Anchour

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a VP at Principia Consulting, a research and consulting firm focused on the building materials industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We went through a couple of iterations and website revamps over the past 10 years. However, we evolved in the last five years, launching several new products and adding new features. Therefore, we felt it necessary to identify the right messaging to resonate with clients and current prospects. 

We also wanted to articulate our selling points better. The previous website redos were about aesthetics, and we needed someone to help us with the content development process and messaging. Since we would go through this process, it also made sense to have a more modern look and feel that complemented the new messaging. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Anchour helped us develop a new branding strategy. We went through a series of different efforts with them, starting with a brand identity process where they worked with our leadership team to understand who we are, our strengths, and how we're viewed within the market. 

The team led an in-depth discovery phase. We had several sessions with our leadership team, Anchour's leadership team, and stakeholders who participated in the project. We created a survey together that they used to have in-depth conversations with current clients, past clients, and some prospects. The goal was to better understand how clients perceive us to tailor our messaging to better resonate with possible clients. 

Anchour developed a messaging map where they presented their findings and proposal for the overall structure. The map included who our target audience was, our user personas, and key things user personas were looking for. 

Once we finalized the messaging map, we collaborated to create the detailed content. Anchour helped us create a whole program, including an elevator pitch and descriptions of our products, services, and the company. These items served as the starting points of the content we would utilize on our website. 

From there, Anchour went through a design process. They pitched various logos and designed the imagery; the team put together some mood boards for us. Once we agreed on the logo and imagery, Anchour started mapping out the website using WordPress and simultaneously working on its content. The team integrated the website with Salesforce. 

Our website overviews our data products and research and consulting services. We have an About Us page that includes our team. Anchour did mock-ups of what we wanted our new team headshots to look like. Anchour then helped us identify a photographer and worked directly with them to provide parameters. 

Anchour helped us revamp our blog and its imagery to simplify translating posts to social media. We also have a contact page and the ability to log in for users to access our client portal. Anchour helped us with Pardot, which is part of our Salesforce instance; they created all of the forms on our site for users to submit an inquiry. 

Anchour also created collateral pieces, such as tear sheets, business cards, and PowerPoint presentations, among other items. The team used Figma as a board to lay everything out. 

What is the team composition?

I interacted with Aimee (Senior Account Manager), Stephen (Partner & CEO), Josh (Partner & President), Victoria (Partner & Creative Director), Chas (Director of Design), Jessica (Senior Project Manager), Brianna (Senior Content Strategist), and Rory (Frontend Developer). 

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Aimee was fantastic: easy to work with, organized, and very responsive. Despite their leadership positions, Stephen and Josh had high involvement in the process from start to finish. Victoria helped keep everything in check from a creative perspective. Brianna was awesome and understood who we were, so there wasn't a ton of editing on our end. 

How did you come to work with Anchour?

We found them through a Google search. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed the agreement with Anchour in December 2021 and started the process in early 2022. 

We were acquired in September 2022, so the project got stalled despite being ready to launch. We postponed the final pieces, and the project was wrapped up in April 2023. Currently, Anchour is hosting our site and doing monthly maintenance. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We got many compliments on the new website from the company that acquired us and our clients. Moreover, our inquiries from qualified leads have increased, with less spam coming through. 

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

Anchour’s project management was great. Aimee was always communicative regarding changes or when we were running behind schedule. Anchour stayed on budget; any adjustments were either due to the acquisition or because we took a long time to decide on something. 

We communicated via emails, phone calls, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. For project management, we used Google Docs and Asana, where we captured images on the demo website and marked notes that would guide the team through the edits we wanted. Asana was helpful because we had several stakeholders involved. We could add the question with context, and Anchour could talk to the specific person involved and clarify anything they needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by Anchour’s down-to-earth approach. Their humility and capability to get in our shoes to understand our business were outstanding. 

