Big Oak Studios

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a roofing company. We've been in business for 25 years, and are a medium-sized contractor. I'm the VP and General Manager of the company. I handle all our day-to-day operations, as well as our online presence, social media, and marketing and advertising.

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Oak Studios?

We wanted to grow. We previously targeted our local Catholic community through church bulletins, but we found it wasn't profitable. We wanted to attract more lucrative leads and hoped to strengthen our online presence.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an existing website, but that was our entire web presence. We fixed the site to be more user- and mobile-friendly. It's more visually appealing and easier to navigate, but that's all we had. Big Oak worked with us to increase our leads and improve our exposure. They helped our Google rankings and led PPC campaigns.

What is the team composition?

I typically work with one main point of contact, but we speak regularly with two of their team members.

How did you come to work with Big Oak Studios?

We found them through the owner's brother-in-law. We met with them to build a plan, and they checked all the boxes for us. The pricing made sense, and we've been with them ever since.

How much have you invested with them?

Our total expenditure falls between $50,000-$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around February 2017, and the work is ongoing.

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

I go through every appointment that comes to us through the website, and I track each lead, even if it doesn't lead to a contract. There are a lot of details in the metrics we track, which gives us an average cost per qualified lead.

Our sales have doubled since we brought them on. We did experiment with another company, but they couldn't touch the success of Big Oak. Our experience has been entirely positive, and they're a big reason that we've grown.

How did Big Oak Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They're great project managers. They're hands-on, and they monitor the performance of our account. I'm very confident in their ability.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They can hone in on the best keywords and target words that will generate the best results for us. The ongoing management of our SEO really separated them from other agencies we've worked with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They help manage our website a little, so they might follow up more with customer reviews. I can't think of anything else they should improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be patient in the beginning. Results take time, so stay with them. The success you want will come if you stay consistent, and you will succeed if you give them the latitude to do their job.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for Conklin Cars. We have four dealerships and I manage the websites and business development center.

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Oak Studio?

We hired Big Oak Studios to provide SEO and PPC support for our company.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Big Oak Studios provides ongoing SEO support. They continually manage the efforts. Their team also implemented PPC and Facebook advertising campaigns. In addition, they add and update content on our website to further optimize the platform.

What is the team composition?

Shell (CEO & Founder, Big Oak Studios) and Eric (Vice President Online Marketing, Big Oak Studios) are the main people I work with.

How did you come to work with Big Oak Studio?

A different advertising agency we had worked with was from the same area as Big Oak Studios and recommended we use them for our SEO needs.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we’ve spent around $200,000. We currently spend $10,000 per month on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2017 and the engagement is ongoing.

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

We’ve been very pleased with the results. Our ranking has significantly improved since we began working with Big Oak Studios, even for keywords we were struggling with in the past. We’re on the first page of results for some searches, which has helped our business greatly. Our organic and PPC traffic on the site has strongly improved, as well.

How did Big Oak Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great to work with. Whenever we have questions, regardless of if we’re actively working together or not, they’re available to help. We primarily communicate through email and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide the best service for a great price and their focus is our success, which is unique. It feels like they’re looking out for our best interest and trying to get us the best deal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing to improve; we’re very happy with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re great to work with, and I recommend them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of Treasury Software. We're a development house that works with small and mid-sized businesses. We work in three different segments, but our primary segment is ACH (Automated Clearing House) software. We help businesses collect money from their clients using an electronic banking network rather than credit cards.

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Oak Studios?

We wanted to grow our search and organic traffic, so we were looking for a vendor to help us with PPC and SEO campaigns.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a lot of dead links and old pages on our website, so Big Oak Studios helped us identify them. They used SEMrush and some other tools to improve the infrastructure of our site. We meet with them once a month, and they continue to oversee our PPC and SEO campaigns.

What is the team composition?

We work with three members of their team.

How did you come to work with Big Oak Studios?

We talked to 10–12 different companies. Big Oak Studios had the technical expertise that we needed, so we chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent just over $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2017, and the relationship is ongoing.

