HyperDrive

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director at a nonprofit.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HyperDrive?

Our goal was to build a data-driven website and move our digital infrastructure into the 21st century. We have a lot of different needs, primarily to drive ticket sales, facility rentals, donations, and memberships.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

HyperDrive has designed and built our website, selecting a CMS platform. They currently help manage the annual maintenance and development of the site. The team manages our paid marketing in the digital sphere across Meta and Google Ads, including Google Ad Grants. They also help us with our search engine marketing (SEM) strategies. 

What is the team composition?

We work with five people from HyperDrive, including an account manager, a designer, a copywriter, and two SEM and PPC specialists. 

How did you come to work with HyperDrive?

They were brought on right before I started working with the organization.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend between $30,000–$40,000 each year. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2019. We’re in conversations about continuing our partnership with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a better and more functional website thanks to our engagement with HyperDrive. Site traffic has increased YoY; we have over 100,000 visits per year, whereas previously, we had 80,000–90,000. However, I’d like to see more conversion tracking. We’re still trying to define the impact of their work more clearly. 

How did HyperDrive perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is an opportunity area.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of their SEO and SEM specialists is really talented; she’s one of the reasons why we’ve continued working with HyperDrive. She’s upped our SEO and SEM game on the Google Ad Grants side, which is important to us as a nonprofit organization. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their account management and transparency. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Our engagement might be different because we’re a nonprofit organization, so I don’t have any advice. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director eComm Site Operations for a retail/publishing company and my team uses Salesforce Marketing Cloud to proof and deploy emails. I was having trouble filling my email role and decided to hire externally to bring SFMC expertise and bandwidth to my team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire HyperDrive Interactive?

I had been having difficultly finding a good fit for our team to execute email proofing and deployment. I decided to try an external consultant to support the team needs rather than staffing internally.

What were your goals for this project?

Primarily HD does our email proofing and deployment process. I wanted them to plugin seamlessly to our processes and help us identify areas for improvement.

Concurrent with managing the day to day operations, I opened a second project with them to update our data structure so we can segment our customers for more targeted email sends, and have a good grasp on how our file is growing and performing well.

SOLUTION

How did you select HyperDrive Interactive?

This was our second email consultant, they were recommended by my Salesforce rep.

Describe the project in detail.

HyperDrive is very knowledgeable about SFMC. In addition to executing proofing and deployment, they have mapped out the way our data is structured, IDed low hanging fruit to help us advance beyond "batch and blast" and have provided some monthly reporting to help monitor our email file. For the tech project, we are currently in development and expect to launch on time.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a project manager/day to day resource, plus a deployment resource and a more technical architect resource. In addition, I engage periodically with our sales rep for incremental work and to touch base on our overall relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have made a couple of tweaks to the process so we do not send the "batch and blast" style every day of the week. HD turned on Einstein so we now have more customer data to understand how customers are engaging, and we're leveraging this to turn on a re-engagement segment rather than shutting off disengaged customers entirely.

We are still working on firming up the strategy behind our triggered emails and marketing emails so we can do more focused sends for our different customer groups. We are still in flight on the incremental project but I think we're headed in the right direction. Our daily process is work moving smoothly and we are looking at shifting potentially more work over to HD in the future.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We added HD to our Slack and Workfront tools so they are a part of the process, and they call into kick-off calls when needed. They reconfirm we're approved to schedule or manually deploy an email and that has gone smoothly with minimal bumps.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They know so much about SFMC! I really didn't have hands-on expertise of the platform so it was a relief to have a partner who asked good questions on our objectives for an email/campaign and just knew how to set it up.

They've also plugged in well with our other vendor for our triggered email audience building. They are open to collaborating with our different internal teams as we worked through project requirements (rather techy) to email deliverables (tactical details).

Are there any areas for improvement?

I wish HD would be a little more proactive in recommending some adjustments to our triggers and directive in a recommendation for getting out of batch and blast. Our strategy of these is lagging a little behind the build for the segments and I don't think we'll realize the benefit of the data project without lighting up some changes/tests.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at STOBER Drives, an industrial gearbox manufacturer primarily serving the B2B market. I’m the marketing manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HyperDrive Interactive?

