Anchour

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a dog daycare based in Portland, Maine. I am the owner of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We had just opened in February and needed help launching our brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Anchour has developed our WordPress website. It's mobile-responsive, simple and streamlined, which were important requirements for us. They're currently providing SEO [search engine optimization] and maintenance for it. Anchour has designed a logo for our company and helped us establish a brand identity. They've helped us define our voice. From there, everything else fell into place, regarding building the website and creating marketing collateral for us. I had spoken to other agencies, but the project was started with Anchour.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

Anchour provides Instagram automation, which I'd been using for posts related to my business. I researched the company and found that they were located close to me. I found their work to be great, so I chose Anchour.

How much have you invested with Anchour?

The cost of Anchour's work has been between $15,000 and $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with Anchour in August 2013. The collaboration is ongoing for SEO, Ad Words, and website maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We're in an aggressive growth mode, so I can't completely separate word-of-mouth from organic inquiries, and so on. 

I receive monthly marketing reports from Anchour detailing the performance of our website, our searchability and how our Ad Words campaigns are going. Overall, I've been happy with the results. We've received great feedback from clients for our logo and brand voice.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

The most well-defined project we've had with Anchour was for our logo development and website launch. Anchour did a great job of communicating our progress, and what the next steps were. They helped keep us on track and organized.

What did you find most impressive about Anchour?

The reason for choosing Anchour over other agencies is that they have a down-to-earth vibe. Anchour's team seemed interested in getting to know me and the story behind my company, compared to other agencies, which treated it as a job. Anchour's personal touch resonated with me, given that this is what I'm looking to offer my clients. I wanted my story and mission to be reflected in the brand.

Are there any areas Anchour could improve?

Anchour is also within an aggressive growth period so that they can be busy at times. Tasks have taken longer than I'd hoped, but Anchour is great at recommending alternative solutions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and founder of a 20-year-old restaurant in Lewiston, Maine.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

Initially, the challenge was to develop new menus. We had also been considering the need to rebrand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Anchour did a complete design asset portfolio. They redesigned our menus and helped us with our signage and other collateral pieces. That was the initial project, but we ended up rebranding the restaurant. Aside from refreshing and updating our website,  Anchour also does some social media tasks for us. They handle our search engine optimization so we still work with them.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

They introduced themselves, basically. We had some dialogue about the rebranding process and hired them to do the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Anchour around 2014 and we continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have received a lot of positive responses from the community on the branding project. Our new look has gotten a lot of compliments, particularly the menus and the branding in general. It was something that we needed to do pretty badly and Anchour did a nice job of helping us with that transition.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

We were happy with how they handled project management.

What did you find most impressive about Anchour from other providers?

We don’t have a lot of experience with rebranding or marketing. I think we might’ve been a challenge to work with, but they were responsive to our changing needs. We continue to use them so that probably speaks volumes about our experience.

Are there any areas Anchour could improve?

No, I think we’re happy with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and third-generation owner of Ted Berry Company. We are a utility company that does buried pipeline cleaning, inspection, and rehabilitation. We work on water, sewers, storm drain, gas, and other utilities throughout New England.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We were developing a company video that would allow us to highlight what we do and how we do it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have asked Anchour to produce a number of short company videos, anywhere from one minute to ten minutes long. These are company services videos that are on our website. We also show these videos at trade shows. We’ve also had Anchour develop some custom animations for us to show how some of our technical services work. Those are really amazing.

Anchour designed and manages our website and SEO. One of the larger projects they also did was designing a customized training application. What used to be all of our paper, video, and different forms of employee training are now on an online platform. Our employees can now access all of our training programs, courses, and tests from anywhere on the planet. One of our technicians needed to get his forklift training updated. He was able to log in on an iPad over the weekend and completed a course on a Sunday afternoon at home. That was amazing. Right now, they’re doing two 30-second TV commercials for us.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

Jonathan Gilbert, who does video and production at Anchour, and I have grandfathers that were brothers. When he first got out of school, he was doing some video work. We had hired him to do some small video projects for us. Shortly after that, they built Anchour and when he did, we came along for the ride. I like to say we were an Anchour customer before Anchour was a company.

