CSA Sha-Izwe

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a director at Prestige Credit Insurance Consultants. We’re a specialized credit insurance brokerage. We have been in the insurance market for over 20 years in South Africa.

What challenge were you trying to address with CSA Sha-Izwe?

When I joined Prestige Credit, we needed somebody to assist us with social media and polish our website, as well as help us with our marketing efforts. I contacted the team and we've worked slowly to introduce them to the company.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first step was to take a look at our old webpage — they had to rework and revitalize it to be modern and interactive, as well as improve our ranking on Google. We also couldn't link any social media platform on our old page, so the team helped us integrate our accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram to our new WordPress site.

From there, they've taken over and optimized our accounts on social media. Alongside the SEO work, the team also started a marketing campaign through social media and Google Ads to extend our reach. They create content and find interesting articles to post on social media and on our website. 

What is the team composition?

Charles (Director) is the head of the organization and we have quite a history, so I primarily work with him and Ronald (PR Officer). They work on social media, but when we need to work on the website, we will also invite Christopher (Director) into the discussion. 

How did you come to work with CSA Sha-Izwe?

It was quite interesting — I previously worked with Charles when I was with my previous company, which is one of the trade credit insurance companies here in South Africa. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about 70,000–80,000 zar (approximately $4,500–$5,200 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing engagement began in July 2019.

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

Over the last six months, we have seen an increase in the number of requests for our product and we’ve made contact with a lot of people who are interested in our services — a couple of those have been very good leads for us, which is great. 

They are adding immense value to our marketing efforts; we've been getting a lot of exposure. We are getting hits through social media and ranking higher on Google. 

How did CSA Sha-Izwe perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a monthly feedback report that they give us, and we meet at least once a quarter. Based on the KPIs that we've set, they've been performing exceptionally well. We’re still in a progression phase — we started exceptionally slow because the environment we came from was much bigger and had higher financial capabilities. However, the team was accommodating and agreed to start with small steps until we can start seeing the impact coming through, and then we can ramp it up as we carry on. 

Their great project management is mainly driven by Charles. The culture of a company comes from the person leading it, and interacting with them has always been good, positive, and transparent. Charles is always happy to assist where he can and sometimes he undersells the value that they can bring to a company, which I've seen when working with him at a previous company. The value of what Charles can bring to the table is high, and it encourages their team to be respectful and eager to do more.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've had such a very positive experience with the team and, certainly, the most impressive element has been the human interaction. I’m finding a lot of value in our relationship. They're very nice people — they are well-mannered and very professional in dealing with people.

They also don't make big, boastful promises. If they say they can do something, they deliver. They are prepared to work hard in order to reach their goals. Another firm would probably take one look at us and say we're too small to work with, but Charles has taken the opportunity and worked with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of any criticism of their service. We've had a really positive interaction with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think some customers might get overwhelmed by the magnitude of what this process entails. It’s daunting, but just break it down and take it one step at a time. The team is very good at this. They start with mistake number one and then they work on that.

Once they cross that out, they proceed to mistake number two. That’s where they can add a huge amount of value to companies — they're able to break down that process in more manageable steps to avoid people getting flustered. The great thing is that they start and they follow through.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the marketing administrative assistant for a lubricant manufacturing company.

What challenge were you trying to address with CSA Sha-Izwe?

We’re not a brand that everybody knows, and we realized that brand recognition is important, so wanted to work on social media and press releases. We have an advertising and marketing committee, but none of us on the committee felt that we had the necessary experience.

What was the scope of their involvement?

CSA Sha-Izwe assists us in everything we do, from radio advertising to social media management and content creation. We do sponsorship of race teams, and they are really involved with that as well — promoting the teams on social media and going to the races to interact with the drivers.

What is the team composition?

We work with their whole team including Charles (Director), an account manager, and a resource who helps with more technical items.

How did you come to work with CSA Sha-Izwe?

They’d already been appointed when I joined the company.

What is the status of this engagement?

They started with us in April 2014, and the relationship is ongoing.

