Bonsai Media Group

Please describe your company and your position there.

CTG is a leading provider of digital transformation solutions and services. Serving as a catalyst for our clients’ transformations, we accelerate project momentum and achievement of their desired IT and business outcomes. CTG has operations in North America, South America, Western Europe, and India. I am the Vice President and CMO, Global Marketing and Communications.

For what projects/services did your company hire Bonsai Media Group, and what were your goals?

In September 2018, CTG was still live on a site launch in March 2014. Since that time, CTG’s business needs had evolved and created the need for features and functionality that the current site was not built to support. Further, the company needed a site that presented clear and compelling market messaging around service offerings and careers that was specific to our major markets (North America and Europe, including Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and the UK at that time), while also maintaining a strong global brand and employer brand message. Finally, we were looking for a partner who could build a site that would allow for scalable growth on an Umbraco platform.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Throughout the process, Bonsai was highly engaged, asked a lot of good questions, and their efforts to get to a solution that fulfilled both our desired scope and budget was apparent in their “best and final” presentation. Bonsai was very capable of doing this project and their portfolio of work spoke immediately to the quality of work that they turn out and demonstrated work with other large, complex organizations (Amazon, Sherpa, Seagull Scientific) at that time. They were also a certified Umbraco Gold Partner which gave us the reassurance that they had the skills and resources to develop sites effectively and securely on the Umbraco platform. While Bonsai was the smaller of the two final firms we were considering, the selection committee believed strongly that their size would not impact their ability to execute our project on time, on budget, and result in our desired end result. We met a number of their team members, in person at our corporate HQs and felt that there was strong working chemistry between the two teams (including our IT team members).

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

February 2019-December2019: From Discovery to project planning and go-live, full web design, development and messaging development for a suite of 4 websites (U.S., Belgium, Luxembourg, UK, with France prepped for later go-live).

Phase 1: Project planning, discovery/immersion, vision workshop, creative brief / vision doc, CMS review & definition, integrations definition, analytics review, branding and messaging assessment, competitive research, persona definitions, user flows, SEO strategy sync / collaboration with existing SEO partner, site architecture, content inventory and strategy, template definitions and designs, content widget designs, video needs definitions, multilingual scope+ strategy/process, hosting solution, website strategy, wireframes, website requirements document.

Phase 2: design, development, testing/QA, training, go-live. From December 2019 – present, Bonsai has served as our full-service website development partner providing outsourced maintenance for all sites, SEO services, a new build for a suite of five recruiting job sites and redesign of the original sites during a company rebrand initiative.

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

We've always had one single client success manager and then several supporting team members. We've come to know many of them on a first name basis. Several have worked on our account since we first engaged Bonsai.

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

In our most recent KPI reporting for 2021, we saw a 9.7% increase in users, 17.2% increase in sessions, 39.4% increase in page views, and 22.7% decrease in bounce rates across our global portfolio of sites. The bounce rate is significantly below the industry average for B2B sites of 75%. Additionally, with Bonsai’s SEO support, over the past three years, the total site traffic from search engines to all CTG sites is up nearly 30%.

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

They're collaborative, responsive, and accommodating to our needs.

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

That they have continued to remain as responsive, collaborative, and creative as they have, despite their growth and challenges presented by COVID in recent years. As a long-time Marketer, I've had many partners in my career, Bonsai stands out among the crowd.

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

Early on in our relationship, project management was not as tight as we would have liked, but I account that to them being a smaller, growing company and team at that time. I've seen nothing but improvement since then. And, when we have encountered issues, I've always found their CEO, Jason LaBaw, receptive to feedback and quick to make corrections. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a human resources company. We provide organizations a system that enables employed members of the organization to effectively assist unemployed members.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bonsai Media Group?

Because this is a unique concept, I needed guidance with communicating it and implementing it. Bonsai’s team developed my website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built the site from the scratch; we worked from a blank screen. The goal of the website is to educate organizational leaders as to how my organization can help theirs assist their unemployed members. Whether it be churches, veterans groups, or what have you, they can come to our website learn about what we do, and then sign up for our app as one of a number of types of users, including job seeker, organization group leader, and so on. Employers can post jobs in the system, and employees of the organization can help job seekers find employment.

What is the team composition?