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

We want people to download our software, which they can use for free for 30 days. We found that about 10% of those customers who download the software make a purchase, which is a significant increase in purchases. The cost per download has decreased from $75 to about $40, which was also one of our goals.

How did Big Oak Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They reach out to us every month to schedule an appointment. They're very responsive and always available to answer our questions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand our needs and have valuable ideas and suggestions. Also, the ROI is very good, which makes them an affordable option.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It's always important to see the value. If we're able to spend one dollar and get two dollars worth of business out of it, that's a great deal.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am Dan Jackson, the accounting HR and IT manager of Seal Master Corporation located in Kent, Ohio. I’m basically an administrative frontend manager. We’re a rubber manufacturer providing custom seals for a niche market.

What challenge were you trying to address with Big Oak Studios?

The goal was to push exposure and bring as many visitors to our site, content, and media. ROI was important to us being a small business, and it can be challenging gaining exposure when you operate within a niche market. We had bad experiences with two consultants in our sphere because communication was terrible. We would give them information and have to wait days, and sometimes even months, to get a simple email reply. The third relationship was strictly results driven, and they were good communicators and people, but we weren’t seeing the ROI we needed. This is what led us to Big Oak Studios.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Big Oak Studios manages our PPC campaign via Google AdWords, and they optimize our website SEO, ranging, and general functions. Sometimes, they’ve helped with content creation, but being a specialty market makes it difficult to relay information to people who aren’t familiar with it. They’ve provided insight to help extend our keyword list by engaging in thorough content research to identify what words are indexing accurately and effectively.

They’ve really brought a level of intelligence to our service, and they gave us a custom tailored solution instead of giving us an out-of-the-box fix similar to what their competitors offered. For SEO, we’ve collaborated to make simple navigation changes, as well as tweaked a couple things with the content. These changes have been minor but they’ve had significant impact.

What is the team dynamic?

I work primarily with one gentleman, which is nice because I can address all aspects with one person. The streamlined communication is great. Overall, dealing with one individual on the SEO Google AdWords front has been really good. We meet monthly to go over business strategies and implementation plans.

How did you come to work with Big Oak Studios?

I found Big Oak Studios through Clutch. Clutch’s reviews are real people who have actually used the service, which gauges the customer relationship. After our first engagement with Big Oak Studios where we informed them of the product we were trying to market, they came back with a well planned, tailored pitch. I could tell they had a smaller company vibe which would help them provide the service we needed. We felt like numbers on the agenda with the bigger companies we talked to. Our decision to work with Big Oak Studios was based more on comfort and budget. We were confident in what they could deliver to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $8,000 in 7 months.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them January 2017, and the relationship is ongoing.

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

We were always lacking in AdWords because we had never really put a conscious effort into it. By bringing a Google certified partner like Big Oak Studios into the fold, there’s now an added element which increases visibility. Site traffic has increased by approximately 20%, and this is attributed to Google AdWords, PPC, and Big Oak Studio’s expertise in navigating through both. They have brought our cost per click down immensely.

How did Big Oak Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Their organization and communication are both good. Overall, they’re a great company full of honest individuals, and I find their kindness charming. They’re very fair and reasonable, and they can also work with pricing. They’re also very focused on ROI, which is great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are a small business focused on providing custom tailored solutions for each individual business they work with. Businesses like ours are an odd thing to create marketing strategies for, but they’ve done it successfully. Their competitors want to make their solution work for you, when it should be the other way around. Being able to pick up the phone and directly communicate with someone and receive an instantaneous response is their strong suit. Also, the fact that they have a Google certified partner backs up their already strong technical expertise.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At the beginning, we were promised a little more content creation. I realize that’s difficult when dealing with a specialty product, but we’ve had several meetings with one of their representatives that hasn’t gone anywhere. We put in a lot of effort and investment there and it never translated, and there was little communication on that particular subject. More follow through outside of SEO and PPC ads would be a positive change.

They have a lot of accessory, content, and artwork creation, so we’ve talked with them about coming up with some viral videos and infographics. However, it hasn’t been clearly communicated to me who is responsible for creating these things, so I’ve been unable to discuss it with them.

Please describe your organization.

