Killian Branding

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and VP of operation at The Block Logistics, LLC, an international freight forwarder. We do import and export via air and ocean shipping for customers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Killian Branding?

We acquired a small company and expanded their business. We brought on Killian Branding to develop marketing materials and create a website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We created an internal team to work with Killian Branding. To better understand our business, they solicited our views and opinions. From there, they created some website designs for my partner and me to review. Then they took our opinions into account and refined their designs. They delivered letterhead, business cards, and a presentation deck. Then they developed a WordPress website. We plan to continue working with them on social media and digital marketing.

What is the team composition?

We worked Bob (Chief Creative Officer) and Zack (Creative Director).

How did you come to work with Killian Branding?

Initially, we were working with another company, but they were pretty limited in what they could do. I was familiar with Killian Branding because I worked with them at a previous company. I reached out to Bob and we met over Zoom. Then he presented a proposal for us and we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The initial proposal projected our project cost to be was about $8,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2020 and our partnership is ongoing.

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

We’re very satisfied with their work and how they represent our company.

How did Killian Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

At the beginning of the project, we set expectations and discussed deadlines. Killian Branding met all of our requirements and delivered on time.

We typically communicate through email, calls, and video conferencing. I like that we can meet with them directly, even if it’s virtually.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They follow up with us regularly which helps move the project forward.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They follow an effective process, but you need to be committed to the project as well to complete the project on time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a nonprofit organization that advocates for union workers, specifically sheet metal workers. We have a program called the I Want Smart program, which offers rebates to homeowners for getting HVAC work done by union companies. I’m the administrator of that program.

What challenge were you trying to address with Killian Branding?

We were looking for a professional firm that could manage our strict timelines and manage the process of our marketing needs from top to bottom.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Killian Branding came up with a comprehensive plan for our advertising. They put out ideas about how we should approach internet advertising and marketing and how to do traditional advertising, including billboards and commercials.

They’re working on social media, specifically Facebook, advertising, as well as Google AdWords. The team has produced commercials for us that run on radio and TV, and they’ve done print work as well.

What is the team composition?

Zack (Creative Director) is our project manager, and we’re also in touch with Bob (CEO).

How did you come to work with Killian Branding?

We put together an RFP and distributed it out. We did a big cross-section of companies across the country, and Killian Branding put together a proposal that stood out.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $750,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in January 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

Killian Branding has increased our website click-through rate (CTR) by 60% this year. We gave them a budget, and they were able to work within that budget and grow our advertising marketing presence year-over-year (YoY) by a good percentage.

How did Killian Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is solid. The team is very responsive, and when we have a strict deadline, they meet it. They’ve come through every time in emergencies.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They know what they’re doing. They’ve been doing this for a long time, so they know how this market works. Killian Branding also makes sure that what they’re doing is working, so they’re constantly reviewing their marketing strategies to make sure that they’re producing the numbers we want. 

They don’t just create something and leave it be; they’re constantly monitoring what’s working and what isn’t and coming up with things that work better.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. They’re very good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust Killian Branding’s experience and let them guide your marketing strategy.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Enterprise VP of business development for Spearhead Consulting. We are an IT consulting and brokerage organization.

What challenge were you trying to address with Killian Branding?

We have been in business for 12 years, but we scaled significantly three years ago. Due to our rapid growth, we didn’t have a consistent brand voice — each salesperson presented our business to their clients differently. On top of that, we didn’t have a direct-to-market or social media strategy. We enlisted Killian Branding to help us create a consistent brand identity.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The process began with an introductory call. Then they interviewed us and asked a million questions about our business. Once they understood the day-to-day of our business, they started working on ideation for our brand identity.

They spent the first 4–5 months of our engagement working on developing generalized collateral and iconography. They also built a website and introduced us to SEO.

The website was originally built on WordPress, but they developed it using Salesforce and have tied our platform directly to a Salesforce instance. This allows us to roll client and activity insights directly into our client discovery.

Now we have them on a monthly retainer, and we use them as our marketing organization. They’re beginning to focus on social media. Every week, we meet with Killian Branding to discuss industry best practices, commentary, and thought leadership articles.

They help us craft messages that ensure maximum touchpoints and visibility. All of the messages that they craft are unique and custom from our leadership team. They even help with weekly newsletter emails and have developed custom client presentations and things like that.

What is the team composition?

