Growing Your Business with Trust Generation
Since 2005, Idea Grove has distinguished itself as that rare agency that truly understands growth-oriented B2B technology companies and their buyers. Idea Grove’s unified PR and marketing service offering has been built from the ground up with the specific challenges of B2B tech in mind, including grasping complex technologies, maintaining momentum through long sales cycles, and influencing the decision-making of both business and IT buyers.
Read our reviews, and our clients will tell you the following:
We achieve transformative results.
We've launched products that have become household names in B2B tech. We've helped tiny bootstrapped startups triumph in nine-figure exits. We've worked as valued partners with some of the most well-known and trusted names in technology. No one can create, tell and promote your B2B technology company's story like Idea Grove.
We're uniquely built for companies like yours.
When you are looking for a PR or content marketing agency, see if they can check these boxes: in-house writers and editors with more than two decades of experience, including former journalists, developers and IT department managers. A creative team solely focused on the challenge of explaining complex technologies with compelling visuals. A dedicated PR team that concentrates its time and energy pitching top tech and business journalists. Service offerings and processes developed with the specific needs of B2B technology companies in mind.
We've earned our place as a top-ranked B2B tech boutique.
When our firm keeps our clients happy, they tell others about us and our agency grows. That’s how Idea Grove has emerged as one of the top boutique tech PR and marketing firms in the United States, earning its place as a three-time Inc. 5000 company, one of O’Dwyer’s top 25 technology agencies, and as PR News’ Agency of the Year. We’re also a HubSpot Platinum Agency Partner.
Focus
Portfolio
Idea Grove works with companies across B2B technology sectors, including spaces such as cybersecurity, e-commerce, data science, fintech, transportation and logistics that have compelling stories to tell and want to make a positive impact on the world. Idea Grove's clients include Amazon Alexa, AWS Security, Esker, NEC, Stanford University, K2View, CloudTrucks, Onbe, Istation, SE2 and Polly.
Amazon Alexa
THE CHALLENGE: CALLING ALL DEVELOPERS: IT'S A WHOLE NEW ERA
Amazon is the largest internet-based retailer and cloud infrastructure provider in the United States. The company upset the status quo in 2015 when it released the Amazon Echo—a new type of information device. With only a microphone and speaker, Echo could hear a spoken request, execute it and voice a response. Amazon also invited third parties to create new consumer services, by using its virtual assistant AI technology (called “Alexa”). The Alexa team wanted to encourage companies in any industry to explore Alexa integration. But how could they win over app developers and their management to accomplish that goal?
THE SOLUTION: STORIES INSPIRING DEVELOPERS TO FIND THEIR VOICES
Amazon’s primary vehicle for promoting the development of Alexa-based apps (called skills) is its developer portal. But a technical blog doesn’t always spur new developers (or their employers) to explore Alexa’s potential. So Amazon engaged Idea Grove to change that. Idea Grove suggested injecting developer success stories into the forum’s blog. These case studies would balance the programming and business rationale for adopting voice technology.
The content team worked with Amazon's marketing department on a list of skills to highlight in a weekly case study. These skills ranged from purely informational or entertaining to home automation and third-party devices. Each case study tells a unique story, while showcasing developers, their company and what’s possible with Alexa. By presenting both challenges and rewards, it encourages companies to explore Alexa for themselves.
THE RESULTS: A STORY IS WORTH 15,000...SKILLS
Infusing the developer forum with success stories of actual developers drew in the technophiles. But it also appealed to decision makers that can approve funding for an Alexa skill for their company. The strategy paid off. We can’t know exactly how many new skills our stories have inspired. But we do know that, by July 2017, over 15,000 Alexa skills had been published—from less than 1,000 when we started a year earlier. That means the Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices have more to say than ever.
Pivot3
THE CHALLENGE: UNKNOWN PLAYER IN A CROWDED MARKET
When Pivot3 first started working with Idea Grove, the hyper-converged infrastructure provider was virtually unknown outside the surveillance industry. Pivot3 needed to quickly build awareness among key IT media and influencers.
