Edition Studios

Could you give a brief description of your company and your role?

We are a real estate development company. We do multifamily housing across the Midwest. My role is to coordinate all the marketing efforts for our new projects and coordinate with Nerland Co. on the direct mails, newspaper ads, and pretty much all collateral materials that are associated with advertising and marketing our projects.

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address when you approached Nerland Co.?

Our biggest challenge was making sure that we can be consistent in our brand messaging, and our brand awareness, reach out to anywhere in a new market that we’re entering, and make sure that we’re as consistent as possible. Nathan [Nerland, the chief creative officer at the Nerland Co.] was able to achieve that easily with our goals and target market, and what we wanted to do. It definitely took a little bit of effort. I think we are very consistent in our ad messaging all the way from northern Minnesota to Kansas now. That was probably one of our biggest challenges just to make sure our message is clear and concise, and we get that consistent messaging.

When did you first approach Nerland Co.?

I wasn’t on board when we started [our relationship with Nerland Co.]. I think it was 2005. When I came on board, we had a lot of changes, big and small, across the board with Village Cooperative and Real Estate Equities.

What is the scope of the work they’ve done for you?

They have done just about everything. We could obviously disperse it through a couple of different companies, but we knew that having one would greatly benefit us in the long run. Nathan knows everything about us. We know everything about them.

Did you have a website previously?

Yes, we did. I don’t think Nathan was involved in the first design of our website, but we ended up overhauling it I think in 2011. We basically built it from scratch. We carried that consistent theme across multiple platforms from our website to all our direct mail and newspaper ads. Not just the logo, but also the ad messaging and colors that we use.

Do you know what content management system your website is built in? Do you manage it internally now or does Nerland Co. provide ongoing support?

It is built in WordPress. I wanted to make sure that any small changes or text changes, I could do myself. That way, we’re not needlessly paying someone an exorbitant amount of money to do a minor text change or whatnot. As we close homes out, we have different floor plans listed on the website. We have A, B, and C floor plans. If B only has one left or two left, then I can make that change on the website on the fly. That greatly helps to keep everything up to date. Any major changes like adding a new Web page, a new project, or changing some major things around as far as graphics or pictures or whatnot, Nathan usually handles those.

What was your process for selecting them to work with in the first place?

I wasn’t involved in the meetings. I’m not sure how my old boss and Nathan got together.

Can you give a sense of the size of all the work that they’ve done?

We work with them every month on coordinating direct mails and newspaper ads for the most part. That generally involves 20 hours a month to get those mocked up and designed. I work with Nathan on sending out the lists that we need to send out to mailers, and then he’ll send me the ad so I can send those to the publishers. On a monthly basis, the work that Nathan completes is in the $10,000 range [not including postage for direct mails]. 

On bigger projects like the website, I think that was around 30 hours. It might have been $5,000. We also built out a mobile website, which I think was about 10 hours and about $2,000.

In terms of the results of the work that they’ve done, is there any kind of feedback that you can give or any metrics that you can share that indicate the success of their work?

He helped us build out our Facebook page and really a strong foundation for that. We started out just doing basic things and just trying to get our members on board. It was about a year ago that we really started to get that nailed down. I think we had 45 likes on our page. A year later, we started knowing that this was going to be a big tertiary vehicle for us to use for marketing. We threw some money at it. We probably spend $180,000 on advertising each of our projects on Facebook. We grew our page to about 2,800 likes now in slightly more than a year. That was a really big accomplishment. It is a big gain for us. We are probably getting 50 to 200 likes a month. It is definitely going to keep growing.

For our website, we have tracked analytics since we built out the new site. When we first started out, we were getting 800 to 1,000 website visits a month. Now we’re pretty consistent at 3,000 to 3,500. We have basically tripled our website hits just by advertising it and all our collateral materials, and pushing our Facebook page as well.

How would you describe their performance?