The team was easy to talk to and made us feel very comfortable from the beginning, which continued throughout our interaction. The more we worked with Anchour, the better the relationship we built. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything I’d have them improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stay really close to the Anchour team. Being vulnerable and recognizing where your strengths and weaknesses are is important. Allow the team to come in as experts and be open to trying new things that may not always be comfortable. Anchour will validate their information in the market and with stakeholders, so they can’t go wrong since they’re based on facts. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of The Whole Coffee Company, a Miami-based coffee products company marketing a brand called Nudge. We’ve created a candy confection-like product made with Arabica coffee and cocoa butter instead of chocolate. Ours is a unique candy confection that we recently started marketing and selling across the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We needed help with rebuilding our website. We already had a website, but it was pretty inferior, and we didn’t have the knowledge within our company to understand how to build a new one in a modern way.

As a secondary challenge, we needed someone to help us with our digital marketing to increase customer acquisition and retention on platforms like Meta and Google. On top of that, we also needed assistance with our brand on Amazon’s third-party relationship (3P) platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Anchour has helped us build our new website, eatnudge.com. Now, they help us on a monthly basis with our digital marketing. Although we already had a website, Anchour redeveloped the new one from the ground up, improving its functionality and UX.

We had some designs and branding elements together, but we didn’t want to restrict Anchour too much, so we leveraged their expertise and looked at other sites they had designed. Their team helped us think about the website’s design to optimize its overall UX. They also understood that we were looking for a well-positioned site to acquire customers, so they helped us in that regard.

As for the technology stack, Anchour used Shopify to build our site, which was the platform on which our former site was already built. We wanted to stay on Shopify, so they redesigned the site around it and ensured that it integrated seamlessly. Throughout the development process, their team guided us step by step to understand the whole flow.

Additionally, Anchour has helped us create a plug-in integration with Klaviyo for email marketing to ensure it works seamlessly on our site. On top of that, they created other integrations with review sites. For the design, Anchour used Figma, where they created page designs and other elements for us to preview and test. Since delivering the site, they’ve helped us work on fixes and other things related to it.

Regarding Anchour’s digital marketing services, we basically needed their expertise to look at what we were already doing with our creative content and copy. While we were developing the site, we asked them to help us with our user acquisition, so we gave them access to our Meta platform tools.

Since then, Anchour has created new content and scorecards around that content to determine what’s performing well and what isn’t. Still, it has been a collaborative effort. We’re always trying to see what copy would work well, so whenever we have a new idea, they help us try and experiment with it.

On top of content creation, Anchour also manages our Meta accounts and monitors our brand on Amazon’s 3P platform. They’ve also provided us with various elements for our creative assets and copy to use, and we’ve tested campaigns together.

We’ve also worked with Anchour on our SEO. Given that our product is similar to a well-known product in the industry, they’ve helped us understand useful search terms, how to best utilize them, and how to bid on them.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked directly with Stephen (Partner & CEO), who has been present in all our meetings. We’ve also had access to 4–6 different people from Anchour throughout the process, although there have been others working in the background, including 2–3 web designers, 2–3 digital marketing experts, and other technical resources.

Sarah (Digital Project Manager) has been one of our main points of contact. She has been in charge of keeping us on task and ensuring we understand the priorities every week. Alex (Digital Marketer) has helped us with the digital marketing side of the engagement. His work includes creating ads, discussing ideas, and helping us understand how to work best together. In addition to them, we’ve worked with Marc (Director of Project Management), Michael (Senior Production Manager), and a copywriter on how to express our brand through digital channels and email marketing.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

They were recommended to us by an individual who had worked with them — this person had great things to say about them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent roughly $58,000 on the web redesign project. Since then, we’ve been on a $5,000 monthly retainer for digital marketing.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our biggest achievement of working with Anchour has been the overall increase in our sales through our website. Before they joined, we were making $300–$500 in daily sales. When they started implementing their digital marketing strategies, we saw an increase in our sales rates of around 30%–35%.

However, since Anchour launched our new website, we’ve doubled our business, achieving a 100% increase in our original sales rate. The UX design and user flow they’ve created on our new website have provided a better shopping experience for our consumers.

Our second biggest achievement has been our conversion rate. Initially, we wanted to see how often we could get traffic. Since working with Anchour, we’ve definitely seen an increase in traffic to our digital marketing work, some of which came organically due to the holidays.

