Gen3 Marketing

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CMO of FITE, the premiere global platform for sports and entertainment. We specialize in combat sports but recently have expanded into everything from motorsports to soccer to films to basketball to music. We’ve learned to do the the pandemic pivot and use our energies to maximize our strengths in this challenging time.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Oak Digital was hired to help us grow our new affiliate network. We were very impressed with their pitch and capabilities, and they have been awesome!

What were your goals for this project?

Acquire more publishers, engage our favorite media partners and influencers and create some breakout experiences.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

The owner blind pitched me - and I was intrigued. I used to be in sales long ago and I really appreciate a good pitch. We had such a compelling call that I knew we had to give it a try. Oak is everything they said they were - that’s kind of rare - and we engaged and enjoy the ongoing relationship.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Great deep dive into who we are and where we wanted to go...helpful guidance in building our affiliate program. They were very collaborative and an excellent cultural fit. Excellent and highly granular reporting each month on our progress with monthly strategy meetings that I look forward to.

What was the team composition?

Input from the top guy on down....account specialist and strategist who are easy to reach, always with with a solution on hand....a strong work ethic from everyone I’ve worked with, which matches our style.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our affiliate performance in May 2020 - in a global pandemic - was our most successful to date.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

A great match. Detail as needed but only the important stuff. Suggestions; ideas...people who think...love it!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their people stand out — it’s always the people who make a great company, don’t you think?

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing comes to mind - a pleasure to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a lifestyle footwear brand. I’ the director of marketing and e-commerce.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with OAK Digital?

We onboarded OAK to help us manage our affiliate partnership marketing program. We had one, but it was bare-bones and we weren’t investing a lot of resources into growing it. We recognized there was some opportunity there to grow our brand and scale those efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They took over the account, from auditing our program, to setting it up, growing it, managing it, and reporting on it all. They manage it completely on there one, with a little oversight from us.

They made a few changes to our strategy because there was a lot of opportunity. They brought in a lot of new affiliate partners and helped onboard them.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about four people.

How did you come to work with OAK Digital?

OAK Digital was recommended to us by one of our affiliates

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in September 2019 and it’s ongoing, so we’ve been together for about six months now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Right away, we started drawing more sales than ever before. We’re seeing about a 5x return on spending since we started working with them. They’ve increased our overall revenue by 300% on average, and we’ve seen a 400% increase in traffic because of their efforts.

How did OAK Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re good communicators. They’re transparent, there’s reporting, we exchange emails every day. So, from a project management perspective, they’re a great partner.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We haven’t worked with many other companies, so it’s difficult to compare, but they have a great understanding of affiliate partnership marketing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Candidly, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think understanding the promotional nature of this work, have experience in promotions, sales, or discounts, then you’re going to be successful. If that’s a challenge for you, it’s going to be a little harder.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

When I worked with Oak Digital, I worked at Angie's List, which is a consumer subscription review company for the home services vertical. I was a marketing specialist there and handled all of our paid media. I worked with TV, radio, print, and handled our affiliate channel.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Oak Digital?

We wanted to revamp and grow our affiliate channel to turn that into subscription revenue.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They fully managed our affiliate marketing channel and grew it to drive new members to it on other websites. They managed the entire platform for us, identified new websites for us to partner with, and oversaw our specific budget.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Anthony (Founder) as a main point of contact, and another person as an account manager.

How did you come to work with Oak Digital?

Anthony had previously done some work with our VP of marketing, so there was a personal connection there. We did a full RFP process, and after looking at several other members they ended up winning the RFP because they had a lot of good insights and felt they were really good at analytics. We felt totally comfortable with their team and they ended up with their team.

How much have you invested with them?    

We invested approximately $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them from November 2015 and wrapped up October 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were really happy with that partnership. They were able to grow and consistently multiply our affiliate channel. They really turned it from a channel that wasn't doing much for us into one that was really successful. They delivered consistent growth and kept their spending low. We only stopped working with them because we'd been acquired by our competition and we had to cease partnerships with all of our paid media vendors.

How did Oak Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. We had a weekly call with our team and theirs. We mainly communicated on the phone, but they also provided dashboards and emailed reports to us. They were always available to jump on a call or an email too. They were very responsive, overall.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They didn't really feel like an agency, they felt more like a member of our team. Their responsiveness and closeness to our team really stood out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, when we engaged with them, they were just starting out, so they were still hiring out a full team and working on their own marketing and growth. I'm sure they've gotten bigger and more established by this point. I would only suggest they continue to solidify themselves and gain a contact list so they can get bigger clients and become more established.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to trade reports, get samples of what you want to talk about, and be really clear about your KPI's.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as the executive director at the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. My organization works in 40 countries. We spend a lot of time working on Muslim-Jewish relations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with OAK Digital?

We were trying to improve social media engagement. The president of the foundation wanted to increase followers on social media.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They also help to generate leads through newsletters and other programs. Their team also manages Facebook and Twitter pages. Content management and ad spending were part of the strategy. Mobile advertising was also part of the program.

What is the team composition?

I worked with five members of OAK Digital. The head of digital found us the right person in his team to achieve our goals.

How did you come to work with OAK Digital?

We were recommended to them by one of our board members. The board member had hired them for a different social media project. They found us someone who understood Muslim-Jewish relations.

How much have you invested with them?

Overall, we invested $180,000 in the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them from October 2016 and continued through January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were helpful in increasing followers and engagement. OAK Digital surpassed overall ROI goals. I appreciate that they were very smart in their budgeting for ad spending. I enjoyed working with them. They always tried to proactively develop innovative solutions. It was perfect.

Before they came on board, there wasn’t much engagement. Afterward, we started seeing more and more likes on the post. They were very active in adapting social media strategies to our changing needs. I was very happy with what we achieved together.

How did OAK Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. If anything came up, they quickly shifted resources when necessary. Reporting and analytics were sent on a monthly basis. They also trained our team internally to understand how the project worked. They ensured they had a generalist on staff who understood social media strategy and other potential issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very proactive. Some people just do what they’re told, but they were able to listen to us and make solid recommendations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was nothing they could’ve improved.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should go for it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Head of Marketing for a startup credit card issuer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Gen3 Marketing, and what were your goals?

We hired Gen3 to be a strategic and execution partner for our Affiliate Marketing program. Our primary goal was to build a compliant, sustainable, efficient and scalable affiliate acquisition engine.

SOLUTION

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

I had worked with key talent at Gen3 in previous roles. Their professionalism, attention to detail and expertise were deciding factors in me choosing to work with them again.

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

We hired Gen3 to be a strategic and execution partner for our Affiliate Marketing program. We worked together to: -Build the appropriate infrastructure, processes and procedures to ensure the program was sustainable and scalable -Set the strategy and protocols for partner acquisition and management -Design and implement the compliance strategy and governance procedures -Evaluate and optimize partner performance and budget allocation

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

We had two main contacts at Gen3 - A VP level industry account lead and an Affiliate Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In collaboration with Gen3 we were able to sustain significant increased account originations month-over-month while simultaneously reducing the cost per acquired account.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our partnership with Gen3 was seamless. Many times it was hard to see where our internal marketing team ended and theirs began. Not only are the team at Gen3 a please are to work with, but they truly cared about our business and demonstrated their desire to see us achieve shared goals.

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

How well they understood both our business as well as the Affiliate space. They give critical feedback on potential opportunities as well as potential missteps in strategies we are evaluating. It is hard to find a marketing partner that can easily transition between providing strategic and executional value.

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

I have no constructive feedback at this time.