1o8

Please describe your company and your position there.

FLI Charge is a consumer electronics startup based in Chicago. I am the Head of Product and E-Commerce, overseeing the product portfolio and roadmap from Concept to Mass Production. I led the company's pivot from B2B to Direct-to-Consumer E-Commerce and oversaw the launch of our brand online.

For what projects/services did your company hire 1o8?

1. Digital marketing and end-to-end strategy
2. Creation of E-Commerce storefronts on Amazon, Shopify, and multiple online marketplaces
3. Execution of social media ad campaigns (Facebook, Instagram, Reddit) to acquire customers and increase brand awareness (top of funnel).
4. Creation of Shogun landing pages to optimize conversion and conduct email marketing campaigns to drive traffic to these offers (bottom of funnel).

What were your goals for this project?

To jumpstart online sales across multiple channels and increase brand awareness.

How did you select 1o8?

We were previously using a local marketing firm and their contractor to run social media ad campaigns, with no success. We searched for marketing agencies in Chicago with expertise in building Amazon storefronts, and came across 1o8 as the top result.

We were impressed with 1o8's broad expertise in SEO, creative, web design, and e-commerce.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The 1o8 team quickly developed a proposal and plan tailored to our short-term objectives, and assigned experts to help us design our Amazon storefront, optimize our product listings with A+ content, and identify backend keywords to help improve our search rankings.

The 1o8 team also helped us launch a Walmart storefront and create Shogun landing pages, as well as develop creative content for social media ad and email marketing campaigns.

What was the team composition?

We worked directly with the 1o8 Founder, Aalap Shah, and a diverse team of designers, web developers, and experts who specialized in Shopify, Amazon, SEO, and social media advertising.

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

Our work with 1o8 resulted in significant online sales during the Black Friday and Christmas holidays. Their ad creative resulted in high engagement and low CPMs on our social media ad campaigns, and the 1o8 helped us to quickly A/B test various creative concepts, and optimize these campaigns using analytics.

Their SEO expertise resulted in a quick boost for our keyword rankings. Overall, we were extremely impressed with 1o8's results and process. Our timeline was short and our goals were ambitious, and 1o8 stepped up to the challenge.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

1o8 assigned Stacy as the Project Manager to interface with us, and manage all Client communications. Staci was outstanding and helped us coordinate with all the members of the 1o8 team, and manage action items and deadlines.

We used biweekly team calls plus frequent communication via Slack and Email to coordinate our efforts, and ensure flawless execution.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

1o8 is a gem in the rough – a true partner with full service digital marketing capabilities in-house, plus an array of best-in-class partners to deliver cutting edge digital marketing results. The in-house talent was impressive, and the 1o8 team is laser-focused on client service and delivering measurable results.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were extremely fast-moving, so it was imperative to keep track of all open action items, owners, and due dates.

Ensuring that we stayed on track and closing the loop on all items was one area where we started off slowly, but the 1o8 team quickly stepped up and drove items to completion, while allowing us flexibility to pivot and make changes to our plan on the fly.

On larger client projects, more formal and structured project management might help with client communication and execution. Overall, I was pleased with the 1o8 team and their performance was exceptional, especially under the circumstances of a global pandemic – not being able to meet in person, etc..

Please describe your company and your position there.

Produce and sell Goo Goo Clusters, America's First Combination Candy Bar. Vice President of Operations and Brand Development

For what projects/services did your company hire 1o8, and what were your goals?

Transition our website to Shopify with a redesign aspect too. Multiple app components to have website function as needed. Major wholesale component and warehouse inventory as well as manufacturing. It was a BIG undertaking.

How did you select 1o8 and what were the deciding factors?

He was referred to us but a local shipping consultant. We liked his understanding of Shopify, our needs, and his work ethic so we hired him right away.

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

Transition from old system to Shopify ecommerce, POS, and wholesale with a website redesign too. Multiple apps to have the website work properly and to integrate our manufacturing and inventory management systems.

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

Just one but two others were on a few emails and calls.

