Blue Meta

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Donia Farms. We market and distribute dairy products to grocery stores in western Canada.

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Meta?

The challenge was the efficient use of digital marketing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided Blue Meta with ad copy and then their team mapped out a digital marketing strategy. They then took over the strategy and execute it on Instagram and Facebook. Although there’s talk of them creating graphics for us, we mostly do that in-house at the moment.

What is the team composition?

I work with Carissa (Digital Marketing Specialist) and Ricky (CMO).

How did you come to work with Blue Meta?

I knew one of the company’s principals and then stumbled across one of their podcasts during which they talked about how it’s frustrating for brand owners to use marketing agencies that don’t care about the bottom line. I then reached out to them and gathered information. We started to do a little bit with them and slowly did more.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $3,000 a month on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2020, and it’s ongoing.

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

Blue Meta uses metrics to measure their performance. We've seen a significant increase in website traffic and growth with our sales. Unlike the other firms we used in the past, Blue Meta is results-based. There are numbers involved in our discussions.

How did Blue Meta perform from a project management standpoint?

We have monthly meetings. Everything that’s frustrating to a brand owner, Blue Meta is not. When it comes to monitoring and sharing results, their team does it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Blue Meta diligently compares results and spend.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set a budget and stick to it. Blue Meta is good at working within a budget. They’re also scrappy when determining the best spend.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run a personal training and rehab business in Vancouver. We have two locations. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Meta?

They do our Google and Facebook advertising.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We met with them for onboarding, set up, and a keyword diagnostic exercise. That helped us determine a direction for how we could work together, which ended up being through paid search. From there, they starting managing Google Ads and Facebook Ads for us. Since then, they’ve added Bing. They create landing pages as well. We meet every month to review our progress and hear their advice.   

What is the team composition?

We work with Carissa (Digital Marketing Specialist) and Ricky (CMO).

How did you come to work with Blue Meta?

I met Nick (CEO) through a leadership group and heard about his company’s services through that meeting. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $25,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since around May 2020.

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

Their work has collected an average of two quality leads each week, which we consider a success. They focus on metrics as a quantitative team. There has been some back and forth between our teams about which lead could be fully attributed to their ads because we don’t use a traditional CRM for tracking. However, they’ve addressed the issues and have done a great job getting us leads in general. We’ve grown because of their work, so I’m very happy to continue working with them. About half of our business is from online marketing, so they’re worth the investment to us. 

How did Blue Meta perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very responsive, willing to address issues right away. Their team is very growth-minded. While there have been a few hiccups, but they’ve always provided us with additional management time and explained concepts very well when addressing any issues. They provide us with dashboards that I can check whenever for updated information. Additionally, we have a meeting every month. They take our concerns seriously and make adjustments when needed.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They know what it takes to get this work done and achieve results. Compared to others, they’re a bit more expensive but have done the job much more effectively than other providers. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re doing a pretty good job, so I can’t think of anything.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a call and work with them. They have their process down.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Wasp Manufacturing Ltd. We sell wildfire protection equipment to governments, independent contractors, and retailers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Meta?

We wanted to address our online marketing programs. We needed a more targeted system for direct to consumer retail products. We wanted to create an online store and then advertise the products accordingly.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Blue Meta focuses a large portion of their efforts on Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads. Their team has designed and placed a variety of marketing ads for Facebook and Google Ads. They started with a number of different designs but narrowed them based on their performances. It’s an ongoing process, so we’re still working on that.

They also set up our online store through Shopify and have adjusted it throughout our engagement. Their team was involved in redoing our website too. They changed the host of our website and worked to make it more user-friendly.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with two people from their team. Carissa (Digital Marketing Specialist) handles our day to day operations. Ricky (CMO) manages the entire process.

How did you come to work with Blue Meta?

Our director of sales and marketing found about 3 companies that we interviewed. Two of the companies talked about broad marketing guidelines but not social media marketing. They had old school marketing styles and wanted 1–2-year commitments with huge budget amounts.

Blue Meta looked into our company ahead of time and initially created a proposal through a PowerPoint presentation that broke down our different options. Their team was the only one that addressed our targeted market. They also proposed an initial budget that we could review throughout the partnership.

How much have you invested with them?

For their services, we’ve spent about $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the partnership in April 2020, and it’s ongoing.

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

For our online sales, we made 10 times more than what we previously made. Our online sales are way up, so we’re happy with Blue Meta. Their team doesn’t make excuses. If we don’t have a couple of weeks when we don’t see sales, they review their efforts to understand why.

