Yakkety Yak Marketing

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of a non-profit organization. We are a public-facing organization serving millions of patients within the US. Our strategic initiatives are education, advocacy, awareness, and research for two of our main programs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Yakkety Yak Marketing?

I wasn’t a part of the organization when Yakkety Yak Marketing was hired, but we were struggling to run national campaigns and manage our digital marketing presence. Their team was brought on to focus on these efforts and deliver on our key goals.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Yakkety Yak Marketing is essentially the creative driver that helps us develop creative ads and language for our campaigns. We rely on them for content generation and strategy. They help us with creating our messaging and content, understanding our population, and performing A/B testing on our ads. They also manage our newsletters, compiling the content for them. Their team also manages our database of contacts to better drive inbound marketing efforts. Our content on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and, most recently, Reddit, is handled end-to-end by Yakkety Yak Marketing. They also manage our paid ads efforts on Google and Facebook, tracking the analytics and making modifications as needed. 

For all of these efforts, their team engages with key stakeholders and experts within the society to deliver a clinical perspective that resonates. They work with content experts to ensure the content is patient-focused and at the right literacy level for our community. They also manage our video output. We do yearly videos along with patient testimonials. For Facebook Live events, they'll do speaker outreach and manage the logistics for us, as well. 

What is the team composition?

They have a large team, but I mostly work with 2–3 people regularly. The VP of accounts and the CEO work hand-in-hand with our experts and leadership. I’m in continuous contact with the VP of accounts and the content developer. 

How did you come to work with Yakkety Yak Marketing?

We came across Yakkety Yak Marketing through word of mouth. When our ROI with a previous agency wasn’t meeting our expectations, we decided to re-examine our approach and try to form a robust campaign. We felt Yakkety Yak Marketing was a great fit because they had a strong proposal, outlined a strategy, and wanted to make this an evergreen campaign. 

How much have you invested with them?

On an annual basis, the cost fluctuates from $450,000–$750,000 depending on our needs. We’ve been trying to find a balance between leveraging Yakkety Yak Marketing along with our internal expertise. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in February 2017 and it is an ongoing engagement. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Month-over-month, we’re seeing an average of 600,000 visitors to our site, which is a huge success for us. Since we’re a nonprofit, our biggest measure of impact is through our reach, so we continually report on that. We also measure our impact through the size of our Facebook groups. One, a private community for our patients, has grown to over 22,000 members and the second, our public educational page, has surpassed 100,000 members. 

How did Yakkety Yak Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

Once our teams acclimated after my predecessor left, everything now flows very smoothly. We’ve established a great understanding between our teams and we know how to set priorities for both our foundation and for them. Our communication is very efficient—I know my emails won’t slip through the cracks. They execute very well on project timelines. It’s great to see them adjust and listen to our needs to help us execute on our goals. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They offer a boutique-style experience so we always know who we’re working with. Not only do they bring their own expertise to the project, but they’re willing to brainstorm even further with their whole staff. The level of skill and effort they bring demonstrates how much they prioritize our mission and community. They have a great strategic vision that shows in their work. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’d likely benefit their internal team if they added a few more resources to avoid feeling limited or stretched thin. They’re efficient, but as they continue to expand this could be helpful. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very upfront about your expectations and what you want to see come out of your project. Give them the ability to be creative while still leveraging their expertise and technical skills. Especially in the nonprofit space, those skills make the ROI exponential.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

TMG is an association management company, providing management services to over 26 different non-profit associations. Our 60+ staff work with a variety of associations serving individual members and companies. My role here is the Chief Operating Officer - overseeing our main service divisions and our marketing team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Yakkety Yak Marketing?

We hired Yakkety Yak to redevelop our WordPress website, migrate our blog back into WordPress and optimize HubSpot.

What were your goals for this project?

To refresh our site and add new features that highlight our experience, team, and content. To Improve the functionality between our site and HubSpot.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Yakkety Yak has performed work for several of our clients in the past. We did a review and interview of several firms, including our previous vendor to determine the best fit. Yakkety Yak understood our business model and team the best, which was a major factor in selecting them.

It was an important distinction - Yakkety Yak nows our client, but they went farther to understand how we work with them, how we seek new clients and our business model.

Describe the project in detail.

The major piece of this project was to redesign our WordPress site. We held several calls with Yakkety Yak to talk about our company and our teams. We also provided examples of things we liked about other websites and messaging campaigns, including features we wanted in the new site.

Yakkety Yak was able to distill that down and show they absorbed what we wanted and needed. That led to them providing some initial designs in flat files, wireframes and then a development site.

Each time something was delivered they took time as a team to talk through each detail - why they did this, what it meant and if it impacted something else on the project. My role was to provide our vision for the project and ultimate sign off on the project.

What was the team composition?

Yakkety Yak had a big team involved that was consistent throughout. That included the President of the Company (Ashley). Andi was or project manager. There were several involved in the design and UI as well. Their team interfaced with me and our Marketing Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Qualitatively, we have heard overwhelming excitement about the new website from clients and staff. Our key metrics for tracking site analytics have all doubled since launch. The response from our team has been that the site represents the company well and showcases our team well.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was great. Andi was the "hub" of information that kept us updated and things moving forward. It was pretty clear that we were on track, even though our team often lagged on getting information over to Yakkety Yak.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Engagement at all levels. We were treated like we were their biggest and most important clients all of the time. They were patient and engaged in understanding us as well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Perhaps a visual timeline to show us what steps were upcoming. We were a small team on our side with limited time. Sometimes we were just flat out behind because we could not keep pace or look at ahead well wnough.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an administrator at the medical practice that hired Yakkety Yak Marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Yakkety Yak Marketing?

We chose Yakkety Yak to build a website and help with marketing and branding decisions, as well as put together the proper digital and physical presence.

What were your goals for this project?

Creating the proper branding, as well as the proper digital and physical presence.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We chose this vendor because they are well-known for their quality in the market, and we have been familiar with their work for a number of years. 

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Yakkety Yak created the medical practice's website from the ground up. They also created the logo, branding, communication strategy--everything we needed. For the project, Yakkety Yak involved the owner of the company, as well as two experts in the technology and a very knowledgeable and capable project manager.

What was the team composition?

The owner of the company was involved, as well as two experts in the technology and a marketer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website and branding itself is obvious evidence of the success. Their work has been garnering huge amounts of attention, and everyone that sees it asks who we had make it.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent. They were incredibly responsive to all our questions and requests.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their strength is the composition of their team, I think. They had a specialist in every area we needed, so no one was just trying to scrape by.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None that I have seen so far.