THE SOLUTION: A LASER FOCUS ON RELATIONSHIPS
Idea Grove developed a tailored strategy for media outreach and social media centered around engaging with key trade publication journalists and online influencers to drive broader awareness. Additional activities:
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Rapid-response outreach based on industry news
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Exclusive story opportunities with media from priority publications
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Customer promotional plan
THE RESULTS: FROM NICHE PLAYER TO INDUSTRY LEADER
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High volume of coverage in top industry trade publications
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Shifted the market’s perspective of Pivot3 as a niche player
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Pivot3 earned its inaugural placement on the industry’s 2015 Gartner Magic Quadrant, and in 2016 was identified as one of three industry leaders on the 2016 Forrester Wave report
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Successfully announced Pivot3’s acquisition of NexGen Storage and a $55M series A round of funding
Altezza
THE CHALLENGE: LEVEL-UP THE BRAND
SearchDex knew that its automated e-commerce visibility tool was powerful. But it also knew that it could be better. So the company paused all sales for 15 months in order to focus on creating software that could keep up with where the e-commerce market was heading. But after almost two years without actively selling, the leadership knew they also needed to level-up their brand.
THE SOLUTION: NEW NAME, NEW LOOK
They came to Idea Grove for help creating a whole new brand. That included a new company name, a new logo, new brand style guide, and a whole new marketing message. We started that process with extensive conversations that helped SearchDex get at the core of their business, layout a new way of talking about what they do, and unite around a vision for the future.
THE RESULTS: A RE-LAUNCHED BRAND, NAME AND MESSAGE
We took that vision and created a new message, new image and new name they could use as they reentered the market. Here’s what Altezza’s CEO Dave Chaplin had to say about the process and outcome: “Idea Grove’s branding process starts with a conversation. They helped lead us through discussions that reframed how we saw our business internally. Those conversations and additional research allowed them to shift how we spoke about and portrayed our company to the market as we re-launched our brand.”
TRUNO
THE CHALLENGE: UNIFYING YEARS OF GROWTH AND ACQUISITIONS
In 2017, after 40 years of steady growth and providing grocery retailers integrated solutions to address their technology needs, TRUNO found its own brand marketing in need of some integration. After a series of acquisitions, the company had collected five websites, four disparate brand names and 26 solution offerings. TRUNO needed a new website and supporting marketing strategy that would unify its messaging across the entire brand family. To do that, TRUNO looked for a partner that could design, develop, launch, and optimize the unified website with the new brand message on a tight timeline. Beyond that, it needed a HubSpot-certified partner with expertise in digital content marketing.
THE SOLUTION: A UNIFIED MESSAGE ACROSS ALL BRANDS
The Idea Grove team interviewed seven SMEs from across all the TRUNO companies to learn about its customers’ problems and needs, as well as to uncover the company’s true differentiators. The design and content teams then created a fresh, modern website design with a coherent message that unified—both visually and in voice—TRUNO’s core strengths, philosophies and product offerings. Alongside TRUNO’s marketing team, Idea Grove created more than 60 pages of new content. The team optimized on-page SEO keywords to raise the site’s ranking in organic searches. And to the delight of TRUNO and its customers, the new site launched in only four months.
THE RESULTS: A UNIFIED BRAND FAMILY WITH ZERO INTERRUPTION
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4 brands → one unified website and message
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A new website online with zero interruption
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Growth in organic search traffic through SEO and inbound marketing best practices, a steady cadence of blogs, and new long-form content to drive more leads to the site.
K2View
THE CHALLENGE: FAST-GROWTH STARTUP WITH LIMITED INDUSTRY VISIBILITY
As a fast-growing startup in an emerging market, K2View faced the challenge of limited industry visibility and an inconsistent social media presence—a necessary ingredient in order to attract potential customers, investors and future employees. Idea Grove partnered with K2View to launch a social program that relied on best practices to amplify media wins, target niche audiences and spread the word about K2View’s innovative product.
THE SOLUTION: BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR BRAND AMPLIFICATION
With several large company developments on the horizon, Idea Grove first focused on laying a strong foundation and strengthening K2View’s social presence, knowing that all eyes would soon be on the brand. Idea Grove created an organic social program that provided pillars of content, structure, a cohesive brand look and strategy for each social platform.
By establishing and implementing best practice parameters for K2View's social content, creating a tailored cadence, and building a content strategy that allowed the brand to both amplify its offering and establish itself as an industry leader, Idea Grove was able to grow K2View’s social channels and engagement. As the program continued, Idea Grove utilized social reporting to determine top- and under-performing content to support ongoing optimization.
THE RESULTS: A 969% INCREASE IN WEBSITE SESSIONS DRIVEN BY LINKEDIN
With a fresh strategy, best practices alignment and ongoing optimization, Idea Grove was able to increase K2View’s organic social performance. The results?