We were going to be moving to a new CRM system, Microsoft Dynamics, and we wanted to get some new life into our email marketing. We’d been doing the same thing for several years.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

HyperDrive helps us with our email marketing. They helped us lay out the tracks we wanted to create. They’ve created a lot of the emails for us with HTML; we have a new template and design that we’re utilizing. They’re currently working on our subscription center so that we can make sure people’s preferences are up to date. They’ve provided HTML coding, scripting support, and feedback on emails we’ve created. The team has built customer journeys. We’ve really been able to utilize their expertise in that field.

We’ve also engaged them on PPC with Google Ads and remarketing with Google. We’d been working with another vendor on our PPC, but we weren’t able to make our own ads or make changes to them, and HyperDrive let us know that this wasn’t a best practice and provided some feedback. They’ve helped with setting up our Google Ads account, scripting for the ads, getting ads loaded, bidding, and entering negative keywords. They also walked us through that process with our web developer, so that we can be self-sufficient if we need to be. We like being able to make changes on our own, but then having HyperDrive do more advanced changes that we’re not comfortable with.

We just started the Google remarketing a few months ago. We’d been building up some traffic on certain pages on our website, and we wanted to retarget those people who had visited our site as they went to other websites, so that they will continue to see our ads. They helped with scripting, designing, and programming the ads, and then getting them loaded. We just launched that and are starting to get traction; it’s taken a little bit longer to get the audience sizes built up, but we’re targeting a specific audience, so that’s to be expected. 

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Ali (Accounts Director). We have also worked directly with Dollie (Search & Analytics Specialist) and then three other people on different elements, but Ali is usually our interface on those engagements.

How did you come to work with HyperDrive Interactive?

We learned about HyperDrive at a roundtable in Cincinnati in March 2019. They had a really good presentation, and we felt like they’d be able to make our email marketing more effective and hopefully attribute to our lead generation goals. 

We reached out to them and invited them to do an audit of our different platforms, including email marketing, social media, and website. They gave us a very in-depth discovery with a lot of recommendations, and from that, we had a lot of good feedback and a really good impression of what they could bring to the table. We moved forward with doing a retainer.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spends $50,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work together began in August 2019, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For metrics, we look at a Google dashboard for all of the PPC ads and the remarketing. We just started the email marketing in April, and we wanted to get about three months of data before we really broke it down. However, we feel that the email marketing is going well, and we’ve gotten positive feedback on the email templates that we have. Navigating the COVID situation was tricky with people working remotely all of a sudden, but overall, I think it’s been a good solution for us. We’ve enjoyed working with them.

How did HyperDrive Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

Ali is a great communicator. We have a recurring call every two weeks, and they’re very fast to respond to emails. I don’t think there’s anything they could improve on there.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re able to do so many things in-house. We previously worked with an SEO agency or someone who was good at copywriting, but HyperDrive has all of the skillsets right there that we’re able to utilize. We have someone that can do HTML coding, someone that can do scripting, and someone that can focus on the CRM and things that need to be entered into that. Overall, I think you’re able to get all of the support you need from one group.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No; like I said, I think the COVID situation has made it a little bit trickier to navigate. However, since things made headway in May, things have been running smoothly, and we’ve probably been using more hours than we have. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Definitely start with a discovery. We’ve had people make recommendations, but they’re always really shallow and something you can take care of with just a little work, whereas HyperDrive went into a very in-depth analysis and really opened our eyes to opportunities that we didn’t know existed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former senior strategist at D'Addario & Company, Inc., a musical accessories manufacturer. I worked on the planning and strategy team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HyperDrive Interactive?

Initially, we brought them on to help us optimize and organize our data for a loyalty program and to guide us in email marketing. We also wanted them to use the data for our loyalty program and our CRM to remarket to our user base.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, HyperDrive Interactive did the data schema and built out the architecture for our data points. They worked closely with our in-house IT team to connect our backend systems with the marketing systems that we were going to use for the CRM.

Additionally, they also helped us with creative work in terms of building emails and comping out the website and wireframes for our profile pages. The team also helped us with QA.

What is the team composition?

The team composition has changed over the years, but we’ve worked with Dan (Founder & Senior Partner), some teammates from their sister company, an account manager, and a creative services specialist. 

How did you come to work with HyperDrive Interactive?

Our previous digital director had worked with HyperDrive Interactive’s sister company. When we brought him into our organization, he saw an opportunity where their work would be a good fit for our loyalty program and CRM.

How much have you invested with them?