How much have you invested with Anchour?

We spend over $20,000 annually.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2008/2009. The engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I tend to view the results of my advertising much more indirectly than with measured results. We’ve been in business for 40 years and we always feel like we have a really good sense of our business and how it’s working. We had Anchour shoot a commercial for us last week. Within a day of it running on TV, I had family calling me and saying, “That commercial is great. That really shows who you are as a company, and it really connects with people.” For me, that is more important than having a spreadsheet or a chart somewhere that shows me how many people have watched it or how many people have clicked on my website. When I have people say, “That shows who you are, and people understand who you are when they see that,” that is how I measure the effectiveness of their work.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

What we quickly found is how their creativity brought out the best in our people’s creativity. We have a group of very creative people. Working with Anchour, they’ve just enhanced that. They’re really easy and fun to work with. Anything we’ve thrown at them for a technical challenge, they have absolutely accomplished.

What did you find most impressive about Anchour?

They don’t make something that should be simple difficult. I’m a contractor; we do water and sewer work. We don’t do website design, and we don’t plan and design and shoot commercials for a living. What we can do is come up with an idea, and Anchour makes it really easy to turn that idea into reality. I’ve worked with other branding firms through working associations and even here at Ted Berry Company. What I’ve often found when we would talk about a website is a lot of people in the line of work find a way to overcomplicate things.

I’ve always liked how Anchour can keep something that is simple, simple. I can go to a whiteboard, I can draw up an idea, and they can turn it into reality for me. That’s profound to me because that’s how I work, that’s how I think, and that’s how my creativity comes out. We can literally sit over a coffee or a burger and come up with an idea, and I turn around and it’s real. That’s what I like.

Are there any areas Anchour could improve?

The biggest area of improvement I had, they have already made. Their location in Windham was a challenge geographically. Windham’s not on the way to anything. About a year ago, they moved to Lewiston. Now, they’re in a spot that’s really easy for me to get to. It’s a really cool workplace. That was the biggest one for me, to be a little bit more accessible in person, and that’s worked well.

Another one that I was fearful of is they were going to grow so large that someday I’d show up and they’d have 50 people there doing website design and they would lose their touch. That hasn’t happened. I’m still working with Jonathan, who I was working with 7 years ago on videos. Nothing negative from me.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a small company with nine employees. We run a couple of different businesses with an online presence. One business produces replacement parts for business phone systems. Another one is for virtual reality headsets and accessories. 

I am the CEO of both.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We started getting into consumer products with B2C [business-to-consumer] on the virtual reality headsets last year. We wanted to create a brand for our headsets and that's what we started to work on with Anchour.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started out with a canned website that we purchased and set up. However, it was not very focused and wasn’t targeting the correct demographics. We met with Anchour and they did some research on our behalf to find out our target demographic and how can we tailor our site, our packaging, and our brand to market to those segments. They helped us redesign our website. We also created a new brand look with the logo, the colors, and the brand. That was very helpful. They also worked with us on creating a video that talks about the company.

We're using them right now for SEO [search engine optimization] and to look at our Amazon listings and see how they can use some of their tools to improve them. We're also expanding and growing into other accessories in the virtual reality market. They have taken new product photos as well as lifestyle photos of our virtual reality products to improve the customer experience on our websites and to use on our social media platforms.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

I saw an article about them in our local newspaper. They were moving into the state and setting up a shop here. I thought to meet with them and see what they offer. They're young, they're energetic, and they have a lot of ideas. I decided to meet with them and then started working with them.

How much have you invested with Anchour?

