Group 8A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of an ecommerce company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Online e-commerce business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Group 8A to accomplish?

• Affiliate/Influencer Marketing
• PPC Articles

SOLUTION

How did you find Group 8A?

Cold Call

Why did you select Group 8A over others?

Slick Sales

How many teammates from Group 8A were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The goal was to bring in new revenue through influencers, primarily on an affiliate basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Absolute failure. In 6 months they failed to generate a single sale or increase in traffic or brand awareness. Their sales person pushed hard for a 12 month contract, stating that we would see "ROI within 5 weeks" yet after 6 months we had only three pieces of actual content generated, none of which were significant.

They took a shotgun approach of just reaching out to everyone and running with whoever responded, rather than being strategic. We did one of experiment with a PPC article placement, that ended up being published with a number of dead links and with a publication that doesn't align with our brand.

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

Things moved extremely slow. It was common to mean every two weeks and not have any meaningful updates, but a lot of "we think we have a good lead".

That expectation was absolutely not set by their sales person or initial project lead.

What was your primary form of communication with Group 8A?

Virtual Meeting

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

Nothing. I would not recommend them to anyone, particularly small businesses.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Group 8A could have done differently?

Set expectations appropriately, don't over promise or attempt to lock customers in for 12 months, put your money where your mouth is and lower the monthly fees and take a larger commission if you truly believe your team can generate revenue.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Urban Savage

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Urban Savage designs high fashion activewear using premium performance fabrics to help women live an elevated active life

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Group 8A to accomplish?

• Scale our eCommerce-led business with effective and efficient digital marketing

SOLUTION

How did you find Group 8A?

Referral

Why did you select Group 8A over others?

• Pricing first our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Group 8A’s team?

6-10 Employees

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

Group 8A manages all paid social media marketing efforts to drive eCommerce sales through competitive research, strategy setting, consumer targeting, ad design, media buying and analysis. They also manage all aspects of paid search marketing. Finally, Group 8A optimizes our email marketing flows and develops multiple email marketing campaigns per week to drive customer engagement. All of these digital marketing efforts are coordinated to help scale our business in a profitable manner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Net Sales
• Marketing Expense Ratio
• Cost Per Acquisition

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

Group 8A has a dynamic and adaptable project management approach. They listen carefully to our needs and respond with thoughtful adjustments to their work. Group 8A does all of their work on time and works hard to keep us on time, as well. They're wonderful to work with; we feel like they're a true extension of our team.

What was your primary form of communication with Group 8A?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

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

Quite impressively, Group 8A delivers what they say they will in an industry where there are many firms which can't or don't. They are unique because they work across multiple marketing channels in a coordinated fashion and bring all the resources together to drive results. Ultimately, Group 8A has scaled our business significantly while reducing our relative marketing spend, which is the most impressive thing about them.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Group 8A could have done differently?

Group 8A was humble and very considered during the proposal phase, which led to some questions about their capabilities and interest. While this approach is different and initially made me hesitate, they have more than delivered on expectations to scale our activewear business in an effective and efficient manner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a marketing director at an in-home connected fitness equipment company that sells its products online, in addition to retail, wholesale, and commercial settings. We are an international company still in our startup years, and focused on building our D2C segment through efficient performance marketing efforts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Group 8A, and what were your goals?

We hired Group 8A on an ongoing basis to manage our digital marketing campaigns. This has evolved over the span of our partnership, but in general has touched content and ad creation; campaign setup, management, and optimization; web optimization consultation; aggregated business reporting; growth proposals.

SOLUTION

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

I wasn't with the company when Group 8A was selected.

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

Group 8A generall provides a digital strategy on a quarterly basis focused on constant optimization to reach the business's efficiency requirements, but also proposing areas of growth. Their approach for growth into new channels is to research, conservatively test, optimize, and scale/pause depending on performance. We have seen stable and predictable performance through their program management.

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

We work consistently with two client-facing contacts and have periodic meetings with other managers that work with email/SMS, affiliate programs, etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Group 8A has done a great job managing to our business requirements, which is not an easy task given markets are always shifting.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have regular calls and email threads that are very productive in moving the business forward. We've moved and shifted schedules through the years to accomodate different economies and business requirements without issues.

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

We have a relationship with our partners at Group 8A that is really trusting and also feels like a friendship. The services are very personalized, with attention to detail.

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

n/a

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a leading apparel and fashion company and i am a partner and the COO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Group 8A, and what were your goals?

