Aston Social

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I oversee the general management of our company Fleet Trades, which we are one of the leading suppliers to to the automotive aftermarket in our field.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Aston Social?

We had engaged Aston Social to create greater consumer awareness of our products and services. This was done by reaching out via social media channels, direct electronic marketing and search optimization.

What were your goals for this project?

Our project of creating greater consumer awareness was to ultimately drive up sales from new product launches, and create a larger customer base as we were already fairly well established in the wholesale market.

SOLUTION

How did you select Aston Social?

We had been referred to Aston Social from a colleague who has had plenty of success with their engagement. We had tried other companies in the past who had failed to deliver or the type of services we required were not being considered by other companies we had engaged.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After an initial phone conversation we had a face-to-face meeting to discuss our needs. Aston Social got back to us in a timely manner with a detailed scope of works of which we were presented with a few options of which would best fit our budget. The scope of the services they provide is not limited to but includes weekly reporting, management of all paid ad services with the only input required from our team initially was a little bit of product education and material in which we can use for promotion. We have since gone further to include SEO management and direct electronic marketing with the implementation of management software in which we can best capture leads and all working with our current infrastructure.

What was the team composition?

There are multiple people involved in both parties, which communicate very seamlessly to deliver the best result.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Measurable increases in inquires that have all been able to be linked back to the marketing they have been engaged for and this has lead to a direct increase in sales of items that have been targeted to that specific end user.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very easy to communicate with, very responsive to questions and requests and have always been able to deliver on projects.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I am impressed by their attention to detail and high level of customer service and professionalism, and always been able to deliver on requests with an in-depth knowledge of the fields they specialise in.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Any issues that there have been in the past have been raised and actioned immediately. Areas of improvement are going to be individual based on the two parties involved but with their approach they would none the less be resolved.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm one of the co-Founders of Proats2Go, a consumer retail food brand, producing and selling protein oats. We sell online mostly.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Aston Social?

We were brand new. We had the idea and the product but didn't have the marketing side of things. We knew we had the name, but logo, colour scheme, ecommerce, social media, advertising, etc... We didn't have any of that and we needed it developed.

What were your goals for this project?

The high level goal was pretty obvious - Sell our product. Which has happened routinely. The secondary obvious goals were, to create the brand, to build a functional website, make it look good, get the product photography done, build our social presence and engage with Influencers.

SOLUTION

How did you select Aston Social?

We spoke with about 8 other agencies of different types, ranging from ad agencies, to marketing agencies to branding and then specialist digital agencies. The reason we chose Aston was the obvious ability to see the big picture, to understand and create a brand for us (that was a bit of a hail Mary, but boy are we glad we did it), and then have the technical know how to build the digital presence. What really made the difference was the fact that their team could articulate what our business goals were, in their terms, and then could 'go from macro to micro' in explaining what needs to be done for each facet of our marketing to make it work. The fact that the pricing was modular, reasonable and made sense helped too.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

The scope was:

• Develop the Logo
• Write the Brand Style Guide & Key Messaging
• Design the Website - Build the Website
• Deploy the functional eCommerce
• Develop the SEO strategy
• Implement the SEO strategy
• Write the Social Media Strategy
• Develop Social Media profiles
• Build the Influencer Strategy
• Create and publish the social media content
• Find and engage influencers
• Run Social Media Advertising
• Develop the Email Automations
• Create the email marketing templates
• Build the Email marketing lists
• Run email marketing campaigns
• Build all analytics
• Deploy and schedule the reports
• Implement Website visitor session recording
• Review user website sessions, make recommendations and improvements.

What was the team composition?

Honestly I don't really know how many people were involved. I worked with Ellen mainly as she takes care of the project delivery and Daniel was involved from a Strategic standpoint. I know they have graphic designers, web builders, social media managers, photographers and search engine optimisation people in house, but I never actually had to talk to any of them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Yes, of course. Go to our website to see it - https://proats2go.com - it's pretty obvious. The main outcome that demonstrates success is the fact that we actually sell products now!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They have what's called a 'approval funnel pathway'. What that means is Ellen is connected to one of our team (me in this case) and the only approved 'flow' of information is between me and her. That means that it's controlled, managed and authorised. We don't get any confusion. They are great at taking control of everything and making it right, which is wonderful for us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Probably three main things:

1. The fact that we went from selling nothing to selling stuff
2. The way they are able to see the business' needs and translate that to digital marketing terms
3. There's no confusion. Ellen takes charge of everything and we're never left wondering.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Probably the only thing I'd suggest is that they think a little too conservatively with our money. I want them to imagine a bottomless pit of money and bring up the big ideas, which they'll do if I ask, but generally they work within the budget I have allocated.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the GM - Part of my role is managing new projects. we are reasonably new to online sales. We have been half heartily doing it for a number of years. It wasn't until I had Aston Social get onboard that we really picked up in this area

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Aston Social, and what were your goals?

Our goal was to get our products to the top of the search lists. It is a mildly competitive area. We are competing with companies a lot bigger than us. With bigger budgets. Our advantage is we are smaller, nimble, and have a lower cost. So we can sell at very competitive prices. Our challenge was getting out product listing high enough on the search for customers to see we were competitive. We have our own online store and we sell via eBay.

Almost immediately after Aston Social took over managing our SEO we doubled our online sales. We consistently continued this growth month after month for about 10 months. We have continued to see growth since then but at a slower rate. It had to slow down at some point. Teaming up with Aston Social showed how much we were missing out on by not correctly managing our SEO. It is a tricky area.

SOLUTION

How did you select Aston Social and what were the deciding factors?

I had seen from a few friends businesses who had teamed up with Aston Social that they were good. I must admit, I was mildly skeptical that it would be of any huge benefit getting someone in to manage our SEO. My concern was a lack of product knowledge. Engine Parts require very specific fitting information. My concern was getting a customer to google apart and the correct item would appear. I need not have worried. As I said, it was very successful. It did require ETP (as a customer) to supply the data and information needed to get it all to work. But this was a painless process.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The process was reasonably simple. I had a meeting with the guys from Aston Social via phone. They had me outline what I was looking to achieve. The end goal was to increase our search results in Google, which I saw as a key step to increase online sales. Following the meeting, I gave them access to our website and they got to work adding the required information. We also set up Adwords and they took over our Instagram and Facebook posts. It only took a few weeks to get the website ready. It remained alive the whole time, it was just updated daily with the new SEO information.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked with two of their team members during setup. Daniel handled all their technical and coding work. And Ellen who handles the content for social media posts. Since then I have had Ellen looking after us. We have a great working relationship. Ellen is an excellent communicator, a fast worker, and delivers changes or requests on time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

As said, we saw instant growth from the work done by Aston Social. I have been told the growth we saw is quite unique. But I believe it was a direct result of the time and effort they put into what they did. The growth that we see from online sales doubled monthly for the first 10 months. Since then we have still see good growth, but it has dropped off a bit.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

The project management style I saw contained little time wastage. Both when taking up my time at the first meeting and with subsequent update calls. I’ve talked to other business owners who have undertaken similar tasks and walked away from hours-long meetings feeling all that time was wasted. I did not feel this. Everything was bullet form (expanded if I had questions), I was given expected dates on when the tasks were to be completed (everything was on the date or before), following the meeting I was emailed an outline of what we talked about so I could easily refer back.

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

Execution of what was promised and what was delivered far exceeded my expectations. Past experience we companies in the web services industry has perhaps left me a little jaded. If I’d had half the success from these services I’d have been happy. The end result was truly excellent.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I truly can’t suggest any area for improvement.