Conklin Media

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for a company that manufactures cleaners, lubricants, and protectants for commercial and industrial applications. I manage promotion and growth of both consumer and industrial brands.

What challenge were you trying to address with Conklin Media?

We needed to improve our digital operations and SEO.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dave, the founder, has been my go-to guy for SEO. By strategizing SEO as digital PR, Dave has folded many marketing and promotional campaigns into his work. He’s introduced innovative solutions based on his marketplace research.

Originally, Dave worked on four concurrent projects: two industrial and two consumer projects. The engagement has since been scaled back to 2 concurrent projects.

For our industrial brands, he focused on lead generation using social media. Dave funneled those leads into our internal sales force and increased brand recognition and site traffic. For our consumer brands, Dave used digital PR strategies to create ad and coupon campaigns for products sold by national retailers.

Dave provides services for turnkey projects, but we have in-house talent for that. Rather, he created a blog associated with one of our consumer brand sites for which he posted and linked relevant articles. The entries used terms targeted to SEO to generate new business contacts.

What is the team dynamic?

We work directly with Dave and are in regular contact with his assistant. He has a team that we see at meetings.

How did you come to work with Conklin Media?

Prior to founding the company, Dave worked at another local firm. We hired him after he pitched us. In the last ten years, Dave left that firm and joined others. We always followed him because he stood out over his colleagues. His talent drove each project.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested a sizeable amount for this engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

Dave contacted us in 2005 and the collaboration is ongoing.

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

SEO metrics are good for the money we’ve invested. Innovative content contributed to growth in rankings for domain authority, page authority, backlinks, and referring domains to a lead generation site his team created.

How did Conklin Media perform from a project management standpoint?

His accountability exceeds expectations. He keeps us on track with weekly meetings, for which we use Evernote. Dave also manages spreadsheets auto-filled with analytics. I can see the data refresh every 10 minutes, if necessary, but I rarely look as I trust Dave implicitly. His team is responsive and we email and text as needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

People that work for me need character and talent. Dave’s got both. He prioritizes customer service in his approach to SEO and marketing. I value relationships in business and the attention he pays to customer needs is the foundation of our partnership.

His expertise goes beyond SEO and PR. He understands the unique digital goals for industrial businesses. That’s what makes him different from others.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the last five years he has been great, but originally, he was spread thinly across multiple accounts. Currently, he’s well-staffed and uses his team and resources effectively.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust Dave. His approach is not for executives focused on the short-term bottom-line. Rather, he implements long-term strategies with a great return on investment. Your trust will be well rewarded.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CMO for Park Assist LLC, the world’s leading manufacturer of camera-based parking guidance systems.

What challenge were you trying to address with Conklin Media?

We wanted to improve our SEO and increase traffic to our website so that we could convert increased numbers of inquiries on our site into qualified leads and, eventually, sales.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We spent a lot of time analyzing the decision makers that will purchase the kind of systems we sell to. From that, they designed targeted social media and online campaigns (e.g., pay-per-click, Google AdWords) that we developed together to generate traffic to our website. For example, they helped us develop email campaigns to decision makers by vertical, such as airports, retail centers, retail developers, casinos, medical centers, etc.

They also helped us get recognition by bloggers and other online media sources, which increased visibility for our products, case histories, and success stories.

What is the team dynamic?

We worked directly with Dave Conklin [Founder and CEO, Conklin Media]. He had a group of associates with whom he worked.

How did you come to work with Conklin Media?

We searched for agencies with SEO expertise, interviewed several, and decided on Conklin. They really understood our business problem and we were able to communicate very comfortably. We felt they were a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We had a monthly retainer with them of approximately $10,000 per month plus additional projects at roughly $100,000 per year. [NOTE TO ANALYST FOR CLARIFICATION: are these costs ongoing?]

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began around December 2014 or January 2015, and it's ongoing.

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

Our online rankings were around 23 when we started working with them and we moved up to number 2. Website traffic increased exponentially—well over 200%.

How did Conklin Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We maintained consistent communication through email and phone, and used Evernote to help manage the project. We had daily contact and formal meetings every two weeks to review progress, make course corrections, assign responsibilities, and established deadlines. Deadlines were always met.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They worked hard to understand our business challenges. They were also patient in helping to educate our team. Our management team had mixed levels of sophistication in this area, so we wanted to connect with someone who could educate us and explain things in nontechnical language. Dave was articulate explaining the value of SEO and how we can best utilize it. They were forthcoming with reports and analysis to help us understand the results we received.

He also presented himself as part of the team—not as someone who was dominating it—which made him very easy to collaborate with.

Advice for potential customers?

Because Dave Conklin is a great leader and I find his direction, counsel, and insight very valuable, look for his guidance as to how to best interact with the organization.