I’m the Marketing Director for Virginia Family Dentistry. We’re a multi-specialty group practice in the Richmond area. I manage ads, sponsorships, the website, SEO and SEM, and any other similar initiatives. We have 400 employees.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Big Oak Studios?

We had another company a long time ago managing our SEM for us and they weren’t very transparent or doing the best job. We terminated that contract and we didn’t have anybody doing the AdWords for us for six months to a year. I started looking around and we came across Big Oak. Our goal is to bring new patients in.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Big Oak does Google AdWords for us. We work with Eric [Search Strategist & PPC Analyst, Big Oak Studios]. He manages our account for us and we met with him and Shell [Owner, Big Oak Studios], the owner, to begin with. We went over what our goals were, and the areas we wanted to target. They were really open throughout the whole process. I particularly like that I have access to the AdWords account myself. They pull reports for us every month, and I review them with Eric every month in person. We make changes where necessary. He also pulls negative keywords often and has developed a pretty extensive list. They do some SEO consulting, but that’s not part of our contract with them.

They’re really good business partners. Eric’s point is that if our website does really well, then the ads that he’s running for us are also going to be successful. So he’ll always come with advice and suggestions on things to tweak or change on the website, which is really helpful for us. The keyword list was collaborative, but they had worked with dentists in the past and already had a list. It was basically just expanding upon that because we offer a lot more services than just your normal dentist. Our target market is the local Richmond area. We’ve got 13 locations currently and they really helped me get the location pages in order so that they would show up higher. We extended the location pages and they had some really good feedback regarding those.

How did you come to work with Big Oak Studios?

I looked at seven or eight different companies. We looked at local and non-local companies. I knew that I wanted someone that was going to be transparent and honest. because there are quite a few companies out there that aren’t. In those situations, you don’t know what you’re spending on clicks, and you don’t really know exactly what’s coming in. From the get go, they were super transparent. They’ve always said that the property is ours. We do not have to go through a dashboard and if we were to end everything tomorrow, it’s still ours. We interviewed quite a few different companies and just tried to find the right fit.

Big Oak Studios stood out because they were very transparent, and at that point, I also wanted somebody that was local. I wanted to meet in person and on a regular basis. The company that we worked with prior was national and I would get phone calls and my rep would change all the time. Sometimes I didn’t know what was going on. in contrast, Big Oak is very knowledgeable.

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

We have spent $10,000 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them July 2016 and have been working together since.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We have a tracking system in place, and last month, we received 50 new patients.

How did Big Oak Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed really well. They’re very responsive and super organized. We have nothing but good things to say. We communicate through email most of the time and then phone if something comes up that needs immediate attention. I also meet with Eric in person every month, and he provides an analytics report.

What distinguishes Big Oak Studios from other providers?

They’re really good at customer service and they’re very easy to work with. Compared to some of the other companies, my rep is not changing. I know who I’m dealing with every day and I know who’s in my account every day.

Is there anything Big Oak Studios could have improved or done differently?

No. I’m very happy with them.

Please describe your organization.

We're part of a franchise company. We have 240 stores across the country. We do replacement windows. We do in-home sales. We're a lead generating company. That's how we survive.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I'm one of the owners.

What was your goal for working with Big Oak Studios?

We needed to generate leads online.

Please describe the scope of their work.

They manage my paid advertising online. Our corporate office does the SEO [search engine optimization] work because the website I use is done by my corporate office. Eric [Gehler, Big Oak CEO] looks at our SEO and gives me feedback, but he doesn't do anything with SEO. They manage my account on a day-to-day basis. I get reports, and we meet on a monthly basis via conference call and go over the analytics and reports. We meet and go over keywords. 

What was your process for selecting Big Oak Studios with which to work?

We've been in business about 20 years, and there were a couple companies that other franchises used that were sent to us. Some of the companies seemed pretty good, but we weren't comfortable after meeting them. I wanted something different. I wanted more transparency. I wanted to control my Google spend and pay somebody to manage that for me. 

I had our marketing employee find some companies. She interviewed three people and brought me the most qualified company, she felt Big Oak led the pack. We had a conference call, and they sent me a really nice proposal package of what they could offer me and I just liked their whole approach. They were very open with everything. I felt very comfortable with them.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It is $10,000 to $50,000 right now. We'll be jumping to the next spending level next year.

