evok advertising

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Clay County and the Board of County Commissioners, a government entity. I work as the director of tourism and film development. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Evok?

We are a small county that has never been in the marketplace as a tourism destination. We found that the best way to do that is through hiring an Agency of Record (AOR). That’s the reason why we collaborated with Evok.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with Evok on a number of projects. They built our first standalone tourism WordPress website that has several different plugins. We already knew what functions we needed, so they focused on putting a creative spin on it, especially on what our strong points were as a destination. The team has trained us on how to keep the site updated and how to perform troubleshooting whenever we face a technical issue.

They also manage our SEO including Google Ads. Moreover, they also spearhead our marketing planning and market buying efforts. Furthermore, they have a strategic relationship with another company where we receive articles and some social media push. That way, they boost our business on Instagram and Facebook too. 

We’ve also done some over-the-top (OTT) content, so there’s been a lot of digital marketing efforts. They’ve spent a couple of hours with us and our local businesses to educate them on digital marketing and what it can do for the business and destination.

When we received additional funding for marketing, we also told Evok to develop a whole new campaign. They created a new visitor’s guide, event guide, and venue guide with safety protocols in it. The team has also created a special video on how to have a safe event. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Allison (Account Executive), Chris (VP & Executive Creative Director), and Mohammed (Digital Marketing).

How did you come to work with Evok?

We went through our entire RFP process and we found out that they worked in the tourism space before. Additionally, they have a diverse portfolio which is great for an agency. Since they worked with diverse companies, we were sure that they were always forced to think outside the box. As a result, we chose Evok.

How much have you invested with them?

Initially, we spent $170,000. Then, we’ve also had special projects where we spent $160,000, and we’re talking about increasing 2% each year. Based on that, we’ll hover around $200,000 annually. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2020, and we have an ongoing three-year contract. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are just starting to get a baseline when it comes to metrics, but we’ve been able to tell their impact based on our hotel occupancy. When we were implementing a lot of advertising efforts, we definitely saw a difference in our business. When we stopped, our hotel occupancy also decreased. Overall, during the time when we performed campaigns, we experience more visibility and that has given us the ammunition to continue building our marketing budget.

Evok is also great at accomplishing things and finding creative ways to do our requirements. Most of all, they always meet our budget. 

How did Evok perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been very timely and provides good communication. Moreover, they are always been available to talk about enhancements we want to make. We also have a weekly call with our account executive who’s amazing and keeps everything on track. It’s refreshing to see constant movement and progress from Evok. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have the ability to make something from nothing, so from a creative standpoint, they are good at pulling things outside the box. Evok really listens to us and “my crazy ideas”. This is an agency that has stellar communication skills, and they’re quick to provide solutions for any challenges that we face. Overall, they’ve been great to work with and we look forward to continuing our cooperation. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything right now. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be ready to share what you want to accomplish. If you share everything you know about your business, they will dive deeper and come up with creative solutions to make sure you hit your goals. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing, business development, and foundation at iTHINK Financial. We are a $1.5 billion dollar credit union headquartered in Delaware Beach, Florida with around 95,000 members throughout Florida and Georgia and 22 branches.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Evok?

We needed a new design agency because we outgrew the relationship with our previous design agency. We were looking for an agency that would help us better understand more about the work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We pretty much look at everything as a campaign with Evok, so we have monthly campaigns set up with them and they’re helping with the monthly creatives that we use to communicate with our account holders. They also help us with some special projects that we develop campaigns out of. 

The campaigns are both traditional (print inserts, fliers, and banners) and digital; they’ve handled commercial shoots that turned into digital shoots from billboards to social media. In addition to this, they also help us with videos on gas stations, preroll videos, and the procurement and arrangement of that process.

What is the team composition?

We work with about 10–13 members of their team on a regular basis. There are two that we work with day to day including Cheryl (VP of Client Services) and Lindsay (Account Executive).

How did you come to work with Evok?

We had an RFP for design agency services, so I found out about them by simply searching for their company. They responded to the RFP and were one of five companies competing for our business.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in January 2017 and our relationship is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their involvement has been instrumental and we’ve had some really unique projects that they’ve been a part of. One of them, in particular, were banks that our credit union was acquiring and they came up with a member communication plan from contents to roll out for both of those campaigns. I really believe those were key in us achieving opt-in rates, the people that wanted to come over to the credit union from that bank.

Prior to their engagement, we didn’t have much social media involvement. Now that we have campaigns that are operating and changing on a quarterly basis, our engagement has increased by about 15%–30% overall. We’ve hit all of our goals and metrics, and we attribute our success to having a design agency that can communicate the value of our products and services to our members and finding the right channels to do that. We have also seen year-over-year (YoY) growth with each of the campaigns.

How did Evok perform from a project management standpoint?

