Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sr. Manager, Marketing & Communications of OCI Energy

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

OCI Energy is a leading developer of utility-scale solar projects and battery energy storage systems that power the grid with clean energy for a sustainable future.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) to accomplish?

• Transform our company overview slide deck, making it modern, professional, graphically appealing, and easy to understand.

SOLUTION

How did you find Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

OCI Solar Power was on the verge of rebranding to OCI Energy, and we needed to update our  longstanding, very basic, and boring corporate overview presentation. We took our concerns and hopes to CSG, and asked them to create and design a slide deck that included a little about our company, projects, milestones, pipeline, and team. CSG delivered 33 slides and exceeded our expectations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

After many virtual meetings, brainstorming sessions, and editing, we received a corporate overview presentation containing 33 beautifuly-designed, modern, and professional slides that exceeded our expectations. Our business development team has used the deck in more than a dozen meetings with potential clients and partners. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

CSG is a dream team! Although Karen was our main point of contact, we also talked to and met with John, Emily and Dan. Together, they answered all our questions, met all our demands, and exceeded our expectations, delivering a presentation that looks great, is easy to manage, and makes our team feel good about the information they are sharing.

What was your primary form of communication with Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

CSG's level of service was unmatched! Not only did they promptly respond to all our questions via phone, email, and text messages, but two of the team members traveled to Anaheim, CA to meet with us during an industry conference. Meeting them in person solidified our respect for and relationship with CSG.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) could have done differently?

n/a

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Marketing Officer of ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

ASCD is the largest professional development organization serving educators and instructional leaders in K12. It provides evidence-based resources and solutions to build teaching and learning environments to elevate education and boost student achievement. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) to accomplish?

• As part of a significant organizational restructuring, ASCD engaged CSG to serve as an outsourced marketing communications solution while the organization rebuilt its marketing team.

SOLUTION

How did you find Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

Referral

Why did you select Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

In absence of a full marketing team, CSG took over the marketing and marketing operations activations to accelerate the organization’s growth of its publishing, events, membership and consulting solutions, as well as launch the organization’s newest innovation, Witsby, a professional development learning platform.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Events: One of the hallmarks of ASCD’s work (and revenue) is its annual conference. CSG was engaged to accelerate registrations back to pre-Covid levels via paid digital campaigns. As a result of CSG’s omnichannel digital campaign, ASCD saw event registrations skyrocket by generating 1,360 registrations.
• Publishing: With ASCD leading professional development for educators, CSG assisted with creating ongoing awareness for key authors and thought leaders, generating purchases for 40 new book launches, and maximize the impact of their quarterly catalog. With the catalog alone, CSG helped generate $850,000 in revenue. 
• Witsby: CSG developed the Go-To-Market strategy and launched their professional learning and development application, working closely with sales to deliver warm leads via regular webinars, advertising, and email marketing. CSG generated hundreds of sales appointments in the first two months of the campaign. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project management is one of CSG’s strong suits. So much so that they helped build out the project management capabilities for us at ASCD as we brought on more team members internally to handle the work. 

What was your primary form of communication with Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

Virtual Meeting

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

CSG is a talented team of people that knows the K12 industry extremely well, which allowed them to have impact immediately and ongoing. That expertise combined with their passion for the industry—and the work ASCD does—along with creativity and buttoned up processes allowed them to deliver the results we were looking for.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) could have done differently?

I can’t think of anything where CSG could improve. They were able to bring order to what was a chaotic transitionary time at the organization. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I'm an executive at the University of St Augustine for Health Sciences

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Educates students at the Graduate level in Health Sciences degrees (PT, OT, Nursing, SLP, PA, etc)

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) to accomplish?

• Increase Thought Leadership Position
• Drive Brand Awareness

SOLUTION

How did you find Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

Referral

Why did you select Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Experience in Education

How many teammates from Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

CSG was hired in January 2023 for PR Services to drive brand awareness and increase the University's thought leadership position. Deliverables were a robust PR strategy and plan by month to increase impressions. 