At the start, they actually wanted us to spend less money on advertising than I wanted. They knew that they had to first learn our market and audience. Their team doesn’t try to have us spend more than is necessary.

How did Blue Meta perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a sit-down meeting every month when we analyze what happened, and those meetings can be deeply involved. Blue Meta gives us reports that tell us exactly what we spent and acquired. I can receive reports monthly, weekly, or daily, so there’s a ton of feedback. They’ve almost become like a business manager.

Their team’s easy to reach including Blue Meta's owners. However, I haven’t gone to the owners after our initial meeting because their team’s excellent.

Their fee isn’t based on a percentage of our ad spend. Instead, they charge a fee to oversee the project. That’s awesome because they’re not pushing us to advertise. Their team’s pushing to get results, which is much better.

What did you find most impressive about them?

My business partner, who has been involved in marketing for her whole career, is incredibly impressed by Blue Meta. What sets Blue Meta apart is that they’re easily accessible and their staff’s excellent. They’re friendly, accessible, and willing to take on projects that are outside of their initial scope of work.

Their team will even take on a project that’s outside what they would prefer to do. For example, they wouldn’t normally redo a website on a different server. However, their team included technicians that could do it, so they did it for us. They’re also reasonably priced.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing negative that I could say at this point. However, they’re improving all of the time. For example, they just brought on a new program to further analyze marketing data.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stay away from any company that tells you that you should be splash marketing. Work with a company, like Blue Meta, that knows the technical side of marketing and can track reactions to marketing content. You want to work with a company that can give you data and create targeted ads.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run a financial planning practice. We’re also self-employed contractors, so we get a lot of leeway on how we actually want to run our own business when it comes to marketing.

What challenge were you trying to address with blue/meta?

They were working with me for lead generation and connections on LinkedIn. During COVID-19, we couldn’t do any in-person networking or seminars, so they’ve helped me get in touch with the right people online. It was more brand awareness targeted towards our audience.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We sent direct messages to people on LinkedIn. We worked together to come up with the messaging. They’ve done stuff like this before, so they know what works, but we wanted to make sure it sounded like something I’d say.

What is the team composition?

Nick oversees the general business stuff, Ricky is the tech lead, and Kianna does the day to day stuff. They’re only a phone call away on Google Hangouts, so I’ve been really happy with their responsiveness.

How did you come to work with blue/meta?

I knew Nick (CEO) and Ricky (CMO) from University. We stayed in each other’s networks, so when the time came, we were able to work together.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent about $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2020, and the work is ongoing.

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

Anecdotally, this project has put me in touch with the right people. Connecting with people on LinkedIn has been helpful during the pandemic. The business I am has a long sales cycle, so it’s difficult to measure the ROI right now. I have some meetings set up, calls, and a handful of lunches as a direct response to this initiative. It’s trending in the right direction. I have more connections and responses; we’re just waiting for it to convert to business.

How did blue/meta perform from a project management standpoint?

We trust them and they are very solid. It was a new area for me and they were helpful every step of the way. The schedule meetings, have check-ins, scorecards, and track metrics as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s hard to pick a highlight right now, but I’m pleased with some of the leads. We’ve met a few ideal clients in Vancouver.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive feedback. We found a price that was comfortably in my budget and I’ve seen positive responses,

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Sit back and let the experts do what they do best.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing manager at Drake Meats. We develop, manufacture, and market meat products for Saskatchewan and western Canada.

What challenge were you trying to address with blue/meta?

We are entering the e-commerce world, and we needed to hire some e-commerce experts to navigate that. That’s why we hired blue/meta.

What was the scope of their involvement?

blue/meta completed a comprehensive e-commerce strategy, which involved developing, identifying, and recording a target audience, market positioning, pricing, keyword overview, and marketing funnels.

They did tactics that we’ll use for the launch and for the whole year after we launch. The team also did a general overview of ad design and messaging that we’re going to use during our campaigns. The final product was an entire marketing calendar for year one of this new e-commerce project. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with 4–5 teammates, and there were probably others working behind the scenes. I mostly dealt with Nick (CEO) and Ricky (CMO).

How did you come to work with blue/meta?

A colleague of mine who used to work with them introduced them to me. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–April 2020.

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

Nick and Ricky were available at all times. They went above and beyond, doing more work than we had hired them to do. In terms of success, they really got us prepared to launch this e-commerce business from a marketing and promotional perspective.

