Brain Bytes Creative

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of digital marketing for Hachette Book Group. My position extends to any level of digital or social marketing, including websites, email lists, and the development of ads for special projects.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brain Bytes Creative?

We’ve worked with them numerous times, but in this case, we were looking to develop a mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brain Bytes Creative developed a mobile app for us. They built both an iOS and Android version of the platform, which focuses on promoting age-appropriate literature to children. Their team was responsible for wireframes, creative meetings, and regular app updates, everything from the beginning of the project to the final deliverable.

What is the team composition?

We worked with six different members of the Brain Bytes Creative team, including Jason (Founder & Partner), Belle (Director of Creative Services), and Stephanie (Director of Project Management). 

How did you come to work with Brain Bytes Creative?

I already had a working relationship with Jason, who also runs a successful production company. I had done extensive work with them in the past, so when we expanded into the digital space, I knew that he would be a trusted partner.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Brain Bytes Creative ran from June – September 2020.

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

We were very pleased with the work done by Brain Bytes Creative. The entire internal team was very happy with the app.

How did Brain Bytes Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

Brain Bytes Creative met every deadline. They were committed at all times and always in our corner. Their team was happy to discuss the details of the project with us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Not only were they extremely professional and detail-oriented, but they were also fantastic communicators. They made sure I understood every stage of the process and were reliable in their delivery.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would highly recommend working with Brain Bytes Creative, especially if you are new to the digital space or want someone you can really trust. They are completely transparent and work to ensure you are happy and at ease.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Relish Marketing provides branding, integrated marketing and digital experiences to clients practicing in the CPG, manufacturing, healthcare and professional services industries. As President, I oversee client strategy as well as business development.

For what projects/services did your company hire Brain Bytes Creative, and what were your goals?

We hired Brain Bytes to help us fine-tune our messaging and marketing strategy as a precursor to revamping our SEO and website.

How did you select Brain Bytes Creative and what were the deciding factors?

I have known the principals of Brain Bytes for some time, having leveraged their expertise on several client projects over the past ten years.

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

Brain Bytes assessed our existing website and SEO performance, reviewed the marketing strategy and messaging we were employing to promote the agency. The steps of the project included:

• Agency and website strategy assessment
• SEO assessment
• Review of findings
• Website and SEO recommendations
• Key page outlines of content and CTAs

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

Jason, Co-Founder/CEO Savvy, Owner plus several BB team members who assisted with assessment and keyword research

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

We were thrilled with the work of Jason, Savvy and their team. They were immensely helpful in clarifying our areas of expertise and identifying new,, more powerful messaging for the firm.

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

Set up project timelines and responsibilities which they adhered to throughout the project. I always knew exactly where we were in the process and what was next.

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

Their incredible brains and the way in which they could so clearly see us.

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

Nothing I can think of.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Porter Novelli, a public relations agency. We consult for clients across a variety of industries, from healthcare to consumer brands.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brain Bytes Creative?

Most recently, we needed web and mobile app development to support our client projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They have done multiple projects, mainly revolving around design and development.

They helped create a web-based training app for a client, doing the design and development.

They also collaborated with us to create a mobile app for one of our clients. They did the coding and analytics and worked collaboratively with us on the creative and design.

They’re currently working on updating the look and feel of the mobile app.

What is the team composition?

We usually work with 2–3 people on a project, including the project manager, who coordinates with their team, the owner, and one or two of the developers. Stephanie (Director of Project Management) is our current project manager and our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Brain Bytes Creative?

I believe they were recommended to us. I liked that they were relationship-driven and collaborative. They showed a strong desire to understand and meet the needs of us, and of our clients.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around January 2017, and the relationship is ongoing.

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

The app is beautiful. There have been over 600,000 downloads to date. The feedback from users is favorable. Our clients are also quite happy and find the product to be valuable to them, so we’re happy. Even when things aren’t going smoothly, Brain Bytes is a great partner, always willing to think through and find solutions to get the job done right.