In just one quarter, K2View saw a 100% increase in engagement rates across both Twitter and LinkedIn, a 969% increase in website sessions driven by LinkedIn and a 100% increase in website sessions driven by Twitter.
Esker
THE CHALLENGE: REACHING TARGET BUYERS
Esker, a French-based company with a U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, enlisted Idea Grove to help raise awareness in the U.S. with target verticals for the company’s on-demand process automation software.
THE SOLUTION: CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES PROGRAM
Idea Grove leveraged Esker’s client success stories to secure media coverage in the trade publications read by decision-makers in their priority verticals and industries. Idea Grove was able to place contributed articles and case study features focused on Esker’s approach, experience, and the tangible benefits it can bring to businesses in these verticals.
THE RESULTS: 700% INCREASE IN COVERAGE
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55 targeted media placements secured in the first 8 months
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Esker’s CEO, SMEs and customers gained visibility in industry vertical publications
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Continued year-over-year increase in branded search referral traffic
Reviews
the project
Content Writing for IT Company
"What made Idea Grove stand out was their willingness to do whatever it took to make us happy."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I was the strategic communications lead at a company that provided an AI-powered virtual assistant.
What challenge were you trying to address with Idea Grove?
Our goal was to communicate with our developer audience through our blog and help them find ways to integrate our services into their apps. To do this, we regularly publish our service’s latest features, tell brand stories, and share a behind-the-scenes look at our product. We needed help producing those blog posts.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Idea Grove helped us write content for our blog. We mainly provided the overall message that we wanted our audience to take away from each post. Whenever they needed to interview someone, we also gave the team some background and research on the interviewee.
We wanted to emphasize the storytelling aspect of the content, so we worked closely with them to improve that. For example, we did a series of posts that profiled women leaders in the AI space. During our engagement, Idea Grove produced 15 blog posts.
What is the team composition?
We worked with two teammates: the project manager and the lead writer.
How did you come to work with Idea Grove?
When I joined the strategic communications team, we already had an established contract with Idea Grove.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our partnership lasted from April 2020–August 2021. I’m not sure if they continue to work with the company because I’ve already left.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The content they wrote for us was very well-received — the posts were being shared around and engaged with. The Idea Grove team has really helped us celebrate the people who helped make our product.
How did Idea Grove perform from a project management standpoint?
Their project management was fantastic; in fact, I would say that it was one of their greatest strengths. The project manager was very organized and really helped move things along and kept things on track. They were a team of good communicators, so we always knew what they were working on, which was great. We typically communicated via phone calls and email.
What did you find most impressive about them?
What made Idea Grove stand out was their willingness to do whatever it took to make us happy. Their flexibility in managing the project also stood out to me. The team was just easy to work with and made sure to deliver precisely what we needed.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, there wasn’t anything they could’ve improved. At the start of the project, we had some critical feedback on their storytelling, but the Idea Grove team worked hard to meet our standards instead of being defensive about it. They dealt with criticism well.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Work closely with them to achieve the tone of voice you’re looking for. Idea Grove is an excellent copywriting team, but don’t expect them to be highly technical.
the project
Web Redesign for Insurance Tech Company
"Everyone we worked with was very professional and knowledgeable in their area of expertise."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
During this project, I was the Global Digital Marketing Manager for a life and annuities insurance technology and services firm.
For what projects/services did your company hire Idea Grove, and what were your goals?
Website development with the goal to stand up a newly designed website.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
We selected Idea Grove having used them for many years and knowing their talented and expert staff, and what they are capable of.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
Once we had page designs, each page was sent over to Idea Grove to begin creation and stand up on a dev site. Around 20 pages in total were created with new designs, plus an overhaul to universal page header/navigation and footers.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
An account executive was present throughout the process and helped to drive and keep everything on track. There was also a digital media director who oversaw page development and a dev team doing the creation.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
Our results were more visual than anything like an uptick in site traffic. We were going from an older less insurtech look to a new, fresh look that would help us complete in the InsurTech space.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
We had weekly calls with updates on progress and any delays were noted and we were made aware. Communication tools included email and Zoom meetings.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
The reason we stayed with Idea Grove for many many years is their ability to complete projects with outstanding results, at a cost-friendly to your budget. Everyone we worked with was very professional and knowledgeable in their area of expertise.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
As with any project, there are hiccups along the way. Some timelines were pushed back but these were addressed along the way and solved for. Roadblocks were not an issue with Idea Grove.
the project
Web Dev, Marketing, & PR for Enterprise Software Companies
"Idea Grove was a phenomenal team that executed on-point solutions."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I was the marketing head of Comet and K2View when I worked with Idea Grove. Both of these companies center on enterprise software.
