Expert Marketing Advisors

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Marketing of a risk management consulting firm.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Data risk management consulting firm

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Expert Marketing Advisors to accomplish?

• Launch HubSpot and integrate it with Salesforce
• Launch and maintain nurture marketing campaigns
• Launch and managed digital advertising strategy
• Manage HubSpot and Salesforce
• Technical SEO support

SOLUTION

How did you find Expert Marketing Advisors?

Referral

Why did you select Expert Marketing Advisors over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Expert Marketing Advisors were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

eMa serves as my digital marketing agency helping me launch a marketing division for a B2B IT services company from the ground up. In year 1 we focused on launching HubSpot and then integrating with the company's existing Salesforce CRM.

We launched a paid advertising strategy on Google and LinkedIn. We launched a coordinated SEO strategy that included a lot of technical clean-up on the backend of our website and also a coordinated content strategy for our highest priority keywords. We also launched a more consistent social media content strategy.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Meeting program deadlines and converting leads into opportunities

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

Deadlines were all met and my needs were always addressed in a timely manner.

What was your primary form of communication with Expert Marketing Advisors?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their Salesforce expertise is top-tier and directly affects the productivity of the entire marketing program.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Expert Marketing Advisors could have done differently?

Nope - right now if anything every arises, they escalate and address the issue very quickly and efficiently. We haven't missed any program deadlines and we're on track to meet our other KPIs for the year.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Marketing Manager of a supply chain, logistics, and transport company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We simplify trading partner connections and management, enabling users to connect once and trade with any partner with an average onboarding time of just 9 days.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Expert Marketing Advisors to accomplish?

• Social media services

SOLUTION

How did you find Expert Marketing Advisors?

• Referral

Why did you select Expert Marketing Advisors over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Expert Marketing Advisors were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Objective: The primary objective of this scope of work (SOW) is to enhance our brand presence on social media platforms, specifically LinkedIn and Twitter, through strategic content creation, engagement, and analytics monitoring. This SOW outlines the responsibilities and activities to be undertaken by the service provider to achieve our marketing goals.
• Scope Details:

1. Social Media Channel Updates: Frequency: Update our LinkedIn and Twitter accounts four times a week, totaling sixteen posts per month for each platform. Content Creation: Develop engaging, brand-aligned content that resonates with our target audience, including text, images, and videos. Content will be planned in a content calendar for approval before posting. Scheduling: Utilize social media management tools to schedule posts for optimal engagement times.
2. Brand Presence Management: Profile Optimization: Regularly review and optimize our social media profiles to ensure they are up-to-date with the latest brand messaging, imagery, and contact information. Brand Voice: Maintain a consistent brand voice across all posts and interactions on social media platforms.
3. Writing & Editing Social Media Copy: Copywriting: Assist in crafting compelling social media posts that encourage engagement and support marketing campaigns. Editing: Ensure all social media copy is grammatically correct and aligned with our messaging strategy.
4. Reporting & Analytics: Monthly Reporting: Provide monthly reports detailing key performance metrics such as engagement rates, follower growth, and content reach. Insights Analysis: Analyze performance data to identify trends and areas for improvement.
5. Sharing Insights and Opportunities: Growth Strategies: Proactively identify and share insights and opportunities for growing our social media presence and engagement. Recommendations: Offer actionable recommendations based on analytics and industry trends.
6. Engaging with Trends and Other Companies: Trend Monitoring: Actively monitor social media for trending topics and hashtags relevant to Orderful’s industry. Engagement: Interact with other companies and influencers on social media to increase visibility and foster partnerships.
7. Suggesting Potential Topics for New Posts: Content Strategy: Regularly suggest fresh and innovative topics for social media content that aligns with marketing objectives and audience interests.
8. Offering Brand Guidance: Brand Consistency: Ensure all social media activities reinforce the Orderful identity and messaging. Policy Adherence: Advise on best practices and compliance with social media platforms' policies and guidelines.
9. Sharing Feedback on Digital Marketing Imagery: Imagery Review: Provide constructive feedback on digital marketing imagery to ensure it aligns with brand standards and social media content strategies. Visual Content Creation: Assist in the selection and creation of compelling visual content that enhances social media posts. Deliverables: A comprehensive monthly content calendar. Sixteen engaging posts per month for LinkedIn and Twitter, respectively. Monthly analytics and performance report with actionable insights. Continuous engagement and interaction on both platforms. Regular updates and recommendations for content and strategy optimization. Timeline: This SOW is effective from May 2023 and is intended to be ongoing. Content calendars will be delivered for approval one week before the start of each month, and monthly reports will be provided within the first week of the following month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our social media following has grown by over 30% in the last 6 months. I attribute much of that to their Expert Marketing Advisors' willingness to hop in and be an extra set of hands with my small team.