Moreover, Anchour has helped us grow our email acquisition by around 200%. To achieve this, they identified and designed a simpler way for users to join our mailing list, even if they aren’t buying our products yet. Without Anchour, we wouldn’t have grown our mailing list so dramatically.

Thanks to our traffic and email acquisition increases, our conversion rate has also increased, going from 1%–2% to 3%–5%. We saw this improvement, particularly throughout the holiday season in 2022, which was really helpful.

On top of those metrics, we also have qualitative feedback. For example, before working with Anchour, our copy wasn’t resonating with our audience, and we weren’t very proficient in understanding how to use the Meta platform to test campaigns. Thus, they’ve been very helpful in covering the main areas of web development, digital marketing, content development, and SEO.

As for the website redesign itself, we’ve been very pleased with the outcome. Once we briefed Anchour on what we wanted, they were able to design and build the site we needed. It works extremely well and is very easy to navigate. On it, people can browse through our different products. The website design has been so successful that it has contributed to the conversion rate increase I mentioned above.

The user feedback has been very positive because Anchour did their homework to troubleshoot the site before launching it. Therefore, users have really enjoyed it, and they’ve experienced no technical problems. Anchour rebuilt the site quite well.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

Anchour’s project management (PM) is excellent, and they’ve performed very well. Additionally, they’re a very collaborative and integrated partner — they don’t try to take over the entire project just because they’re the experts, which we really appreciate.

Anchour has also been very communicative, timely, and hands-on. They assigned Sarah as a specific project manager to us, so there has never been a gap in our understanding of the project’s status. We meet weekly over Zoom and communicate daily about the progress we’re making. Thanks to this, we always know what they’re working on, which are the next steps, and what they’ve recently discovered, allowing us to reprioritize work in consequence.

Anchour understands well the technologies they’ve used, and we don’t. Thus, they’ve done a great job of guiding us through their usage, easing the process for us. From the start, we decided which tools would be best to use for this project, which was great.

They’ve helped us understand how to use Figma to access their design work to test and approve it before it goes live on the site. In addition to Figma, Anchour has managed the project on Asana, which Sarah manages. I was already familiar with Asana from my former company, so using it has been really helpful.

Moreover, Anchour is very responsive via email, and Stephen is also very accessible via text messages. Whenever I text him, he is very responsive, which says a lot about a CEO like him. In many cases, he has even led discussions about our brand.

As for time management, one of our goals was to launch our new website before the holiday season of 2022. Anchour successfully did that by delivering the site in mid-November 2022, just in time for our holiday sales.

As for budget management, we currently have a $5,000 monthly retainer with Anchour, which gives us around 25 hours of digital marketing work per month. When we finished the web redesign project, we had a tight budget because we were still a startup. Therefore, Stephen worked with us on defining that retainer fee so that we wouldn’t overspend money. Looking back, Anchour has given us more than the set hours of work because they want to see our product and project succeed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Anchour is very knowledgeable, so we’ve learned a lot from them. Moreover, they’ve put time and effort into our business. Stephen has been very involved in the project from day one. Although it can be very easy for other CEOs not to be on the calls, Stephen has been on every weekly call with us. His responsiveness and thoughtfulness are outstanding.

On top of that, Anchour’s ways of working are very strong. They’re very collaborative and always want to ensure they listen to their clients and understand the problem. They always strive to understand their client’s true needs to deliver something that effectively addresses them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One area of improvement for both of us is figuring out an effective way to collaborate and allocate money for our digital marketing. One of the metrics I left behind was our ROAS because it has been very hard for us to achieve great results.

It would be great if we could continue to test and learn from new campaigns on how to improve our ROAS. However, given that we have limited hours on our contract, we need to find a better way to optimize our hours to do so. Still, it’s a shared responsibility.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Firstly, I would highly recommend working with Anchour — they’re knowledgeable, experienced, and great to work with. If you work with them, you’ll enjoy deep knowledge and a great collaborative style.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a community bank focused on acquiring households within Southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

I’m the VP and director of corporate marketing and communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We brought them on to completely revamp the website. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

During the process, we liked what they were doing and canceled our contract with another marketing agency. This added SEO and other marketing services to Anchour’s development contract.