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

increased conversion rate 131% 1o8 was always available to answer emails or pop on a quick video chat.

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

We only worked together during COVID-19 so it was a lot of video calls but we also shared multiple google docs so we were constantly in the loop and understood what tasks were being tackled.

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

Small team with a BIG impact

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

Nothing I can think of

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Marketing Coordinator for a small, clean-label frozen baked goods company. We are a growing start-up that is expanding rapidly across the US.

For what projects/services did your company hire 1o8?

We were looking for an agency that could not only help us begin our digital advertising journey but help us comprehend exactly what we needed to be successful in the digital atmosphere. We were looking for an agency that wouldn't be "yes man"s and could help provide advice for what was best for our brand. We wanted an outside perspective from true digital experts.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to continue to increase our brand awareness as well as push more consumers to our website. We wanted to point consumers to our store locator and then to their closest retailer. We also wanted to advertise our brand new E-Commerce site.

How did you select 1o8?

Our CEO had connected with a mutual colleague of Aalap, at 1o8 and recommended his agency for what we were looking for. We then had a virtual meeting with Aalap to explain our company and our goals. From that initial meeting, we truly felt like Aalap and the 1o8 team understood not only our tactical goals but overarching company goals and our long-term ambitions.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The scope began by creating and implementing Facebook ads. I assisted in providing 1o8 with all of the creative assets they needed to pull together the creative. I also assisted in providing the background on our brand and our consumer. They were initially responsible for creating and setting up Facebook ads in Ads Manager. They continued to monitor the ads and tweaked them as needed.

What was the team composition?

The team has been an absolute joy to work with. I feel like I know each member intimately and touch base with them reguarly. I know I can count on every one of them to respond quickly and efficiently to me. They are always responsive and it feels like they always have the answer!

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

Since beginning our work with 1o8, we have seen an increase in web traffic, store finder searches and general social media engagement. They were also an integral part in making sure our E-Commerce site was set up for success and helped us manage the influx of web traffic that came after we were featured on the TODAY Show.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The 1o8 team, as mentioned, is always quick to respond and help with any questions or issues we have. Our weekly touch base meetings are run smoothly and allow for both parties to speak to what's new. They provide an organized and custom dashboard that allows us to track all metrics seamlessly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I have worked with numerous agencies and 1o8 has impressed me by not only their responsiveness but their passion for our brand as well. Many agencies just complete the work based on numbers and requests.

1o8 truly took to heart our brand mission and story and figured out how to best convey that to consumers and make them interested in the brand. Every time we speak with them I feel that our relationship grows stronger and stronger.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think 1o8 is doing a great job and truly goes above and beyond what other agencies normally do.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of the Tahoe Trail Bar. I oversee finance, operations, logistics, procurement, and marketing.

For what projects/services did your company hire 1o8?

I hired 1o8 to put together a comprehensive digital strategy for our company. This included integrating a new Shopify website, starting digital ads on various platforms, and building out a comprehensive email strategy.

What were your goals for this project?

My goals for this project were to build new customers through digital advertising, maximize the value of both our internal website as well as our Amazon storefront, and build out an email ecosystem to create a raving fan customer base.

How did you select 1o8?

I selected 1o8 through referral from my web designer. We were introduced on Slack, and I interviewed Aalap. I was impressed with his knowledge base, his experience in my field, and his friendly but focused demeanor.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We began with an audit of what was and wasn't working at time of onboarding, developed test ads and launched campaigns, overhauled our keywords, SEO and email copy, and launched a new Klaviyo email platform.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of Aalap overseeing strategy, and 5 members of his firm executing in the various categories.

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

I have seen tangible results through improved website conversion, improved organic traffic from the SEO work, improved revenue on Amazon, and I am excited to see a full email strategy coming to fruition.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent workflow, the meeting cadence is consistent and efficient and they deliver on their commitments.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I find their resources, their knowledge base, their professionalism, and their follow through impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are still trying to find increased efficiencies in our digital ad spend and conversion, but part of this is attributable to the competitive nature of the space.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of two, soon to be three, gyms in Chicago. We purchased both gyms as existing businesses. For a few years we kept them as separate brands and have recently merged and completely rebranded before opening our third location.

