Honest Marketing

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is Ordú. We’re a SaaS company that provides enterprise-level software for the restaurant and quick service industries.

What challenge were you trying to address with Honest Marketing?

We were trying to position ourselves as equals with our competitors, so we ran our own social media campaigns and Google Ads, but we were making a mess.

We engaged with Honest Marketing to run cost-effective marketing campaigns, target our competitors and audience, and help us with social media, Google campaigns, and general SEO.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Honest Marketing helps us with digital marketing, including our Facebook and Google campaigns. They manage Facebook and Instagram accounts, and they’ll start next month on LinkedIn campaigns.

The team has access to our Google My Business account and our website so that they can make a few tweaks. Also, they come up with suggestions for pages — for example, a “switch to” page where people could switch from their provider to us or specific pages for specific competitors where we’d have targeted campaigns.

For SEO, they’ve helped us come up with the keywords for our PPC campaigns. They’ve gone in and restructured some of the content, but they’re not developers. Moreover, the way the site’s built doesn’t allow it easily, so we have our in-house team for that. Honest Marketing gets back to us and asks us to make the technical amendments.

What is the team composition?

Filip (Founder) helps us with the Google and display ads, Google My Business, SEO, adapting the site, and some clever campaigns. Additionally, there’s someone else managing the social media activities.

How did you come to work with Honest Marketing?

I found Filip on Upwork and contacted him directly. I knew his previous employer, so I contacted them before contacting him and did a background check with the team. Honest Marketing came across well, and they knew how to do what we needed. They could get the results we couldn’t get.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent €4,500 (approximately $5,000 USD) so far, not including the ad spend.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2021, and it’s an ongoing relationship. We’ve actually expanded the engagement. Now, they’re working directly with our customers, and we’ve contracted them as our marketing partners to help our clients grow.

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

We’ve been impressed with the results we’ve gotten so far. The social media work, PPC, and ads have been working out really well. People are contacting us and saying they’ve seen us all over the place. Our sales team is happy, and we’re getting a couple of good-quality leads per day from social media and the site.

Also, we’re frequently getting calls from people complaining about their system, which is an opportunity for us to make a sale. In summary, we can see the campaigns are working.

How did Honest Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s been good; they get the work done. Our level of engagement hasn’t required dedicated project management time; they report back to us every couple of weeks, and we work on that basis.

Initially, we were using email and Facebook Messenger to communicate. Now, we’ve added them to our Slack channel, and we send questions back and forth to each other. Also, we do regular check-ins on Zoom, Hangouts, or Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re new to the marketing world, so the experience they bring is their strongest point. It’s great to have people who have that level of experience, and the ideas that they bring are outstanding as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’d be nice if they provided some reports along the way so we could benchmark and get transparency on the data. They do it on request, but we’d like to have hard numbers so we can monitor growth.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have clear objectives on what you’re trying to achieve and talk with them to come up with a plan.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The Trgomen Group is a group of companies that spans various industries like construction, alcohol and spirits, and hospitality. I’m the co-owner of a hotel in the group.

What challenge were you trying to address with Honest Marketing?

We’d just opened a hotel this year but immediately had to face the challenges of COVID-19. That was an enormous hit to our business in terms of cost. People were scared to travel, and we didn’t know how to communicate our services in the right way. That’s why we contracted Honest Marketing to build our brand awareness in the local Serbian market.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Honest Marketing is working to generate brand awareness around our hotel. This consists of two efforts: the first is to communicate all of the efforts we’re undergoing to keep the hotel a safe travel spot, and the second is to improve our brand’s presence month over month.

Their team oversees all aspects of our day-to-day social media, from strategic planning and goal setting to content creation (e.g., Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn). They design all of our visuals and even work with local influencers to coordinate promotions in our hotel. From there, Honest Marketing also manages our SEO and PPC for Google Ads. 

What is the team composition? 

I work with a social media specialist who’s really invested in what we’re doing. She always responds to my messages and does even more than what I ask her to do. It makes me feel like I’m being taken care of as a client.

There’s also an SEO/PPC lead. I work with him a bit less because SEO isn’t a daily activity, but it’s still a pleasant experience. We mainly set goals and keep track of our results.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$25,000 with them across various activities.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2020, and it’s an ongoing project. We might extend the partnership to support our other brands in the future.