We added Social Media marketing to the scope of work in April 2023 to leverage synergies from PR and because of our success with CSG PR Services. The goal of social media is to drive engagement. This scope began with a full assessment of the University's social media, the development of a strategy and a monthly social media calendar/deliverables.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Impressions for PR Engagement for social

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They're exceptionally well-organized and skilled in project management. Very responsive to our needs and all deliveries were on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Exceptionally well-organized and strategic thinking organization with experience in higher education

Are there any areas for improvement or something Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) could have done differently?

We've worked to streamline our communications because of the bandwidth of the client

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of Marketing for a Fiber Broadband Start-up.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

We needed a smooth transition of an acquisition of an existing asset and expansion into greenfield territory. This required standing up owned social media properties, PR, and various content needs.

SOLUTION

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

CSG came highly recommended from our branding agency.

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

Following several kick-off meetings, the first project was to create a meaningful town hall for existing employees about our acquisition of Vast Broadband. Running in parallel was setting up our Public Relations Strategy and the execution of the strategy. Vast social media, FB, LinkedIn and Twitter was redesigned and CSG helped us move the social from advertising to content posts. About 6 months later, CSG created new social media properties( FB, Insta, LinkedIn) and was responsible for a designing and writing the the content posts.

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

We worked with a dedicated Senior Associate and a Social Team during our engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have successfully released and gained coverage of dozens of press releases. Communications Strategy Group was instrumental in coordinating a handful of TV interviews.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We meet bi-weekly for an hour status meeting. Overtime, the meeting time averaged 20-30 minutes. CSG was very responsive using email. And, at one point in time, they worked through a weekend with us.

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

They are easy to work with and were able to get up to speed quickly.

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

I would have liked our social strategy to evolve a bit more and the frequency of posts to increase. They were great with providing coverage of our press releases and interviews; however the social dashboard although was not presented on are regular basis.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an investment manager based in Chicago, dealing purely in equities and fixed income. We were founded in 1981 and we’ve been around for 40 years.

I’m the chief development officer and I oversee our 11-person distribution team as well as sit in our executive committee to help determine different strategies, initiatives, and projects for the firm. I’ve been acting as interim CMO since April 2021.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Communications Strategy Group?

We are a very efficient and slim organization of about 40 people. We have a two-person marketing department, and that’s counting me, so we outsource most of our marketing activities except for our core functions. Any type of collateral that we utilize is almost always created externally. 

As our business goes through a massive internal undertaking, we have a need to communicate this transformation out to the marketplace. We do not have the skillset or bandwidth to do so internally, so we worked with CSG.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

There is a long list of things that CSG does for us, but a major task they’re helping us with right now is redesigning our website. We’re looking to launch it in time with our company’s restructuring. For our external town hall meeting, CSG is also preparing all of the materials that we need to get in front of our investors and the community. 

CSG is heavily involved in determining strategies as well. They’re helping put together our internal sales modules and have their fingerprints on basically everything. 

What is the team composition?

We’re working with around five people from CSG: 2–3 project managers, one dedicated writer, one editor, and one website-focused personnel. What’s good about them is that they have a single point person who can either handle the tasks that come up or figure out who in the team can take on it. 

How did you come to work with Communications Strategy Group?

We went through an RFP process. We decided to go with CSG because of their expertise, depth of bench, and cultural fit. We’re a quirky organization and are a bit different than most investment managers, so we needed an agency that could run simultaneous initiatives and projects for us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $100,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged them in May 2021 and we’re still working with the team. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We tend to say a lot as on organization so our pieces have often been too long and overwhelming for our investors and internal audience. CSG, however, has helped us frame our statements in a shorter way. The internal and external feedback on that work has been overwhelmingly positive, and a lot of it has been unsolicited.