On a day to day, we normally have weekly calls with them so that they are informed about any new campaign we want to start and any new initiatives. We meet with them quarterly to discuss anything on a strategic level, our ROI, special projects, and individual campaign success.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Evok has been really good about pivoting and adjusting the campaign so it results in profitability. They work across a number of different industries and they understand branding more than any other company I’ve worked with. They treat each one of their clients as if they were the only client. 

We always communicate our deadlines and there have been very few times where they’ve said they were unsure if they could meet it, even when it’s an aggressive deadline. The team is very good about being able to reallocate resources so that their clients meet their goals. All of their work is above par and they really bring our branding to the next level.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We notice a lot of different hands touch our creative and every time that happens, dollars are added to it. Perhaps a little more efficiency in that area could be improved upon, but that’s the only thing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having a results-oriented approach to your business is important. If you’re a company that knows where you’re going and you know the metrics that you're going to be looking at in order to measure, you’ll have a much more successful partnership with them because their system is built around that

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a consultant for a tourism company that does destination management for the local area.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Evok?

When I joined my position, we really didn’t have a strong web presence. The site hadn’t been updated in a number of years and wasn’t mobile-friendly. We needed someone who could come in and help us refresh our web presence.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Evok did a total revamp of our website, from the design to the build. Obviously, web projects never truly end, so we’ve retained them for annual maintenance.

Their team also provides ongoing SEO and search engine marketing (SEM). Based on the seasonality and trending topics, we push out a blog post every month. We’ve recently done round-ups of local businesses that have strong social distancing practices.

What is the team composition? 

I’m currently working with my third project manager. They typically assign one person as a point of contact for our projects, but we’ve spoken to other people as needed. 

For example, if we had an issue with our website or had a question about our SEO/SEM, then they’ll bring in those specialists for a discussion. I’d say the larger team has been around 10–15 people between all of our work.

How did you come to work with Evok?

We put out a bid to the local area, and Evok won based on how we ranked various factors. That included experience, services provided, similar projects, references from similar businesses to ours, and more. 

How much have you invested with them?

The website was around $32,000. Then the ongoing SEO, SEM, and maintenance is about $72,000 annual.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with them since 2017, and it’s been a positive experience. We wouldn’t continue to renew their contract otherwise.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site won an HSMAI award, so we’re clearly happy with that. As for our SEO and SEM, our monthly metrics have shown strong improvements in our traffic month over month.

How did Evok perform from a project management standpoint?

Each month, we have a call to go over their reports, looking at our numbers, identifying any opportunities for growth, and noting any areas for improvement. 

They’ve also given us access to a portal where we could submit any of our issues in one place. That hasn’t really worked for us since we’re just a two-person department, so we’ve reverted back to emailing them directly. They’ve continued to be responsive on that front.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s been a pleasant, pleasurable experience. I can’t say we’ve had any issues, and, if we did, they’re very solution-oriented.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m sure there’s always something anyone could do better, but I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of marketing at Florida Credit Union. Our field of membership covers 111,000 people across 45 counties, with eleven branches total.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Evok?

We wanted to replace our previous agency of record with Evok, working to make sure that it was a seamless transition.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Evok does nearly all of our digital marketing with the exception of our website and newspaper ads.

Currently, they handle seven digital campaigns, each addressing a product and generation. That involves doing the planning, working with us on strategy, and recommending our budget allocation. The team also does creative, from our mailers and email templates to radio spots.

As for our site’s content, they audit our site once a quarter and suggest changes to boost our SEO. We then implement their suggestions since we still own the code.

What is the team composition? 

I regularly work with Kelly (Account Manager). They prefer to structure our communication through Kelly so that everyone on their side is on the same page. 

These days it’s a bit different. Whenever we’re talking about our campaign results, we’ll hear from their digital strategist and media resource. Most of the team will also show up to our quarterly SEO call.

How did you come to work with Evok?

I found them while researching online and sent them an RFP. Out of the 11 agencies that submitted proposals, Evok was one of three companies that pitched their work to us. We ended up selecting them because of their hyper-targeting capabilities and background in the financial industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $600,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement started back in January 2020, and we’ve been working with them since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s difficult to talk about metrics because we’ve changed both our agency and our budget between 2019 and 2020. As a result, our cost per conversion is still very similar, but there are obviously more campaigns going on. It’s apples and oranges.

How did Evok perform from a project management standpoint?

Not only is Evok performing well, but their account manager is top-notch. She’s always professional and pleasant, following up on things that I might owe them. As a result, we’ve never missed a deadline.

When it comes to execution, they’re typically on point. There might be times when we give feedback to tweak a campaign or creative piece. But, overall, their knowledge of financial industry basics makes it easier for them to market our products.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team is good about giving us recommendations rather than just forcing their ideas on us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When they first started their digital reporting, they would deliver the results month to month. But, I’m more of an analytical marketing executive than others and would prefer to play around with the data myself. I appreciate that they’re working to adapt to my request.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’m not sure if there’s any advice I can give because we haven’t run into any problems. I suppose you have to know what you want, which is just good advice in and of itself.