We spend around $2,000 a month on average.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Anchour from June/July 2016 to date and the improvements are going monthly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our website traffic has increased by over 300% over the past 4 months. We've been listing our products on Amazon, and with their help optimizing our listing, our ranking has gone way up, by 900 points. I think what they're doing is working; it's causing more activity through our website and also through Amazon.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

Excellent! We have a meeting to discuss the scope of the work, then they perform the work. Prior to actually moving forward, they'll do a presentation, PowerPoint or concept, and make sure we're all clear on how it's going to look and what's going to happen, and then they follow through.

What did you find most impressive about Anchour?

I would say they're very intuitive. They're young and energetic. I think some other marketing companies may not have all that. They're very up to date with what's going on. Anything that's trending, they're talking about it and telling us of things we should be looking at.

Are there any areas Anchour could improve?

It would be helpful if we could review the changes and results monthly. We would like to understand how what they are doing is impacting traffic and conversions and discuss what other changes can be made from the data gathered.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a consulting company focused primarily on assisting family businesses. I am the founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

I was looking for a web developer who could actually tell a story.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

My collaboration with Anchour started with a focus on the company brand, which needed to tie in with my story. It involved spending a lot of time with Anchour, giving them an opportunity to get to know me and what I'm trying to accomplish. My brand needed to reflect my story, and vice versa. Anchour has a very interesting, systematic process of taking a client through a type of journey. It was very easy to work with them.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

I did a Google search on web developers and storytelling. I can't recall exactly what article I came across, but Anchour was featured in it, along with four or five other firms. I contacted all of them, and Anchour seemed to be the most interested in my project.

How much have you invested with Anchour?

The total cost of my project with Anchour is estimated to be between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I have been working with Anchour for three months. We're within the final stages of my project. I see the possibility of engaging with Anchour for additional work, including building my online identity beyond the website, for social platforms and so on.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The quality of Anchour's work is a reflection of how genuine they are, and their interest in me and what I'm trying to accomplish. Anchour took great pride in their results. They're very focused, dedicated, and responsive. It's been refreshing to work with a group which doesn't have the same cookie-cutter approach to building a website and getting it out of the door.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

Anchour couldn't have been better in this regard. They have a process for walking clients through the work, making it easier for everyone involved. Anchour is a well-organized and process-driven company. Their approach isn't dry, but it did help to get me focused.

What did you find most impressive about Anchour?

When I met with Anchour, it became clearly evident that they had the ability to approach a project in a unique and different way. Instead of cranking out a website which promoted my offerings, Anchour was interested in telling a story which could resonate with a potential client.

Are there any areas Anchour could improve?

Anchour is an early-stage business, so it may be difficult for them to gauge the amount of work which will be coming through the door at any given time. As a business person, what really excites me is their potential. I hope that Anchour can manage its growth going forward, taking advantage of it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The Foundation for Hope and Grace is a 501c3 non-profit organization with an overarching focus on at-risk children, nationally and internationally. We've started a second organization called the Not Here Justice in Action Network, with a focus on anti-human-trafficking.

I am the founder of both organizations and the president of the main one.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

As a leader, I've strived for a long-range vision for accomplishments and emerging threats. Communicating this to the general public was a struggle. I could meet someone and tell them what I was passionate about, but making this message reproducible to the masses was a challenge. Anchour came in, listened, did their own research, and verified what we wanted to do.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Through our relationship, we came to see Anchour as a part of our organization. They helped determine what we were trying to do, narrowing down what was or wasn't important.

Anchour met our team and spent time with us. They wanted us to share our hearts, detailing what was important and why we believed in our work. The expression of that led to branding designs which reflected what we wanted to do. This was translated into a website, as well as paper-based material.

We've expanded our relationship with Anchour, building a roadmap document for the state of Maine, guiding the local government in how to deal with human trafficking. Anchour not only applied our branding to that material, but took care of editing, format, structuring, and presentation. I can't imagine that we could do what we do without Anchour's help.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

I'd initially worked with one of Anchour's founders through another company. Although I had some frustrations with that firm, I always felt that he understood what I was saying and did what I wanted to do. Based on that, when I came to need branding services, I went back to him. It was worth taking a risk, because he understood our vision.