How did Communications Strategy Group perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly calls, obstacle calls, and email communication set up with the CSG team. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

CSG gets the job done correctly and on time. On top of their good quality work, they’re very reliable and unafraid to speak their minds. We operate in a vacuum and tend to have a certain opinion that’s not aligned with industry standards, so it’s helpful for them to tell us so. They educate us based on what they’ve seen with other clients or approaches. It gets things done fast when they bring in that fresh perspective. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of any minor hiccups that we’ve had with them. Even the mundane stuff has been easy. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend that you work with the particular project manager that we’re working with, but I’m sure they have others on board who are just as good. You should also seek CSG’s strategic advice early on since the team is very good with that. However, you could also take the same approach we did, which was to get more comfortable with them, see some of their work, and build trust in that relationship first. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner and the head of sales and client relationships at Spruceview, an investment management firm that delivers outsourced CIO solutions, private markets funds, and commingled strategies. We also manage discretionary investment management sleeves for various pension funds, endowments, foundations, and family offices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

We hired CSG for their web development services. The website was for informational purposes for clients who wanted to know more about us and our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

With CSG, we wanted to revamp and refresh our existing website. They initially looked at it and analyzed how we could freshen it up for future use. Together, we came up with additional copy, which we implemented on the website a few months after the initial engagement. We used Wix to build the website from scratch. 

Moreover, CSG provided us with designs in terms of photographs, videos, and other content. The videos were stock footage of metropolitan skylines in cities like New York, Boston, Denver, and Mexico City. Meanwhile, the pictures were done by a professional photographer within Spruceview, and CSG simply put them on the website. 

At present, they’re helping us revamp our PowerPoint slides to refresh our presentation decks. We’re in the final throes of wrapping up this part. 

What is the team composition?

Around 3–5 people work with us, and John (Senior Director) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

CSG was recommended to us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $20,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2020, and the website engagement finished in July 2021. Our ongoing PowerPoint engagement will probably be completed in September 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have no quantitative metrics yet since the website’s relatively new. However, anecdotal feedback has been highly positive. End users like the site’s easy navigation. Overall, the site is set up and organized well. 

How did Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) perform from a project management standpoint?

CSG’s project management is great. The team is timely and delivers within due dates and time frames that are either set by them or collectively set by us. To communicate, we use emails and video calls through Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

John has great ideas with respect to website content and layout. Their design team and writers capture what we’re looking for in terms of our value proposition.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. We’re truly happy with CSG, so I can’t think of anything else they can improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t have any problems referring clients to CSG. I have a strong sense that CSG will deliver for them as they’ve done for us. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of communications for a space logistics and transportation company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

From a communications perspective, we wanted to penetrate the US market a little bit better. As a result, we hired Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) to support us in enhancing our visibility in the US.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with mapping the US media that we were interested in and talked to them about implementing earned media tactics to expand outside of the space market so that we could have visibility in other fields such as the deep-tech and innovation industry.

The main focus at the beginning has been the definition of the best messaging possible for our target market and finding the right narrative and media to spread our message.  One of the most valuable services they provide for us is interviewing people inside our company and then drafting byline articles based on those interviews.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with 5–6 people from Communications Strategy Group (CSG®). Some are in charge of drafting the articles, others are involved in research and finding the best events to attend, and some are looking for the best media spaces where we can publish our articles.

How did you come to work with Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

I researched agencies online and selected a few of the companies with the best reviews. Compared to other agencies with whom we talked, Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) was most in line with what we needed and understood our needs very quickly.

How much have you invested with them?

While I cannot disclose how much we spent, we work on a flexible monthly fee retainer. The value for money of the services they offer us is outstanding.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2020, and we continue to partner with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Communications Strategy Group has been extremely helpful in drafting thought leadership articles based on interviews with our management and getting them published on a wide variety of media, not necessarily just from the space industry. Above all, they've been able to quickly understand our business despite its steep learning curve.

How did Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) perform from a project management standpoint?

They have an extremely precise project management process. We have weekly standing Zoom calls with them. They submit the call's agenda before the call and updates right after it, indicating the to-do list with actions that need to be accomplished on both sides. They keep us constantly updated on the development of our projects via email and, every time we have a question or a request, their response time is very quick.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s difficult to pick only one of their best traits, but we’re most impressed with their responsiveness and availability to always go the extra mile. Also, from a human point of view, they are all so personable, it's a pleasure working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any suggestions on how they can improve our cooperation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just make sure to express your desired outcomes clearly; they'll come back to you with a series of useful and actionable solutions that will help you achieve your goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at Power Breezer. It’s an evaporative cooling technology that cools the people and not the space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

We needed help with advertising, PR, and marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) did campaigns to help raise our brand awareness and get us national exposure, especially as the pandemic broke out. We pivoted our technology from a cooling-only solution to one that could help combat and disinfect for COVID-19 very early on in the pandemic.