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

Since they started managing our Google Ads, they’ve created approximately 50 sales leads per month. Just from September–November 2020, the value of the media coverage they’ve gained us is about $35,000 USD.

Our brand is now much more visible thanks to their strong journalism contacts. We weren’t advertising much in print at the beginning, but through CSA Sha-Izwe, we have been able to make contact with editors of publications and other decision-makers like that. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to make those introductions or understand their benefits.

How did CSA Sha-Izwe perform from a project management standpoint?

They are brilliant — available at any time and attentive to detail. I can phone and ask them any question, and if they don’t have an answer straight away, they will get back to me immediately. Because of COVID-19, we have been having a lot of Microsoft Teams meetings, but before that, we were meeting face to face and had telephone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attention to detail and absolute passion for our brand stand out. Nothing is too much for them. We’ve had some strange requests and they’ve gotten right to them.

Currently, we’re considering doing some webinars, and I phoned Charles to find out if they could assist with studio facilities and if they had any suggestions. He’s a member of a running club in Johannesburg, and he let me know we could use those facilities free of. He’s never charged us for advice, even with the number of times we’ve called

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t. I think they are doing a brilliant job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ask questions and let them know if you are interested in a particular campaign. Don’t be scared to ask because they have the capability and the know-how.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the national EMI sales manager at James Ralph, an electronics and small consumer distributor for Africa. We’re Casio South Africa, and there are other subsidiaries all over the world. I do the sales and marketing management of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with CSA Sha-Izwe?

We needed help with our marketing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their main purpose was for marketing. The team helps with our PR and product launches. If we brought in a new product like a watch, they do our PR for the actual watch to launch. We’ve done magazine ads in conjunction with Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Social networking hasn’t been around for that long, and we hadn’t adapted to it. We were quite late with it, especially on the music side, because I also do musical instruments like keyboards and pianos.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Chris (Director), who worked on the marketing side of things. There’s another gentleman who’s more senior that I dealt with, but that’s on the finance side.

How did you come to work with CSA Sha-Izwe?

I can’t remember how the exact relationship began, but I knew Chris because he’s in my age bracket.

I’ve seen their work with other campaigns, and that’s how I stumbled across it, but the relationship between the companies has been there for quite a while.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2015, and our engagement concluded in May 2020. We worked on a month to month retainer.

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

The team brought my social media from zero followers to 100,000 non-paid followers, all healthy, actual people following it. We’ve done launches where they’ve literally project managed a launch. We have a new keyboard coming out, and we’re getting one of the popular musicians to come and play and getting a few well-known music teachers.

Their job was to send out invites, get people in, and we’ve had resounding success with them. Even quite recently, we had a music store packed to capacity where people couldn’t even move. We never expected such an outcome.

A couple of years ago, I wasn’t into Facebook and didn’t understand its dynamics. Chris schooled me on it and coached me on how to do Facebook. From 1 like, we’re now sitting at 130,000 likes.

Due to COVID-19, we had to make many changes and factor in a lot of costs. That’s the main reason we’re doing it on our own for now.

How did CSA Sha-Izwe perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, they’re excellent. PR is what they do best.

We use different software for managing the project, including Google Projects that allow us to go back and forth with editing. We can all work on the same project for multiple events successfully with that system.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Throughout these years, their loyalty and commitment have been the most impressive. Chris taught me a lot about marketing, social media, and PR. The only reason we cut back on working with them is because of the pandemic.

Are there any areas they could improve?

With the marketing evolution, it’s growing and changing all the time. Just being involved and engaged all the time, and being up-to-date with what’s new is important for any business.

I wouldn’t say anything in particular for them; they’ve been keeping up with the times.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the manager of SilvaSale, an event management company.

What challenge were you trying to address with CSA Sha-Izwe?

Their team was promoting our business online to generate more leads. We were getting lots of referrals to our website, and we wanted their help to improve the titular website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked to increase the visibility of our website, augment the number of conversions, and do other design and optimization work.