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

If it weren’t for Honest Marketing, we’d have a huge problem on our hands. Their social media activity has definitely increased our brand awareness. People are talking about us more, and we’re seeing higher bookings.

On top of that, they’ve been able to communicate our hotel’s offerings well. We have a very specific concept that not a lot of hotels in Serbia do, so it was important for us to convey that idea accurately to the public so that people could connect with our story. 

How did Honest Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

I have no complaints. We work together day-to-day, so we don’t have any issues with missed deadlines. It’s all very punctual. As for communication, they take a personal yet professional approach. We basically use phone, email, and online calls to get things done. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We agree on what has to be done, and then they do it. They don’t make it complicated. With other vendors I’ve worked with, things would get lost in the chain of command because we weren’t a big account for them. But, Honest Marketing keeps it simple, and I like that I just have to work with 1–2 people. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes the visuals could be a bit better, but I can’t complain because they’re quick to make the changes we request.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take an honest approach — it goes with their name!

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of The Bookkeeping Loft, an accounting firm for small businesses.

What challenge were you trying to address with Honest Marketing?

We needed a presence online. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Honest Marketing developed my site on WordPress from scratch. I first sent them my content, my ideas, and my logo on a Word document. After that, the team designed the layout and put it all together.

Honest Marketing continues to host the website and even trained me on the basics on the administrative side so I can make edits myself if necessary. Now, I’m looking to contract them for SEO.

What is the team composition?
I worked with Filip (Founder) and one other person.

How did you come to work with Honest Marketing?

I originally saw Filip’s post on Instagram offering websites. He contacted me and we went through what my business was about and what option would suit what I do. We discussed the visuals, the number of pages I needed, and how we’d write content. I’m not very experienced in web design so he had to guide me through that.

How much have you invested with them?

The website was done pro bono, but I will be investing in the SEO side of things, which will be €300–€400 (approximately $330–$440 USD) per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in March 2020 and is ongoing. Filip turned it around in just 3–4 days. 

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

The site isn’t live yet, but it’ll be launched soon. It’ll let me advertise and make my business look more professional. I look forward to working with Honest Marketing’s help in SEO and making my business more visible in Google searches. 

I’m really happy with the site. It’s clean, easy, and user-friendly. Honest Marketing hit the nail on the head with exactly what I was looking for. The people who I’ve shown it to have given really positive feedback. I haven’t gotten to user feedback yet, but over time, I’ll start getting more feedback. 

How did Honest Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Zoom calls for communication. I send emails outside office hours, and Filip still replies very quickly even if it’s late in the evening. He’s very accommodating. Also, I don’t know what the normal length of this sort of project is, but for me it was very, very quick and efficient. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Honest Marketing is very patient with me being a novice at web development and design. Filip went through everything with me from start to finish. He outlined exactly what was needed at the beginning, went through the different options we had available, and made sure I understood exactly how to work basic parts of the website. He was easy to speak with and good at explaining what I needed to know even though it’s not my area of expertise.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t really fault anything he’s done. I enjoyed working with him. I wasn’t expecting him to explain the website to me, but I’m extremely grateful.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be very specific about what you need, but Honest Marketing will get what they need to make sure they meet your vision.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Chief Growth Officer for Fintalent.io and responsible for marketing and product. We connect top-tier investment bankers to M&A projects and jobs.

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

We hired Honest Marketing to set up our SEO page structure. The goal was to rank for high-intent low volume keywords in a B2B environment.

How did you select Honest Marketing and what were the deciding factors?

I connected with Filip on Linkedin, and appreciated his honest advice during our first conversation. The deciding factor was his down-to-earth execution orientation, as we needed someone who can balance long-term strategy with short-term results.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

Filip delivered a page structure for 500+ long-tail keywords, as well as landing page template structure and briefings for our technical team. He collaborated with our copywriters and set up a monitoring system via Google Analytics.

How many people from the Honest Marketing team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with Filip as well as his technical specialist to help optimize our website speed.

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

After only a few weeks, our rankings started coming in. We are now generating high-quality leads and projects through the SEO efforts undertaken by Honest Marketing.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Filip is very integrated and proactive in our Slack channel and was essentially like a part of our team.

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

They were hands-on, transparent, and fair in their work and pricing. The results were exceptional.

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

We would have probably bought more services if Filip would have proactively suggested new projects after our collaboration. This way, our project was over and the work done, but maybe there were more things to work on together.