The Karcher Group

Please describe your company and your position there.

Chief Financial Officer

For what projects/services did your company hire The Karcher Group, and what were your goals?

Specific goals were to develop a new robust website for our early stage biotech company. Additionally we requested ongoing social media presence and analytics to measure this project success.

Our goal was to overhaul our existing website and create a more professional and interactive experience for our investors. We also wanted to broaden our exposure through social media to attract potential new investors.

How did you select The Karcher Group and what were the deciding factors?

As CFO I was familiar with the company through one of Karcher's key employees. We met with the Karcher Group personal and were immediately impressed with their development ideas and creative personnel.

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

We met with a Karcher Group for a few strategy meetings and reviewed our budget and expected deliverables. Karcher developed a proposal for company branding, website development, digital advertising, and social media marketing. The proposal was very well laid out and broke down the cost of each project element. Overall the proposal was in line with our budget for the project.

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

Karcher Group had a dedicated team for us that included an Relationship Manager, Project manager, website development personnel, creative and branding team, and digitial marketing strategists. We always had at least 5 people working on our project through final website launch.

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

Our final deliverables included a world class website, ongoing digital marketing campaign, monthly traffic reports and quarterly strategy planning.

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

The Karcher Group kept our team updated weekly and were always available for consultation. Each member of their project team was personable, talented, and they asked for our input and approval every step of the way, especially during the initial phases of the project.

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

Our company was a novice at web marketing and using social media platforms. We were very impressed in Karcher Group's ability to interpret our needs and turn into a ultra-functional and visually impressive product. T

hey were punctual in their execution and very open to our input. To this day they consistently make themselves available for questions. I would say they are extremely good at meeting their client's expectations.

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

Because we have been so impressed with Karcher Group it would be hard to comment on areas of improvement. We are very satisfied with our project experience.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing manager at The Ruby Group. We provide training in sales, management, leadership, and customer service for individuals and organizations in Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Columbus.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Karcher Group?

We needed help with SEO, website improvements, and filming videos for our team.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal is to convert leads from the website to clients.

How did you select The Karcher Group?

We worked with The Karcher Group in the past and knew they were the team for the job!

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After we selected The Karcher Group, we had a meeting to meet their team and to discuss The Ruby Group and our goals. The Karcher Group worked on a strategy that best fit our needs then we got to work!

What was the team composition?

I have worked closely with our Account Manager, Aaron Lehman; Director of Traffic, Leanne Wicks; Lead Video Producer, Joe Oberster; and Associate Video Producer, Zoe Logston.

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

Since working with The Karcher Group, our SEO has improved, increased traffic to our website, and the videos boosted engagement on our social media accounts.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Karcher Group team is easy to communicate with and answers any questions or feedback in a timely manner. We meet with Aaron every quarter to discuss our results, and we receive monthly ROI reports.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The Karcher Group's communication and organizational skills are outstanding.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we are satisfied with The Karcher Group's work.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Gregory Industries is a steel product roll form manufacturer. Manufacturing products such as highway guardrail, steel channel strut, c-shape fence posts and various forms of steel tube. My position is the marketing manager for the Highway Division as well as the lead oversight for the entire brand, website, and division overhaul.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Karcher Group, and what were your goals?

Our website had become outdated. We didn't have the resources internally to bring our website up to the standard to match our reputation in the industries we service. We tried several other agencies prior to Karcher, but none were able to deliver what we were asking for. Our last agency steered us in a completely different direction and ultimately set up back even further. Our goals with Karcher were to develop a fresh new look, updated website platform and to bring all of our brands under one umbrella and to portray us as the leader Gregory is in the industries they represent.

How did you select The Karcher Group and what were the deciding factors?

We interviewed several local agencies. Karcher stood out above all of the others and were a perfect fit for us.

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

Brand overhaul including colors, logo, website update, business segmenting, etc. updated website to bring our whole company together as one unit while operating individually in our specific industries.

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

5-10, maybe more. Karcher does a good job of managing information flow. We have specific people we work with on certain aspects of projects.

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

not at this time.

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

We use our teamwork platform. The information they send is up-to-date and easy to follow.

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

Their timely execution of projects and their friendly disposition.