They did outreach to national news media outlets such as CNN, ABC, NBC, as well as local media. The team organized a media day for us with a school district in Arizona. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with three teammates. We initially worked with one of their key partners, and then we worked with two other teammates on a regular basis.

How did you come to work with Communications Strategy Group (CSG®)?

They were referred to us. We interviewed about five companies, and we chose Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) because of the chemistry. They were a good fit in terms of the relationship, and they were also willing to be creative in their proposal in order to work within our budget.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in April 2020. We put the project on hold at the end of November 2020, but we plan to reengage with Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) in March.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With their support, we were able to have an incredible success story, which we wouldn’t have been able to do without their support. 

We expected the project to be kind of small, but we ended up getting picked up by CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS. We got about 85 million impressions following the engagement. The team far exceeded our expectations. It was way better than we expected.

How did Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is very good. They hit all of their deadlines, had a good alignment, and communicated proactively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) is easy to do business with. Additionally, they have a very good understanding of our business and are able to coach us to be successful. They were effective in what they did, and they set realistic expectations and exceeded them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The team could improve on their out-of-the-box creativity. We came up with a lot of creative things, but I think more could’ve been done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that there are clear expectations on both sides, and that everyone is aligned. Be willing to put as much time into the engagement as Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) does.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m CEO of a fintech company called WealthConductor LLC. It’s a B2B software subscription service that financial advisors use to create, track, and manage their clients’ retirement income plans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Communications Strategy Group?

We wanted to expand the recognition of our services in the industry.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CSG connects us with top publications and industry centers of influence for articles and podcasts to highlight our technology and thought leadership. They also help us apply for awards.

They worked on LinkedIn campaigns too. Recently, their team ran Facebook campaigns around product offerings. They will also help us create case studies with advisors’ success stories.

The third prong of our relationship involves the sales and marketing collateral that we make available to our advisors in order for them to grow their retirement income business. That includes client-facing videos, brochures, and presentations.

What is the team composition?

The team composition depends on our needs. They have a diverse group of folks, including graphic designers and writers. We have a project lead that manages our account and deliverables.

How did you come to work with Communications Strategy Group?

We followed a structured process for bringing a partner or vendor on board. We researched the landscape and then had initial calls with agencies. We scheduled meetings during which 3–5 prospects presented for our leadership team. We had a second round of presentations with questions and then made our decisions. In comparison to the other folks, CSG had a lot of expertise in our industry. They understood our goals, our customers, and how we fit into our customers’ business processes.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the past 6 months, we’ve spent around $50,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We initially engaged CSG in July 2020 and have a retainer with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Their team placed us in publications like Forbes, Kiplinger Investing, and others. The coverage generated enterprise-level discussions for us. I was recently awarded the 2020 Inspiring FinTech Females Award by the New York City FinTech Women organization. The publicity CSG created leads to a heightened awareness of our services and value. They’re always searching for ways to help us.

We just started the digital marketing campaigns. As a result, we have yet to see metrics from them. However, their messaging is always targeted and pertinent to our particular audience.

How did Communications Strategy Group perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m formally a project and program manager, so I’m critical of unorganized teams that don’t work on a strict project basis. CSG is excellent about scoping out the work. Their project management skills are excellent.

We meet on a structured basis every other week but also have phone calls and send emails between those meetings. CSG’s communication and organization are excellent. We use Google Docs for shared project plans and key milestones. They’re always on top of the project plan and reporting.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CSG is well-versed in the fintech industry. They understand our market and marketplace as well as have in-house resources to bring on board for various projects. When it comes to developing messaging, it’s easy to work with them. They’re a flexible team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re very happy with them at this point.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s always a two-way street. They’re tapping into your expertise, and you’re tapping into their expertise. It’s important to regularly communicate with them and give them timely responses. You need to provide them with the information that they need to be successful.

CSG is always available. If we’re not responding in a timely manner, they’re good at getting us back on course. Commit to the partnership and work in full collaboration with them to generate good results.