What is the team composition?

We work with an account manager and a project manager. The two of them tag team us and manage communication. Their CEO has asked to be copied on some of these messages, as we lost the account manager to a new role partway through the project. The CEO is now one of our day-to-day contacts.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

We put out a bid to 12 agencies in and around New England. We looked at everyone’s work and thought that Anchour excelled. One of our current vendors that does branding for banks referred me to them.

How much have you invested with them?

The website redesign was a one-off project for $80,000, and we now have a retainer for $5,000 per month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re very creative and have taken our marketing to a level that we weren’t getting from our other agency. We’ve had a 6.5% increase in visitors YoY on the new site, as well as a 2.25% increase in page views.

We’ve received feedback from both our customers and our colleagues; they’ve noticed the difference in our creative. Our work is more outside of the box now compared to what we were using with our previous agency.

For example, Anchour writes copy for our social media in a style that is attractive to Gen Z, which is our target audience. These ideas see higher engagement rates: focusing on our work culture and personal lives rather than simply our products and services. Our followers have increased by 12% across our three channels.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

They keep in touch every other day at least, if not daily, and the project manager always follows up with my multiple times a week to give updates on the status of the projects and the hours they’ve worked. If I need to sign up for additional hours beyond our retainer, then they’ll let us know. Finally, we have a bi-weekly meeting with an itemized agenda.

They’re sensitive to deadlines and very reactive to anything we need. We can fix some things ourselves, as they trained us on WordPress but, otherwise, they can handle any issue in 24 hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re not an agency that specializes in one industry, allowing us to reap the benefits of more creative approaches, as everything is new to them.

They don’t have any self-imposed constraints that they’re worried about as far as what they can and cannot say. I told them to have free rein, and that’s been a great experience so far. They’ve come back to me with things that are creatively free, and we’re free to tweak anything we have to. Their creativity is what I’m most impressed with so far.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They weren’t expecting that many projects when we first signed with them, so there was a bit of a bottleneck. Halfway through the process, they were very focused on the contract and the parameters of the scope. I’ve coached them away from that to understand that we’ll need a bit of work out of the scope, and they’ve responded well, aligning their resources and upping their game.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re used to working with a large agency, then this will be a different experience. Anchour is well-staffed, but they’re not at your beck and call 24/7, like some marketing people expect an agency to be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of an alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We were kicking off a brand-new product line with our non-alcoholic beer, and Anchour helped us with all the creative and our go-to-market capabilities. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a total brand strategy from the ground up, starting with a thorough investigation of our goals and strategic plan for the brand. Then, they aligned with our image of ourselves. The deliverables were a brand logo and strategy. They’ve also offered to craft a whole D2C marketing approach for us but we haven’t taken them up on that.

What is the team composition?

We work with an account manager, but my primary contact is a design person. There’s also a secondary account person. All strategy discussions take place with all three of those resources. Finally, we’ve worked with a design person.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

I found them through a Google search for marketing companies in Maine; they were one of four companies I considered. After interviewing all of them, it was clear that Anchour’s presentation was the most comprehensive of the four. Given their background and references as well, they were best suited for our project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $50,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re only partially through the project, as we haven’t sent anything to market yet, but compared to other firms we’ve worked with in the past, we’re really doing well at staying on track with our timing. Anchour has finished all the milsetones on time, and they’ve been great about following up to get the information that they need. It’s been a very fluid partnership.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve stayed on top of all of their people to ensure everything happens in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication has been very excellent. I’ve also known where I’ve stood in the process, and they are prompt with their responses. Finally, their organization is very well laid out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. They’ve been tremendously flexible. I don’t have a recommendation for anyone that is better than them right now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you have someone that is fully engaged with the project to act as a project manager and keep everything on task. They do a great job with a champion on both sides of the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a CBD company. We produce a line of full-spectrum hemp oil products and consumer packaged goods that we sell online and at large retail chains.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

They provided a range of branding services.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Anchour leveraged the insights that another vendor of ours gathered, going so far as to sit in our meetings with the other vendor.  Once they had that information, they went behind the scenes and generated a whole new look and feel for us, including a new logo, color palette, packaging, and messaging for our new target demographic.