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

none at this time

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as the general manager of a battery retail company. We offer a large selection of motorcycle and ATV batteries, as well as deep-cycle marine and RV batteries. We also sell all kinds of chargers, from motorcycle to industrial chargers.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Karcher Group?

We hired The Karcher Group for SEO and PPC.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Karcher Group works on our Google Ads and everything SEO-related, such as keyword optimization. They performed a full account review to identify the strategies that could work for us. They’ve followed a broader approach and done a lot of minor SEO changes on our site to help us improve our results, as opposed to the previous team’s more in-depth, center-focused optimization that generated fewer results.

We also guest-write blog posts to promote our brand on other sites. The Karcher Group has helped us through that process by giving us topics to write about, locating reputable sources, and giving us their information.

What is the team composition?

They have a large team with a lot of experts on it, but I work directly with four of them. Sydney (Digital Advertising Strategist) does our PPC, and I work with Jon (Director of Accounts) on SEO. Leanne (Director of Traffic) is my best contact and relays any of my questions to her team. Geoff (President) is always helpful. I’ve asked him questions, and he’s always available

How did you come to work with The Karcher Group?

The company that we previously hired merged with The Karcher Group. The previous provider drove decent results for a bit, but their old-school approach wasn’t working in the new market. At some point, our competition got the upper-hand. Being in e-commerce, we have big competition from places like Amazon.

How much have you invested with them?

Our monthly budget is around $2,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with The Karcher Group between January and February 2019, and our partnership is currently ongoing. However, the company that merged with The Karcher Group began working with my company in the early 2000s, well before I started in 2013.

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

The Karcher Group gives us quarterly reports. According to the latest one, there’s a 24% increase in sales compared to the previous year. 

It took some time for us to get to where we wanted in terms of results. The Karcher Group held on to the old approach of our previous team for about a year and a half because of their merger. After seeing that our results still weren’t producing well, Jeff got involved, and the team revised the strategies to help us produce more results. 

We’d been seeing a continuing downward trend, and it’s now reversing itself. Although SEO work takes time, we can say that their revised, broader approach is perfect for us. We’re really starting to see the results now.

How did The Karcher Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re upfront; there's no guesswork with them. They approach us at the beginning of a quarter regarding the work they’ll be doing toward the next quarter. They ask for our input, and they don’t come to our meetings unprepared — they prepare topics they’d like us to write about. They have items that they think are next on our agenda, but they're open to changing those to fit our preferences. 

Our business is very seasonal, so we plan for the next season. Since our business is seasonal, there are times when we sell more batteries than chargers or vice versa. To handle this, we meet quarterly via Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the results. We’re not only seeing the results on paper, but also in terms of increased sales and orders.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve been happy, and they’ve been good. I can’t think of anything offhand that I’d critique against them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We had taken the same approach for a long time, and even I was a little hesitant with The Karcher Group’s approach. The best thing that a new client should give them is an open mind.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a partner at Green Grass, a commercial and residential lawn care company. We treat lawns, handle fertilization, and provide weed control services.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Karcher Group?

We were looking for help with sales and marketing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Karcher Group enhanced our brand for us. Their team improved our online presence to help people find us organically. They helped set up our Google account to increase leads. They also provide marketing materials, including a new customer video to explain who we are.

We had a very generic website that they improved the functionality and navigability of. The Karcher Group was responsible for keyword research.

What is the team composition?

We had one main point of contact at The Karcher Group. They have a pretty consistent team, and we’ve become acquainted with a lot of their leadership, who attend most of the meetings. 

How did you come to work with The Karcher Group?

I met members of their teams through community events. They’re very results-driven and have a very sharp and talented team. When they made their presentation for us to finally come on board, it just all made sense.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement began in January 2006.

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

Before working with The Karcher Group, our website was barely functional. They’ve really cleaned it up and they continue to drive our brand. They do a great job, creating clever marketing materials. The Karcher Group also helps with customer retention.

How did The Karcher Group perform from a project management standpoint?