What challenge were you trying to address with Idea Grove?
I needed a full-service agency to help me with my marketing, web development, and PR needs.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Idea Grove provided multiple services for us. As I was the head of marketing for the two companies I mentioned, I needed their team to support me across every aspect — ranging from lead generation to PR, graphic design, and web development.
Their team managed our social media profiles to get the word out about our company. As for our website, they developed it using HubSpot CMS, migrating off our old WordPress platform and refurbished its design for it to be more impactful and user-friendly. Apart from integrating a feature that automated our company’s sales and leads processes, they also helped us develop our first scoring framework via MergerTrak.
On the PR side, we collaborated with Idea Grove to produce multiple press releases and practice pitches. Their team also helped us improve our brand image by generating new graphic materials and standardizing our brand.
What is the team composition?
We initially worked with five of them before expanding it to a team of 15 resources.
How did you come to work with Idea Grove?
I found Idea Grove’s team online after looking for a potential agency to help us with our various needs. Upon examining their profile, I realized that their marketing culture aligned with my own concepts.
When I found their team, I honestly thought that they’re the exact people I wanted to work with to make my business goals happen. In addition to their evident competence in the realm of technology, I saw how genuinely kind they were as people.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent a total of $500,000 for the wide range of services they provided.
What is the status of this engagement?
The project ran from August 2018–May 2021.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Idea Grove was a phenomenal team that executed on-point solutions. If it weren’t for their massive aid in the implementation of our marketing, scoring, and development needs, we wouldn’t be awarded as the 15th fastest-growing company in Dallas. Through that award, we received a good deal of press coverage, and that yielded profitable results to us. Overall, I could say that their team’s expertise effortlessly led us to the path of success.
How did Idea Grove perform from a project management standpoint?
We mainly communicated via emails and phone calls. Idea Grove was an accountable team — their strong commitment to accomplishing every task we designated was impressive. I truly respect their work ethics as a team.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their impressive work culture and reliable nature were well-reflected in every solution they delivered. I was always confident that I could trust them to drive positive results for us.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They could work on providing clearer result projections. It could be challenging for their client to create assumptions if those aren't well elaborated.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?’
Be very open to working with a strategic partner like Idea Grove. Make the most of their productive pieces of advice and solutions, and you’ll be able to see the valuable results for yourself.
the project
Web Dev, Branding & PR for Tracking Company
“Everything looks beautiful.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CEO/President of Rocky Mountain Tracking, Inc., a tracking company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Idea Grove?
We needed help with web development and design.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Idea Grove helps us rebrand our company and website. The team helps us with naming new products that haven’t been introduced yet. Additionally, Idea Grove helps with keyword research.
We started with a creative brief. They gave me options to choose from in terms of colors and fonts. They did the UI/UX part and the content. There were two groups working on what the message should be and how the design should be done. Everything meshed together to make it a complete product.
The website is being built from scratch. There were a lot of compliance requirements, including usability for blind people and deaf people. The team made a lot of recommendations. From a PR perspective, they work on the messaging for existing customer changes. We’ll be doing content marketing with them soon.
What is the team composition?
We work with 6–8 people.
How did you come to work with Idea Grove?
I hired them after I spoke with 6–7 website and PR companies. Idea Grove’s approach was very detailed, and they could work with my budget. They were organized in how they presented themselves. They checked a lot of boxes for me. Overall, it was a good decision.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent $35,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in August 2020, and our work is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Everything looks beautiful. We’ll be moving to the new website at the end of the month. It’s already launched but we’ll make the full transition. The messaging is on point for what we are today. They came up with some good designs too. Idea Grove offers an excellent package.
How did Idea Grove perform from a project management standpoint?
They do a great job. Sometimes things fall into the crack, but they take ownership. They did a good job of handling things. We never were in a position where it looked bad. We worked collaboratively to fix any issues we had.
