Directive

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sr. Manager, Digital Experience and Performance of iCIMS

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

iCIMS is a leading provider of talent acquisition technology that enables organizations everywhere to build winning workforces. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Directive to accomplish?

• Improve paid search ROI
• Improve SERPs/keyword share
• Increase organic traffic

SOLUTION

How did you find Directive?

Referral

Why did you select Directive over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Directive were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

We hired Directive to improve our paid media ROI; increase keyword rankings and share of SERP; and increase organic traffic/qualified conversions. The engagement was originally NA only, but after six months we expanded the scope of the SEO portion of our partnership to include EMEA. Most recently, we revised our scope further to include content writing services (e.g., blogs, glossary entries) and partnered with Directive's MOPS team for a technical audit and optimization of our GA4 account. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Cost per click 
• CVR
• Organic traffic
• Keyword share/share of SERPs
• Site health scores/reduction in # of errors

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

Our day-to-day account team is a pleasure to work with. They regularly keep us apprised of progress on in-flight deliverables and deliver items to us when they say they will. They use Asana for project management (which I find particularly effective), and were willing to flex to us and join our Microsoft Teams channel to allow for quick communication. Additionally, we have a monthly leadership sync with our account directors which allows for greater transparency and relationship building. 

What was your primary form of communication with Directive?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Directive has been a fantastic partner to us for both SEO and paid media. They are highly knowledgeable about the B2B SaaS space - it’s great that they can advise us of industry-specific trends and benchmark us against their client portfolio. Additionally, they’re extremely proactive, keeping us up to date on Google algorithm updates, AIO/SGE, and the changing search landscape. This is the strongest agency I’ve worked with to date, and I would recommend them to anyone. 

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

None to note. We have had a lot of change with regard to our account team in the past six months, but a lot of that was due to internal mobility on Directive's side - not sure how/if that could have been helped.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Marketing of Corti

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

AI Platform for healthcare consultations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Directive to accomplish?

• Establish PPC motion
• Develop baseline PPC benchmarking and strategy
• Manage PPC strategy towards targets

SOLUTION

How did you find Directive?

Referral

Why did you select Directive over others?

• Great culture fit
• Understood the problem

How many teammates from Directive were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

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

Directive has supported us in building and now managing our paid marketing with a primary focus on LinkedIn. With some success there, and the main limitations to expansion coming from our side (not Directive's efforts), we are now discussing major channel and ad-spend expansion.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Setting agreed north star metric
• Setting channel focus
• Testing additional channels
• Measuring CAC:LTV ratios and similar to advise on spend strategy
• Measuring ROI and dashboarding outcomes for easy insights

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

They very responsive, very professional, always prompt and seem to genuinely care about the success of the project. I'm confident that they sometimes over-deliver according to the SOW but only increase the budget when things are regularly out of scope.

What was your primary form of communication with Directive?

Virtual Meeting

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

They quickly became an extension of the product marketing team rather than just external consultants.

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

We expect Directive to become increasingly pushy in terms of ensuring success, not just following our lead, which has been tough to do before now so is only something for the future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Marketing Manager of LogicGate

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

LogicGate’s Risk Cloud® platform is a nimble Governance, Risk and Compliance cloud solution that makes GRC easier for everyone.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Directive to accomplish?

• Optimize our paid advertising channels

SOLUTION

How did you find Directive?

Referral

Why did you select Directive over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Directive were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Directive needed to make up for the lack of performance from the previous ad agency we had hired. We needed to clean up spend wasted on non performing campaigns and re-work our lead-lifecycle. The strategy for building up stronger quality leads needed to get implemented once the new lead-lifecycle went live. We also wanted to expand our digital reach by advertising in new platforms like LinkedIn.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the launch of our new lead-lifecycle we were better apt to pivot spend to campaigns that were delivering quality opportunities to sales. Once the google/bing ad campaigns were updated we started seeing a steady incline of leads turning to opportunities compared to our previous campaigns YoY. 

The experimentation with new channels has also provided a completely new avenue to drive quality opportunities to sales. This team has been a true partner for our growth models thats been unlike any other.

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

Their team has always delivered incremental work on time and given proper notices should anything require additional time to complete. We are a 'slack-first' company in how we communicate and Directive has fully leaned into that operation model.

What was your primary form of communication with Directive?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I've worked with so many ad agencies that just copy and paste campaigns across multiple accounts, completely ignoring the ICP and unique experience of our prospect. Directive has been the first agency I've worked with that truly works as a partner that invests in your strategy as an individual company. I cant commend them enough on how they are always available for us and how in tune they are with our audience.

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

If I could offer a note for improvement, as feedback is always a gift: Tailoring the message and performance data to the audience being presented. A different level of data analysis is needed depending on who's at the table. Recognizing which reports should be emphasized over others depending on who's in the room is always an opportunity for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Demand Generation for a company that provides shared storage solutions for video editing teams. I'm responsible for keeping generating leads to our sales team as well as overseeing digital marketing initiatives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Directive?

