1o8

Please describe your company and your position there.

ADMCi provides business strategy and related design services for senior executives working on transformative change at an enterprise level.

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

We have hired 1o8 for a number of projects, both for digital properties that we own as well as partnered on client projects we have executed together. In all cases, the experiences have been highly rewarding, provided significant returns on investment, and resulted in satisfied clients.

What were your goals for this project?

Typically, our goals are to acquire leads/prospects at the top of an industry. We have operated at the peak of the motorcycle industry, elite underground dining, and senior executive coaching. In all cases, we have reached new prospects and been afforded valid opportunities to convert those leads into ongoing client relationships.

How did you select this vendor?

Aalap has been a long-time peer and friend. His integrity and intelligence are unparalleled. I couldn't imagine working with another service provider in the SEO/SEM and online acquisition space.

Describe the project in detail.

For our automotive/motorcycle industry project, Aalap and his team helped attract premier press interest, high-net worth prospects, and industry luminaries all toward the benefit if raising awareness and value in a project that was equal parts ground-breaking engineering and modern art.

For our elite underground dining experience, 1o8 has built a number of high-return paid and organic campaigns that underscore the market position of our company and the adventurous diners we need to attract. Our private membership continues to grow as a result.

For our senior executive coaching, 1o8 has translated complex messaging into emotionally driven hooks that engage an already distracted and overwhelmed audience with messages and follow-through that motivate them to engage with us on a meaningful level. We couldn't operate our business at this level without this team.

What was the team composition?

Team compositions have ranged from a single consultant supporting SEO/SEM programs to diverse skills including writers, designers, data analysts, and senior account management.

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

Cost per lead, once engaging 1o8, plummeted. Our ability to run continuous campaigns opened worlds of opportunity we wouldn't have been able to access without the rigorous planning, analysis, and refinement this team performs.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Seamless. We feel 1o8's people are a natural extension of our own team. Their disposition is friendly and collaborative, fun when appropriate and highly-focused on what's most important to us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Integrity, transparency, and results. This company is built from the ground up to be good in the very best sense of the word. Aalap's people are plain old good people. They are good at what they do. They are good to us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Frankly, no. We hope to see Aalap's team to grow at a moderate clip so that the value and consistency remains. We have not doubt this will be the case.

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.

My time at LLT Group was spent as the Director of Brand & Strategy, a position will the sole focus of streamlining our messaging and positioning, articulating our brand in a way that connects our services with our target customers, and then strategically finding ways to acquire customers with dynamic, thought-leadership content.

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

Aalap and his team were hired to optimize the content we were creating and then building a strong SEO strategy around each piece. They also were asked to perform an audit on our SEM strategy and then offer insights to decrease our spend by being more focused and specialized with specific subsets of customers.

What were your goals for this project?

The long-term goals were to begin our transition away from an over-reliance on paid leads and into a strong, organic strategy that would drive higher-converting, higher-value customers.

How did you select this vendor?

I was connected with Aalap via a former colleague.

Describe the project in detail.

The project was centered around: building a foundation for a strong, long-lasting organic keyword strategy, identifying wins and ways to leverage our content to become a source of customer acquisition, streamline our SEM strategy in terms of cost, success, and targeting, and offer insights to keep SEO optimization top of mind when pushing out content.

What was the team composition?

Aalap and I served as the points for our respective teams. While we worked in collaboration on the primary strategy, he delegated the content deliverables and weekly planning to the other members of 1o8 .

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

Very early on, we saw an uptick in our domain authority, the overall number of keywords we were ranking for, as well as a boost in total keywords ranking 1 - 20.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was highly detailed, very well-thought-out, and both teams were highly engaged throughout.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Aalap was a joy to work with and truly understood what it means to work in a collaborative partnership. He listened to our ideas and desired outcomes, provided thorough, insightful information that was entirely data-driven, and brilliant strategic ideas.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Most of the areas for improvement were on the end of LLT, and most were related to our own internal communication.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of BāKIT Box, a specialty baking kit company offering a subscription-based service.

What challenge were you trying to address with 1o8?

We needed help with our digital strategy and SEO.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided 1o8 with everything we had, including information regarding our branding, our images, account information of our website and social media platforms. Then, they started off by working together in creating the best campaigns for our products, including our paid media campaigns. Since our products rotate, we have new menus all the time. Essentially, their work involves running all of our ads and campaigns and tracking all of the results of our projects. 1o8 also helps in ensuring that our website is SEO-friendly by editing our existing code and implementing additional code to make sure that we have an optimized platform.