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

Great about deliverables and getting things done on time. I never had to ask about things.

What was your primary form of communication with Expert Marketing Advisors?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I like how helpful they are. I'm a solo marketer and they went above and beyond to help me meet my goals.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Expert Marketing Advisors could have done differently?

Finding more ways to report success metrics so I can share wins with leadership.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of DirectTech Labs. We're an AI and machine learning company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Espresso?

We knew there were two parts of the marketing funnel that were important to us: driving marketing qualified leads (MQL) and turning those leads into sales qualified leads (SQL). We had trouble driving leads, so we were looking for an agency to help us with lead generation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They produce high-quality content for us, and our marketing strategy has been mostly focused on that content. A lot of our work involves educating our market about our product. We have regular calls with them and discuss the topics we want to cover. Espresso creates the content that gets people thinking about the problems we solve in a different and new context. Often, the content is so good that I don't need to edit it or I make only slight edits. In addition, they help us come up with ideas for video content. We create the videos internally and Espresso helps us publish them and improve our YouTube channel.

They also manage our SEO to help us increase organic traffic. They dove headfirst into our business, which has a lot of uniquities. Many people have a steep learning curve when they're trying to understand what we do, but it didn’t take Espresso long to get to know our business and our target market.

We've recently implemented a very hyper-targeted marketing approach to target our top prospects. Espresso manages our highly targeted ads, working with our budget. They also propose new ideas and make recommendations. We only have one marketing person in-house and she’s been very engaged with Espresso.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with both of their partners and a content writer.

How did you come to work with them?

We were looking at a few different agencies and chose Espresso because we liked the way they think. They're smart and understand our business, which many people don't. They had the right answer to every question we were posing, so we knew they'd be a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between $35,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2018 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our organic traffic has increased and people are engaging with our content. They've been very effective in helping our internal team, which is extremely small, deliver strong results in terms of MQL, content, and overall strategy. Before we started working with Espresso, we had a very hard time generating MQLs. We had to meet with CEOs personally or email our contacts in the industry. Now, we rarely do that. We have a list of a couple of hundred people that are moving through our marketing funnel and many of them turn into SQLs.

Our goal is to have 2–4 SQLs a month because we sell a high-priced product that has a smaller number of customers. Espresso has already engaged a few hundred executives from our list of targeted companies. In addition, they're very metrics-driven and helped us tweak our HubSpot so that we could manage all the analytics.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly or bi-weekly calls and they give us regular progress reports. They keep track of everything internally and share that with us via screen sharing. Also, they're very flexible and shift their hours around to accommodate us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're extremely organized and deliver on promises.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let them take their time to get to know your business. They'll do a great opening workshop and ask you a lot of questions. Make sure you bring enough members of your team to the meeting so that they can wrap their heads around your business and clearly understand the context of what you do. We did that and I'm very happy with the results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president of Demand Management, Inc., a global supply chain software company headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., with offices in 34 countries around the globe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Espresso B2B Marketing?