We hired Directive to help with organic traffic, SEO, and CRO efforts. As a growing company, we do our best to keep to a fairly lean team so hiring on Directive allowed us to add a bunch of brilliant minds to our marketing team, without having to hire, train, and onboard multiple resources.

What were your goals for this project?

We had hoped to increase organic traffic to our newly re-designed site as well as track efforts for content marketing efforts and optimize our site for higher conversion rates.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Directive's consultative sales process and existing customer base was enough for us to know we were making the right decision. So far, everyone we've worked with has been very knowledgable and incredibly helpful.

Describe the project in detail.

Directive kick-started our partnership by understanding our key north-star metrics (what we were hoping to accomplish) and this has so far been the agenda for every meeting.

From there, we set up a bi-weekly cadence to discuss web traffic, how we're trending towards our goals, as well as how we can improve our processes, content, and website to see an increase in performance. One of their suggestions gave us a 350% increase in conversions on one page during one month!

What was the team composition?

I have an account manager that manages the relationship, an account strategist who seems to leads our bi-weekly meetings, an SEO expert to help with anything extra (more like a solutions engineer it seems), as well as a bunch of folks behind the scenes.

I also work with one of the managing directors who checks-in often to see how the team is working out for us. I definitely feel like all my thoughts are heard and the team works diligently to make our team feel excited to tackle these initiatives.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've had a positive increase in site traffic when compared to the previous year's months, as well as month-over-month growth during the end of last year. Our site conversions have been increasing and they help us stay incredibly focussed to our north star metrics so I always know decisions I'm making are for the right reasons.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The bi-weekly meetings give me enough time to make some movement with our site development team and content marketing team without keeping things stagnant. I always feel like I have something I can do to increase traffic or create an easier path for conversions to new customers.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Directive is always willing to slow down to explain best practices of SEO and CRO without missing any details. I feel like I've learned so much in the last year working with the team. They also are just fun people to work with so I always look forward to meeting with the team and hearing their ideas for the upcoming weeks.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Directive does not offer marketing automation consulting (as far as I'm aware) which would make them a complete package in my book. Having someone to measure not only the front end results, but then ensure those leads convert quickly into actual sales would be incredible. But I guess that would just make my job a little too easy!!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

i headed the digital marketing (demand gen). function at Lucidworks until Feb 2020. Lucidworks provides entrprise search application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Directive?

SEM / PPC

What were your goals for this project?

350 leads per month at less than $100 CPL, within 90 days of statting engagement. They did that within 60 days

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After comparing almost 5 vendors who have expertise doing SEM & SEO in the technology space

Describe the project in detail.

It was pretty much where they had to start from the scratch and build it from ground up.

What was the team composition?

Lead strategist, a junior strategist and a designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

350 leads per month with thin the first 60 days at less than $100 CPL. Though later I increase the CPL goal to.improve lead quality.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Pretty good in most cases and when it was not, they are open to feedback

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Worl ethics, focus on numbers and they are very collaborative, they felt more like an extension of my own team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Have someone help on the marketing ops. piece on the client side as well, so that reporting is in line with metrics from the platform

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for AliveCor as a marketing manager. I help ensure that we are getting the most out of our marketing and media plans. I work with Directive Consulting for digital advertising management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Directive?

Digital and Social Media Advertising management. We were being sold digital advertising that was ineffective and unnecessary. Directive's monthly consulting fee was the perfect solution because they did not have an incentive to sell us advertising that was not working. They were also highly recommended by a previous co-worker.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals were to have consistent management and reporting of our paid search, display and social media advertising.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I was referred to by a previous co-worker and did some research on my own as well. I had a meeting and the fees were reasonable for the work that was requested.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Directive manages Google Ads, Bing, Facebook Business and Google Analytics for AliveCor. They provide reporting on a weekly basis describing budgets, changes, hurdles and recommendations. This includes broad management of the platforms and detailed management, such as keyword targeting adjustments.

What was the team composition?

The team is comprised of 1 individual whom I meet with on a weekly basis. The team has changed in the last year, but not the size of the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our platforms are running consistently. Since this wasn't a one-off projects, it's tough to say a specific element of success. Our paid search and social media platforms and running smoothly today.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It is an effective work flow. We meet weekly, discuss any priorities and issues. Directive will take that information and typically provide solutions over the following week.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

In digital advertising, it's tough to find an honest partner. There are a lot of tactics that do not produce results and Directive is an incredible partner because they are honest and do not over-spend or sell you on areas that are ineffective.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Yes - Expanding their reach into more platforms. I have asked Directive about areas such as Email Marketing, but have been told that it's outside of the company's scope. They are a great partner for what they manage, but expanding their digital scope to encompass more services/platforms would improve their business.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a VP at an insurance provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Directive?

We needed lead generation and website migration services.

What were your goals for this project?

We set out to increase leads, decrease our cost per lead, dominate keyword rankings, and execute a smooth migration.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Directive online.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Directive ran multi-faceted PPC campaigns to drive new users at a much lower cost than we’d previously achieved. They were selective in targeting and building custom landing pages, tracking user feedback, and running A/B tests.