We didn’t want to change the name of our company; there were some high-level guidelines but, generally, we were fairly open.

What is the team composition?

On conference calls, there were 3–4 people, but I know that there were people doing the work behind the scenes. There was a project manager, a lead designer, and a couple of other people.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

We evaluated around 8–10 different companies. Anchour came to us through a recommendation from a former client. They went through an exhaustive process alongside a few other options, and we settled on Anchour because of their references and experience in the CBD industry. They’d done a couple of website for similar brands, and we loved those outputs.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$49,999 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2021–March 2022. They’re now on our shortlist to work with us again in the future on digital marketing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered the project a month early, which helped us launch a new functional brand. This is the only hard metric we have, as the rest of the work was design- and creative-focused.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication was excellent. We had regularly scheduled meetings and communicated with them over Slack in between those meetings. There was a very interactive process between them and our marketing team.

We collaborated over Google Docs and a Gantt Chart; Trello might have been used in parallel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Anchour listened to us a lot, which resulted in design iterations that really nailed our vision.  This is rare in a vendor. Additionally, I loved how they sat with our data vendor and learned about our targeting demographic to craft better branding. They heard their presentations firsthand.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I thought the engagement went very well, so I don’t have any constructive feedback. Anchour was professional from start to finish.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more information you can share with them about what you’re looking for, the better off you are. The reason why the engagement went well is that they sat in on those meetings with our data vendor. Additionally, spend time filling out the questionnaire that Anchour provides you. It will make the whole process quicker and easier.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing coordinator at Threshold Brands, a home services franchisor. We have about eight brands under our umbrella, and we do home cleaning, pest control, and other similar services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We purchased a brand in Indianapolis called Plumbing Heating Paramedics. To better market its franchise, we divided the brand into Plumbing Paramedics and Heating and Air Paramedics.

We needed to create branding for those new companies. We couldn’t do that internally, so we looked for an outside agency to help us with this process. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Anchour is conducting an entire branding process for our two new brands. They’ve created brand guidelines and helped us with brand strategy. They’ve also worked on our website copy. We have a short timetable of only a month to get everything together for this project. 

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Aimee (Account Manager) and one other teammate, but I know there are more resources behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

I found Anchour years ago; at the time, we were thinking about doing a rebrand. I started the research, but the project fell apart as we didn’t have the budget.

When this project came up, I found Anchour again, and they were open to helping us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Internally, we’ve talked with people who haven’t worked on the project and asked for their input. Most people are happy with Anchour’s work.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

We mostly communicate through email, and we use Asana for project management. We can see what they are doing at any time we need to — we can know if tasks are on hold or track. It has been the first time an agency has invited me on their project management platform, and I appreciate that. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Anchour’s curiosity is impressive. They are working on niche brands, and they’ve got to know what they’re talking about to market them. As a result, they’ve done so much research. 

Anchour is very curious about the inner workings of our business — that has resulted in a really great presentation in the end. They didn’t do just the bare minimum; they’ve gone into the weeds with how we operated. They’ve understood our brand not just from a marketing perspective but from an overall business perspective. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any complaints about their work. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know your budget going in, so Anchour knows exactly what they’re working with. Having that information helps them be able to help you better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing officer of Franklin Savings Bank, a community bank with about $500 million in assets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We’d never had a strategic marketing plan or ventured into that realm of marketing, so we started working with Anchour to build a really strategic website. Our old website was really outdated, but Anchour helped bring us to this generation and gave us the website that our customers deserved. We also needed some rebranding, so they helped us come up with a new logo, color palette, brand messaging, and more.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our process with Anchour started with a comprehensive industry analysis, which included surveys that went out to our customers, target demographics, and employees. This effort helped map our brand strategy and figure out what mattered the most to our customers. Then, they compiled that research along with some other market research they had access to, and they created a PowerPoint presentation.

We went through that presentation, where they showed us how our current customers and our target demographic looked. They also gave our customers personalities and showed us who would be better to market to.

