Amsive

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the associate manager of search engine marketing at iCIMS, a software as a service company [SaaS] focused on talent acquisition. We help with the recruiting process, so everything from finding candidates to hiring them and finally extending an offer and onboarding them. We manage all of the pre-hire paperwork that someone would go through when starting a new job. My main responsibilities center around making investment decisions based on marketing spend through things like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. I also manage all the international spend, not just searches.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Path Interactive?

Our previous partner wasn’t living up to our expectations in terms of customer service and support. Plus, the direction of our company changed, and we had more specific needs when it came to demand generation. We were struggling to find ways to attribute value to our display spend, and we needed outside consultation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Together, we looked at our corporate strategy, how we wanted our business to function, and how quickly we'd like to react based on market changes. Once we agreed on what deliverables we wanted and how long the turnaround would be for those deliverables, we established a quarterly meeting to touch base and evaluate how well we were doing against those objectives. The point of the meetings is to see if we need to change any of the strategies we developed at the beginning of the year.

We also discuss on a weekly basis the performance of the accounts against the ROI we expected from the budget we invested. We've found ways to essentially take a unique identifier, and their history, in tandem with Google Analytics to develop what we call an influence type of model; it allows us to identify the people who saw display creative and later became sales prospects. We became able to define a way to attribute value to the display spend and also make better decisions when putting creative into market or even deciding how much budget we want to put into market through displays, specifically the Google Display Network.

What is the team composition?

We have one account manager who oversees the strategy division of the account, and we have about three other team members who help support that person. I often work with their director of search, and Path’s founder usually attends our quarterly business reviews. All of the important stakeholders from Path are involved in our account.

How did you come to work with Path Interactive?

We wanted a partner that was physically close to our location because communication is important. We wanted our teams to be able to work together on site. From our previous partner, we realized that customer service and a passion for success were important, and we found that in Path Interactive. They seemed able to do the complex data analysis we wanted, and they could grow with our company, too.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Every year, we’ve increased the volume of net new prospects to our business by at least 15%, sometimes even more. This year, we've seen a decrease of 10% in our cost per sales ready opportunities. That's vastly impacted how much we’re spending; we’re getting more for the same budget. Because of Path, we're making better decisions and creating more of the right leads. Plus, instead of introducing brand new technology, Path used the technology stack we had, which didn’t cost any extra money.

How did Path Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform well. They’re extremely adaptable and able to change according to how we’d like to operate, and that's something we appreciate. I haven’t quite seen their level of support in any other firm we’ve worked with.

We use Asana and a number of other tools to keep everyone on the same page and coordinate our efforts. Between that, emails, and other forms of communication, they’re on top of everything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m always impressed with their creativity and problem-solving skills. For example, they identified a potential issue before any of us here at iCIMS even saw it, and they were proactive in solving it. The quality of their work and investment in our own business is unrivaled.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes their execution of our strategy isn’t always great, but that could be due to our own process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you need a firm with great customer service, communication, adaptability, and analytics, then Path Interactive is the right choice. Define your process, identify what you want, and let that guide your decision.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of digital marketing for a training company that offers courses in management, leadership, sales, conflict resolution, strategic planning, and a whole host of other topics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Path Interactive?

We had 2 key challenges to address: the company had not been doing search engine optimization [SEO] for over a year when I arrived, so the website needed attention, both from a technical standpoint, in terms of on-page optimization, and a content one. We also needed to have a well-performing search campaign, make sure that its components were optimized, and that we were leveraging content in order to get as much traffic and revenue to the site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

From an SEO standpoint, they quickly performed a technical review and identified 404 errors, duplicate content, and other issues which were quite prominent on the site. They helped us correct those and, at the same time, developed an on-page optimization and content strategy. That leveraged some of the content which our company is known for, as well as some which we’d like to be known for, so that we could start to rank for certain keywords. It was a qualitative and quantitative effort, in terms of guiding our SEO best practices.

From an SEM [search engine marketing] standpoint, we wanted to optimize and improve bidding processes and make sure that if we were bidding on keywords then the landing-page experience was relevant to them. This is a best practice which can sometimes be forgotten. We were also making sure that we were delivering a return on advertising spend which met our goals as a company.

They recognized that we operate in the B2B space and proactively recommended some account-based management, which is popular and appropriate for marketers in our area. They brought some technology which allowed us to target not only specific individuals but the specific companies we do business with and would like to penetrate further, as well as the ones we want to do business with.

What is the team dynamic?

We have project managers for both the SEO and SEM side but there is a team environment with multiple people working on our account. We have weekly updates.

How did you come to work with Path Interactive?

They were recommended by an SEO-tool provider called Conductor. I had asked their founder at the time if they were a local agency as that was important to us, and Path Interactive’s name was put onto a list of 8 agencies we considered. They stood out due to the attention they seemed to pay to our account in the initial strategy and discovery phases. They dug into the account and gave us analysis which helped us understand that the team would be mindful and would pay attention to our business.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Path Interactive in July 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Path Interactive’s thinking helped us to look at our online and offline as truly integrated, and then to target the key companies which fell into our sweet spot. Our technical errors have all been resolved. The website is, for the most part, error-free, and we’ve enjoyed more qualified traffic to it. Our conversion rates on the site have improved.

Their understanding of our brand has been satisfactory and the team is helping us craft an editorial strategy which goes beyond SEO, extending towards our other properties, such as magazines and blogs.

How did Path Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re responsive, proactive, and customer service-oriented. Emails are answered within a couple of hours at most.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like them both for their professional knowledge and the culture they seem to engender in their company. The longevity of the people working for them is important, as it speaks to continuity and culture. Given what we do, this is also very important, since we train people to be good managers and leaders. It’s important for us to work with companies that show this type of care around their culture and the environment they provide to employees. 

There is nothing we can’t ask, at any time of day, either within or outside working hours. Their ability to focus on client needs, versus selling the next service, makes them stand out. This isn’t always seen with agencies. Their dedication to and focus in not only delivering what is asked but also digging deeper to act as a true extension of our team makes Path valuable. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

From a team perspective, it’s great to have a group of people to work with. There’s never a gap if someone’s unavailable, but we do sometimes wish for a single contact person overseeing everything. However, the specialization is too broad to allow this.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s a question of identifying what needs to be achieved using their services, having that be clear on both the client and the agency side, and determining how much of this should be left out of the scope. Setting foundational goals and key metrics which everyone agrees to is important.