I have absolutely no issues with how the work gets accomplished. There are sometimes little missed cues here and there. I try to be as specific as possible on changes that we need for our collateral materials. Some of them get skipped, so I just have to double-check that. For the most part, our brand messaging and our consistent materials have been very well planned out, thought ahead. He doesn’t just tack things together. He really thinks long and hard about what will you want to accomplish with our goals and sets them up that way.

For his office software, you can log into his office webpage and see all the different ads or any project that you’re working on that month with them. When you want to make changes, you can just say “in progress,” “still want to do these changes,” or whatnot. Sometimes, they don’t always get tracked. As you make changes or if you’re making three or four different rounds of changes, they don’t always get compiled together. You can’t see what you wanted to do on round one versus what’s on there right now, which could be round three or four. Sometimes, things get lost in translation there.

For the most part, everything is very consistent and well thought out. We haven’t really had any issues hitting deadlines or not being able to get a hold of them or communicate with him. He is always very responsive. We hold a quarterly meeting on where our progress is at and where we want to take new projects, bigger projects or expand on certain things. He is very good about that and responsive. 

Is there anything unique or special about them compared to other vendors that you may have worked with in the past?

I haven’t worked with a ton of different vendors. We did split out our printing process for our direct mails, ultimately to try and save some money that way, but it didn’t really work out. Having one person to work with is so much easier than trying to coordinate between three or four different printers across the Midwest.

We’ve done some different things. Newspaper publishers will say, “We can get an ad design for free if you make this commitment” or whatnot. We have seen some of their work, but ultimately I haven’t decided to use any of it because it is just not as crisp and well thought out as Nathan’s. I would say that is probably a big point for us just to have one person to work with that really knows our business model and what we want to accomplish.

Could you please describe your company and your role?

The company is Elite Destination Homes, and we own and manage many multimillion dollar vacation homes around the world. I helped start the company, and I’m a principal in the company.

When you approached Nerland Co., what was the business challenge that you were trying to address?

We needed an online presence. We didn’t have an online presence. So, they were the first people that we started to work with when we first started our company.

How did you feel having an online presence would benefit your company?

It’s the best place to spend your marketing dollars to get clients. Our way of ownership is where we have one multimillion-dollar home, we buy it, we fix it all up, and then we have five families that own it. It’s called shared ownership of vacation homes. We also have our rental side of the business where we rent out those homes on behalf of the owners. So we have two different sides of our business, and we needed a presence for both: To be able to find owners for our homes, and also to be able to find renters for our homes.  

Can you tell me about the scope of the project?

It was up to them to come up with our website and email marketing, and any other things that we wanted to do online. 

When you first started the project, why did you select Nerland Co. to do it?

I knew Nathan [Nerland, the chief creative officer at the Nerland Co.] personally. I knew what kind of priority and follow through he had, and how creative he was. I knew his background, where he came from, and his previous position or what his responsibilities were there. So, I thought he’d be a good fit. He was.

Can you give us a sense of the size of the project, either in a cost range or in a personnel work hour estimate?

He spent hours and hours on it. The thing about Nathan is that he’ll quote something, and he’ll go way above those hours to work for us and get it done because he said he would. He’s also so responsive to us and our needs when you’re in a pickle. He’ll always do whatever you need to do to get something fixed if it’s an emergency. Definitely within timelines, so he’s phenomenal that way. So, I can’t even add up the amount of hours or dollars that we’ve paid them. Just say it’s been a lot.  

Can you give a cost range?

I’m not sure overall, but it would be definitely fall between $100,000 and $200,000, or maybe $250,000 or $300,000 even.

When was the project completed?

It’s been ongoing. It started seven or eight years ago. We’re still working with him. 

Are there any metrics or feedback that you can share that indicates the effectiveness of their work?

We asked him to build a website that we could grow with, and that’s what he did. We’ve gone from, when he first started with us, maybe seven or eight houses, and now we have close to a hundred. We’ve also gone from having one core agency or company focus, which is the shared ownership of homes, and then we grew into the rental management end of things. So, everything has grown.

