Brolik

What was the scope of their involvement?

The relationship started with us committing to a retainer of 35 hours a month over the course of 12 months. For the first 90 days, they dug into both our background and that of the industry. They interviewed key personnel here and from a list of our promoters in the marketplace.

Brolik came back in 90 days and gave us a report on our industry’s digital points. They identified where the gaps are and where we could close the delta in terms of what we had previously done and what we were looking to do. Next they produced a nine month timeline for our key initiatives based on that research. They created and shared a document that we discuss every 30 days. It shows where we are on the timeline, what the path will be over the next 30 days, and the results of the past month.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with three people. One led the sales process; the chief strategy officer set up the first year of building the relationship out; and then the account manager handles the day-to-day questions of the project.

How did you come to work with Brolik?

We did research and sought referrals for local agencies that had digital expertise. I got their information from the Philadelphia Inquirer. We did a lot of work to make sure they were aligned with our vision that we had shared what we wanted out of an agency relationship.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re spending $65,000 per year for the first three years. We also just committed to pay them $35,000 to work on our website.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around September 2017 and the engagement is ongoing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

There were two phases. The first phase of the relationship was to create new assets that were more aligned with our overall branding message. They created some videos and photographs, and we then modified our website to incorporate those images and messages so that we could better communicate with our audience.

After that, we started focusing mostly on paid social media and paid search. They created ads for us to use with Google AdWords and also with Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, some of our other key social channels. They also helped create a TV campaign and radio ad that we used as an experiment because we’re not doing that on an ongoing basis.

What is the team dynamic?

I work very closely with Jason Brewer [CEO, Brolik.] He spends his time not only managing the team, but he also assists on the creative side as well as the strategy side. Their next most active team member from is Bryce [Senior Marketing Strategist, Brolik.] Bryce pays attention to the analytics, social ads, and Google ads.

We occasionally work with Alex [Creative Director, Brolik] but he is more on the creative side, ad creation, and website design sides. He was the one that created the different landing pages. Finally, when we need to have something specifically related to the website, we work with Jason [Senior Account Executive, Brolik.]

These four individuals are the ones that we work with the most. Their total team is about 12 people. We have at least weekly calls, and sometimes even more frequently, with Jason and Bryce.

How did you come to work with Brolik?

The first time we got in touch was around July of last year. I was searching for digital marketing companies in the Philadelphia area, but I was a startup and we hadn’t even fully started our business yet.

Our initial conversation went well, but Brolik wasn’t the right fit at the time because we were too new. Jason and I kept in touch. He kept watching what we were doing and we reconnected around April of this year.

I had already launched the website. I had launched our branding campaigns and different social media programs. We didn’t have the right traction from a sales standpoint. He and I connected to see how things were going, I shared some of our challenges as we continued to ramp up and by then, it was a better time to reconnect and engage.

As a startup, it’s difficult for us to have a lot of cash other than the cash that we use to promote and create ads. Jason was very open to a revenue-sharing model or some kind of success compensation program where they’re basically paid by performance. They invest the resources to get us to the point where we perform, and as we sell more, they earn more. It works very well for us so far.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent between $30,000 and $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2017 and they’re still working with us.