Alliance Systems

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company provides marketing and web strategy consulting for our clients. We have two main clients in the leisure and travel industry.

What is your position?

I am the owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Tuva Interactive?

When I was first introduced to one of our clients, they had a very old and outdated website. They were looking to update and revamp their website, but they were unsure on the best way to proceed. I proposed throwing the old one website away and building some web strategy around social media marketing and blogging. I had worked with Tuva Interactive in the past and knew that they were the right partner to help us with this project.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Tuva Interactive was fully responsible for creating my client's website from scratch. Our project is ongoing and Tuva is responsible for adding new functionalities as the company evolves. Tuva has created functionalities more sophisticated than what our major competitors have. Most developers could not develop something of that complexity. At the same time, they'll take on small jobs that don't require a lot. They require some decent technology and design and project management, and they can deliver that, too. 

How did you come to work with Tuva Interactive?

We've been working together for many years. They were highly recommended by a business partner.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

That's confidential. It wasn't the cheapest that we could have gotten, but it was very competitive. With any project of this nature, you start with a proposed budget and as the thing develops, the budget fluctuates. Tuva is good about working with you on budgets. They want to be sure you get the most bang for your buck. They always work with clients on the budget end of things if the budget needs to be increased.

What is the status of this engagement?

The initial site build took place across six months. That included a lot of time trying to figure out what are the requirements, and what are the top priorities. This was three years ago [as of September 2015]. We've gone through different iterations since then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

It has completely revolutionized the way our client partners with their vendors. In the travel industry, you have to impress vendors. If you can prove to them that if they give you money you reinvest it well for them and increase their sales, they will give you a co-op budget to work with. In travel, that's a very limited budget, and it's based on percentage of sales. They gave us twice the co-op that the company had ever received. That amount has tripled per year. Our sales for each of the vendors that we work with has increased anywhere from 17 percent to 25 percent solid across the board above market trend each year. In travel, that's significant. This past year, travel sales were flat across the United States, but ours were up about 25 percent. A lot of that is because of Tuva Interactive's work. We started online advertising, and we coordinate it with microsites as well as with landing pages on our site. We're able to build a network from which to market. We now have people hitting our website every month from 50 countries. We have a good national presence, and we have targeted marketing in 20 different cities. Their business model has changed considerably.

How did Tuva Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills are one of the reasons I love them. They're very organized, and they document really well, which is key. We will share the documentation and moving things back and forth to ensure everybody's on the same page with all the details.

What distinguishes Tuva Interactive from other providers?

Their pricing is fair, they're honest, they're good to work with, and they're flexible. I find with most clients you start a project, they kind of understand what you're trying to achieve, but they don't thoroughly understand it, and they don't gain that knowledge until you're far enough into the process that they start seeing things they didn't understand. They come up with new ideas. Then, they're midstream and wonder if they can change it. Some developing companies can't do that. Some that won't and some that can to different degrees of success. Tuva's very good at that. Their design team is real good, too.

Is there anything Tuva Interactive could have improved or done differently?

I really can't think of anything that should have been done differently. Compared to other companies I've worked with in the past, they're better in every respect. They're price fair, and they deliver the goods.