Digital Impulse

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m currently the VP of marketing for a pharmaceutical company. When I first worked with Digital Impulse, I was the VP of marketing at an orthopedic device company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Impulse?

We were trying to revamp our entire brand and digital ecosystem – everything from new assets, new creatives, SEO strategy, and a social strategy. We also wanted to integrate HubSpot into our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first hired them for all of our media before overhauling our website. We had them build the website and CMS. We also needed to create a very smart locator that would help patients find doctors. After that, they integrated it with HubSpot to assist with user experience and lead capture.

Ultimately, the team built a metrics dashboard so we could have all of our data analytics in one place. As a marketer, I wanted a place where I could manage all of my leads and landing pages for separate campaigns.

An aspect of the project was integrating with a call center. It was a multimedia program with a CTA to drive revenue, patients, and leads. They also helped us get a blog up and running.

Over the years, I’ve expanded my work with them at the pharmaceutical company. I brought them on there to augment our existing digital footprint with a microsite. We had professional athletes on board for the site because we wanted it to launch before the Super Bowl because we were doing radio outreach there.

What is the team composition?

We had an account manager, but their entire team, all the way up to the founder, was very synchronized. I’d say there were five or six people that I could directly communicate with, but there were more people behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Digital Impulse?

I believe we were doing an RFP, and a colleague introduced them. They were competing against big firms that we brought in. Even though they were a small boutique firm, they had so much heart and passion.

I remember Noah (Senior Marketing Technologist), Andrew (CEO & Founder), and Chapin (COO) sticking out to me. They were young and hungry. Their proposal was not only well put together, but truly hit all of the nuts and bolts we needed. They brought a lot of ingenuity and passion for their presentation.

What is the status of this engagement?

I first hired them in the summer of 2014.

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

For the device company, we were able to track all of the traffic. We were able to see a patient’s journey all the way through revenue. Their work was able to shorten the sales cycle by 40%. We were also able to capture real-time data.

I found them to be very nimble. The digital world changes quickly, but they were the main source of expertise when it came to understanding everything that was going on with SEO, PPC, and content. The team was also able to pivot when we needed them to.

For the microsite, they put a fully functional website together exceptionally quickly.

How did Digital Impulse perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was very hands-on. It didn’t matter who was in or out on vacation. I always knew that a core team of responsive individuals would be on my account. We communicated daily through email or phone.

From a project management perspective, they were very buttoned-up. The team has a defined methodology. Along with being very client-focused, they’re not afraid to be flexible and adaptive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Digital Impulse is performance-based, paying attention to the business objectives rather than just design. The team designs with both user experience and business objectives in mind. They’re always going back and testing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really right now. I’ve had such success with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d say be very specific on their scope of work and their business metrics. Give them enough space to bring in their own ideas because they’re innovative.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Senior Director of Digital Marketing at Conformis. We are a medical device company that designs and manufactures knee and hip replacement implants that are patient-specific (individualized), based on CT scans of the patients..

For what projects/services did your company hire Digital Impulse?

Digital Impulse was engaged to build us a new web site that is integrated with our marketing automation system, and then to support our direct-to-consumer marketing thereafter - managing the automation system, email marketing, PPC ads, web development and updates, SEO, organic social media, and digital strategy.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to leverage an outside agency's expertise on an ongoing basis as we not only developed a cutting edge web site, but continued to try and attract and activate consumer demand for our joint implants. Digital Impulse and I work daily on optimizations designed to decrease the cost of acquiring a patient lead and nurturing them through to booked surgery.

How did you select this vendor?

Interview and reference review process.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Digital Impulse was first engaged to build us a new web site that is integrated with our marketing automation system. That was a project of finite duration.

From then on, they have supported our direct-to-consumer marketing as an extension of the marketing department - managing the marketing automation system, email marketing, PPC ads, web development and updates, SEO, organic social media, A/B testing, and digital strategy.

They have also helped integrate our patient call center into our operations, with IT work involved.

What was the team composition?

We have an account manager, who has been the same person throughout my two years with Conformis so far. The account manager coordinates and leverages his colleagues on as-needed basis - web developers, content writers, and PPC ad, SEO, and social media specialists.

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

In my two years here, Digital Impulse and I have collaborated on literally dozens of optimizations that have driven our conversion cost per patient down by approximately 40%. We have regular metrics that we review on a monthly basis to measure our progress.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow is ongoing and it is very effective and efficient. We primarily collaborate via email, with a weekly conference call meeting, and they are extremely responsive to my requests and also follow up when I owe them a response or a deliverable. Very strong working relationship.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Three things come to mind:

1. The breadth and depth of the team's expertise is quite impressive. They stay on top of new advancements in digital marketing.
2. The planning and execution of tactics has been really good.
3. Another thing that I really appreciate about this team is that I have also been able to access its founder and other senior team members to discuss potential strategies, both in person and remotely, on a number of occasions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. We just need to stay on the trajectory that we are on, with continuous optimizations and improvements made, learning which optimizations produce results and which ones do not.