For what projects/services did your company hire 1o8?

We have been working with Aalap (founder of 1o8) since the end of 2017. Initially he just helped with a redesign of our website and eventually ended up doing all our SEO and PPC. 1o8 has helped up with our most recent project- a complete rebrand and merge of our two businesses. They also still oversee all our advertising, SEO, and PPC, as well as maintenance and website upkeep.

What were your goals for this project?

1. To create brand unity and identity, to merge the brands, without losing the SEO we have built up over the years.
2. To create a new sleek website with new brand.

Both of our gyms were CrossFit gyms but we decided to drop the CrossFit affiliation due to some insensitive remarks made by the CEO. Nothing about what we do at the gym has changed- we have always done all our own programming so we still do CrossFit style programming, we just are not affiliated.

So a main challenge is how do we continue to capture the CrossFit crowd and people looking for that type of workout experience, while dropping the CrossFit name in our branding.

How did you select 1o8?

I have worked with Aalap for many years and I have always been impressed with his and his team's work.

Describe the project in detail.

I met with Aalap to discuss the rebrand, he recommended some logo designers. I ended up going with one of his recommendations and could not be happier with how it turned out. Once we decided on the new name and the new logo, we talked about strategies for the website redesign.

I was then put in touch with his designer and was able to work directly with her on design and layout. The team then went to work on all the back end changes in terms of SEO. Once the website was launched we continue to make little changes here and there to better communicate our new brand. We are now preparing to open our third location and as starting to do some advertising.

What was the team composition?

Initially I just spoke with Aalap, who acted as the project manager. Once the design process was underway, I was able to work directly with the designer, I have a design background so I really preferred this set-up. Aalap remains my main singular contact, but I have the contact information for other team members and am able to reach out to them directly fo issues that pertain to their individual departments.

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

The website very recently launched but we are receiving a lot of new inquires, more than ever before. People are still finding us for CrossFit.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

COVID-19 and everyone being remote definitely through a wrench in the process, but overall I think everyone collaborated well and we were able to complete tasks in a relatively timely manner. We were not able to have any in person meeting so that was an adjustment but Google Hangouts worked just fine!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They take an incredible amount of pride in their work. They genuinely care about me and the success of my business. They don't over charge, are always upfront about costs, and respectful of budgets.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everyone could improve in some aspects. I think this is more of a result of COVID but things can take a little bit long to get done in terms of website updates and changes.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an advisor to David Webb, which is a heritage jeweler that was founded in 1948. It has offices in New York and Beverly Hills. Our jewelry’s distributed around the country and the world through boutiques.  

What challenge were you trying to address with 1o8?

We had a couple of challenges that we wanted to address with 1o8. The company’s too small to have dedicated digital employees. They started as our go-to resource for anything digital, but their role expanded.

What was the scope of their involvement?

1o8’s our primary digital partner, so their team works on digital strategy, digital marketing, and web development. We built our platform on Shopify Plus, and 1o8 helps us improve it. Their team optimizes the site to improve load time, which can be a real issue because we have extremely high-quality images that are important to our business. Most recently, they relaunched the skin of the website. Their team increasingly takes on an agency buying role for us too.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 5–6 people from their team, but Aalap (Founder) is our primary contact.

How did you come to work with 1o8?

One of their investors introduced me to them. Few companies are deeply experienced in the high-luxury jewelry digital industry. When engaging 1o8, we didn’t look for direct experience in this space. We wanted to know what they wanted to try to accomplish and if they had the ability to build a working relationship with us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000 on their services. We have a minimal retainer, but it’s important because it allows us to pick up the phone and call them when needed.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing relationship started around November 2019.

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

What I love about 1o8 is that their team may not have exactly the right experience, but they’re game to give anything a crack and learn. Their team’s scrappy, which is one of their biggest assets.