How much have you invested with Anchour?

I don’t want to disclose exactly what we spent, but Anchour has been very fair with us in terms of pricing and taking into account that were a non-profit with a mission they believe in.

What is the status of this engagement?

Anchour initially helped us create a logo and tagline for our main organization. We transitioned to a 6-month web development project. Our organization is relatively static, so we haven't revisited the work since then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

As a fairly small non-profit, we haven't been able to invest in gathering metrics. We've evolved as an organization through the way in which Anchour branded us as a niche. We run an annual conference on anti-human-trafficking issues in the North East. Our first conference had 70 attendees. On the second one, we involved Anchour, who advised us on advertising improvements. We had nearly 200 participants then. By the time our third conference came, Anchour had already been fully engaged and had rebranded our website. Our legitimacy at a state level had greatly improved, which attracted 400 attendees to the third conference. The next event morphed into a partnership with the offices of the governor and the attorney general. We developed the identity of being an anti-human-trafficking organization, which is credited to the way in which Anchour allowed us to portray ourselves in terms of look and message.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

Each project has been quite efficient. I'm always surprised that Anchour has been able to gather the necessary information in time. Much of our effort revolved around my feedback, and the minor adjustments made by Anchour. They always understood what I wanted, so any changes were minor, not putting a strain on the project.

What did you find most impressive about Anchour?

There's a definite sense of relationship with Anchour that is sincere and authentic. Anchour was never afraid to ask why we were doing something in a particular way. Based on our discussions, Anchour did research and looked at how other organizations operate. They found what would or wouldn't work for our personality. I got the feeling of expanding my team, not just buying a service. I had a relationship with a group of people who cared about what I did, and invested in my organization.

Are there any areas Anchour could improve?

No. Anchour has been very responsive, and I've referred them to other people.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for Baxter Brewing Company, a brewery established in 2010. Our distribution footprint is now all of New England, New Jersey, and New York.

What are your responsibilities?

My responsibilities include overseeing all of the marketing and sales support for our internal sales team and distributors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

We were struggling with a lack of consistency in the design of our cans and other marketing collateral and messaging. We went to Anchour after failing with a well-known local design firm, and it has been a great relationship ever since.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

It wasn't just the package design. They actually provided us with a finished plan guideline booklet, which is now used for everything. They also took all of the marketing collateral pieces that I use on a daily basis and made those pieces consistent. Everything is very cohesive now. They're also just wrapping up our new website, which reflects all of those changes, and that's scheduled to go live this week, I believe.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

We had put out an RFP [request for proposal]. We got about 10 different proposals back, and we went with a different firm initially. My only reservation with Anchour was that they were a newer company, and I was fearful of them being overloaded. After we started working with that other firm, it became obvious that they were not a good fit. I had heard about Anchour from another local business that had used them and decided to have another chat with them, and it's been great.

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

It is a hefty project. I would say the initial project was about $20,000. Ongoing, we are spending about $50,000 annually with Anchour.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's definitely ongoing. We have a retainer with them, so I have weekly calls and monthly in-person check-ins. So far, I think I've been working with them for about five months [since early 2016].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from this engagement?

Everything is new, and it's been just last week and this week that we've launched into the market at the distributor level. It hasn't actually hit the customer level yet. All of our distributor and sales teams have been thrilled with the work of Anchour. Obviously, this makes the job of the distributors a lot easier. There has been great local feedback. In terms of sales, I think it's definitely too early to see a direct relation yet.

What distinguishes Anchour from other providers?

They are very good at understanding and diving into a brand. Anchour did a lot of research on their own, without much input from us. That was helpful.

Is there anything Anchour could have improved or done differently?