They also assisted with digital marketing. They looked at all different angles and gave us recommendations on how to improve. They went beyond the online scope — sometimes they identified segments for us to take advantage of.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people, including Chris (Project Lead). However, I trusted both of them and had weekly meetings with them both.

How did you come to work with CSA Sha-Izwe?

They came to us. One part of our portfolio is venue management, including a wonderful club in Johannesburg, South Africa. They handled the club's account, and I saw the wonderful work that they did. I thought let us create synergy here and invested in them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $32,000 over the two-year period.

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

Marketing is unbalanced and takes time to bear fruits. However, earlier this year we started seeing great results — we were actually up 30% this year prior to COVID-19. We were definitely ahead on our ROI before COVID-19.

How did CSA Sha-Izwe perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. Whether it was by WhatsApp, email, or phone, they were always communicative and never difficult to get a hold of. They’re always available.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their caring sets them apart. They take the time to immerse themselves and get to know your business from A to Z. They don’t have a blanket approach to marketing — they’re incredibly hands-on. Their level of personalization and intensity sets them apart.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They always ticked the boxes for us, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be honest with them. From a financial perspective, from a goals perspective, let them know what you want and need. They will look after you anc come back with creative ideas and you’ll start seeing a difference.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the operations manager at a pest control company.

What challenge were you trying to address with CSA Sha-Izwe?

We hired them for their online marketing and branding services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team at CSA Sha-Izwe provided digital marketing services. They assisted with SEO, social media accounts, and Google Ads campaigns.

What is the team composition?

I interface with Christopher (Director).  

How did you come to work with CSA Sha-Izwe?

They were recommended to us by another company who knew their standard of work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2019.

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

We’re very happy with their service. We have no aspirations of changing to someone else. Their customer service is excellent; it’s the best that we’ve received. On top of that, the technical ability of the staff is second to none. We have no complaints whatsoever.

How did CSA Sha-Izwe perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re always in contact with us, letting us know when they’re making changes and what sort of changes they’re making. The team keeps us informed of the search engine and marketing metrics. They’re entirely transparent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The technical ability that they deliver is something we’ve never encountered in other providers. People said that they could perform technical work on the backend, but CSA Sha-Izwe actually showcases their ability. It sets them apart.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. When the partnership began, we gave them our expectations up front, and they’ve managed to meet all of them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make your expectations known at the beginning of a partnership. They’ll be able to meet them, or they’ll find a way to work around it to put their client’s requirements first.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner and director of The Fat Zebra Restaurants, I am the creative one and force behind the brand

For what projects/services did your company hire CSA Sha-Izwe?

During the lockdown and terrible pandemic we liked to support local businesses where possible and the creatives at Sha-Izwe was only the right way to go for our social media and website routes

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

Meeting one of the founders and creatives when we first started with our business, we only got to get to know each other during the pandemic and having the time to make a personal connection it was the personal touch that was the winning factor.

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

It started with our website and working close with the team it developed into more. Part of our social growth is due to the excellent work we received.

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

2 - 3 it was from all departements

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

Our social media grew through over the coarse, its still an ongoing project

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We meet regularly and try to build and better the brand where we can

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

The fact that they would always be available to assist is impressive.

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

I don't see any areas of improvement

Please describe your company and your position there.

i am the director of a shopfitting company that handles various types of manufacturing and installation scopes for the retail, corporate, hospitality and domestic market

For what projects/services did your company hire CSA Sha-Izwe, and what were your goals?

we have used CSA for our ongoing social media and PR exposure that includes our various ongoing projects. they handle our SOE and other related aspects of our advertising campaign

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

we discovered them by word of mouth, thereafter a website search

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

we keep them up to date on new projects as they land with us, we then send updates on our progress up until and after handover to our clients, they then institute our project layout and info for our social media posts etc

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

we have worked with Chris, Charles and Ronald

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

we have seen a big influx of web enquiries, these are ongoing and have generated new leads, relationships and work. we have really extended our reach with them

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They are always extremely competent and willing, and their feedback is diligent and prompt.

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

they offer a full spectrum social media and SOE management package/solution

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

not from our side!