Initially, we were looking for a vendor with SEO experience both within the US and abroad since our previous vendor's expertise were more domestically focused. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Espresso optimized our web performance in the US, Europe, and Asia by providing SEO services on a monthly basis. When our VP of marketing left the company, Espresso essentially took over all of our digital marketing efforts.

They also provide all the copy for our annual magazine, meta tags, and our website. Our team schedules the interviews and translators with the appropriate people, and Espresso's team interviews and writes case studies as needed. 

What is the team composition?

Mark (Co-founder, Espresso B2B Marketing) and Dave (Co-founder, Espresso B2B Marketing) help us prepare for and attend every one of our sales meetings. Maricel (Art Director, Espresso B2B Marketing) provides web, graphic, and PowerPoint design work for us, while Kevin (Copywriter, Espresso B2B Marketing) handles most of the content. They also bring in other members of their team as needed.

How did you come to work with Espresso B2B Marketing?

Our former VP of marketing recommended them to us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since August 2011.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our lead generation has increased by over 400% since Espresso started working with us consistently. Additionally, the quality of those leads has significantly improved—they're more qualified compared to previous years.

How did Espresso B2B Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They provide monthly reports and track everything through our own CRM system. They help us evaluate and incorporate new tools to improve the way we track and manage progress, such as Hootsuite and HubSpot. They're great about communicating and both providing and being receptive to feedback. Mark even flies in to visit us in our office about six times a year.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The talent within their team sets them apart. They've been able to dramatically improve web traffic, online performance, and generate qualified leads, which wouldn't be possible without a team of highly skilled individuals putting in the work to make it happen. They do a lot for us, and they do it all very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Espresso has a structured, disciplined approach, so I suggest going into the relationship with an open mind and to trust that their team really knows what they're doing. What they're able to bring to the table is worth the investment, so give their process a chance, because finding a vendor with their skill set is hard to come by.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Cibo Global. We’re a global brand experience agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Espresso B2B Marketing?

We wanted to drive more engagement with CMOs about our perspective on thought leadership, so we needed resources to help us shape and implement our content marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team provided a wide range of marketing services, including content strategy, email marketing, and content generation for social media, blogs, and email. In addition to advising us on thought leadership pieces, they also gave us insights on how to structure email campaigns to drive conversions.

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with their marketing lead, though I also interacted with their VP of marketing.

How did you come to work with Espresso B2B Marketing?

I believe I found them while searching for providers. They had great references, so I reached out to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $5,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work lasted from May 2016–November 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to their email campaigns and thought leadership pieces, we were able to drive a tremendous amount of engagement, which generated more leads and greater conversions. It was a really positive experience, and they went beyond our expectations.

How did Espresso B2B Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job across the board. We emailed each other every day and held phone calls on a weekly basis. Once in a while, we would meet in person if we were trying to kick off a new project. They used a project management tool on their side, but I don’t know the specifics.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated how experienced they were. They’re very practical, and they were able to bring their own business knowledge to the table.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you know your business strategy because no one else can define it for you.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Operations of Reputation.com

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Online reputation management

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Expert Marketing Advisors to accomplish?

• Marketing Operations Support
• Campaign Management
• Process Design

SOLUTION

How did you find Expert Marketing Advisors?

Referral

Why did you select Expert Marketing Advisors over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Expert Marketing Advisors were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

EMA was a valuable partner in helping our organization scale. They helped design and manage our campaign management process as well as supported our work within Marketo.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Improved project throughput and ability to handle more Marketing campaigns

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

We set up a clearly defined submission process, SLA's and meeting cadence to ensure timely delivery of work. We had various ways to connect and found them very responsive.

What was your primary form of communication with Expert Marketing Advisors?

Virtual Meeting

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

Their availability, collaborative nature, and ability to ensure results that met our expectations stood out.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Expert Marketing Advisors could have done differently?

Our relationship worked well

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of nuSoft, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Product Design/Development & Technology Consulting Services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Expert Marketing Advisors to accomplish?

• Meet customer's quality and timeline requirements.