We work face-to-face with Bob (CEO) and Zack (Creative Director). I know there were people behind the scenes in creative roles for design and web development, but we didn’t work with them directly.

How did you come to work with Killian Branding?

We were already working with another agency, but they very rigid and old-school. We decided to start looking for a new partner.  I originally came across Killian Branding as a customer in my previous sales role, so I was already familiar with them.

As we began our search, they were on the list of companies to consider. Killian Branding’s website and messaging was really unique. It was totally different than any other kind of traditional marketing firm that we came across and we decided to give them a shot.

We set up a time to speak to Bob and he did a very good job of presenting his strategy and bringing the process to life. We also thought they would be more involved and in the trenches with us than a larger firm because they were a smaller and nimble organization.

How much have you invested in them?

I would estimate the cost to be roughly $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in May 2020, and it’s an ongoing engagement.

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

We rolled out our Salesforce platform in the past 60 days or so. They manage our Salesforce Einstein and will analyze the data for us, but we haven’t gone over that information yet.

Right now, we’re tracking how many users are visiting the site, what sections they’re trying to access, and what keywords they’re focused on. We're also email prospecting which came through some of the marketing material that was generated.

Since the brand went live, our national sales team has been relieved to be able to comfortably present about our organization and our capabilities. With more consistent messaging, we’ve cut down the time it takes to explain our business to customers. It used to take 2–3 calls for potential clients to become comfortable with our value proposition, but now we can just send a document to explain who we are and how we can help them.

How did Killian Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They never skipped a beat. If anything, we were the ones that weren’t always prepared. They were on top of everything and they never missed a deadline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We know that our industry isn’t very exciting, but they have managed to make our brand playful, engaging, and memorable. They were able to learn about our company and our industry just by asking questions and listening to us. We always feel like our meetings were productive and were never a waste of time.

We have an hour-long weekly call on Friday, and they always come prepared. They’re able to take very technical and complex topics and package them in a way that everybody can understand.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Initially, they weren’t experts in building an analytics platform using Salesforce. However, they were able to scale quickly. They could sharpen their expertise in that area and offer  Salesforce as one of their predominant CRM packages.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

New clients will get the most out of the engagement if they can articulate what they do and who their target market is. If they have that as a starting point, they can cut down on time spent on scoping the project. They should have internal conversations about what they want to achieve before engaging with Killian Branding. Otherwise, they may spend 3–4 calls debating internally.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and COO of Spearhead. Our company consists of three business units: two are telecom brokerage IT consulting firms and the third is Spearhead Mobility, which is a wireless authorized retailer for AT&T.

What challenge were you trying to address with Killian Branding?

We’ve been very successful with our external communications to our existing customers, but we didn’t feel that we had a good handle when communicating our brand to the market. We wanted to be seen as thought leaders in our space. 

To do that, we decided to bring in experts who could interview us to help us understand our brand attributes and desires before coming back with creative brand ideas that would resonate with our market. 

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Killian Branding has helped us define our brand and bring it to life. We wanted a brand that would attract more customers and turn heads with our telecom brokerage IT consulting business.

That initial goal has led to a lot of offshoots, from the brand itself to rebuilding our website in a way that would better differentiate our offerings. The latter was a Salesforce site that came with a lot of analytics around site hits, user sessions, and more. They advised us on a new URL, which we then acquired and rebranded.

Having a new brand and website became a catalyst for our marketing. They now use blog posts on LinkedIn to cater to our business environment. Their team has also created collateral for our business development staff that’s more professional and in-line with our branding. Like the website, these materials help us communicate how we can best serve our customers.

What is the team composition? 

I work with Bob (Principal) who is a brand Mecca. He’s the thought leader whereas Zack (Creative Director) does the creative execution. Zach brings our efforts to life in a creative way or what I call “putting lipstick on it,” and I’m very impressed with his work.

How did you come to work with Killian Branding?

A family friend referred us to Bob. At the time, we were considering another branding company within the telecom space, but I’m so glad that we decided to go with Bob instead. Not only did he blow us away with his knowledge of the industry, but he also brought a fresh perspective to the table since he hadn’t worked in our field before. He did an analysis of all of our competitors and worked hard to really differentiate us from the crowd.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested north of $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started around January 2020, and the partnership is still ongoing. We’ve moved from a project-based contract to having them on full retainer for all of our marketing work.