They’re beyond responsive. We have a weekly meeting and the communication is always good. We use email and Google Docs to manage the project. We make live updates back and forth.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I can find a lot of designers; to have a company that can do content as well is great. PR and design are definitely their strengths. They’re very personable. We’re a small company, and they made me feel very welcome.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I’m satisfied with what they’ve done so far.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
They’re not just talented; they have a really good, strong team as well.
the project
Public Relations for Financial Technology Company
"They have the ability to quickly adjust to our needs and lend specialized expertise when we need it."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
CMO at daVinci Payments. I led the IDEAS team (Insights, Engagement, and Agency Services) to grow awareness and engagement for the company's products and services.
For what projects/services did your company hire Idea Grove?
We rebranded Swift Prepaid Solutions to daVinci Payments and most recently through a merger became Onbe. Idea grove had the goals of building brand awareness and trust for daVinci, a fast-growing leader in a well-established market.
The Idea Grove team implemented a data and trends-driven PR program including management of email marketing and organic and paid social to amplify PR efforts. In the past 2+ years, Idea Grove has supported the company through two rebrands, one merger, 20+ survey campaigns and 10+ company-centered announcements.
What were your goals for this project?
Demonstrate the impact of engaging, branded and co-created payment experiences and drive dialogue within the industry. Increase awareness and build trust among prospective customers with compelling stories that highlight daVinci’s impact on large enterprises and their specific payment needs. Forge lasting relationships with media and industry analysts—especially among payments, fintech and top-tier business outlets—to position the brand as a go-to source and thought leader in the payments market.
How did you select Idea Grove?
We found Idea Grove listed as a top PR agency on Clutch and included them in a review for our business.
Describe the scope of their work in detail.
Idea Grove implemented a data and trends-driven PR program to build brand awareness and authority in the fintech space. Idea Grove supported daVinci’s organic and paid social media focus to further elevate brand awareness. Additionally, Idea Grove provided strategy recommendations to improve platform utilization, followers, and social approach.
What was the team composition?
We worked closely with two points of contact but also had access to Idea Grove’s leadership and larger team of specialists..
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We grew our awareness, web traffic, leads to our website, social following and placement in leading news sources significantly.
Our media presence significantly increased, and the company began seeing coverage in core fintech, business and retail trades.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
Idea Grove is a partner augmenting our staff. They are able to bring different agency experts when we need them for specific situations in planning, brainstorming and executing unique initiatives.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
They have the ability to quickly adjust to our needs and lend specialized expertise when we need it above and beyond our day to day initiatives.
Are there any areas for improvement?
No.
the project
Copywriting, PR & Management Services for Digital Signage Co
“I feel like they’re a part of our internal marketing team, and they function really well in that role.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We’re a technology company that specializes in providing clients with digital signage solutions. That includes our primary offering, which is a software platform that powers those networks, as well as complimentary services: deployment, content strategy and development, and custom app development services. We provide those to a variety of markets, including retailers, health care providers, entertainment venues, and corporations for internal B2B communications tools.
What challenge were you trying to address with Idea Grove?
The outcome we’re driving toward is more lead flow for the business, but there were a couple of things contributing to that. One is making certain that we had compelling thought leadership. It’s really important for us to have a certain voice in the marketplace so that we represent ourselves as being smart, helpful, and fun. We didn't want to do much self-promoting all the time, as that wouldn’t bring much value to people.
Beyond thought leadership, we needed help better leveraging tools. We had Salesforce and HubSpot, but we really weren't using those; we didn't have workflows, campaigns, or nurturing. We didn't have a good online presence, nor did we have the traffic or conversion rates we needed. We weren’t nurturing. We brought in Idea Grove to help elevate our marketing performance overall.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Idea Grove is the primary party responsible for developing our thought leadership, which is a really big deal at Reflect. I am the person responsible for reviewing all of that content and helping drive the content calendar, and I am notoriously difficult for copywriters. I’d rejected all of the content that a previous provider created, so it’s a huge hurdle. Idea Grove helps us identify the right content, writes the copy, and takes feedback.
They also help us manage HubSpot and the environment. They’re responsible for creating the workflows, campaigns, and all of the nurturing. They also handle all PR for us. How we communicate in the marketplace is so important to us, and we are very demanding about the quality of that. They also do the primary account management for us.
Idea Grove brought in another partner to help us with ad placement and discoverability, so actually driving the lead flow into the systems.
What is the team composition?