How did Brain Bytes Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

Stephanie keeps things on track and moving forward. She also does a good job to meet all the demands and requests of the client. We use a platform for sharing presentations and communicate mainly via phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re service-oriented and collaborative. They strive to understand what we want, what the client wants, and to meet those needs. While the work they do meets the industry standards for excellence, more than that, they’re a team that is enjoyable to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would like them not to hesitate to share any challenges they face during projects. Communication has improved, but can always be improved upon more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate clearly about your long-term goals and expectations. They will help guide you.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner at Calloway Title and Escrow. We’re a commercial real estate law firm and title agency that provides insurance, title, and legal counsel for transactions across the country.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brain Bytes Creative?

We needed our website to be redone and updated.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We showed them some examples of competitors’ sites that we liked, and they developed the website for us. They also did SEO tasks and created website content.

What is the team composition?

We interacted with 9-10 people, including Jason (Founder & Partner), Bridget (Founder & Partner), Savvy (Founder & Partner), the salespeople, and the team that worked on content.

How did you come to work with Brain Bytes Creative?

They were referred by a friend. When we spoke with the team, there was an instant personality match, and I felt they were invested in producing something we would be happy with.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from around January 2018–January 2019. 

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

We get weekly inquiries from potential clients and received no criticisms for the new website. With the old one, we received very few leads and regular criticisms. Brain Bytes Creative used their knowledge and expertise to create a website that’s better than we had imagined.

How did Brain Bytes Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through email, calls, and text. We had several decision-making meetings throughout the engagement. They did an excellent job, keeping us on track while not being too pushy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They carried the bulk of the project by themselves, like generating website content. It was easy for me to provide what they needed without having to lead. They jumped right back in after a pause from our side and we never felt like less of a priority because of it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be ready to share your company culture and the vision for the project with them. Set aside time to engage and allow them to get to know you/your company so they can give the most for your investment.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing and communications coordinator for our ortho and pediatric dentistry practices.

For what projects/services did your company hire Brain Bytes Creative, and what were your goals?

Our goal was an initial complete overhaul of design for our websites but we knew we were severely lacking with google rankings, SEO, ads, etc and need professionals to come in and not only explain the value to our doctors but to execute.

How did you select Brain Bytes Creative and what were the deciding factors?

We met them at a conference and comparing to other companies, Brain Bytes dove much deeper than just the design of our site. They explained the conversions we would get from the less "sexy" stuff such as SEO, PPC, technical fixes, and Google Ads.

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

The scope of work was detailed and mapped out step by step. We started with them just getting to know our practice, vibes, and goals and then did some design quizzes to get a better idea of the look we were going for. From there, interviews occurred to get the proper copy and content writing for our websites while they kept in mind the strategies needed for SEO, PPC, etc.

Campaigns then started and more and more backlinking occurred. We then started a blog for even more SEO and more pages have been rolled out by the month., further expanding our Google rankings. Google ads are now in the works as well and monthly technical fixes occur.

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

Jason Sirotin Co-Founder Caroline Hosey-Account Manager Hillary Humphreys-Design Marisol Gracia-Junior Account Manager Savvy Lorestani-Owner

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

Website referrals and conversions have increased since our launch. We are very happy with the instant improvements and cannot wait to see where Google Ads takes us.

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

Very communicative and polite (when they needed to remind us to get something done). Timelines were more than reasonable and everything has been organized and consistent from the start,

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

Their overall knowledge and confidence of success stands out the most. Most of this stuff is complicate and hard for business owners to understand and they explain it enough for us to buy-in to the concepts and then take it from there and execute with their expertise.

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

No.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager of Hodges-Mace. It’s a benefits enrollment and technology solution company that helped provide services to employers to help their employees enroll in benefits and manage their HR. We recently went through an acquisition.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brain Bytes Creative?

We didn’t have the marketing headcount or budget to cover the full scope of a marketing team. We brought in Brain Bytes Creative to help us carry the weight of a lot of the things we didn’t have solutions for. They handled our SEO, helped with content creation, and managed the website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve helped us revamp our website multiple times and build out new pages. Their team redeveloped and optimized our SEO, creating a content and news blog section. They’ve helped us manage our website in many aspects. We dabbled in PPC but didn’t have a budget for it. We use tools like Katara that helped create some brand recognition but it was very minimal. Before the acquisition, the website was on WordPress.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5–6 people in total but with 2–3 individuals on a regular basis.

How did you come to work with Brain Bytes Creative?