We hired them to build and manage our performance marketing for our leading brand and the goal were to achieve fast and economic growth

SOLUTION

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

We asked people we know for recommendations, we interview few vendors asked for reference customers and proposals

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

The work was initially focused on performance marketing and gradually expand to a full service including influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, website design and development, email marketing, SMS marketing and they become a full and integral partner in any decision

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

The account manager, the affiliate /influencer manager, email/SMS manager and website design/development

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Generally speaking we experienced with their support exponential growth while watching very carefully the economic aspects and still being able to be profitable.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They were integral part of our team, and in certain aspects they took a leading positions. Their communication and management skills are amazing.

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

Their ability to be an integral part of the project while taking initiatives and leads in key areas and be a true partner all the way.

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

i couldn't ask more !!!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a children's literacy organization, and we produce educational letters and craft items for children on a weekly basis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Group 8A?

We were looking to generate more awareness for our service and products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged Group 8A to provide us with digital marketing. They managed our Google and Facebook ads, and identified the best target demographic to create branding messages that resonate well.

They also helped with our email and affiliate marketing efforts.

What is the team composition?

We came across Group 8A through a reference from another agency.

How did you come to work with Group 8A?

Our main contact points were the VP, account manager, Facebook Ads specialist, and Google Ads specialist.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in July 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I'm happy with all the upfront work they've devoted to the campaign and while it's too early to give any metrics, the team is trending in the right direction concerning the project.

How did Group 8A perform from a project management standpoint?

They provide great value with their organizational skills, but they could maybe they could speed up the process more.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very personable, and I like that they seem to care about me and the company's growth. They consistently reassure me that what they're providing me is the best fit so overall, my experience has been good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would like it if they provide a little more transparency when it comes to the project timelines.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at Redux Property Tax Services

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We review, and reduce if appropriate, homeowners property taxes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Group 8A to accomplish?

• Digital Marketing campaign to our prospects
• Create all digital copy, including website, ads, form submission, etc.

SOLUTION

How did you find Group 8A?

Referral

Why did you select Group 8A over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Group 8A were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We came to them with a brand and a list of prospects, Group8a was supposed to be our complete marketing partner, taking our brand through a full digital marketing creation including website creation, form submission, conversion tracking, digit marketing, retargeting, etc. They were to create the digital artwork, choose the web platform, etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

artwork creation, website delivery, conversion KPI's.

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

THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE TO WORK WITH. The company is a joke, including their leadership - Eric. - The CEO Eric, sold their company as a firm that manages companies that average $20 million in annual sales. Due to their volume, they have ample coverage in different departments for creative, web creation, etc. 

Ultimately we discovered that only their management staff is in house. They outsource everything to out of country freelancers. While that is a common strategy these days, the problem is that they can't control the timeline or manage the quality of the work this way. While ultimately puts pressure on the me, the client. The experience of missed deadlines and poor-quality work caused me to bring in my own developers to repair their issues. 

Their choice of web platform was terrible: Our company offers 1 type of service. We are not a company that sells items in an e-commerce manner. Ari, their CEO, decided that we should host our platform on shopify, which is built for e-commerce. Later I discovered that this is just because they can use a template website and pay their freelancers less money to create the template and they can keep the margin. 

This too caused us a lot of issues. Shopify has numerous protections built into their web development platform, which ultimately prevented us from having a website that met our needs. Not to mention that Group8a's web design was ugly and didnt convert our traffic well whatsoever. We couldn't measure this until after we hired a professional group. Minor changes took weeks to accomplish. 

Their digital artwork was web 1.0 stock images. My 10 year old would have done a better job. Their presentation of the artwork, in terms of team members at the meeting, requests for changes, etc was like pulling teeth. Leadership was not there, minor changes 3-4 days… it was pulling teeth. 

Our company was launching. We had a timeline to deliver on. It was a total clown show to work with them. They delivered slow & obviously off schedule, don’t have control over their free lancers, their quality of code and digital artwork was garbage, and worse than all of the above, are their responses. 

Even after multiple complaints, Eric their CEO, has no ability to jump in himself and take leadership to resolve the problems. He argues in a condescending manner against other professionals. 

What was your primary form of communication with Group 8A?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Ultimately, we fired them but they cost us a lot of time and money.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Group 8A could have done differently?

They are a disaster to work with. They need to improve everything including their CEO.