How would you describe their performance?

Exceptional. It’s very fun to work with them. They listen. They want to know what you want. They want to do what you want. They want to please. They will come back and suggest other things if they don’t think what we’re saying is the right way to go. So, they’re willing to challenge, because they really want what is best for us. Their interpersonal relationships are just phenomenal. So it’s been a very good, respected relationship with them.

Is there anything unique or special about them compared to other vendors that you may have worked with in the past?

How cute they are. The whole team is super cute. I like that they will not keep checking on the hours. He’s just been so willing to stay within our budget, but he actually has done so much more work for free for us. I don’t think many companies would do that.

Looking back, is there any area that you think Nerland Co. could improve upon or that you would do differently?

I think the only thing is that sometimes they’re too accommodating. I’ll give them feedback, our CEO will give them feedback, and the salesperson will give them feedback. Instead of making us get organized within ourselves because, then, it’s hard all the way around when you don’t have consolidated feedback for them. It’s almost like they’ll do all that on our behalf instead of making us do the work. I think, sometimes, they need to teach us how to be more efficient in the process.

Do you think that has a negative impact overall?

No.

Could you give a brief description of your company and your role?

I own a yoga studio in Fargo, North Dakota, called Mojo Fit Studios. 

When you approached Nerland Co., what was the business challenge that you were trying to address?

I was just starting my company, so I approached them for branding and logo creation.

Did you have any specific business goals for the project?

Just to create a strong brand to go to market with and help to develop some marketing pieces that went along with it and the website.  

Can you discuss the scope of the project that Nerland Co. was involved in?

It started out with them creating our branding and logos. Ultimately, they handled all our Web design, our social media, and any ongoing marketing campaigns we have. They pretty much handle all of my marketing and social media, printed cards, and our branded clothing line.

They have done some odd photography for us, although we haven’t really gone too much into that yet. For the most part, it’s been using from existing or stock photos we’ve purchased.       

Do you personally manage the website now?

No. They do.

Did they also optimize it for mobile use?

Yes.

Why did you select Nerland Co. to work with in the first place?

I had a personal relationship with Nathan [Nerland, the chief creative officer of the Nerland Co.]. We’ve been friends from way back. I’d also seen some of their other work that they’ve done, and I was looking for someone who was able to help a small startup company, and they really seem to have a good handle on that. So, we started with the logo design and it just grew from there.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative, either in a cost figure or personnel work hour estimate?

All of the materials, all the clothing and design, and marketing cost probably $20,000 to $25,000. It very well could be more than that. I think the website was $10,000, and the branding was $5,000. I still go to them almost monthly for certain things.

How would you describe their performance?

Absolutely wonderful. You’re not going to hear a bad thing from me. They are really on top of it, which is why we decided to grow. We grew with them.

In terms of the results of the project, are there any metrics or feedback you can share?

There are certainly marketing programs we’ve launched that we’ve seen really great results from. I get feedback from clients quite frequently, asking who and where I get my marketing done. A lot of people comment on the Web design and how nice and professional it looks. I get very great feedback on all the marketing.  

Was there anything unique or special about Nerland Co. compared to other companies that you may have worked with in the past?

I have always appreciated that they take a step back and look at the business as a whole. They’re not providing one marketing piece for this and one marketing piece for that. They look at things from a whole perspective and say, “How can we help improve the business as a whole?” They come to me with many wonderful ideas. Then, I just have to decide if it makes sense. They really look at the whole small business and try to create ways to grow it.

When was your website launched?

It was launched at the first week in November [of 2013], I think, officially.

Looking back on the project so far, is there any area that you think Nerland Co. could improve on, or that you would do differently?

They take care of me most days. It’s so hard for me to find even constructive things for them to work on. I don’t know. They’ve been so great and so attentive and so helpful. I will continuously think for constructive criticism, but I just don’t have any.