Our marketing CMO hired Brain Bytes Creative because she had worked with them in the past. She knew they’d be a good fit.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from January 2015–May 2020.

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

They were always looking for ways to help either optimize different pages or make sure they understood the full market scope. They jumped in and helped in more ways than I can count. Brain Bytes Creative took the time to explain things to me. SEO isn’t in my expertise, and they were very helpful in allowing me to understand. When I brought in high stakeholders, they held those conversations. Their team was eager to learn our business and that resulted in their ability to write better content and insightful ideas.

How did Brain Bytes Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

We held productive biweekly calls. Their team always met deadlines. If there was something being held up, I was always made aware of it. Communication was great. I had a project coordinator I consistently collaborated with. I’d reach out to her and then she’d put me in touch with whoever I needed to talk to. We’d have a lot of Zooms calls and emails and we used Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had a great attitude. Their team was always willing to think outside the box. It helped a lot that they took the time to understand what we did. There were times when we pivoted and the fact that they always had a good attitude about it was refreshing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We went through a lot of turnover with our main contacts on their team during the last two years of the engagement. These new team members always did a good job, but having to relearn with a new person wasn’t ideal.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to give Brain Bytes Creative the time they need to learn about your business.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager of a personal injury law practice.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brain Bytes Creative?

We have a multifaceted engagement. We engage with them for website design and SEO services. The law firm partners have had trouble in the past with SEO vendors. Our objective is to get our average position to be higher, ideally in the number-one spot, but if not between 1–3. We want to optimize our site to achieve those position rankings.

Originally, we brought on Brain Bytes Creative to analyze a then-new SEO vendor we had. Their team conducted audits of that vendor’s work and provided optimization and suggestions. The information that Brain Bytes Creative provided — on-site SEO, technical SEO, page speed, and other things of that manner — was phenomenal. They provided great insights so we got rid of our old vendor and brought Brain Bytes Creative on as our full-time web developer and SEO company.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brain Bytes Creative knew they were coming to a huge mess because they’d already been auditing the site. Their team implemented and resolved the issues they found. For example, we started with a heavy URL restructuring project. They rebuilt all of the URLs and put redirects on everything. Additionally, we started building out location content hubs. We built out new location pages for each of our 16 offices.

Those were the two big projects we started with but from there, they’ve handled ongoing reorganization of our content. They’re reallocating it to the content that’s open to the homepage. The Brain Bytes Creative team has been reorganizing content and building out new hubs across the site.

Also, they’ve been adding breadcrumbs for tracking. We redid our whole tracking analytics so all of our analytics are clean. The goals are properly set up. We’ve redesigned templates and pages so the pages load faster and better.

Currently, we’re working on a big mobile speed optimization project where we’re trying to go through and decrease the loading time of our overall site, particularly on mobile.

What is the team composition?

I work primarily with Stephanie (Director of Project Management) and Katie (Junior Account Manager). I interact with them, and they push everything out to the team. I also talk to Jason (Founder & Partner) and Savvy (Founder & Partner) quite often.

How did you come to work with Brain Bytes Creative?

They were recommended by a company that built our website.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $600,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in July 2018. They came on as our full-time vendor in February 2020.

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

It’s been great to track analytics and see the improvements they’ve made. One of our issues was trying to increase rankings for terms like ‘car accident lawyer’ and things of that nature. Since Brain Bytes Creative has fully taken over our site, we’re at a 40% increase in nonbranded sessions to the website. We’ve seen lots of success with different metrics including sessions, bounce rate, page load time, calls from the website, and conversion methods.

How did Brain Bytes Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re one of the most organized agencies I’ve ever worked with. We have biweekly calls where we go over status updates. However, we communicate pretty much every day through email about projects and updates. We have a document that encompasses everything Brain Bytes Creative has done for us in the history of our partnership. It’s really nice to be able to refer to it.