Our most important metrics are improving load times and rankings in search engines. They also improved the quality of the traffic and that directly improved revenue. That’s secondary because our e-commerce business isn’t our company’s focus, but it doesn’t hurt.

We’re satisfied with the quality of their work. When we aren’t satisfied, 1o8's open to feedback and willing to learn. That’s almost more important than having the work be perfect right out of the gate. We have a good relationship.

How did 1o8 perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management’s good. It took a bit to get the right cadence for communication. They didn’t come in with a standard project management process. The upside was that we were able to create a process that works nicely for us. Rather than force us to use project management software, we have valuable weekly check-ins when we talk through our ideas and projects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re hungry and honest. Lots of agencies will say they can accomplish a project. I prefer when an agency says they’re confident in their abilities to achieve our goals but aren't certain how. I want a partner that's willing to learn and work on the project together. That degree of honesty in the agency world is uncommon. It represents a degree of self-confidence that’s important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the early days, it was hard to have great communication. When you’re in a high-luxury business, details are incredibly important. When you’re in the web world, the mentality’s more about hurrying up and breaking things. It took them a while to align with our philosophy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure there isn’t a bottleneck. Push Aalap to create a team up front, identify your different specialists, and then develop relationships with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Manitize. We’re a men’s hygiene startup that creates hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes. 

What challenge were you trying to address with 1o8?

I hired 1o8 to help with our website, social media, and general digital strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

1o8 acts as my e-commerce coach, building my Shopify site and keeping it optimized. They make sure that people can easily learn about our products and make purchases, whether they’re accessing the store on desktop or mobile.

On the digital marketing side, they help with my Google and Facebook ads to generate traffic to my site. We get together to brainstorm on markets we want to target and how we want to present our brand, and they come up with the strategy.

What is the team composition? 

I work with Alap (Founder) on higher-level strategy. He oversees his team as needed along with Jorge (Project Manager), who handles the day-to-day deliverables. Mercedes (Digital Marketer) and her support teammate do the digital strategy. I’ve also worked with Ed (Designer) and Tim (Web Support Specialist), though I haven’t interacted with most of the developers.

How did you come to work with 1o8?

It all started with a call with Alap. At the time, I had no website nor digital strategy — it was just an idea that I wanted them to develop. Alap had done similar projects in the past and seemed very enthusiastic, so I got the sense that his team was the right fit. If I had to sum it up, it was their unparalleled responsiveness and customer service that spoke to me.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested around $12,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2020. Actually, today’s the day we’re launching our site and ads. It’s a culmination of a lot of hard work between us. We plan to continue working with them in a different capacity moving forward.

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

I was really pleased with how well they listened and delivered. I gave them a lot of creative freedom around the project. They took my vision for the site, the products we had, and target demographics and put them into a creative visual format that fit exactly what I was looking for. 

How did 1o8 perform from a project management standpoint?

Jorge always gets back to me any time of the day, whether it’s a call, email, or deliverable. The team does what they say they’re going to do, and that’s what you look for when working with a service provider.

What did you find most impressive about them?

1o8 is truly all about their customers. It’s not just a tagline — they take good care of us. I’m also impressed with their ability to turn qualitative descriptions into a visual medium. The creativity was excellent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not off the top of my head. I have a lot of respect for what they do, so I can’t say there’s anything that I’d change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When working with any creative agency, you need to be open to their ideas and let them be creative. We all come to the table with preconceived notions on how something should look. But, there’s a reason why you hired them. They’re the experts and are great at what they do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of The Loyal Subjects. We’re a toy company that sells action figures.

What challenge were you trying to address with 1o8?

Basically, we needed to bolster our direct to consumer business. We wanted to find customers, bring them into our narrative, and then sell them on our story to increase conversions.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First of all, their team analyzed what we had in the digital space. They made a deep dive into our digital footprint and figured out how to include those elements in their strategy but also strengthen our e-commerce position.