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

We’ve had a couple of key milestones for our projects, including speed to market, buy-in around our business and telecom space, and customer and internal response. To the last point, the response to our work has been fantastic. We had a call with our employees yesterday to collect feedback, and they’ve reported that they believe we have a great strategy around marketing our brand to attract more customers.  

The bigger impact for me is that this branding process has allowed us to really mature. Our professionalism is so much greater, and I’m really excited for the next phase. We’re going to activate our brand, attract new customers with our brand message, and invest in more digital marketing efforts (e.g., SEO, blogs, videos). Once those are live, we can start tracking hard targets like customer sign-ons.

How did Killian Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re exceptional. We have a call every Friday at 1 p.m. where we review the timelines and open projects. It’s almost as if they’re managing us. Rather than waiting for us to ask for their deliverables, Killian Branding stays ahead and even reminds us about the action items that we need to get done.

We use Box and Microsoft Teams to collaborate. They’ll create materials such as one-pagers and brochures and put them in Box so that our team can go in at any time and grab them for customers. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Killian Branding’s creative expertise is second to none. They really press us to think differently about our creatives so that we’re distinct from our competitors. In the beginning, they came to us with an idea to trademark our business as “telecom and IT wisdom.” We thought the word “wisdom” was corny at first, but now it’s one of our pillars. I look at wisdom as bringing experience and knowledge together, and that’s what we have — we deliver wisdom around the telecom space to our customers.

They also helped us navigate an exercise with another company to identify our core values. That company interviewed Bob and Zack as well as all of our executives, and they proved to be invaluable there.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing on their side. Most of the challenges come from us not being as responsive as they are. It’s just because we’re a smaller company that’s growing into a medium-sized company. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The biggest thing is to listen. We all think we’re marketing experts until we dig into the work and realize we aren’t. Unless you’re a marketing guru, it’s not enough just to have opinions on marketing. 

Let Killian Branding go through their process: they need to do interviews to understand what you’re looking for, evaluate your niche market, and come back with recommendations before you get into an internal debate. They have a lot of experience in branding and are happy to make tweaks.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company that helps trucking companies retain more of their drivers through a combination of products. These products revolve around surveys and feedback as well as recognition and awards.

What challenge were you trying to address with Killian Branding?

I’ve engaged Killian Branding while working for three different companies. Each time I engaged them, my biggest interests were branding and market messaging.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Killian Branding did extensive market research to understand the market conditions and obstacles. They did market and competitor analysis. 

The scope of the project changed midstream because my company was purchased, so the project shifted from a rebrand to a branding into an existing brand. Killian did very well with the scope change.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about 3–4 people from Killian’s team. We coordinated the majority of the work through Bob (Chief Creative Officer), and he brought in team members depending on the scope of the work.

How did you come to work with Killian Branding?

I found Killian 15 years ago. I was working for another company that had a naming and branding issue. At that time, it was fairly uncommon for an agency to be focused specifically on naming and branding.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our most recent project together ran from August 2020–January 2021.

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

The project was done well. When the scope changed, Killian pivoted really well.

How did Killian Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They provided high-quality project management. We communicated through scheduled calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were creative and honest.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any suggestions.

Any advice for potential customers?

The more transparent you are with Killian, the better results you’ll get.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the administrative assistant to the CEO of a commercial estate investment company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Killian Branding?

We’re a brand-new business, so Killian Branding helped us create a logo and brand identity. We also used them for web development and maintenance.  

What was the scope of their involvement?

Once we created a logo and brand identity, they designed our marketing collateral, such as our business cards, email signatures, and letterhead.

They built our website from scratch. The platform includes a page about the company and another with an overview of the team. Since development was completed, they’ve continued to provide ongoing support and maintenance.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Bob (Chief Creative Officer) and Zack (Creative Director).

How did you come to work with Killian Branding?

I conducted a Google search to find local branding companies. I found five companies that had good reviews, were highly rated, and had impressive portfolios on their website. After receiving quotes from each company, Killian Branding did the best job presenting a plan for us. They were also very affordable compared to some of the other companies we considered.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2018 and our partnership is ongoing.

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

Their services have definitely had a positive impact on our business. When we started, we didn’t have any marketing materials. Now that we have our logo and website, we get a lot of compliments on them.

How did Killian Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Bob is great to work with. He listened to what we were looking for and took feedback when we suggested changes.

I still talk to Zack when we need to update our website, and he always implements those changes quickly. They’re both super responsive when I reach out to them.