SOLUTION

How did you find Expert Marketing Advisors?

Referral

Why did you select Expert Marketing Advisors over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Expert Marketing Advisors were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Marketing strategy, website re-design and development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Detailed project plan with defined milestones and deliverables.

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

Very responsive team, provided clear feedback. A great learning experience for our team as well.

What was your primary form of communication with Expert Marketing Advisors?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We were particularly pleased with their transparency and responsiveness.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Expert Marketing Advisors could have done differently?

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive of Rafay Systems

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Infrastructure Technology

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Expert Marketing Advisors to accomplish?

• Tradeshow Support
• Website Maintenance
• Marketing Operations

SOLUTION

How did you find Expert Marketing Advisors?

Referral

Why did you select Expert Marketing Advisors over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Expert Marketing Advisors were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Timely reports and analytics on marketing and sales operations
• Meeting tradeshow marketing and lead gen goals 
• Design and publishing of SEO optimized blogs and social media posts

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Consistently exceeding lead gen goals, tradeshow goals, and social media goals

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

EMA's project management has been great. They consistently meet aggressive deadlines and are very responsive and attentive to our needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Expert Marketing Advisors?

Virtual Meeting

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

Being agile. EMA can slot in easily to marketing swinging lanes and be immediately productive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Expert Marketing Advisors could have done differently?

Not that i can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing director at Axure Software. Our flagship product, Axure RP, is a prototyping tool that is commonly used by product designers to create interactive wireframes, prototypes, and specifications for web and mobile applications. It allows designers to quickly create and iterate on their designs, and to share them with stakeholders for feedback and review.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Espresso B2B Marketing, and what were your goals?

Business Challenge: Working with a former marketing agency, Axure advertised on Google and LinkedIn but was growing frustrated over variations in pricing. Our cost per click was rising at an alarming rate. We also found it hard to predict the performance of our ads. We were seeking better advertising results for less money, so we began to evaluate potential marketing agencies or a new hire in-house.

SOLUTION

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

We weren’t thrilled about the experience of some agencies, nor the level of care we thought they would give us. But when we talked to Mark at Espresso, we were impressed by his level of expertise and the amount of thought he put into our proposal. Due to our rising costs, we figured we’d have to compromise on our programs, but with Espresso, we realized we didn’t have to.

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

We engaged Espresso to refresh its Google and LinkedIn ad campaigns. We also worked together to optimize Axure’s use of its new HubSpot CRM solution—especially the reporting features. There was an in-depth needs analysis at the kickoff of our contract. It was great how quickly Espresso B2B already understood our industry and was able to weigh in on the needs of our core audience. Having an SEM agency with experience across all marketing functions helped make our engagement smoother.

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

Each call includes the agency leader, account manager, and advertising manager. There’s a big team of others at Espresso working on our account, but this is the group that I interact with regularly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From July 2021 to November 2022: Clicks have increased by 130.04%. Impressions have increased by 245.22%. Avg. CPC has decreased -by 61.54%. Lead conversion has grown by 39.04% and our cost per conversion has reduced by 36.45%. Usually, you have to pump a ton of extra money and resources into your strategy to achieve these results, but we did it all while staying under budget.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have regular status calls to review ad campaign performance. As mentioned, each call includes the agency leader, account manager, and advertising manager. I also receive a monthly report (via email), plus an online dashboard with ad performance metrics. Aside from understanding how to manage the ad platforms to get better performance, Espresso has a deep understanding of website conversion tracking, Google Analytics, and Google Tag Manager, which are always critical for understanding ad performance.

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

Espresso’s knowledge of online advertising is a 10 out of 10. And I was right about the level of care we would receive. Every time a new development comes out in the industry, Espresso is right on it and implementing changes in our campaigns to take advantage. That takes a huge amount of stress off my plate. You can’t beat that!

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

Not that I can think of. Espresso feels like an extension of my team. I can count on them to anticipate our company's needs and provide recommendations that scale.