I began working with Don (Director of business Development). He assured me that, even though I wasn’t a tech wizard, that they were. He put me in touch with Jason (Co-Founder & CEO), who met with me virtually many times and convinced me that they could handle this project and were willing to communicate at my level, as a low-tech client.

Jason then assigned me to Matt (Digital Project Manager), who oversaw the project. Matt was tremendous and very consistent in ensuring that all the details were being executed as I envisioned them.

How did you come to work with Bonsai Media Group?

I found them initially through a Google search and spoke with a number of their competitors, but none of those options came close.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from Feb 2021–March 2022.

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

The site just went live and we’re only beginning to market it, so we don’t have any statistics, but I don’t believe it will be long before people will be using it.

How did Bonsai Media Group perform from a project management standpoint?

I was very pleased with their regular status update video calls. We’ve retained developers in the past and they always become hard to reach after we’ve been promised lots of interaction, but Matt and the team showed up at least once a week to review progress and address my concerns. I was also very pleased with the extensive diagrams and notes they took to memorialize each detail of the vision. They had gigantic pictures, which were very helpful.

We mostly communicated over Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I spoke with a lot of their competitors none came close to Bonsai in terms of budget or the language they speak in. I was able to understand everything they discussed even though I’m not a technology person.

Bonsai was creative and solved really hard problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no problems. We’re thrilled with the product.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If your needs are anything like mine, then Bonsai is the answer.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Vice President of White House Gifts, a gift shop in Washington, DC.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bonsai Media Group?

Our main source of revenue came from our storefront in Washington, DC. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we lost that source of revenue and were looking for ways to pivot. We thought that by enhancing our website, we could serve our customers better.  

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked off of our existing Shopify site. We leaned on their expertise to really improve our platform. They suggested that we add special features to engage visitors and keep them on the site longer.

In addition to changing our site’s design elements, they helped us with digital marketing and advertising.  Their team made an effort to understand our business and our customer base before making recommendations.  

They improved our SEO and managed our Google Ads and Google Shopping accounts. They also helped our email blasts.

What is the team composition?

Don (Director of Business Development) was our primary contact.

How did you come to work with Bonsai Media Group?

I was sold on Bonsai Media Group after talking to Don. I needed a partner that could hit the ground running and they had a lot of experience.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around March 2020 and the project is ongoing.

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

They’re a true partner. They’re conscious of our budget and make sure that we’re getting a return on our investment.

How did Bonsai Media Group perform from a project management standpoint?

We regularly meet virtually and they share their screen to go over how the site is performing.  We were new to digital marketing, but Bonsai Media Group was patient and walked us through the process. They were honest and transparent throughout our engagement.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understood our needs and helped us reach our goals. I’m also grateful for the relationship I have with Don. It’s clear that they see us as a partner and not just a client. Unlike a lot of other companies, they’re fully invested in our project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing to add.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

In hindsight, it would have been helpful for me to understand what our digital marketing goals were ahead of time. That would help escalate the process a little more. New clients should know their goals and understand what it would take to scale their product.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of Kramer Leather. We’re a custom gun holster manufacturer with customers ranging from government agencies and police departments to everyday gun enthusiasts.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bonsai Media Group?

We had a mandatory performance upgrade that our previous vendor couldn’t comply with. We needed to find a company that could accomplish an entire website rebuild in a very short amount of time. They’ve also helped us with digital marketing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They began by building the website. We were looking for an end product that members of our team could update on the backend without it being too complicated because not everyone is tech-savvy. Desiring a user-friendly interface, they recommended using the Shopify platform. Once that was settled, they built out and launched the site for us in approximately one month.

After the site was live, we continued to work with them on some online marketing, which was fairly new to us as we were familiar with print ads. We launched several PPC campaigns and have worked on our social media promotion. In a short few months, we’ve noticed a steady increase in sales.

What is the team composition?

We had a team with a designated manager for the site redesign, as well as a small team with a representative who helps us with digital marketing.​

​​​​​​How did you come to work with Bonsai Media Group?

They were the first company I came across when I searched for local companies online. We also reached out to several other vendors, but it was clear from our initial phone call that they were a good fit and would make good partners for us. They understood the urgency of our initial project and made us feel confident that they could get it done.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $30,000–$35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2018 and they continue to work with us on marketing.

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

Our old site was outdated and limiting our growth. Just being mobile friendly has had a significant impact on our business because customers are able to clearly view the website. Our numbers have steadily increased, and we’re seeing that the majority of our business traffic is coming via mobile devices.