When we first started out it was about $12,000 for the first few years while we launched our loyalty program. Over the last year or two, that went down to $5,000–$6,000 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began in October or November 2014. I no longer work there, but my former organization still works with HyperDrive Interactive. We ended up having more resources at our disposal in-house, so we reduced the hours with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were impressed with what we gained from an audience acquisition standpoint. I’m not going to say that it’s directly attributed HyperDrive Interactive, but it was definitely because of their guidance. 

We reached close to 200,000 users in the loyalty program. Additionally, our e-commerce transactions have grown exponentially on the consumer and B2B sides over the last few years in working with them.

The team always has the company’s bottom line in mind. I was in direct contact with them during the entire relationship, and I felt like they always put our needs and wants first. They offered great suggestions, some of which worked and others which didn’t.

How did HyperDrive Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

We used spreadsheets sometimes, but they didn’t have a formal project management tool. There were times where we felt like certain elements got put on the backburner.

If they had some sort of tool in place to keep on top of it, it wouldn’t have gotten lost. As far as tracking certain projects and initiatives, they could’ve done better. 

Overall, we had weekly meetings with them, and we kept a running list of goals and things that we wanted to work on. Communication-wise, they were always on top of it. We could email or text them and they would get back to us immediately. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We had some major data issues because we had some legacy data that was pretty bad. HyperDrive Interactive went above and beyond in working with our in-house IT team to try to fix the data.

The team was very patient even though that project took quite a long time. They knew the end goal and understood what we would get out of it once it was fixed. They had the patience to work with us to get through it. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could use a standardized project management tool. Internally, we use Asana, but we didn’t onboard them onto it. Other than that, they were very knowledgeable and had different experts in different areas. It always seemed like we were their only client because of how involved they were in our work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would highly recommend HyperDrive Interactive. They did a good job of understanding and analyzing the business as a whole as well as specific business needs.

They took time to understand what’s going on as opposed to making any assumptions.

When I asked them for KPI or general reports, and even slide decks on specific opportunities in the marketplace, the team was willing to put something together for us that we could then present to upper management internally. They always went above and beyond what we expected.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm vice president of digital strategies for Sony Music Entertainment. Music Entertainment Company, we work with artists from across the world and releasing their music and making it available to all their fans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HyperDrive Interactive?

We hired  HyperDrive Interactive to help us build up and scale our CRM strategy. They also help us in terms of execution and support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided strategic support in terms of how to develop our CRM strategy in our region, supporting campaigns, and execution on communication we put out on behalf of our artists.

What is the team composition?

we've worked with at least five or six people from the company, from the founder to its to its day to day accounting tax and technical team.

How did you come to work with HyperDrive Interactive?

We found them through colleagues. They have a reputation in the music industry. We worked with them for a prior project, so it was just a matter of continuing our service with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2016 and it’s an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

 In terms of the quality of the work, and why we enjoy working with them, we appreciate their hands-on support. They’re extremely proactive and have a lot of energy. They came in to brainstorm with us, and when it comes to different business challenges, they feel like a true partner.

It has always been a pleasure working with them. They don’t just wait to receive feedback or get direction; they think through what we need and over-deliver. We can always expect quality work.

How did HyperDrive Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform extremely well. We have several means of communication, including email and phone, so we touch base all the time. When it comes to presenting various concepts and summarizing key information, they work hand-in-hand with our local teams. That relationship is very strong.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re collaborative and have a lot of energy. It really stands out with them. Whether it’s the account exec. with day-to-day support, or the CEO, they’re ready to jump in, roll up their sleeves, and get the work done. It’s great to see that enthusiasm from my partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not at all.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them the space to have a voice. Harness their energy and collaborative spirit.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Sony Music Entertainment, specifically for the catalog label called Legacy Recordings. We are responsible for managing several artists, be it living artists and their active career or the estate for artists that are no longer alive. We work with different people to oversee a very vast array of global superstar artists, from Whitney Houston to Michael Jackson and Bob Dylan.

My role specifically is leading all of the CRM, email marketing, and social media activations. I run the initiatives around fan-facing engagement on the digital side, so on the social channels as well as all of our email marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HyperDrive Interactive?

We want to look at fans in a more intelligent way and ensure that the right fan receives the right message. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their role with us is very broad. A lot of our early work together was getting our framework and architecture set up. They’re experienced in every facet of this kind of work; they understand Salesforce Marketing Cloud, database and database schemas, and customer data. We set up all of our triggered messages and made sure that our templates were mobile-responsive. That setup work went on for about six months–a year. 

HyperDrive continues to work with our internal CRM IT team to make sure that our business units are up to spec. They handle mechanics and admin stuff behind the scenes. They also give us access to people with different specialties, which provides a really strong strategic layer.