Once we figured out our brand strategy, we went into a brand design phase, where we did market research to find which colors resonated the most with our target audience. We looked at the other banks in our market to figure out how to use our look to set us apart from them and be more competitive.

We went through different phases of the design strategy, where Anchour showed us different logo and color palette options through PowerPoint presentations. If we had any feedback, they would come back with another round of revisions, and we kept iterating until we were satisfied with our branding.

After the branding process, we moved into the deliverables phase. Anchour put together our colors and logo to make different sign mockups, our business cards, a letterhead, and every other collateral that could have our branding on it. They also gave us everything we needed to keep updating our collateral with our new branding going forward.

Then, they used WordPress to build our website, as well as different variations of the Adobe Suite to show us the designs. They integrated different gravity forms so that our customers could ask questions and fill our forms right on our website instead of waiting for a separate email and handling external documentation. Additionally, they integrated different calculators on the website using another vendor’s technology.

Anchour has really helped us get on the right path regarding our strategy, and we’re looking forward to starting another project with them in the near future. Now, we will be starting a strategy session soon, where they’ll help us develop an overarching brand strategy for our bank, and they will help us lay out our budget.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with a very helpful project manager and a person who works underneath her, acting as an assistant project manager. I’ve also talked to the owner, two separate web developers, and a copy editor, so I’ve had contact with 5–6 people from Anchour in total.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

In 2020, right before COVID-19 started, our long-term marketing director was retiring quite suddenly, so we looked for guidance from an outside company for a little while before she left. She had also been looking around for marketing companies that could help us, focusing on those that weren’t specifically bank marketers, so she was the one who pitched Anchour to us.

We had seen some of their work previously, and they were the second company that we talked to. We had a few meetings with them, and we really liked their energy and the different feel that they would bring to the table, which was why we ultimately decided to go with them. We trusted that they would create something new and fresh for our branding and messaging.

How much have you invested with them?

Including the website and the new branding, we’ve spent around $115,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new branding hasn’t been out for too long — we just launched our first ads in September 2021. However, we’ve heard impressive feedback from customers and advertisers, who have told us that our new look is clean, crisp, and modern. The new website is also much more user-friendly, and customers are very happy with how easy it is to find all of the information they need.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

We really like that Anchour uses a lot of different tools to manage the project. They use Monday.com, so we always know where things are in the timeline. It has also been easy to see where things held up, whether something is taking longer than expected or there is an answer we need to find.

We also use Box.com to manage and share files, Notion to communicate in real time and make edits, and BugHerd to comment about the website wireframes and ask for edits. We also use email when needed.

Anchour has also done a great job touching base with us, reaching out, and offering their help. As this is a new realm for us, they’ve walked us through every step of the plan.

From a communication standpoint, I had never worked with a company as communicative and open as them. Whenever we have a question, they’re very thoughtful and take the time to make sure that we understand their answer and get everyone on the same page.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Anchour’s collaboration and willingness to hear us are impressive. They don’t come up with all of the ideas; they really listen to what we have to say and take our feedback into consideration. They’re also very receptive and work hard to bring our visions to life.

It has been a great learning experience because Anchour is a really great communicator. They do a really good job of being clear about the objectives, which is also helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be good if Anchour improved the frequency of the communication. There have been deadlines that we’ve fallen behind, and we’ve had to wait a couple of days to hear back from them. However, we sometimes take a long time to get back to them, too. Additionally, I know that we’re all busy, and I don’t expect them to hold our hand all the time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go in with an open mind. Marketing can be very subjective at times, so ask all of the questions you need because Anchour is a subject matter expert, and they’ll answer any questions. Additionally, don’t assume that they know exactly what you’re trying to do or what your business does, and explain your business goals clearly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Paper Trails, and we provide payroll and HR services to our clients. Our services include applicant tracking and bookkeeping.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We were looking to conduct a rebrand to reposition ourselves in the market. Specifically, we wanted to move upmarket and work with larger clients, so we needed help with rebranding.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Anchor helped us conduct a complete rebrand. We showed them our existing brand, website, and collateral. They then helped us evaluate our brand and make decisions regarding the rebranding process. For example, we explored the possibility of renaming the company together with the team. With their guidance, we ultimately decided not to rename.