Not only is the layout more user-friendly, but also more attractive and offers a better experience for customers. We’ve received a lot of comments from users about how much they appreciate the new look and feel. We continue to see steady increases in contacts and sales, and it’s all due to the work of Bonsai Media Group.

How did Bonsai Media Group perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate up to three or four times per week by email in order to resolve any questions or requests. They’re very responsive, even replying late at night or on weekends. The team does a great job of explaining technical processes for people like me who aren’t familiar with how to manage the more complex components of a website, and have gone out of their way to send video tutorials so I could confidently train myself.

For marketing, we have video conferences once a month with an easy to understand breakdown of analytics.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The majority of their staff is young and up to date on the newest technologies in regard to web design and marketing. The members of Bonsai Media Group’s team work well together, and their communication skills are excellent.

Beyond that, they’re incredibly welcoming and invested in us. We even had a team member drop by on Christmas Eve to deliver a gift from their entire team. They clearly care about each individual client and are eager to help us find success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m sure every company can improve on something, but everything they did for us was great and the pricing was fair.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a try! They have the expertise to help, and that was made clear from looking at their previous work. Everything that we’ve experienced with them has been hassle-free and yielded great results.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CIO of a national environmental firm. We deal with drilling and groundwater remediation.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bonsai Media Group?

We wanted to address our internet presence, including SEO and social media reach.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bonsai refreshed our website to match the scope of our business. The main priority revolved around simplicity and ease-of-use. We place content on the CMS platform, but occasionally we outsource some of the work to their team.

Their team services all of our internet media. They perform monthly reviews of our web analytics, and we’ve optimized our SEO and social media campaigns around those results. Bonsai also assisted us with rebranding around 16 acquired companies and have consolidated them into a single brand.

Bonsai continues to provide web maintenance and reviewing our SEO metrics. Sometimes we seek their assistance when running specific campaigns.

What is the team composition?

My marketing team has worked with several project managers. My primary contact is Jason (CEO, Bonsai Media Group).

How did you come to work with Bonsai Media Group?

I had worked with Bonsai before working here and recommended that they interview them as a potential vendor for the website. Bonsai was selected for a variety of reasons, and they’ve been working with the firm ever since.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Bonsai in July 2015, and the work is ongoing.

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

Before working with Bonsai, we didn’t have SEO, and our search engine rankings were poor. We achieved all our goals. The firm is in the top one to three of different areas that we’ve optimized our rankings around. We’ve generated a significant number of website quotes.

There’s been a noticeable improvement in reach. We have a tool on our site where the public can report safety issues, and there’s been a substantial improvement in company safety. Bonsai has helped us become who we are today.

How did Bonsai Media Group perform from a project management standpoint?

It varies as we’ve worked with different project managers. When challenges arose, their team resolved them. Bonsai is a responsive agency that takes pride in what they do. This pride reflects in the work they produced.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Bonsai’s willingness to learn our business and understand our goals and then pivot that understanding to developing our vision for us stands out. It is not a cookie cutter approach, but more of a partnership. Their team doesn’t need support from ours, which is a testament to their talent. They want to be partners, not only a vendor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If you asked me this two years ago, I would’ve commented on their communication. Their team has gotten better at pacing regular contact. Bonsai could transfer more knowledge on what the analytics mean and how they can improve to our team.

Any advice for potential customers?

When working with Bonsai, I would suggest looking over a communication schedule, which would be useful for both teams. If your company is looking to expand their internal team, they are a fantastic partner. But if you aren’t looking for that, you’d want to see how they will fit with your company.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner and CMO of Apex Facility Resources. We're a commercial services and furnishing company that helps customers manage the total life cycle of their workspace.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bonsai Media Group?

We wanted to update and refresh our website. We began working with another company but we were not satisfied, so we started looking for a new vendor.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we met with Jason and discussed the design for our website. The online industry is changing very quickly, so we wanted to have a design that would be relevant for at least a couple of years. Then, they learnt about our company, our target audience, and what we were trying to achieve. They transformed our old website and developed an interactive hero for the homepage. The interactive hero provides users with a quick and engaging way to understand our main services.

What is the team composition?

I mostly work with Jason (CEO, Bonsai Media Group).

How did you come to work with Bonsai Media Group?