What is the team composition?

We have a nice, comprehensive group of people from their team that we work with on a weekly basis. This includes:

• a project manager and strategist who helps keep things moving along
• a graphic designer who builds lots of new templates, graphics, and assets for campaigns and giveaways and other things we do in the CRM space
• a systems administrator who really understands the mechanics in Salesforce Marketing Cloud makes sure we're optimized and maintains and refreshes our lists
• a database wizard who understands how to get under the hood of all the data that we're harvesting

The things that we do with them on a weekly basis cover everything from strategy to design to building and executing campaigns as well as the administrative architecture and database work.

How did you come to work with HyperDrive Interactive?

I've known Dan (Founder & Senior Partner) and the team through several roles that I've had with different companies. I first met them when they were a partner of a central team at Universal Music Group. I liked what they were doing in the areas of segmentation, looking at the data and analytics within an e-mail to harvest more learnings about fans. This helped create more relevant messaging.

When I left Universal, I went to a guitar string company and was leading the digital marketing over there for a couple of years. One of the first things I did was bring the HyperDrive team in. We did a lot of the same kind of segmentation work that I saw them doing at Universal, and it proved to be very successful in building a really strong foundation for what that company is doing with their digital marketing, even up to this day. 

Before I started my current role, I was friendly with many people over at Sony already, and I told them what we were doing with Hyperdrive at the guitar string company. I introduced my current boss to Dan, and he brought on HyperDrive in the summer of 2015, before I even started with Sony. When I started with Sony in October 2015, I just picked up with HyperDrive where I left off with them at my previous company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re probably spending between $120,000–$160,000 a year. I believe our monthly retainer is around $10,000–$12,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Sony began working with HyperDrive in the summer of 2015, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

HyperDrive has been invaluable in our CRM and segmentation journey. When we started doing better segmentation and delivering mobile-responsive emails, we started to see our click-through and open rates climb. We’ve done various optimizations and been able to build a pretty sizable database with several different acquisition campaigns we’ve done with them. Additionally, we have seen great audience growth and increases in the overall deliverability of all of our lists.

Our ambitions are growing with CRM, so I continue to look to them to help elevate what we’re doing, not just maintain it. I’m hopeful they’ll deliver that.

How did HyperDrive Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a weekly standup call with the different skillsets represented: the strategist, project manager, system architect, a database person, and a graphic designer. Dan occasionally joins the call as well. Besides that, we also email and message through Slack and other channels on a daily basis. We’re very active with them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The personal attention is unique. Dan maintains a good culture at his company, which is immensely important. He picks good people; everyone is responsive and accessible. I think those things can sometimes get overlooked when vetting companies, but the company’s culture and how that exudes itself to the clients is important. 

Their broad, strategic ways of thinking also sets them apart. They work within a number of different industries, so they're able to bring a lot of great progressive thinking to their work with us that we might not have considered. There are lots of benefits to the strategies that they bring to us from these different industries and verticals. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d love to see them scale and grow, and I do wish we had more of their time. They’re still a very small group of people, and they do a commendable job scaling across different projects.

Any advice for potential customers?

Have a sense of what you want to do and what your goals are with email marketing. You’ll move more quickly if you go to them with a concrete set of ideas of what you’re trying to achieve. They’re very good at shaping those and turning them into executable strategies. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former marketing manager for Dreamfields Pasta, a food brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HyperDrive Interactive?

HyperDrive was our digital agency. They worked with the brand from its infancy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

HyperDrive created our original website. Over the years, they’ve continued to help the brand grow through word-of-mouth targeted marketing. We utilized targeted ads to build a strong consumer email database and to market people in our database. HyperDrive helped us better understand our consumers, their behavior, and their level of engagement. We also developed a strong healthcare professional database and marketing campaign. 

Our main efforts with HyperDrive were focused on targeted advertising. The team helped set up our parameters on consumer behaviors so that we could deliver messaging that was unique and important to each consumer. They drove trials among people when they first engage with our brand; a first engagement was very likely to result in a very positive experience. 

HyperDrive would follow up with those folks and bring them into our word-of-mouth campaigns. They encouraged them to talk about their experiences with friends and family online, in person, or through whatever channel they were most comfortable with.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Chris (VP, Client Services), who was our overall director and main brand manager. On a day-to-day basis, we had an account manager.

How did you come to work with HyperDrive Interactive?