Brain Bytes Creative is thorough. They proactively plan and successfully follow through on timelines; for example, right now we’re planned out for six months. We had one project that was delayed but it was because I had a hard time getting all of the assets we needed to complete the project. Their team was great at checking in and letting me know we were running late. They’re great with open communication and setting expectations of when things will be done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The openness of communication has been excellent. With past vendors, we haven’t had such transparency. I always know what Brain Bytes Creative is working on; they get my approval before they do anything new. If I have any ideas, they help me vet them out to ensure it’s the right decision. We have a great two-way relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’d be great if they could produce more. Our partners don’t know patience at all, which is a tough game with SEO. They always want more, more, more, and quickly. It’d be nice if Brain Bytes Creative could produce more content faster. This is something we’re scoping out with them right now. It’s in the works and has been discussed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be willing to work with them because they can only produce so much without the help of your company. They rely on us to approve everything. You must be willing to put time aside to achieve your objectives.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Digital Marketing Manager at BerryDunn, an integrated assurance, tax, and consulting firm.

For what projects/services did your company hire Brain Bytes Creative, and what were your goals?

We hired Brain Bytes for an SEO audit. Our goals were to understand how to effectively integrate an acquired company's website while retaining link equity and managing other SEO considerations. We were also looking for an overall review of areas of improvement for our primary website.

How did you select Brain Bytes Creative and what were the deciding factors?

We interviewed several digital marketing agencies as part of the selection process and found Brain Bytes' approach to be extremely thoughtful and informed. We were immediately impressed by their team and their process.

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

The SEO audit included keyword research, SEO analysis and recommendations, and competitive research. The Brain Bytes team developed an initial report in google data studio and a site architecture draft. For the newly merged firm, they provided analysis and observations, as well a go-forward SEO strategy.

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

We worked with a project manager as well as 1 dedicated SEO specialist, and other more technical specialists.

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

We successfully integrated the acquired company's website and are now seeing the benefits of that integration. We felt confident in the approach and are very pleased with the outcome. Traffic to our primary website is growing steadily each month, when compared with our performance in previous years.

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

Brain Bytes is attentive and we appreciate their care and attention to detail. The project manager that we work with is terrific, setting very clear expectations and timelines.

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

Their industry knowledge is impressive and we appreciate that their approach to SEO is both realistic and solid. We enjoy working with a team that is excited about their work, and consistently delivers a great product.

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

They do great work and their prices reflect that! We sometimes wish they were a tad lower so we could worth with them more.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing executive of FitnessBank, which is a division of Affinity Bank and Newton Federal Bank.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brain Bytes Creative?

We wanted to raise general awareness of our fitness bank solution. It’s an app that allows users to sync the platform with their activity tracker. We provide the ability to have the highest interest rate on a savings account based on your monthly activity.

Our objective with Brain Bytes Creative was to build our website and a marketing solution around social advertising that complemented internal email advertising efforts.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we analyzed many similar solutions in the industry from activity tracking to banking websites. Then, we specked out strong design elements for our brand’s digital channels. We created a short version that was 8–9 pages of our website and spent a few weeks tracking UX activity.

Our teams also looked at ads, posts, and emails to see how effective they were in terms of engagement. We even talked to several people who matched certain personas. We discussed tactics to better communicate with each one of those groups. Then, we modified our content and updated our SEO activity.

We ran some Facebook and Instagram ads targeting individuals who live an active lifestyle, wore activity tracks, and tracked their steps on their phones. We ran an evergreen campaign as well as very specific activity campaigns around some promotions.

What is the team composition?

I worked with the president, the CEO, two project managers, a web and interactive designer, an internet marketing strategist, and a branding and messaging strategist.

How did you come to work with Brain Bytes Creative?

I conducted a web search for local vendors. We didn’t have a big budget and wanted to work face-to-face so we could discuss things. I sat down with their team, and they were very open to my approach.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in April 2019. With COVID-19, we’ve paused a couple of campaigns. However, we’re taking on several new projects right now for other products.

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

We tracked access to the form users fill out to open an account, and we hit our expectation and ROI within the first month. Every month, we were in a position where we were getting the same numbers but were cutting back on the budget because my team wasn’t ready to amp it up and do more. We know the marketing and our algorithms are working.

How did Brain Bytes Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great, everything was professional and realistic. We had discussions with lots of follow up and activity to check things off the list. There were a lot of reminders because I was pulled in many directions at times, and Brain Bytes Creative checked in every couple of days to make sure I still knew what was needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I don’t want tons of information; I want a curator that’ll filter and tell me what is considerable and will work for me; Brain Bytes Creative has this talent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their controls of billing could use some improvement. I’d get emails about that and they probably weren’t as necessary. If there were any discussions about billing, we handled it really well as a team. There were no issues.