What is the team composition?

There are 8–10 people from their team working for us, but we mainly interface with their CEO and account manager.

How did you come to work with 1o8?

I found their team by researching and interviewing a bunch of marketing companies. I chose them because they understood what we were trying to accomplish. More importantly, they already had a lot of clients that were in the food and beverage subscriptions market. They also offered a very hands-on experience.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’ve been working with them since July 2021, and we continue to collaborate.

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

The impressions on our posts have reached 43,000. On top of that, our lead generation is under 40 cents a lead, and we’re capturing a couple of thousand per month. Since we’ve had a great time working with 1o8, we decided to continue the engagement.

How did 1o8 perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very organized, and we have a dedicated account manager on our account. We also have weekly meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their extensive knowledge, especially in the Consumer Package Goods (CPG) industry has been helpful. They’re also very well-connected in the Chicago area. We consider them as the most helpful company for us at this stage, given the similarities of our companies. Overall, we’re happy with 1o8.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have some organizational matters that can still be improved. Other than that, they’re generally easy to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear direction on what you’re looking for because they’ll run with it. If you have that, your partnership will be fruitful.

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.

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..

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 senior manager of digital marketing at an airport parking service. We have locations at 23 airports around the country. I oversee all of our digital marketing channels, including SEO.

What challenge were you trying to address with 1o8?

SEO is an ongoing challenge in our space. We were looking for a company that would be an extension of our team when it comes to everything SEO. We hired 1o8 to advise on the best practices, help us prioritize, and figure out implementation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were hoping to measure our keyword rankings, organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversation rate of the organic traffic. Our team communicates with 1o8 on an ongoing basis. Their team recommends technical advice for our website, write specific content for the site, and assist with title tags and metadata. The team at 1o8 performs onsite and offsite SEO, assisting with our link building strategy. They’ve also assisted with keyword research at times.

What is the team composition?

In total, we’ve worked with five people. Aalap (Founder, 1o8) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with 1o8?

I wasn’t working here when we hired them. I started a couple of months after our relationship with them began.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay them between $5,000–$10,000 monthly.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership with 1o8 started in May 2019.

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

The team at 1o8 had a great impact on our organic traffic and keyword rankings. The results for organic traffic have benefited reservations and revenue. In general, we’ve been thrilled with the increase. Sometimes they give us recommendations that we can’t act quickly enough on. But all the ones we’ve acted on have helped move our business forward.

How did 1o8 perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management aspect, they perform well. They’re receptive and flexible to communication. Their team works around our schedule and timeline, remaining open to feedback and delivering work when we need it.

They typically visit our office biweekly, and then I communicate with them a few times throughout the week, depending on what we need. That type of communication is done through Slack and email. Their team provides us analytics as well. We use Ahrefs for SEO and a Monday board for project tracking.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate how well they fit into our business. They’re a true extension of our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be realistic in what you’re looking for. Be specific in your timeline and capabilities. As long as you’re clear on expectations, I think they’ll be able to deliver.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing for a company that distributes spiked coffee.

What challenge were you trying to address with 1o8?

We hired 1o8 for digital marketing, website development, and SEO.

What was the scope of their involvement?

For our website, 1o8 updated the platform and added our store locator. Through the backend, they optimized the content to help with SEO. We didn’t have a previous SEO strategy before working with them. Their team has been working on our paid advertising through Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram. They also work on our email campaigns. We are beginning to work with their team on Snapchat.

What is the team composition?

We’ve had about four people working on this project. I’m frequently in touch with the owner.

How did you come to work with 1o8?

I’ve worked with 1o8 in the past and found their team to be fantastic. I’ve taken their team with me to four different clients and three different companies. They always have something I can use. If they know they can’t do something, they’re honest and will refer to someone else. Another reason why I like them is that they never outsource their work.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $1–$5 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

This engagement started in February 2019.

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

Their integrity has helped our ongoing relationship. We’ve seen an increase in traffic and organic rankings. A lot of this has been due to their SEO efforts. We’ve also been doing a lot of A/B testing, which has been wonderful.

How did 1o8 perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style is excellent. They do all of the research, working hard to figure everything out. We trust their judgment since we’re not the first liquor brand they’ve worked with. For project management tools, they created a specific dashboard for the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Besides their customer service approach, I appreciate their innovative thought process with advertising.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since they’re getting busy, it would be helpful if they hired more people.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients should know what they want, ensuring a budget and plan is in place. Be ready to take advice from them. Digital isn’t cheap. So if you’re going to work with them, be prepared to spend the money.