We knew Jason through networking.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

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

The website is attractive and user-friendly. It helps us better communicate our key messages, while the interactive hero has increased the amount of time users spend on the homepage.

It's a been a very productive engagement and we have a sense of working towards a common goal. They also have a very positive relationship with our marketing team.

How did Bonsai Media Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They have very strong communication skills. Also, they're very responsive and flexible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a workspace design and delivery service, we're always trying to understand what our customers want. Bonsai Media was able to understand our business goals and become part of our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Anytime we get out of communication with them, we get back on track very quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They're very knowledgeable, so let them educate you. I learnt so much during our meetings with Jason.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CIO and CTO of Primeline Utility Services. We specialize in utility construction services. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Bonsai Media Group?

Our company is only about four years old. When we were first starting, we engaged Bonsai Media Group to help us develop our website and all elements of our brand.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We relied on Bonsai Media Group to develop our website, our digital properties, and the print collateral that we bring to trade shows and conferences. Their team produced those deliverables for our corporate office and our seven subsidiaries. Once our website was live, Bonsai Media Group properly optimized it so that we ranked highly in online searches.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked closely with Jason (Co-founder/CEO, Bonsai Media Group) and Maria (Creative Director, Bonsai Media Group). Maria has served as our overall account manager, but she initially also coordinated the development and creative work. She now oversees a team of developers.

How did you come to work with Bonsai Media Group?

In my search, Bonsai Media Group was mentioned several times by several people in my network. My vendor selection traditionally comes down to trust in the partnership. We’re headquartered in Seattle, so there are a lot of companies that offer similar services. Bonsai Media Group won my business when Jason and his team spent 6–8 hours in several meetings to understand our industry before we even talked about a brand and a website. They entrenched themselves in our business. We had four different agencies vying for the project, but none of them did the extra work to truly understand our operation.

How much have you invested with them?

When considering the work they’ve completed for us and all of our subsidiaries, it’s totaled around $130,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The website and collateral development project spanned June 2015–December 2016. However, they provide occasional maintenance services for our site. We will also engage them to make the required changes when we make an acquisition or when something drastic changes about our business or our service offerings.

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

Not only did they help us develop our brand and our messaging, but their SEO work has also helped us become more visible on a national scale. Bonsai Media Group excelled in building our website and our brand and making sure that our services are recognized.

How did Bonsai Media Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They were outstanding in this regard, and they proved it early on. Bonsai Media Group submitted a proposal that detailed their daily and weekly project plans. They walked us through the life cycle of their development—from concept to design to engineering to QA to customer’s approval.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team takes the time up front to understand your industry regardless of the project size. Further, with how often developers in Seattle move jobs, Bonsai Media Group operates in a way that makes it easy for new developers to enter and quickly pick up the project. This ensures that nothing falls through the cracks and there are no surprises at the end.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been great. I have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bonsai Media Group is capable of delivering on all expectations, but they are also well-equipped to recommend and provide ancillary services that can further help your business. I’d suggest giving their ideas honest consideration.

Please describe your organization.

We are a quick service restaurant chain in the Pacific Northwest. 

What is your role at the company?

I am the marketing manager.

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address with Bonsai Media Group?

To create an engaging web platform for a brand-centric, social media-rooted consumer contest. We wanted to increase sales and guest counts, educate consumers on brand values, engage in the social media space, and increase fan and follower counts on relevant brand social media channels.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Bonsai created a website that proved to be the heart of our Fan Challenge social media contest. The site featured user credentials, custom accounts, and social sharing in addition to being the home of challenges themselves – five levels of centric challenges that allowed users to gain points upon challenge completions. The site also featured a leaderboard for contestants to gauge their standing regularly in relation to other participants.

How did you come to work with Bonsai Media Group?

Bonsai was selected by our social media partner. 

When was the project completed?

It ended in November 2012.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We got great results from the work they did for us. It was a very positive engagement. Our social media growth was 12 percent Facebook fan growth, 20 percent Foursquare growth, and 6 percent Twitter growth. Our restaurant website growth had an 8 percent increase in traffic for the same period month prior. The average time onsite had a 13 percent increase in time on page for the same period month prior. The traveler landing page saw a 120 percent increase in traffic in the same period month prior and a 99 percent increase in time spent on page in the same period month prior. Our Health Coach saw a 647 percent increase in traffic for the same period month prior and a 59 percent increase in time spent on page during the same period month prior. The app saw a 49 percent increase in traffic during the same period month prior and an 8 percent decrease in time spent on page for the same period month prior.

