HawkSEM

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of sales and marketing for Univera, a medicinal beverage company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with HawkSEM?

We hired HawkSEM for their marketing services. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

HawkSEM provides SEM services for us on Google and Bing; they also do social media marketing on Facebook and Instagram. 

What is the team composition?

We work with six people, including a social media manager, an SEM manager, and a lead strategist. I deal with their client success manager on a regular basis. 

How did you come to work with HawkSEM?

I interviewed various companies, including HawkSEM. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $40,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2022, and the partnership is ongoing. 

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

Our revenue from paid campaigns has increased by about 300%.

How did HawkSEM perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver on time. Our communications are done via emails and meetings through Zoom and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have initiative and a great dedication to great decision-making. The team follows their plan and makes good decisions to improve and optimize our campaigns. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. I’m truly happy with their service.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

HawkSEM works fast, so you need to work at their speed. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

LendingPoint is a provider of unsecured personal loans for consumers across the credit spectrum. By combining technology and proprietary algorithms, we’re driving a better lending and borrowing experience by finding more reasons to say “yes.” Now serving hundreds of thousands of consumers, we’ve expanded into small business, and merchant point-of-sale lending solutions to further unlock access to affordable loans. I'm the VP of Performance Marketing. 

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

Paid Search, Remarketing, and Social. The goals of the campaigns were to show that we could have a profitable online marketing program that could scale and grow like the rest of our company.

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

I started with a list of 15 agencies and based on the RFI responses, I narrowed it down to 5 companies that were required to run me through their capabilities as well as audit and recommendations for a scope of work. The deciding factor was in their presentation. HawkSEM showed they understood the challenges of the industry and how we could overcome these obstacles.

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

Our program only consisted of a few keywords, so this was a start-from-scratch exercise for the HawkSEM digital marketing team. They presented me with an outline of setting up the campaigns, and what the realistic expectations were for the results. After we launched Google and Microsoft, we expanded into remarketing on Facebook.

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

We had an account manager, account strategies, Facebook strategists, and a media manager.

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

HawkSEM exceeded expectations within the first few months of the engagement. HawkSEM demonstrated growth and efficiencies that beat our expectations and kept us ahead of our goals.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had reporting and team calls weekly in order to report on successes as well as provide the necessary assets for our campaigns.

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

Their teamwork is impressive; they're an extension of my marketing team and not just an agency.

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

Nothing.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our software helps companies show appreciation to their employees by making it simple to send meaningful experiential rewards. Organizations we work with are seeing an increased level of happiness, satisfaction, and gratitude in the lifeblood of their employees.

For what projects/services did your company hire HawkSEM?

Digital Marketing

What were your goals for this project?

We were looking for a partner to help us increase the volume of quality leads generated by marketing.

How did you select this vendor?

We were introduced to Hawk SEM from a peer who happened to know someone at Hawk. We evaluated several different agencies but Hawk left us with confidence that they were the best agency for the job. We started our partnership back in August and haven't looked back!

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Hawk SEM helps manage PPC ads for Wishlist with a heavy focus on converting high-quality leads for our sales team.

What was the team composition?

We have open and frequent communication with 4 team members at Hawk SEM. Our account manager is our main point of contact, but we find ourselves talking to others who help run the ads on our weekly update call.

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

In Hawk's proposal, they had given us a monthly conversion goal that they believed we could consistently hit with our budget. They are well on their way to delivering on their promise, and we couldn't be happier about that.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow has been seamless. They were proactive on the front end of our partnership and got extremely familiar with our company, brand, and our vision. From there, they've been able to run with little guidance. A weekly check-in helps keep us all aligned.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They stick to their word, are proactive about gathering information, and make campaign adjustments frequently.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the communications director of a nonprofit. We work with shareholders on issues like environmental impact or wage inequality and introduce resolutions to move companies toward more ethical standards.

What challenge were you trying to address with HawkSEM?

Our nonprofit receives a Google grant for our use. In January, the rules changed. We needed to meet a new set of standards to avoid having our grant revoked. We lacked key expertise and wanted a team to help us fulfill some of those requirements.

What was the scope of their involvement?

One of our biggest issues was our keywords were too broad. We went afoul of the rules and Google rejected a lot of the terms that weren’t directly related to what we do. Hawk helped us get above our required thresholds for traffic and budgetary efficacy. They helped us clean up our practices and change our spending.