The Anchour team then moved on to redesigning our branding. In line with that, they produced new collaterals and developed a website from scratch. We asked them to make our website more dynamic than our old one, which was a simple brochure site. 

Finally, to help us reposition ourselves, the team highlighted the companies we worked with rather than focusing on our services. They also gave us the ability to post content about upcoming events and so on.

What is the team composition?

Overall, we interacted with 10–12 teammates. Aimee (Account Manager) was our primary contact and worked with us through the whole process. We also had three different project managers for each stage of the process, but we mainly dealt with Aimee.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

We searched for branding agencies in Maine, and Anchour came up. They were very positively reviewed, so we met with the owners to discuss the project. The pricing was reasonable, and the project scope they created was very detailed — we felt very confident about them and decided to move forward.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from February–October 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still very much in the process of repositioning ourselves internally, so we haven’t launched yet. However, the feedback we got from our previous clients was positive — they felt that Anchour’s designs portrayed us as a more mature organization. 

Our goal was to look like a bigger company, so we were happy with their work.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

The team certainly had a good account management process, but I managed them more closely after they fell a little behind schedule. The timeline was stretched out a lot longer than I would have liked, but I understood why things took so long.

In terms of communication, we had weekly calls to discuss where they were in the process. They also let me know if they needed anything from me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They definitely had a competent team in place to deliver our needs. Many of the other companies we evaluated were a little too small for us, but Anchour had the extensive expertise needed to fulfill every aspect of the rebranding process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did an excellent job. They could’ve finished the process earlier, but the deliverables ended up being well worth the wait.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take it upon yourself to push things forward and be hands-on. The team will do a good job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of an apparel company focusing on men’s dresses and shirts, along with other items. The ethos of our brand is to solve problems for men, particularly around office dresses. We have a product line that addresses such problems. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We hired Anchour for their marketing and web development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Anchour has done everything for our marketing efforts. They’ve handled our initial market research, branding, and renaming exercises. In these processes, I’ve given them mood boards, a memo of what the brand should look like, and a brand name. Our team has also provided them with our competitor websites to give them a sense of what our market looks like. 

The team has also built our website, and I’m still using them for our post-launch marketing. Essentially, they’ve worked for us from soup to nuts in the past two years. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with nearly their entire team, including Stephen (CEO) and Joshua (Partner & President). Meanwhile, Aimee (Senior Account Manager) has been my main point of contact, and I’ve worked with their creative team through her. That creative team includes Jessica (Project Manager). 

As we transition to our post-launch efforts, I work with a representative on their marketing side. She connects me with their website developers and Google and social media ad buyers.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

I interviewed a number of marketing companies. Meanwhile, I used Clutch to identify and hire Anchour. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested over $100,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around August 2019, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve received rave reviews for our website, branding, and name — everybody has given us positive feedback. The website is the main customer-facing asset we have, and it’s truly well-done; that’s the feedback I’ve received from numerous people. 

Given that, I’ve been extremely pleased with everything that Anchour has done from a quality standpoint. In fact, I’ve recommended them to numerous other people. 

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

Anchour has managed the project well. They’re highly organized when it comes to any given number of things to be tinkered with in our post-launch campaign. For communication, we talk every other week through a check-in call. If something’s imminent, we’ll jump on a call and make sure everything is approved and we’re all on the same page.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Not only does Anchour have aesthetic appeal and world-class creativity; they also offer a full service. Other firms focus on branding, while some of them focus on post-launch marketing. Some companies do branding and post-launch marketing but don’t necessarily have in-house developers that make great websites. By contrast, Anchour can do essentially everything for a startup. As a result, we don’t have to engage with multiple companies. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. Anchour does a terrific job and has a speedy turnaround time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let Anchour be creative. They will take your idea of what the brand should look like, but you must be open-minded when it comes to their ideas. Their team is incredibly creative and insightful, so if you’re going to pay them and spend time engaging their team, listen to what they have to say. Their resources truly know what they’re doing.