How did Bonsai Media Group perform?

I appreciated Bonsai Media Group's organization and workflow. They met all expectations for the project. They were also very communicative.

Are there areas in which they could improve?

I can't think of any.

Please describe your organization.

I work for a child health system.

What business challenge were you trying to address with the Bonsai Media Group?

We needed to build out a whole new website for our initiative.

Please describe the scope of Bonsai's involvement in detail.

We had a new idea to help child health systems reform health care. We're asking those systems to think more about prevention care as opposed to chronic care models. Because both the concept and the project were so new, we needed Bonsai Media Group for their web design services, but they also provided a lot of guidance to help us actually understand the process of creating a website. Even though none of us are really tech-focused and none of us have designed websites before, we had plenty of great ideas as to what we wanted the website to be about. There was a real need for someone not just to build a website, but really to help build out our vision and think collaboratively with us.

How did you come to work with the Bonsai Media Group?

We found them through a recommendation from another developer with whom I had worked on another project. However, we did go through a full and open bid process where we sent out request for proposals to about 15 different firms.

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

We have a tight budget, and we're capped at $100,000 for the total project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Bonsai in February of this year, and we're still currently working with them.

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

We just officially launched the website today [September 2015], and we're very pleased with it. We're already receiving quite a bit of positive feedback from people who are part of our community. As far as the process of developing the site was concerned, however, that's been less than pleasurable. In fact, we wound up having to spend money to hire a third party to manage the Bonsai Media Group.

It's been a very difficult process for our team. We found ourselves in a position where we just could not work directly with our developer. It was just not a very positive experience. That third party that we wound up hiring was actually the individual who brought the Bonsai Media Group to us.

Is there anything Bonsai Media Group could have improved or done differently?

The person we were working with from Bonsai is probably a very talented developer; however, he should never be the one to interact with customers. He's simply not very good at handling customer relations at all. In fact, he tends to use language that is threatening in nature and quite counter-productive.

We were at a point where we felt like we just wanted to get the project over with. We definitely didn't want to pull out, but we certainly couldn't continue to have what was becoming a continuing confrontation between Bonsai's developer and just about every one of our staff members. We brought in this other developer, who had really been counseling us behind the scenes every time one of these issues would blow up with Bonsai. I guess he was trying to work behind the scenes with Bonsai's developer, even to the point of coaching him, but the situation was untenable for us. We wound up putting our new developer on retainer to be the go-between and deal with Bonsai.

Please describe your organization.

We're based in the United States, and we are a utility construction services company. We're a holding company for about six businesses that provide utility solutions to power companies.

What is your position?

I am the director of business development.

What business challenge were you trying to address with the Bonsai Media Group?

We were looking for someone to partner with us to build a website for our company.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We wanted to create an industry-leading website that was mobile friendly and descriptive of what we do in a simple, straightforward way. The Bonsai Media Group helped us build that website. They were successful in getting us what we needed.

How did you come to work with the Bonsai Media Group?

I actually had met with about five different vendors nationwide. Bonsai was referred to us by a consultant who is working for us on the IT [information technology] side. He was clearly able to get across what we needed from a delivery standpoint, and Bonsai was able to accommodate those needs.

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

We have spent somewhere in the $10,000 to $50,000 range working with Bonsai.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them at the end of March 2015, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

Bonsai is working on putting our site into production today, so we really don't have any hard data as yet. But, Bonsai Media Group has been very attentive to our needs and has really gone above and beyond to make sure that, at the end of the day, we will be happy with what they are delivering. They've done a great job.

What distinguishes Bonsai Media Group from other providers?

We were at a point where the resolution of images weren't exactly what we wanted because every device is different. I was very impressed with their owner [Jason Labaw]. He took time out of his busy schedule to spend a day working through that problem and coming back to us with an action plan on how to make those images look better. I was very impressed with his attention to detail and willingness to go above and beyond for us to make things right.

Is there anything the Bonsai Media Group could have improved or done differently?

We need to improve our communication process on both ends. They went down the path of building a static site for us, but because of the changes we were asking for that never came to fruition. The project was delayed but, at the end of the day, they are delivering exactly what we need in a very cost-effective manner.