When was the work completed?

It's ongoing work. I signed a contract with them to lock in their rates. It won't ever be a finished product.

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

We look at the quality of the leads and the quantity of the leads. Our conversion rate is really good. The leads come in through the Internet. There's different ways the leads come through. Eric looks at all that information. I've seen a steady increase every month. When we first started, maybe 10 percent of my leads were Internet leads. Now, the Internet is actually one of my top lead sources. Easily 40 percent to 45 percent of our leads are Internet leads now. 

The quality of the leads is good, too. We do a robust marketing campaign. My marketing person watches everything really close. She's very happy with the fact that the leads are increasing each month. She's thrilled with Big Oak's results.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

They'll let me know if I need to bump up our budget. They are very sensitive to my budget. He's also very sensitive to the changes going on in the market. If he thinks I need to spend more to be competitive, he'll make that recommendation. I appreciate that. I change my ad once in a while, and I'll email him, and he will get it right up. 

Is there anything unique or special about Big Oak Studios that really makes them stand out compared to other business partners?

I like their honesty. They have no problem showing me analytics. I can call them, and they'll answer. They're very accessible, very hands on, and very focused on what you want. When we first started up with them, they interviewed us as well. We laid out the parameters of what we wanted to do. They're very involved.

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

I would sit down with them and go through your goals with them. Let them come back and present it to you. That way, you get a really good feel whether they understand what you're asking for. They were able to take the information we fed them and put together a nice package. You could see they clearly understood what we wanted. The owners are very easy to talk to. You'll be very happy working with them because they're extremely honest, and you feel comfortable that they're spending your money the way you want it spent.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

Not really. I think they get a bit frustrated with our scenario because they don't have any control on the SEO and organic searches. I think that impedes them a little bit. They're limited on what they can do. They can't make changes to our website. I think they could do a better job for me if they could do the whole thing.

Please describe your organization.

We’re a law firm. We handle all kinds of stuff but the vast majority of what we handle is DUI defense and traffic defense. We do some drug defense as well.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the managing partner.

What was your goal for working with Big Oak Studios?

When I was an associate at this firm, several years ago, there were two main sources of business. One was referral business. The second was generated through a direct mail letter campaign. 

Any time someone got charged with a DUI or reckless driving charge, the law firm would send out a direct mail piece advertising our services. That was a significant part of the business. Things started to deteriorate with the direct mail campaign, and we had seen the industry change coming, so we started researching internet and SEO [search engine optimization] services. We quit the direct mail marketing strategy altogether, and we rely on Internet generated business and referrals. Our Internet generated business is pretty significant.

Please describe the scope of their work.

For the last three years, we’ve done pretty much exclusively SEO work with them. We have been talking with them about expanding the number of jurisdictions we go to and doing that by putting in place a limited PPC [pay-per-click] campaign. We’re in the process of deciding if we need to try PPC. 

What was your process for selecting Big Oak Studios with which to work?

When things started slowing down with the mail campaign, we contacted them. We agreed to have them do our Internet presence work. My former law partner was at a party, and we were going through a plan on how to build an Internet presence. Somehow, he got on the subject with someone at the party, and they recommended Big Oak. We researched them ourselves, and then met with them and liked them a lot.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was from $10,000 to $50,000

When was the work completed?

It’s ongoing work. They are a significant part of our business.

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

Our calls and leads have gone up very significantly. I do Google searches myself to see where we rank, and we are almost always number one or number two in different jurisdictions. We work in about 15 to 20 jurisdictions. We work on organic SEO for those different jurisdictions. The goal is we want to be number one – at the very least number two for any set of search results we can plug in. 

Are you satisfied with their performance?

It’s a great company. They do good work.

Is there anything unique or special about Big Oak Studios that really makes them stand out compared to other business partners?

They’re very responsive. They send a very comprehensive report every single month. It takes hours to go through. I don’t go through it quite as extensively as I used to because the phone is ringing, and we know we’re getting results. I haven’t worked with other companies.