Their team reviewed our SEO efforts and our website's visibility. They looked into how many visitors returned and how many were unique. Then, their team created a plan to amplify our brand voice and bring in new people.

Their team made changes to our website, moving the platform from BigCommerce to Shopify. They made changes to our sponsored posts and social media strategy.

Their team continues to direct our SEO and PPC efforts. They develop content that’s dynamic and relatable to bring new people into our story.

What is the team composition?

We work with the founder, a content developer, an SEO specialist, a web design specialist, a mobile design specialist, and an Amazon specialist.

How did you come to work with 1o8?

My partner also owns a private equity group that brought in 1o8 to boost one of their acquisition's visibility. They were impressed by their work, so my partner introduced us, and we clicked. 1o8 had experience in the toy business too.

How much have you invested with them?

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

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with 1o8 in September 2019, and our partnership’s ongoing.

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

They’re proficient in creative concepts and content ideation to start conversations and bring people into our tent. We deployed their content and boosted our fellowship by 25% within a short period of time. On a daily basis, we bring more people into our conversation, which translates to sales.

We conduct flash sales that generate dynamic responses. For a half-hour flash sale, we made about $10,000.

1o8 also helped to establish a program with a large, national retail chain. On the first day of the program, 200 stores sold out of our products completely and then another 300 stores sold out.

How did 1o8 perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate via Slack, which everyone seems to like. They’re organized and goal-driven. Their team’s on task and doesn’t meander. They have a pickaxe, hit the mine, and start digging.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their services. Their knowledge of the digital space stands out to us. Their team speaks digital marketing like a second language. To me, it’s witchcraft that 1o8 demystifies. They show how digital marketing's pragmatic as well as how to toggle different levers to drive our business’s message.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been excellent.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be specific with your goals; that applies to any business. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a consumer products company focusing on premium products for kids. Our business has historically been almost entirely at retail, with very limited e-commerce.

For what projects/services did your company hire 1o8?

1o8 was brought in to run online advertising programs to improve sales at our national retailers, and also to start building out an e-commerce business for our brand.

What were your goals for this project?

Increased sales at retail, increased brand awareness, and a sustainable model of driving e-commerce traffic to retailer websites and Amazon

How did you select this vendor?

Referred by a trusted advisor, and compared against a number of other agencies who we had screened.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

- Developing new marketing assets and collateral - Managing the voice of the brand across all platforms - Building out online listings - Creating new website - Geo targeted advertising focused around retail stores that carry our products - Managing all influencers and social media acitivities

What was the team composition?

CEO is directly involved with the project, and is supported by a team of very talented specialists

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

Very pleased with results of an initial pilot, which delivered ROI positive campaigns and led to a direct increase in sales across channels. Engagement was therefore enhanced and 1o8 has now become agency of record for the brand

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Regular communication and action items were tracked

What did you find most impressive about this company?

- Ability to quickly respond to changes in the market place - Scrappy approach to testing without large investment to determine what works, and what doesnt - Results oriented - Their expertise in all aspects of digital marketing was impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

More team members should be added as the agency grows

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a company called MAST. We’re a Fintech platform working towards building a real estate investing community.

What challenge were you trying to address with 1o8?

I hired them to help me guide me through my initial phases of digital marketing and the different components involved, such as SEO.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped connect me with the right people for branding and PR. They got me started with what I needed to do for my online presence, like Google Analytics. They’ve also helped me with my Facebook.

What is the team composition?

I work with one person.

How did you come to work with 1o8?

I met them through an entrepreneurs organization.

How much have you invested with them?

We haven’t been billed yet because it’s ongoing, but expect to spend about $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020 and it’s ongoing.

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

So far, I’m pleased with their presence and what the founder is doing. They’ve been helpful.

How did 1o8 perform from a project management standpoint?

I don’t have too much experience with that yet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re always checking back with me to make sure that we’re in a good spot. They’ve ensured that we have everything we need to succeed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I do not.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have an open conversation about what you want and ask 1o8 how they can help you be successful.