What’s really great about Idea Grove is that they act as if they’re a part of the Reflect team. We have weekly team meetings that include Idea Grove, Reflect, and the other marketing partner; only a couple of internal resources are a part of that. Idea Grove always has at least three people on those calls, but there are several others that work on various parts of the project.
How did you come to work with Idea Grove?
I don’t remember how we found Idea Grove. The person who was running marketing at the time found them.
How much have you invested with them?
Over 18 months, I’d estimate around $300,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The project is ongoing, and I’d estimate that it began around April–May 2019.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’ve improved in all metrics across the board, from website traffic to conversion rates. We’ve seen an increase in leads created, both in terms of marketing-qualified and sales-qualified leads. Virtually every metric has improved.
How did Idea Grove perform from a project management standpoint?
They’re exceptional. We both use a similar operating system for how we run the companies, so they fit right in. They behave as an extension of the business. It’s been really great to have them on the team. I don’t feel like they’re outsiders; I feel like they’re a part of our internal marketing team, and they function really well in that role. We use a project management board for tracking purposes.
One of the really great things about them is that they know what they do well and where they can be helped, and they aren't afraid to bring in somebody to help round out their expertise. They've been a really good partner.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re willing to take a position and even push back. I’m not the easiest person to work with because I have strong views, and they care enough to tell us what they believe we should do. They’re also confident enough to back that up with best practices and information. They don’t do it in a way that’s condescending. They’re courageous enough to let us know if our idea isn’t going to work and then explain why. That open and honest communication is really important to us. They excel at it.
The team is smart, and their copy is very good. I’ve also never had a copywriter that I didn’t fire, so it’s nice to work with them and have the quality of their work be so good.
Are there any areas they could improve?
It could always be less expensive, but other than that, I don’t think so. As I mentioned, when they felt like they needed additional expertise, they were the ones that suggested it. They weren’t afraid of bringing in another partner, even though that means the revenue gets split up more.
Any advice for potential customers?
First off, understand what you’re trying to accomplish and how you’re going to measure results over time. We were really clear about what we needed to accomplish in the relationship, and that really helped them understand what success looks like.
the project
Social Media & Content Marketing for Computer Software Firm
"They act as an extension of our team and help drive strategies we need to achieve our marketing and business goals."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
Esker is a worldwide leader in AI-driven process automation software, helping financial and customer service departments digitally transform their procure-to-pay (P2P) and order-to-cash (O2C) cycles. Used by more than 6,000 companies worldwide, Esker’s solutions incorporate technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to drive increased productivity, enhanced visibility, reduced fraud risk, and improved collaboration with customers, suppliers and internally.
Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France, and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. As the Marketing Director for Esker, I’m responsible for determining and overseeing the execution of all marketing strategies within the US. The public relations program that we’ve partnered with Idea Grove on for the past several years is a significant part of that strategy.
For what projects/services did your company hire Idea Grove?
Esker first turned to Idea Grove in January 2016 for help with a media relations strategy that would increase awareness of Esker within our industry, as well as our customers’ specific industries.
These include fintech, supply chain management, manufacturing, food & beverage, life sciences and electronics, among others. Throughout our relationship, we’ve also tapped Idea Grove to help with content strategy and development, as well as social media support.
What were your goals for this project?
Our goal continues to be increased awareness and brand recognition for Esker among its competitors. For this, we’ve been tracking share of voice and branded search referral traffic.
How did you select Idea Grove?
We chose to work with Idea Grove because of their experience in the B2B tech space and clear understanding of Esker’s technology. That was something the other agencies we looked at couldn’t match.
Describe the scope of their work in detail.
For nearly five years, we’ve worked with Idea Grove to effectively communicate the complex technology that Esker develops and the business challenges it helps overcome. Idea Grove has achieved this by tapping into Esker’s executive resources to create a thought leadership strategy for media coverage. They’ve secured a consistent cadence of contributed articles and original stories about the trends in our industry and the ways we help our customers.
They’ve also interviewed many of our customers directly in order to tell their stories, whether that’s in the form of a press release that highlights one of Esker’s new customer wins or a case study that demonstrates the results we’ve helped a customer achieve. Idea Grove has leveraged these customer stories to earn even more media recognition for Esker, both within our industry and in the industry publications our prospects are reading.
What was the team composition?