For SEO, they guided content strategy, overcame technical roadblocks, created valuable backlinks, and worked with an internal team to devise high-level strategy.

What was the team composition?

We had a dedicated account manager and a team of specialists, along with executive support from department directors.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They ensured our paid lead generation was profitable during our busiest season, nearly doubling conversion-rate growth account wide. The website migration didn’t affect their results at all, as they were positive both before and after.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had weekly meetings to keep everything on track, with consistent communication from both sides in between. Their project management tools and software were easy for us to access and use.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their dedication to doing the job right, even when faced with challenges or presented with difficult conversations, was outstanding.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, not that I experienced. We're very satisfied and planning to work with them again.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior manager of a direct selling company, primarily focused on shampoo, conditioner, and other haircare products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Directive?

We hired Directive to help us put together an organic SEO campaign to increase our visibility for our non-branded products and other haircare related items for all hair types.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Directive optimized our website and made edits to our existing content. The back-office was also updated and gives distributors, and users access to increase product visibility. They also put together a keyword strategy for all of the haircare related terms and then created new content to match the phrases. Their team managed our social media profiles to optimize them and display ourselves as an authority in premium haircare.

What is the team composition?

We worked with between 5–6 people on their team.

How did you come to work with Directive?

I found Directive on Clutch. They came highly recommended for SEO services.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent in the range of $50,000–$70,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement ran from July 2018–April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall, we saw a noticeable improvement in our organic search traffic. Among keywords and branded search terms, there was an increase in users and visitors finding us in search results. Our company is more visible on Google and our products are recommended more frequently to those who search for haircare.

How did Directive perform from a project management standpoint?

Their approach to project management was excellent. We had weekly calls with their team, and all of my emails received answers within 24 hours. They went the extra mile to stay in contact with me and follow up on everything we needed. If there were opportunities, their team was proactive in informing us and performing outreach.

There was a shared Google Doc that outlined their progress and requests from our team. Everything was clearly communicated and we shared the same expectations during the process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team was thorough and had vast knowledge about how organic SEO works. I’d highly recommend them because of their resources and insight into the industry. They knew what we were aiming for and how to connect us with people who could help.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything for them to improve on from my experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be patient for the results from SEO. Also, give their team everything they need and take advantage of their resources. If you collaborate effectively, you’ll both be in a position to succeed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a marketing executive at an insurance brokerage firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Directive?

We needed to quickly scale our PPC operations due to growth.

What were your goals for this project?

My firm wanted to garner more leads from contractors seeking insurance products. We needed a good value and a set ROI.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Directive on Clutch. After a discovery call, we partnered with them based on their expertise in PPC and lead generation.

Describe the project in detail.

Directive is deploying PPC landing pages on AdWords to generate leads. They enter the leads directly into our CRM and codify them by source.

What was the team composition?

We work directly with their team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any statistics or metrics that speak to the quality of their work and impact of the engagement?

They have generated incredibly high-converting landing pages.

How did the Directive perform from a project management standpoint?

Directive has kept us informed throughout the process. They provide weekly updates.

What impresses you about the Directive?

Directive is very thorough and open to new ideas.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we have not come across any so far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the head of marketing for a mobile app developer in Los Angeles.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Directive?

We needed support for SEO as well as conversion rate optimization (CRO) to drive leads and new business. We also wanted their help in advising our team on best practices with respect to content and technical site optimizations.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to increase our leads via increased rankings on high-value keywords that drive the most value for our organization.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I researched and vetted several different SEO companies, primarily using Clutch. We chose Directive because they had the most experience in the space. They’re also based locally and use reputable tactics rather than some offshore agencies.

Describe the project in detail.

Directive used the first month to conduct a comprehensive site audit. They identified key technical adjustments that should be implemented to improve our site on Google. Then they acted as a strategist, providing content direction and recommendations to our writers to help us rank higher. They also advised our developers on the technical changes required. They perform regular analytics updates to ensure we’re moving up in the search rankings.

What was the team composition?

Our main contact is our assigned account manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any statistics or metrics that speak to the quality of their work and impact of the engagement?

The results speak for themselves. We’ve seen a 35% increase in traffic year-over-year (YoY), a 52.6% increase in keywords ranked in the top 3, and a 61% increase in leads YoY. Our health page is top-ranked for key terms, vital as it’s the most important industry to our organization.

How did the Directive perform from a project management standpoint?

Directive is extremely accommodating to our needs. Their initial proposed method was via Trello. However, they were more than happy to switch systems when we informed them we used Jira. We have regular weekly calls with our account manager. These function both as a reporting mechanism for the week's tasks and to ensure alignment between our teams.

What impresses you about the Directive?

Their regular weekly contact helps us stay focused on the tasks at hand. We came to them due to a slip in our rankings. That left us worried about our organic leads, which are the lifeblood of our business. They bring expertise and a calm attitude to drive the results we want. As manager of a small team with limited bandwidth, it’s an absolute blessing that they’re able to take key business tasks off my plate.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I’m very happy with the results we've seen. Directive is a stellar firm both in a professional and personal sense.