I have always liked their designs and ideas. Our teams go through the numbers monthly. We used to get together in person to go over the website, but since the COVID-19 pandemic we have switched over to virtual meetings. They make suggestions for the upcoming season. Our teams work through their ideas together and come up with benchmarks to make sure everything’s getting done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Karcher Group’s accountability and communication skills stand out. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything is good. They’re the best vendor we work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Look at the delivery of their brand. The Karcher Group is very interested in the end-user and their expectations. They care about customer culture just as much as they care about your company.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a sales and marketing manager at an organization with two companies under its roof. One company is an industrial distribution business and the other is a fall protection system engineering company. I do sales and marketing for the distribution business and digital marketing for the fall protection company.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Karcher Group?

The Karcher Group works with both of our companies, maintaining and growing our digital presence.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Karcher Group does lead generation for both companies. Outside of that, on the industrial distribution side, they provide SEO and e-commerce development focused on UX optimization (shopping cart optimization). We already had a website on the industrial distribution side when The Karcher Group came on, but they're going to build a new one in about a year. For now, they're also doing content creation.

On the fall protection side of our organization, they're developing a new website. HubSpot support is also part of that scope.

What is the team composition?

We typically interact with four folks regularly. It’s a big organization — think they have about 30–35 employees who may or may not be doing things for us on the backend. Our day-to-day operations, however, boil down to a content creation resource, a Google Ad person, an account manager, and one other individual.

How did you come to work with The Karcher Group?

I’d worked in the digital space for a number of years, and my current employer was one of our clients. When I left my agency, they sold the business to The Karcher Group. I’d known Geoff (Owner) from a prior life in my print advertising days, close to 25–30 years ago.

How much have you invested with them?

The fall protection contraction costs about $6,500 per month, not including a $3,000 monthly ad spend. Our bill on the industrial distribution side is about $5,200 per month, which also doesn't include our ad spend.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed with The Karcher Group in January 2020.

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

Some of the easiest metrics to point to are on the e-commerce website for the industrial distribution company. The company we were working with before hadn’t been able to help us hit our monthly revenue targets, but when I look at my monthly chart for revenue now, it’s gone from missing the mark to being ahead of the mark. Our goal was to punch $750,000 worth of revenue through our site at the end of 12 months. That’s a big uptick in dollars, but we’re on track to do that. My return on ad spend has also increased, on a monthly basis, from 2–2.5 to about 4–5.

It’s a bit of a weird time in another metric. I track how many web submissions and phone calls we get, and since we’ve been in a pandemic for a better part of a year, those have stayed relatively flat, but with the shopping cart revenue and the quality of leads we are generating now, we’re in good hands.

How did The Karcher Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a nice job in this regard, helping to keep us on track. Sometimes there are internal constraints that prevent us from getting things done as quickly as we want to, but The Karcher Group's project management system is good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their paid marketing management is light years ahead of what we were experiencing with our old group. Their content creation stands out as well. The Karcher Group can take rough outlines and create a high-level blog post or web copy. Those are their two strongest attributes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The fall protection website build has been a bit of a challenge — I don’t know if it’s the quality of the pictures our installers take when they’re finishing a system, but I can’t fault The Karcher Group. Nothing is poor or needs improvement. I see this more as an opportunity for us to learn more about how to work together.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ask a lot of questions about how much support you’ll need to offer internally to help The Karcher Group be successful. That’s for working with any agency, not just The Karcher Group.

Set out what your expected target or goal is at the end of your timeline. Having an agreed-upon understanding of what success is going to be will help make the relationship successful.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of marketing for US Acute Care Solutions. We provide emergency medicine, hospitalist, observation medicine, and critical care services to over 220 hospitals in 19 states. 

What challenge were you trying to address with The Karcher Group?

We were looking for web development and SEO help.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Karcher Group has built us two different websites, both with custom functionality. They also provide SEO services as we develop new landing pages, areas of interest, and targets. Their team helps on both the clinician recruitment and business development fronts. The team writes and develops content, including visual aspects.

What is the team composition?

Over the course of 8 years, we have worked with 15–20 members of The Karcher Group’s team. Our primary point of contact is a relationship manager, who will trickle our requests to the right person on their team.

How did you come to work with The Karcher Group?

Our engagement with The Karcher Group predates my employment at the company. We continue to partner with The Karcher Group because they care about our business. Their passion for our mission and objectives shows in their work.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with The Karcher Group in June 2012, and it’s an ongoing partnership.