They helped us name our account properly so it was more identifiable. They also eliminated bad keywords and other issues so we could move forward with our grant.

What is the team composition?

We mainly interact with Victoria (SEM Manager, HawkSEM).

How did you come to work with HawkSEM?

I worked with them at a previous position and they did a good job. I knew I could give them work and then concentrate on other things. We couldn’t devote a lot of time internally to search engine marketing, so I felt they would be a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $2,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around October 2016. The work is ongoing.

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

The biggest impact is our traffic sources. Before they joined us, our traffic was about 90% referrals. With their help, we’ve diversified our traffic sources. We’re now split evenly between referrals, paid search, organic search, and direct users.

How did HawkSEM perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done a great job. I gave them all the information I could and let them get to work. I offered a little guidance for subject matter that was difficult to parse and they picked up very quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We set up the relationship and let them take over the project. I give them directives and particular goals but manage them very little. They have the expertise, knowledge, and time to push things forward on their own.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any recommendations. I have exactly the communication I want with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of a real estate firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with HawkSEM?

We needed help with online advertising. We had previously worked with another company and their promises compared to what they delivered were way off.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped me get all my UIs in order by taking care of some landing pages as well as custom development work. They also helped us make our website presence more efficient to allow for the most conversions. They put campaigns together for me that makes sense in terms of geotargeting where the best spend is for the return. They've also done paid advertising for us, but we stay away from SEO. We worked together on forming a keyword list. I give them the roadmap, but they help with content as well.

What is the team composition?

I'm mostly in contact with Sam (Marketing Director, HawkSEM).

How did you come to work with HawkSEM?

I found them online. I spoke to some of the team about what I was doing, and it seemed like they had a nice balance. PPC isn’t isolated and there are a lot of other factors that go into it.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend around $13,000–$14,000 a year with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in 2013 and the work is ongoing.

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

The impact of their work has been significant. In general, we've seen an increase in leads from their PPC work.

How did HawkSEM perform from a project management standpoint?

There is no one more responsive than them. If I have a problem, I can get an answer immediately, which is one of the things I like most about them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They work hand-in-hand with me, trying to figure things out, which is impressive. Some of these projects are complex and they have the ability to help me with other parts such as the landing pages and other things so that I don’t have to go elsewhere. Their response time is amazing which is important for me, especially on the PPC and developer side of things.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I've been through the process of looking for a company that handles PPC. Save yourself that difficulty and give them a try. Try them out for three months and you will be super happy with the service.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work within the College of Graduate, International, and Midcareer Professionals at a public university on the West Coast. I am the director of marketing and communications.

What challenge were you trying to address with HawkSEM?

We were unhappy with the pricing and results of another paid search vendor, so we explored other options.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We work with them on our Google paid search and some retargeting, as well. We have about 20 different campaigns with them. For our purposes, a campaign correlates to a different program, like a master’s in humanities or a certificate in business, and within each campaign, there is a unique set of keywords, ad copy, and in some cases geotargeting. They help us create the strategy, manage the bidding, and keep toward our target cost per lead.

What is the team composition?

We’ve had the same account managers throughout the course of our relationship.

How did you come to work with HawkSEM?

When we first started working with them, it was on a test basis because we wanted to see results from their work on some of our campaigns compared directly with those same campaigns for our existing vendor. And HawkSEM far outperformed them, so that made me feel comfortable giving them the rest of our programs, as well. We fully transitioned our strategy to them. They also made suggestions for improvements to our landing pages and how we could optimize the language there so that it’s better aligned with the keywords and raise our quality scores to get us better results through Google.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together at the end of 2014, and it is still ongoing.

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

The numbers clearly speak for themselves. They brought in 40% additional leads at a cost per lead that was half that of our previous vendor. They hit the ground running, learning what our programs are, and fine-tuning the strategy around the keywords in the ad copy.

How did HawkSEM perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly calls with our account managers. Having the same account managers has been tremendously helpful because they know how we are and what our programs are about. They’re constantly refining our strategy and our messaging, and that wouldn’t be possible if we were constantly being shuffled around. Having consistent management of our campaign has been really crucial to our success. They’re very concerned about our metrics and our costs. They’re respectful of our money and spend it as if it was their own.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I don't know that they have a lot of clients in the higher education space, but that isn't obvious from their results with us. They really ran with it. We gave them a lot of information to understand what our programs are about, and it’s clear they studied that information and used it to create good ad copy and relevant keywords and negative keywords.