On certain ventures and junctures, I would have liked the strategy team to sit down with us and do a brown bag lunch where we talked about marketing in general and where my industry is; it’d be more like an update.

It shouldn’t just be project work-based. It should be a partnership where we’re developing opportunities together. When we did do it, it worked really well, I just felt like I was the one leading it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They collectively and cohesively know how to impact your business. I’d recommend meeting with them one-on-one. You don’t need to meet every week or even every month. You can meet with them once or twice a year and it’ll last because everything is so digital. I like them because they’re really good at what they do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief marketing officer of erwin, Inc. and we are a data governance software company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Brain Bytes Creative?

We were looking for a new digital marketing solutions partner. The scope of our search was somebody who could do SEO and PPC optimization, content management, and consulting — basically, the overall website journey optimization. More often than not, we also give them smaller and more boutique-intensive projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

For SEO, they take care of our on-page and off-page efforts. They've been building organic content that can help us with Google and other search engines, targeting keywords that are most important to our business and helping to bring the right visitors at the right time.

At the same time, Brain Bytes Creative has also been providing PPC activity services so at the end of the day for critical key terms such as data governance solutions, we can get the leads we want to generate. They also create compelling ads that bring traffic and conversion to the company. Currently, we are actually talking to them about expanding their services to email marketing.

What is the team composition?

We have a project manager and content people. We also collaborate with those in charge of PPC and SEO. Lastly, we also have people working on analytics and other technical related work. 

How did you come to work with Brain Bytes Creative?

We did an RFP and Brain Bytes Creative was recommended to us by somebody that we know. Five vendors responded to our RFP and just after reading the vendor's proposal, we thought we needed to shortlist them because they really understood our project.

They demonstrated immediately that they know our business and that they did a great job of interpreting the RFP. They didn’t simply respond to it but they showed us how it would be like when we work with them. In the end, when we met at the initial meeting, we immediately knew in the first 15 minutes that they were the ones that we wanted.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started collaborating in September 2019 and since then we have been working on an ongoing basis.

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

The team’s successes are measured in a number of different areas including keyword rankings, overall visibility, website traffic, average visitor engagement, new traffic compared to returning traffic, and conversion rates.

Currently, I could say that my team is extremely happy with them as all their results have been positively trending upwards. Since coming on board, they have helped us significantly optimize the website in terms of the navigation of the website and the UX flow.

Brain Bytes Creative's really big contribution to our overall marketing presence has been helping us dramatically increase search engine rankings for key terms. That's why, for us, the biggest win is our SEO results where we have addressed important keywords that were not there before. We consider Brain Bytes Creative as our strategic perspective as they give us insights on how we should be positioning the company. 

How did Brain Bytes Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a weekly meeting with them where they go through the prioritization of projects. At that meeting, we talk about who can deliver things on specific dates. Additionally, we also tell Brain Bytes Creative what we need from them and in exchange, they tell us what they need from us — that’s our core methodology.

We also have a quarterly meeting where they present a series of results which is driven by Google Analytics and other things. They also use Google Docs, Google Sheets, and other similar tools to share things about our project.

We've also got an overall project manager who is amazing, who does a great job of both understanding and marshaling the forces on our team as well as theirs. They also have an employee who lives and breathes the PPC world and another who really is focused on SEO, ensuring a smooth workflow in the engagement.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a tremendous ability to understand a customer’s business and be able to make recommendations for growth. Though that’s what every company should do, that’s not what always happens. There are a lot of agencies that really take a long time to grasp what a certain business is all about, especially for an enterprise software company like us. Brain Bytes Creative's methodology for learning a business is awesome. 

Further, they have a great sense of urgency. They are fast on their feet, they think quickly, and they discuss things immediately. When they say that they’re going to do something, they overdeliver. Overall, Brain Bytes Creative always does what’s best for us and they show their capabilities well because they know it helps us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Early on, we already knew that they are a well-run shop and they have diligent project managers. As such, they have a solid methodology in their company. However, as a software business, things can quickly change for us and at the start, Brain Bytes Creative struggled with our changing priorities because they already had an action plan for a particular direction.

Knowing how to navigate that shift can definitely help them when they work with other big software clients in the future.