We talk about ideas. They’re never afraid to entertain your ideas. I never feel like they’re demeaning. They always explain why my idea might not be a good thing. They meet anytime we want to meet. They’ve completely changed the way we’ve done business. 

They were very honest with us at the beginning and said this is going to take a lot of time, and it has taken some time, but we started seeing some pretty good results relatively quickly. We went from zero Internet presence to what we have now. I would say they’re probably responsible for 65 to  75 percent of our business.

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

I would just say to trust their leaders and take their suggestions

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

I have nothing negative to say.

I work for a small consultancy that focuses on management consulting. I am the vice president and handle our relationship with Big Oak.

We needed someone to help us build a company website and market it online more than a decade ago. We found Shell Harris who runs Big Oak Studios and started the work. I can't remember exactly how we met since it's been so long.

They helped us design and develop a website. Recently, they also conducted a Web redesign. They also work on organic SEO [search engine optimization] and give us all kinds of marketing consulting. They have become our main marketing advisor.

The engagement will continue with no plans to stop. We typically spend more than $10,000 per year with them.

I am completely satisfied and will never leave Big Oak Studios. I cannot share any metrics, but our website is very sharp. We have gotten positive feedback from our clients. 

What stands out about Big Oak Studios is their integrity and honesty. They always charge me less than I expected and never try to nickel and dime us. They are extremely responsive at all times and have very reasonable pricing. 

I really have no improvements to suggest for Big Oak. I suggest potential clients trust their judgment.

Please describe your organization.

We are a law firm.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the director of marketing. I oversee all marketing, advertising, and public relations for the firm.

What was your goal for working with Big Oak Studios?

We have a number of goals that we work with them on. The primary function that they provide for us is SEO [search engine optimization] on the organic side. We are in an extremely competitive environment. All of our competitors are online and have robust SEO plans. 

Our primary goal is to be ranked number one or number two organically in our key search term categories within a certain geographic range. They assist us with some SEM [search engine marketing]. We do Google retargeting work with them and they manage our PPC [pay-per-click] campaigns. We have three different PPC campaigns all with three different geographic goals.

Please describe the scope of their work.

SEO, PPC, and SEM. That is all they do for us. They don’t do content, social, or Web design for us. They assist us with keeping informed and up to date with Google search changes. We meet with them on a monthly basis, and we communicate in between.

What was your process for selecting Big Oak Studios with which to work?

We interviewed three different SEO firms. At the time, we were just looking for someone to help us with strictly SEO. We’ve added the PPC and SEM services with them in time. 

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

Overall, it was from $200,000 to $1,000,000

When was the work completed?

We’ve worked with them for more than eight years. It’s ongoing work. The search engine landscape changes dramatically in time, so we continually have to adjust our strategies to keep up with changes. We focus on Google so whenever they make changes to their algorithm it can impact our strategies.

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

We consistently meet our goals with them. Our Web traffic in the last seven years has increased more than 400 percent. In the last year, we saw 21 percent growth in Web traffic alone. 

Are you satisfied with their performance?

We are satisfied. We’ve had challenges along the way, and they’ve been able to assist us with our problems and adapt to our needs. We have a robust online presence. We have five websites, two blogs, and our social media campaigns. 

That scope has grown in time and we consistently meet our goals. When we’re not meeting our goals, we adapt and change, and they present strategies to get us there.

Is there anything unique or special about Big Oak that really makes them stand out compared to other business partners?

I think they’re really good at what they do. They know their craft. I find it boring – especially on the PPC side. I’m impressed by people who can do that for a living. They do excellent work in managing it and managing the budget and adapting on an ongoing basis.

They’ve been great at giving us direction on budgeting and making recommendations. Not that we can always do what they suggest because of budget constraints, but they help us understand. They’re always responsive when we have questions or when we need data or statistics on our end. We reevaluate vendors every three years, and we have not looked to make any changes yet.

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

Have clearly defined goals. Know what you’re looking to achieve. I think it’s hard to measure results when you’re not sure what you’re trying to accomplish or your scope of what you’re trying to accomplish is too broad.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

Not anything specific.