They set us up for success in terms of laying the foundation for what data needs to be tracked throughout the marketing funnel so that we can improve our campaigns every week and ultimately make this profitable.

The team set themselves up in a way that they had to deliver results, otherwise, we would’ve known very quickly. There was no way to hide. 

How did blue/meta perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, they performed very well. blue/meta reached out on a regular basis and followed up when they needed to. They conducted the work extremely quickly, a lot faster than we were expecting. From start to finish, it was a smooth and seamless process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What set them apart from other agencies that I’ve worked with is that they weren’t just concerned about ad spend and spending a lot of money on marketing campaigns. blue/meta was far more concerned with the project’s profitability and that we were accurately measuring our market performance post-launch.

My favorite part about working with blue/meta is that they treated this as their own company. They took on this project and treated it like it was their own, which I’m not used to. As I mentioned, they truly wanted it to be profitable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no specific criticism for them at this time. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Hire them. If you’re interested in measurable marketing, particularly in the e-commerce space, blue/meta will get you where you need to go.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Corbin & Co., a personal real estate corporation.

What challenge were you trying to address with blue/meta?

We wanted to increase our online engagement.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Corbin & Co. basically redid everything that we had in terms of content and branding, and they developed our website from the ground up. They continue to do SEO and execute different campaigns that we have on a regular basis. They also do social media coordination with another company that they work with. They manage our content and work on the creative side as well.

What is the team composition?

We work with three people, including Ricky (CMO) and Tianna (Digital Marketing Specialist).

How did you come to work with blue/meta?

I’d done business with the other partner Nick (CEO) through a pub that he owned.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent about $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in September 2018, and it’s ongoing.

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

My ranking for being a top realtor in my local area used to be in the hundreds on Google; I used to be way down on the list. Now, for certain keywords that are important, we rank in the top two and three in my local area.

How did blue/meta perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great. They’re really organized and help keep me organized. We communicate via email and video calls. I’ve collaborated with them to determine KPIs, and we have monthly in-depth calls to discuss those KPIs. It gives me a very clear snapshot of how the business is performing in regards to online.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attention to detail and expertise in the space sets them apart.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they do a great job. We’re really happy with the results.

Any advice for potential customers?

Listen to and trust in what they say; they know what they’re doing. Results aren’t immediate for anything when it comes to branding, so be patient. If you’re patient, big changes can happen and make a world of difference.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business manager of Tap 2 Drain Plumbing.

What challenge were you trying to address with blue/meta?

We didn’t have much experience on the marketing side of our business or time to devote to it, and it began impacting our business. blue/meta was working with us on a part-time basis whenever we needed help, and I eventually brought them on and gave them full control.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I asked them to do a light digital audit to start with to see what our footprint was. From there, I was very impressed with what they came back with. It told me exactly what I thought was the problem. Then, we put together monthly marketing reports and dashboards. This let me access all the information they were tracking for me. We met on a monthly basis to steer our efforts in the right direction.

One of the things they built for me was a live dashboard that tracks and compares KPIs with how much I’m spending, including cost-per-click (CPC). I also asked them to track all my calls and they found a company that lets me use different phone numbers for different clients – with everything linked back to my phone so we can track which ads or landing pages they’ve seen. We've also looked at website traffic, booked calls, and analyzed Google Ads and Facebook Ads and Bing Ads performance. They don’t do any organic work for me.

We were about to start on a website redevelopment in mid-April as well, but that’s on hold because of the pandemic.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with everyone since the beginning, from the President on down. I’m a face-to-face kind of person. Especially at the beginning, I like to know who I’m working with: how they handle themselves in meetings and how they think on their feet. Starting with the President, I worked my way down to the team I have now.

Nick (CEO, blue/meta) is the President, and though he no longer works on the day-to-day side, he joins meetings, which allows us to discuss if they’re actually performing the work that I want. Ricky (CMO, blue/meta) is the project manager and my main contact. I go to him to perform certain tasks for me or put projects together going after certain clients. Finally, Carissa (Digital Marketing Specialist, blue/meta) is the one behind the scenes that I work with on a daily basis.

How did you come to work with blue/meta?

I’ve worked for banks for years and owned my own company for years. In working in different industries and with different sales and marketing teams, I can say that blue/meta is number one. They deliver, they’re not afraid to communicate and they don’t mind when I tell them if I don’t like something. They’re very open. I would recommend them to anybody.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’ve been working full-time with them since August 2019. They’re part of my management team. I’m not planning on bringing anyone else in. I get great value from them.

