quickly. They trained me on how to add things to the site, and I made a mistake. However, they didn’t make me feel stupid; they just fixed it for me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Out of all of the companies we’ve worked with, they’re the only ones that have done exactly what they said they would. I'm in an industry where clients’ biggest complaint is that contractors do not follow through, and I understand that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There may be some stuff they could do differently, but at the moment, what we're doing is working. I like to give constructive criticism when I can, but I can’t think of anything right now.

Any advice for potential customers?

Give them all of the information that they ask for and trust their process. At first, you are going to think that metrics aren’t moving quickly, but they explained that upfront. To bake a cake, you need to have all of the right ingredients.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am an account executive for a full-service direct mail and marketing firm located in Tampa Bay.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Strategic Media Inc?

To continue to be successful, we had to make a few changes. We can’t rely on how we did business before, so we had to modify our practices as society does in general. That means we needed help in being more active on social media to achieve our marketing goals, look for clients, and educate prospects on the value of mail. We previously had a site that quickly fell behind, so we realized we needed to bring our site up to date.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Strategic Media built and develop a website for us. Initially, we gave them all the information that they needed, and Chuck (President & CEO) and his staff started looking at our existing website and came back shortly to tell us we needed to start from scratch.

Our company has three divisions within the company, commercial, political, and nonprofit. We wanted our site to be a landing page where people could choose where they want to go, and find everything they need to know about what we do in those three divisions. Strategic Media has been helpful in putting all that together.

We re-energized ourselves a couple of months ago, and we currently have a website that’s 85% of where we want it to be. Additionally, we came up with a new request to provide the ability for our clients to go online and for lack of a better term, pay us. They’re working on completing that now and so far, they’ve been very responsive, to the point that we’re also doing work for them.

What is the team composition?

We’re working directly with one person in that office, who’s putting the website together. I also do a lot of work with Tony (Digital Marketing Manager) because I know him and he can make things happen — whether he has to go up the leadership at the company, or talk directly to the individual handling our account.

How did you come to work with Strategic Media Inc?

We have a unique relationship with Strategic Media. I know the owner and he’s in a business group I’m in as well. They used to be physically located just up the street from us, but they’ve moved since.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent somewhere in the area of $5,000–$7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership started in May 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t gone live yet, but so far we like what they’ve done for us — it’s a fantastic improvement over what we had. One person actually recognized Strategic Media’s style, because they’ve won a number of awards in the area for their design abilities. I’ve also had some colleagues in my business group who’ve had a look at the website, and they’ve been very impressed with what they’ve seen.

How did Strategic Media Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

I think they do fine. The account person we’re working with is very persistent and thorough. We communicate via email most of the time, and she’s very specific with what she’s asking for.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the things I really like about Strategic Media is they don’t try to make you a cookie-cutter type of website. They listen to what you’re trying to achieve, or what image you want to project and work towards that. They don’t try to fit us in any circle or square because they know we’re a unique business. They’ve been responsive and extremely creative in what they’ve done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t say anything until we go live.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

One of the things people have to understand is that a lot of the executives tend to be a little bit on the older side. You want someone who understands what they’re doing, and that’s exactly what Strategic Media is. They’re cutting edge and everything I’ve seen them do has just been unreal on a positive note.

By the same token, they also understand that businesses don’t always turn on a dime. They deal with that very well, and they’re really good at trying to keep the customer informed where things are, to make sure they’re heading in the right direction.