We’ve received support from all levels of the agency, including at the VP level. We receive regular updates from a single point of contact, which helps streamline communication. The team also includes a mid-level member dedicated to our account strategy and a member of Idea Grove’s PR team.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Within the first year of engagement with Idea Grove, media coverage of Esker increased by 700%. We exceeded media coverage goals by 350% and this increase in coverage resulted in a 181% increase in direct traffic to Esker’s website. Over the past five years, Idea Grove has helped us steadily increase Esker’s share of voice among top competitors.
This metric has grown from 15% in Q1 2016 — at the start of our engagement — to 24% share of voice in Q1 2020. We’ve also seen a consistent increase in branded search referral traffic since partnering with Idea Grove, which indicates an increase in brand awareness. On average, branded search referral traffic has increased by 26% year-over-year since 2016.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
Our team at Idea Grove provides regular project status updates and quickly pivots to address any new and changing priorities. They act as an extension of our team and help drive strategies we need to achieve our marketing and business goals.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
Idea Grove has a deep understanding of our business, technology and the industry. We’ve entrusted Idea Grove with our customer relationships to extract the information needed to tell compelling stories about the results Esker helps our customers achieve. They’ve also built strong relationships with the media who cover our industry, which helps yield consistent media results.
Are there any areas for improvement?
Nothing comes to mind!
the project
Web Dev, Design, & SEO for Cybersecurity Firm
"The Idea Grove team was astute and experienced."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the VP of Marketing for a cybersecurity firm. We offer security assessment services.
What challenge were you trying to address with Idea Grove?
Over the years, we redesigned the website several times. We wanted to create an engaging and visually pleasing website to attract our target audiences. We sought an agency to execute the entire project, from the technical aspects to the copy.
What was the scope of their involvement?
After we gave them a detailed list of requirements and tasks, Idea Grove created the wireframes for the website’s design. Their team then built the architectural site map and developed the website on WordPress. During the development, they built SEO features into the platform.
Their team also pulled together the messaging throughout the site. After they wrote the copy, we reviewed and approved it.
Following the website’s launch, we collaborated on additional phases. They developed videos and other content that could extend beyond the website such as case studies.
What is the team composition?
Our point of contact was the project manager from Idea Grove. However, we interacted with several additional people from their team, which included copywriters, designers, developers, and SEO specialists.
How did you come to work with Idea Grove?
I considered several firms and met with a few of them. Idea Grove was in close proximity and had more advanced digital experience than their competitors.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together between August 2019 – August 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We saw an increase in organic traffic, which resulted in an increase in quality conversions. Their team’s SEO efforts definitely improved our online presence.
How did Idea Grove perform from a project management standpoint?
We had weekly meetings with their project manager and monthly SEO meetings. Idea Grove created monthly reports based on tracked KPIs. Their team was organized and worked late hours when needed. The engagement went smoothly, with very few hiccups.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The Idea Grove team was astute and experienced. They resolved unknown challenges that impacted our rankings such as broken links. I liked that they built a wholistic plan for our messaging; it was clean and required few edits.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I shared with them that when their lead designer went on vacation, the project would’ve run smoother if they assigned a replacement during that time.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Review their services and capabilities. Determine your highest level of need and do a phased-out plan to get the biggest return on your investment.
the project
PR & Content Creation for Web Hosting Company
"We were very impressed with the way they treated our relationship as a strategic partnership."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I'm VP of Corporate Communications at DreamHost, a global managed WordPress and cloud services company. I’m responsible for establishing, maintaining, and enforcing DreamHost's corporate voice and tone in all communications, both internal and external. I'm also our primary media contact and am responsible for determining and executing the communications strategy for our brand; one with over two decades of history and hundreds of thousands of users.
For what projects/services did your company hire Idea Grove?
We hired Idea Grove to elevate the DreamHost brand to stand out in a commoditized space through a media relations program. We wanted targeted media outreach that would secure contributed thought leadership content in hosting and tech publications.
What were your goals for this project?
Our primary goal was to drive overall brand awareness among our target customers. IdeaGrove worked tirelessly to establish DreamHost as a well-known and trusted managed WordPress provider and web host.
We wanted to attract WordPress newcomers and professionals alike - from bloggers to design agencies. IdeaGrove was able to help us identify targeted messaging strategies and programs for nearly every segment.
How did you select this vendor?
Some intense Googling helped us narrow down a list of five potential agencies, all of which had the potential to be good partners for us. We conducted interviews with each agency to learn about their history, background, and areas of expertise.
