Chosen Data

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the head of digital marketing efforts for a mid-size B2B cybersecurity company with a global focus on large enterprise.

For what projects/services did your company hire Chosen Data, and what were your goals?

We always struggled with having a foundation for SEO efforts. Our core product is in a niche space but we were looking g to broaden our reach into new categories after a few acquisitions as well as strengthen our hold on our core vertical.

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

We interviewed a few companies including considered our existing provider; however, Chosen Data won us over with their extensive research, insights, and organization. It was very clear from the beginning that they would be able to help us establish a clear foundation for building SEO efforts as well as establish a well thought out plan for achieving our goals. Even better, they were able to do so within some of the constraints of our industry and with an understanding and appreciation for our niche, narrow audience and targets.

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

Our engagement began with a few small projects based on a core set of deliverables and initiatives we were focusing on. Largely, it was keyword research and prioritization as well as content optimization to drive the performance and rankings we were hoping for. We liked working with them and the professionalism they brought so broadened our scope into an ongoing relationship. We began the ongoing relationship with a thorough audit and a couple of introductory meetings to establish the core set of targets and goals.

From there, they came with a strong set of recommendations and outlines that we could leverage to drive stronger growth and rankings. Unfortunately, budget cuts held us back from being able to move much further; however, the work we were able to achieve was incredibly valuable and will be very useful.

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

We were assigned a project lead, account manager, project manager, and SEO team member. All were incredibly knowledgeable and helpful throughout the process. While it might seem like it was admin heavy, they all were knowledgeable about SEO and digital marketing and made valuable contributions to our efforts. I never felt like hours were being used in a bad way or people were needlessly in calls.

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

We didn’t get to get too far into the work to see the true results just yet. Unfortunately, budget cuts made us cut the work short; however, I’ve been digital marketing for almost 20 years now and I am very confident that the recommendations and path that they established will be very successful. They keyed into exactly what we needed to be doing and charted a path for to do it with strong precision and understanding of a very complex industry and niche audience.

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

Amazing. Very detailed analysis and clear, thorough explanations of everything. I think my favorite part was how receptive and understanding their whole team was with feedback. I never found myself repeating the same notes or feeling like we had to go back over things again and again. I would give them notes and then moving forward I would see that feedback represented in all major notes. They were also always on time and clearly communicated deliverables and next steps.

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

Their receptiveness and adaptability. We are a pretty complex product in a complex industry with a very narrow audience. They took the time to understand our needs as well as feedback and delivered a tailored approach. Plus, we have to write things internally with a unique process. They tailored their assets and approach to meet our needs. Overall, they acted like a true partner rather than a vendor selling a product and it was a breath of fresh air.

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

I wish they were free so I could have continued working with them! The only other thing would have just been some kind of PM tool or software in the middle. Not because I didn’t think they were working but just to give upper management high level visibility when they wanted it without emails back and forth. Just like a shared Asana board or something so they had something to point to versus email agendas and status.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Media Director for a small, 5 employee, advertising agency. I plan and place media for a variety of clients with budgets ranging from $40k per year to $1m per year. Most of the media I place is digital.

For what projects/services did your company hire Chosen Data?

All of our clients need some level of detailed tracking and reporting when it comes to their paid media and we have hired Chosen Data for a multitude of clients. Our clients need track bookings, purchases, or general intention actions, etc. As a small firm, we do not have an analytics "guru" on staff and Chosen Data has been our go-to for a variety of client projects. Mainly, we need help with the technical setup of GA, events in GA, tracking by certain sources, and conversion tracking. Chosen Data helps us track our data and make the analysis of that data easy to read and act on.

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

I have known the owner of Chosen Data for years, throughout his work at other companies. It was a no-brainer to work with Chosen Data based on the owner's past work. He's even been able to exceed the level of his previous work by assembling a team of really smart people that have different skillsets.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Chosen Data started with a Kick Off call to review our client's website and landing pages to see what our goals were in analytics. Then they gathered login access and other things that they need from us and they got to work. They did a general "cleanup" of Google Analytics (cleaning up channels etc) and then created conversion events on the links/buttons that we'd like to track for our paid advertising campaigns. When that was done, they created a Data Studio report that easily showed all the data we are looking for in one place, instead of sending us to GA to weed through it all. They walked us through it on a call and made any edits that we wanted. Post-project they have been there in a timely manner when we need them to add a conversion event or double-check that things are still tracking when we make changes to the website.

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

Their owner/founder is our main account management contact. We also worked with a data engineer who worked on all of the manual changes in GA, and a data visualization specialist who helped create the Data Studio reports.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Having Chosen Data setup, organize, and help analyze our data for all clients has ben a huge success. We wouldn't have been able to do it without them. Our clients are impressed and we are able to see real-time data and make shifts in our campaigns as needed, based on data.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

All of the team members of Chosen Data are super responsive and we have had great success communicating over slack, and sometimes email. They even send us recorded "walk throughs" so we can look back on those when we forget how something works. They always complete the projects in a timeline manner and they always work well with clients and other vendors that sometimes are brought into the communication on certain projects.

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

They are really, really good at staying on top of trends in analytics and data and bringing those ideas to us. They communicate well and always try to go above and beyond but recommended things that we have not even thought of.

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

I honestly can not think of anything else. Their work has always been top notch. One thing they could possibly do better is providing more detailed timelines at the beginning of projects so that we can work with them to help reach out timeline goals.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Digital Marketing Agency CEO, fractional CMO, startup growth mentor, investor, and advisor.

For what projects/services did your company hire Chosen Data, and what were your goals?

We hired Branko's team to overhaul our medical content site. After inheriting the project, we discovered their unsuccessful replatforming project had destroyed their traffic - but there were so many issues we didn't know where to start and didn't want to make things worse.

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

Chosen Data came in and produced an extensive audit that demonstrated a deep understanding of the unique technical environment and it's issues, while also catering to the unique needs around data, categories, brand, privacy, and direction.

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

1) Audit

2) Rapid "Quick Wins" Implementation

3) Ongoing Content Creation

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

1) Branko - CEO

2) John - COO

3) Oscar - PM

4) Byron - Developer

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

1) Site-wide traffic up 30% after solving technical issues in ~4 months

2) Traffic increasing MoM, and YoY

3) Content Strategy in place

4) Testing framework in place

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

Very efficient, good communicators, consistently met deadlines. In the agency world, doing these basic things is rare (unfortunately).

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

We were impressed with their unique blend of technical expertise and search experience. Also, their long-term strategic understanding of SEO, content marketing, and analytics were remarkable.

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

Hmmm, not really anything comes to mind. After handling about 15 of these type of re-platforming / platform migrations, this was objectively the best one in terms of results.