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

Business has increased by 20–30% thanks to them. Because I request a face-to-face meeting every month, along with the reports in front of me, it holds them accountable. We go over everything — every KPI, ever number we’re tracking — and they’re well-prepared for me. They’ve taken responsibility, no matter how it falls out.

Anecdotally, I work mostly with Google services, but they told me that Bing was trending and that it was less expensive, and we’ve seen traffic grow from that source. I wouldn’t have even considered it without them. They look at all angles.

How did blue/meta? perform from a project management standpoint?

If I send out an email or text, they’re on it right away. I’m not versed in everything but they handle me very well. By the time they’re done explaining, I’ve realized it was a stupid question, but they never make me feel that way. They’re on time and budget, and if something happens during the project they won’t increase their bill form the original quote. Some people will add to your bill, but they don’t.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I went to them in March and told them I was losing well over 30% with the virus and I asked them what they could do to help me out. Without reducing their services to me, they reduced their invoices by 50%. That’s unheard of. Since then, I’ve sent two projects to them and given them some money back because of it. Most people would cut back their services, but now, when we get out of this, we’re going to start franchising and I’m bringing blue/meta with us. Every one of our franchisees is going to work with them.

They work well as a team. I tried to trip them up by saying the same thing to two different people — seeing if I could get two different answers — but they were on it. They don’t put each other down for any reason if something gets dropped. Their communication as a team is amazing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind right now, and I’m the type of guy who would tell you if there was something. They’ve just knocked it out of the park.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be brutally honest. Don’t hide if your business has been bad or your marketing is not good. They’ll find it regardless, so be honest from the beginning. They do the same. They won’t mince words or make you feel wonderful if it’s not the case. They want you to learn.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of The Gaming Stadium.

What challenge were you trying to address with blue/meta?

We were a new company and were looking to build brand awareness and drive registration for events we were doing prior to our opening.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a discovery meeting, where we laid out who we are and what we’re doing, as well as the potential challenges we’d be facing as a startup with limited bandwidth.

We were able to build out a plan that would accomplish our goals and utilizing technology like Facebook Ads and Google Ads. That led into roadmaps, and regular ongoing meetings. They leveraged those digital advertising channels to drive people to our website to sign up for our newsletter and promote our events as we led up to our opening.

How did you come to work with blue/meta?

I worked with the co-founders previously and had seen the work that they do. We still went through a formal RFP process, and they had the best plan by far. They’re both gamers and understand our industry, which was important as well.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October 2018 and wrapped up September 2019. We only stopped because we brought an internal person onboard.

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

When it came to driving visits to our registration page, we jumped up 35% from the previous year. Using the ads they’d done, we were able to track all of the data. We also saw a 17% increase in ticket sales through their digital campaigns. They set a clear expectation at the beginning and followed through to make sure that expectation was met. They were very honest and realistic. If things didn’t go as planned, they scheduled a meeting so we could strategize on how to meet that goal.

How did blue/meta perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re fantastic. Their attention to detail and service was through the roof. We could contact them at any time. They had great communication and I still talk to them 1-2 times a week. If we ever needed to engage an agency again, they’d be our first call, no questions asked.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They empowered us to help with the work, which helped us stretch our budget for more ads. Even when we hired our in-house personnel, they helped and aided with that transition process.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a manufacturer of terpenes for sale into the cannabis industry. Terpenes are a biomedical compound produced by over 20,000 plants in nature, one of which is cannabis. I’m the sales and business development manager.

What challenge were you trying to address with blue/meta?

We were looking for local, open-minded, non-discriminating digital marketing to help us with some very short-term objectives.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided digital design, website enhancement, and a trade show digital strategy and execution. They’re currently working with us to build our SEO potential and increase our online sales through e-commerce.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with up to four members of their team.

How did you come to work with blue/meta?

I did some research and came upon blue/meta and chose them among a pool of candidates. I liked their portfolio, their approach, and their willingness to work with such a new sector like ours.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $7,000 – $8,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

They’ve helped generate more revenue, and they’ve been extremely flexible with the way the market has changed due to COVID-19. We’ve received incredibly positive feedback on our website and they were instrumental in delivering on time and on budget. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re genuinely interested in our business. They’re always eager and available to contribute.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could maintain their attention to detail going forward.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to put it all on the table. Trust that they can pick and choose where strategies will take off from, but make sure they’re fully integrated. Don’t try to box them into a corner.