I don't know. At times, they seem to be overloaded. But, that is never reflected in anything I'm waiting on. I never have to wait for anything, but it does seem they are, at times, over capacity. It is easy in this industry to get overloaded.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Fuel Restaurant is a mid-level to high-end French bistro and wine bar in Lewiston, Maine.

What is your position?

I'm the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Anchour?

Things were starting to look a little tired around here. The restaurant has been open for nine years, and it was time for a refresh. I wanted to modify the logo and do a new website, which would be e-commerce enabled. Also, a complete rebranding around all of our fonts, a new menu design, and so on.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They did all of the above.

How did you come to work with Anchour?

I had met with a couple of other local agencies here in Maine. I chose Anchour because I just liked them as people and liked their approach.

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

It was less than $10,000.

What is the timeline of this engagement?

It took about four months. I created the timeline myself, and they delivered on time. We launched in February [2016].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What are the results of the project? Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Obviously, metrics are difficult when it comes to branding. We did a logo change, we changed our menu that kind of stuff. It's hard to put a number to it. However, our business is up 7% year over year and, certainly, that has something to do with that. Our website traffic is up as well.

Overall, we've received more press since the rebrand. A local news station did a story on us. We also were asked to do a live cooking demonstration on a different local channel because of the rebrand. We were mentioned in our local paper a couple of times.

How did Anchour perform from a project management standpoint?

Perfect. They're extremely responsive.

What distinguishes Anchour from other providers?

First of all, they're eager and aggressive. They understood what I wanted, and that made me comfortable to give them free reign with the design. They took my logo, which I had designed myself and my menu, and they did a complete redesign. I let then have that freedom and they did a good job. They listened to the market, I think, around what those things needed to be, delivered a great proposal, and then delivered on the product.

Is there anything Anchour could have improved or done differently?

Not really. They're a fairly new agency, and I think having more experience as they go will be helpful for them, but I don't really have any negative feedback at all. Ultimately, Anchour delivered. They delivered on time. They're creative. They're good people. That's why I liked working with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Liaison of a construction company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company is a commercial roofing contractor specializing in Roof Management Services, Roofing and Siding Installations, and Solar Consultation. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Anchour to accomplish?

• Implement a working lead generation for for multiple demographic locations.
• Improve SEO/SEM by implementing a knowledge center.
• Update Website to increase conversions

SOLUTION

How did you find Anchour?

Known by our president.

Why did you select Anchour over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

From start to stop, Anchour and IRC have worked hand in hand in creating a centralized knowledge center for increase of traffic and all around help for our industry. 

Key Deliverables have been esstianally, framwork, and building out a plan for the flow of communication. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Timelines for implementation of various projects that have come to fruition. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Fanatastic. They're always a call or email away and constantly deliver proper updates with explainations on key subjects. 

What was your primary form of communication with Anchour?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The quality of care for each of its contacts. 

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

None that come to mind. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Reframe Fitness

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a small, locally owned pilates studio, opening this winter. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Anchour to accomplish?

• Branding
• Pre launch strategy

SOLUTION

How did you find Anchour?

Online Search

Why did you select Anchour over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Anchour were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Anchour did our initial branding, brand messaging, and brand identity. They also created a "Marketing roadmap" for us which has served as a prelaunch strategy. Key assests/deliverables included a brand idetity, a brand messaging deck, and visual assets such as a promotional postcard, social media assets, etc. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

N/A as we have yet to open

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

For the most part items were delivered on time. When there was a delay or they were unable to meet my requests for deadlines that was always communicated professionally. 

What was your primary form of communication with Anchour?

Virtual Meeting

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

Everyone who works here is amazingly kind and fun. Of course thier work is incredible, but for me as a start-up buisness owener who has never done this before... they have been nothing but kind, patient, and encouraging. 

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

There were some assets that I wished could have been delivered in a more timely manner, but delays were always comunicated.