I don’t remember exactly or how the recommendation came to us.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership ran from June 2007 until June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We experienced double-digit growth with the brand — as high as 20% — during our partnership with HyperDrive. The efforts that they were involved in — digital marketing, targeted advertising, and direct marketing to consumers and healthcare providers — all contributed to our growth. 

How did HyperDrive Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They did really well. The team was great at reviewing the business, always looking at what was performing and under-performing, and shifting dollars and efforts away from underperformers. HyperDrive also set up buckets there to try new things. They were always exploring new marketing and advertising formats and determining what would make sense for our brand to try. We communicated over email and conference calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a small, nimble agency. They listened to our needs and goals, and then they went away and brought solutions back that made sense to us. It was never a cookie-cutter approach. If we ever had a crisis, the team came together and was all-in to get it solved. They never missed a deadline. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We sometimes had issues with communication and having more frequent dialogue, but that was probably on me as well. Also, while HyperDrive was good at platforms, technology, execution, they weren’t as strong on the creative side.

Any advice for potential customers?

Lay out your goals and have an open, frank conversation. HyperDrive can then pull together ideas and bring back recommendations. They’re really great to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager for a food and restaurant company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HyperDrive Interactive?

We wanted to increase our presence in the digital space and update our consumer websites.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They pretty much started from scratch when developing our site. The site that we had previously didn’t make sense. They used some templates that they had from previous clients’ projects, and they customized them to fit our needs. They used Microsoft Azure. 

They helped with email marketing, as well as PPC, SEO, and SEM. Currently, they’re running display and banner ads on Google and YouTube. We’d already worked with another vendor to optimize our site to target relevant keywords. 

What is the team composition? 

Ryan(Digital Marketing Project Manager) is our account manager, Chris (Development Director) oversees everything, and Dollie (Search & Analytics Specialist) does the digital. 

How did you come to work with HyperDrive Interactive?

My previous boss was referred to them. We talked to a couple of different vendors. HyperDrive had the best presentation and understood the restaurant industry, so we decided to go with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $300,000 in total so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in early 2018, and the project is ongoing. They didn’t start working on the digital marketing piece until 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They provide monthly reports to us. The team provides results. SEO and PPC are working well for us. 

How did HyperDrive Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great with communication. I never have to worry about them getting back to me. We also use Asana to manage tasks. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re excellent at web development and email marketing. The account management is really strong. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

They could provide more reporting and set more goals on the digital side. I’d like to have a deeper understanding of how digital is driving traffic to our restaurants and supporting our brands. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Keep an open line of communication. They’re on top of it and understand our business. They’ve been accommodating to us, especially with the current restrictions on restaurants as a result of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a Latin record label. I head audience development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HyperDrive Interactive?

Our goal has always been to have a tailor-made solution for our CRM strategy, someone that lives and breathes CRM and understands music and understands the audience. The fact that they call it FRM (fan relationship management) rather than CRM speaks volumes about the mentality they have and how they approach fan communication. We needed that closeness; we needed to be as close to the fan as the artist would normally be. They had a boutique solution that made everything right when it came to going from the whiteboard to execution. Everything has been exactly what we’ve been looking for.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They definitely have custom-made what we needed. It’s not like they copy-pasted someone else’s strategy and applied it, even though they work with other music-related businesses.

One of the biggest pros we saw with them initially was the visual templates they created. The ones we had looked boring and editorial. They were square and looked like a poor newsletter. HyperDrive’s solution, on the other hand, was so much more visually appealing. It identified with each artist and showcased what they wanted to say. And not by the text, but by how it looked visually.

They’ve also developed the look and feel of our landing pages and capture forms for emails and newsletters. Everything we ask for has very particular detail when it comes to graphic assets, copy, interaction, and UX.

They’re definitely our go-to people for SEO as well. We have a big roster of artists and a small team that cannot keep track of every website we had. HyperDrive went through all of them, pointed out the good and the bad in them, and the SEO positions we needed to create to maximize the website we were putting out and the searchability of our artists. They’ve also helped us with campaigns for releases and contests where we give away something as well.

What is the team composition?

On a weekly basis, we interact with Mark (Account Manager, HyperDrive Interactive) — one of the best account managers I’ve ever dealt with. We also deal with Hannah. Dan (Founder, HyperDrive Interactive) also listens in on some calls to ensure everything is going smoothly. Every time he interjects he has a great idea that helps everyone come to an agreement on how we should proceed with strategy. We also speak with other members of their team, including the designers and backend people. Those aren’t weekly calls, but they’re always fast to reply.