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

If we can dream it up, they can build it. They have increased traffic to our website significantly by at least a 10–20% increase per year. I’ve been very satisfied with The Karcher Group during my tenure. 

How did The Karcher Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is a strong suit of The Karcher Group. They assign a single point of contact who becomes the project lead. From the consumer standpoint, it’s very helpful. 

It doesn’t matter to me exactly how the project gets done, I appreciate only having to interface with one person who handles everything else on their end. Their team uses Teamwork to manage the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Karcher Group is always able to adapt to our needs. They continue to expand and evolve as an agency to meet their client’s demands. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything has been successful so far.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

New clients should feel confident in The Karcher Group’s work ethic and ability to execute. They can expect their deliverables to be above par and created in a timely fashion.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of business development for a manufacturing company. We do contract manufacturing and custom automation machinery design. We’re a job shop, so we don’t have our own specific product line.

What challenges were you trying to address with The Karcher Group?

We needed help figuring out how to portray what we do on our website. We also wanted to improve our online lead generation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They revamped our WordPress website. This included migration, updating content, and SEO work. They helped with keyword research. They’re currently helping with SEM and social media management. We work together to create new content. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with about ten people, but we have one main point of contact. 

How did you come to work with The Karcher Group?

We were working with a company that The Karcher Group acquired. When The Karcher Group bought the company, we transitioned over. 

How much have you invested in them? 

We’ve spent over $25,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2019, and our relationship is ongoing.

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

We’ve seen a major improvement in website traffic, and we’re still trending upward. We’re getting more leads through the website. 

How did The Karcher Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re performing extremely well. They’re organized and are always ahead of the game. They follow up and keep the project moving forward. We communicate through email and a project management tool. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

They have experts in several areas, and there’s an individual owner for each process. They’re always in tune with the latest trends. There’s no way I could keep up with all of the different technologies on my own. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any complaints. I can’t think of anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be patient. The results don’t happen overnight. A good company will manage expectations and let you know a timeframe. It will be worth it in the long run.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a landscaping company.

What challenges were you trying to address with The Karcher Group?

We hired them to help us with website development and strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us define our core strategy and translate that into a website. They worked with us as we transitioned from nursery and retail to landscaping projects as our core business. They continue to maintain and update our website to keep it fresh. They designed our logo and other assets. They help us with marketing, digital advertising, and social media marketing. We mostly focused on Facebook and Linkedin. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Jon (Director of Accounts), and we’ve worked with at least a dozen other team members. 

How did you come to work with The Karcher Group?

I don’t remember how we found them originally. However, we’ve stuck with them because of how much they care. They’re a partner. 

How much have you invested in them? 

I’ve spent anywhere from $20,000–$120,000 in a year. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in the mid-1990s, and our relationship is ongoing. 

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

They adjust to improve the quality of our leads. The leads we’re getting today are better than we’ve ever had before. It takes time and patience on both ends to make these tweaks. They’re helping us target the right kind of customers. We’ve gotten jobs from people just seeing our website. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the Karcher Group. 

How did The Karcher Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They lay out their work quarterly. We get regular updates on what they’re working on. Communication is outstanding. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

The people that work there make the company special. Their employees are talented, and they really care. Over the year, I’ve become great friends with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Whenever I do have an issue, they sit down with me and help figure it out. They’re patient. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t get caught up with the cost. Think about where you want to be in the future. It’s helpful to think strategically about long-term goals. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for the corporate office of Danbury Senior Living. We have 17 senior living companies throughout Ohio with many more under construction. I am our Manager of Recruiting & Digital Strategy.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Karcher Group, and what were your goals?

We needed to partner with an agency to help us pre-lease our communities that are in development.

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

When we met with the team at The Karcher Group they showed us samples of their work that really impressed us.

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

They have provided 3D modeling for us on varying levels of detail. They produced video to use in digital marketing. Created digital campaigns and email campaigns. They manage these campaigns for us as well.

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

We have an entire team of people working for us from account managers to creative to social media and digital strategists.

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

Our leads have increased month over month with the campaigns they are running for us.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They are very communicative and responsive. They've met all deadlines that have been set.

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

Their 3D modeling is quite impressive. We have found value in all that they've done for us.

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

I don't think so.