From the start IdeaGrove asked smart questions about our business, made it clear that they understood our industry, and had even identified several potential messaging strategies by the end of our first exploratory call. In the end, the decision was an easy one to make. IdeaGrove was completely aligned with our goals. They understood what our brand stood for and knew how to take us to the next level.
Describe the scope of their work in detail.
On a monthly basis Idea Grove executed a holistic public relations program to generate brand visibility and authority for us. Their team drove the overall strategy but utilized our team’s expertise to develop well thought out, comprehensive campaigns.
On a more granular level, the Idea Grove team built and managed media lists, built out brand and thought leadership messaging, wrote articles on behalf of DreamHost’s subject matter experts and secured media placement of these articles, developed and distributed press releases, as well as researched and managed an ongoing awards calendar.
However, their team has many capabilities outside of public relations and content work. They often presented opportunities to create interactive infographic content, videos, and website-related assets to support the larger PR program. We eventually went on to create an interactive infographic around the history of internet privacy and DreamHost’s influence on that history.
What was the team composition?
Day to day we worked closely with two main points of contact but also worked with Idea Grove’s larger team on occasion over the course of our relationship, including specialists in the areas where Idea Grove provided the most support.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
One of our primary goals at the beginning of the project was to secure coverage in top web hosting publications like Hosting Journalist. Idea Grove was able to meet this goal on a continued basis and also landed other top industry publications like Website Magazine and SiteProNews.
They also broadened our media relations horizons by expanding our efforts to numerous verticals where our customers lived. We saw great coverage in the small business and startup trades, WordPress specific trades and even retail.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
Our workflow with the Idea Grove team was great. They approached our relationship as a true partnership as opposed to the traditional client/agency dynamic that can often turn into staff augmentation. Planning, brainstorming and executing on bigger initiatives involved the larger Idea Grove team, which brought a lot of different experts to the table who made a positive impact on our program.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
We were very impressed with the way they treated our relationship as a strategic partnership. Idea Grove does more than just check the boxes to fulfill a contract. Their team brings their best minds, ideas and energy to the table every day to bring us the wins and successes we were looking for.
Are there any areas for improvement?
We were very happy with our relationship as a whole with the Idea Grove team.
the project
Content Writing for Cloud Computing Company
"Their process from start to finish with each of these case studies is impressive."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the vice president of marketing for a high-performance cloud computing platform company. We enable companies to access hundreds of workflows and applications on our platform called JARVICE.
What challenge were you trying to address with Idea Grove?
We were looking for an agency of record to write for us because our case studies were stale. We wanted fresh content on our website. We wanted to form a relationship with an agency for them to really understand our business and write for us.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Idea Grove helped us write case studies with our customers. They put together a process that made it was easy for us to go to our customers and have them agree to talk to us about a project. Their team was able to help us execute seven case studies in about a nine-month time period. They interviewed our clients, wrote the copy, and solicited the imagery from the client. Then, they provided us with the final design.
What is the team composition?
We work with about three people from Idea Grove.
How did you come to work with Idea Grove?
We narrowed our search to three different agencies and Idea Grove came out on top. Their staff was more attune to technical acumen. It was easy to work with their project managers and writers because they have a greater knowledge of the tech space. For a company like ours, which can get into the weeds with technical jargon, it was hands down the right choice to work with them.
How much have you invested with them?
We've spent between $25,000–$50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in March 2019 and our engagement’s ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We were able to bring a brand new web page with the content Idea Grove helped us create. That definitely helped increase traffic on our website. Our case studies and white paper content pages were fresh material, which helps with SEO and other website metrics.
Our sales team uses these case studies as tools to reach out to prospects and existing clients. Time and time again, we’ve heard that the case studies are high-quality and that the information’s well presented.
The content’s clean and professional, which makes us look good. It’s easy to build out our social media messaging with a high-quality end piece. Internally, our company’s proud to put these case studies out.
How did Idea Grove perform from a project management standpoint?
Their project management’s outstanding. We have one person who’s higher up and oversees our account, which I appreciate. She’s more on the strategy side of the project. We have more of a day to day contact. Both individuals are timely in their responses to questions and check-ins. They respond to me within 24 hours or less.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their ability to interview our clients directly, get the information, and write quality pieces within a short amount of time is impressive. Their process from start to finish with each of these case studies is impressive. Their team was quick. Our clients who they interviewed gave them great feedback.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, they handle this project well.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
They did a fantastic job.