How did you come to work with HyperDrive Interactive?

We really liked what our legacy label was doing with their CRM so in a meeting in New York we asked them how they were managing it and they told us about HyperDrive Interactive. From there, we built this business relationship which has been only successful since day one. Hopefully, we’ll keep it going for a long time.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since March 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After we did a test-run, it was immediately noticed by the rest of the affiliates across the region. From there, we became — thanks to the work they were doing — the poster boy for CRM in the region. They’re not providing a regional effort to those affiliates.

Twice a year they present a report that shows what’s been done and the growth and health of our business and our CRM business. Every campaign we run with them, we get a super-detailed report that managers and artists love. They all care about their Instagram statistics to start, not the CRM or SEO, but then we show them the reports and they get a different perspective. They change their mindset on the value of what we do because of the reports.

How did HyperDrive Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They excel. They’re always responsive and proactive in presenting new ideas. They go through our weekly needs and releases and figure out how to help us achieve our goals. If we need to pick up the phone and make adjustments to urgent needs they always help us.

They also bring other solutions to table including, for example, syndicated content that can be used across the region. That has relieved a lot of the workload across the region.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They don’t treat you as another deal they have or company they’re working with. It feels personal and catered to you and your needs. You can tell you’re just another folder when you work with other agencies. But, with HyperDrive, you feel like you’re the only partner they have at the moment.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are always new things coming up in the digital world, but I can’t think of anything I’d change. If anything, we work with mostly Spanish speakers in the Latin world and they don’t have bilingual service yet. I know they’ve been trying to help us out and incorporate Spanish-speaking employees in their company. That’s the level of commitment and personal engagement they have.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as open and real as you can. They’re music people, they’re real people, and they work with real products that transmit a lot of sentiment. Transparency goes a long way. If you’re personal with them then they’ll provide you with the results you need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the purchasing manager for the food department of a pizzeria.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HyperDrive Interactive?

We’ve been partners for over 15 years. When we first started out with them, they were responsible for building our website. Today, they still host our website, but they also manage and execute our email loyalty program, SEO/SEM efforts, and online listings and menus. They also provide reporting on all of our efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

While I can’t remember what technologies they used to build the website, they’ve been a great partner in helping us stay ahead of our times. They’ve continued to update our design, functionalities, and backend analytics. They created our unique rewards program that’s quite sophisticated in its evaluation of customer loyalty. The team has also utilized Salesforce to set up our automated emails.

They’ve enhanced our rewards program, hosted the site, and have spearheaded digital marketing to support our operations. They run all of our SEO and SEM. They’ve built over a hundred microsites, and they manage our online catering system. They provide analytics pertaining to our website in the form of reports.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Chris (VP, Client Services) who serves as our account manager. Robin (Senior Project Manager) and Ryan (Digital Marketing Project Manager) are our daily points of contact.

How did you come to work with HyperDrive Interactive?

I can’t answer that, because they were already a partner when I onboarded the company. I believe their locality was a considerable factor.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend somewhere between $500,000 to $1,000,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began somewhere around 2002/2003, and we’ve had a lasting partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re tied through and through with our business and is a significant reason for our success. The rewards program they started has helped us stay in constant communication with our guests, and it’s been a great marketing tool. The SMS program they manage has also been helpful in bringing customers through doors.

They do a fantastic job of watching digital trends and making adjustments in our budget to optimize whatever areas we should be focusing on. They built our ordering-catering-platform from scratch, and it’s since grown into a large sector of our business, thanks to them.

How did HyperDrive Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re fantastic. The way they’ve maneuvered the world of online digital marketing, over a 15-year period, is phenomenal. They’ve been incredible in tune with changes and evolutions in technology; that’s allowed us to stay ahead of a lot of competitors.

Robin’s exceptionally responsive. He’s always available — we always get an answer very quickly whenever we have an issue.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s hard to build a solid relationship with a company. When you look at the world of digital, there are so many factors that can dilute your efforts. The fact that we’ve been able to accomplish so many things at a high level despite that is a testament to their excellent organization. While they’re a smaller, local shop, they truly perform at an enterprise level.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. If an issue does arise, it’s very quick to be fixed. Nobody’s perfect, but they do a good job of keeping us close to it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Maintain open communication. You have to establish trust through honesty. That way you can ensure that issues are addressed and feedback is incorporated.