Overall, it was a great experience. In addition to being good at their jobs, they were nice and easy to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They knew a lot about our business and industry. When we first got together with them, they put together a nice PowerPoint of the things they’ve done in the past and what they thought could work for us. We could tell that they did their research about our company because they came prepared with effective ideas. They asked a lot of good questions on our first call.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were the perfect partner for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

New clients should overcommunicate what they’re looking for. Using that information, they suggest several options while considering and accommodating our ideas.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general manager of a private membership club with a small plate restaurant. We serve upscale cocktails, boast an extensive whiskey list, and have a talented chef. I handle all the administrative tasks, including social media, marketing, and payroll.

What challenge were you trying to address with Killian Branding?

We needed a partner to help us with branding, especially on social media.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Killian Branding has helped us with various projects, including internal branding like our messaging and core beliefs. They created a tagline for our business—which they trademarked—and unified all our different documents, such as our house rules, membership guidelines, and dress code. We clarified our mission statement and company vision, identifying our desired position in the market and brand voice.

We already had a logo, but they refined it by making it black and gold. For our Facebook page, they created a short 30-second slideshow, and they’ve also worked on our Instagram stories. All the posts are consistent across their look and feel, which is typically gold text on a black background. They haven’t helped with content creation yet since most of that is done in-house, but they help disseminate it. A different company built our website, but Killian Branding revamped it and made it look cleaner. They also set up automated emails to our customer base.

How did you come to work with Killian Branding?

We found out about them through the owner’s daughter, who has a nationally-recognized restaurant.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $18,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October 2018, and the partnership is ongoing. 

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

They track certain metrics and provide a monthly report to show progress and improvement.

How did Killian Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly calls that last about 45 minutes each. They send the meeting agenda beforehand, and we can give feedback right away.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re incredibly organized and process driven. They think we have a great brand, and they always seem to have someone who can work on any request right away. The turnaround time for most tasks has been less than 24 hours; they’re that prompt.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the first month of our engagement, they didn’t produce much information or many documents. We now know it’s because they were doing things like trademark approval, but they could’ve done a better job communicating what they were working on.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a new restaurant concept in Saudi Arabia, which sells healthy meals in a casual fast food setting; things like sandwiches, salads, and juices.

What challenge were you trying to address with Killian Branding.

We needed help to figure out our branding. More specifically, we wanted to determine the personality of our brand, what we're about, and who our target customer is.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re in the first stage of the process. They produced for us a positioning statement and established our brand. They also worked with us on determining what type of customer we needed to attract. Our customers include typical healthy customers and someone that’s a little bit overweight and looking to eat healthy. However, they found our target customer was neither of these and was someone who more typically eats a Quarter Pounder with a Diet Coke. This type of customer needs to be satisfied and he’s not willing to give up taste to be healthy. Their team identified that if we could get this type of customer in our restaurants, we would be successful. In stage 2, they’ll produce marketing materials and determine the points of contact for our target customer.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Bob [CEO, Killian Branding] and two of his assistants.

How did you come to work with Killian Branding?

I looked for marketing agencies through the U.S. and found the teams on the East Coast were very slick, and the teams on the West Team coast were more relaxed and free-spirited. When I met with Killian, they had good, Midwestern values that made sense. I appreciated their approach and came to the conclusion that I should work with them because of that. They have common sense and a value system that I could understand, and I thought people could understand.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in 2017 and the engagement is ongoing.

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

While we don’t have any measureable statistics yet, we will further down the road. However, we’re very satisfied with the work so far. I’ve worked with many international brands, marketing companies, and they didn’t even come close to them. The deliverables will be available in the middle of 2020. We’re about 5 years out.

How did Killian Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. Overall, they have a very good approach and bring together all the pieces and present them in an organized manner, even though they’re 10,000 miles away.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m dedicated to working with their team and believe in them 100%.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a small catering company for weddings and corporate events. We have been in business for 10 years. I am the owner of the company and the pastry-chef manager. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Killian Branding?

Our website was old and needed an update.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Killian Branding has been working with us since the start of the company, designing print brochures and ads. Killian Branding created a multipage brochure in a modular fashion, allowing us to take out and add pages as needed. It worked well from a printing-cost perspective. It also allowed us to target different audiences using the same piece, rather than having a different brochure for every section of our business. When we first started out, we were new and offered everything, from events to drop-off catering, cooked meals, and classes. There was a separate page for each of those, so, if we decided to no longer offer a particular service, we were able to do it without remaking the whole printed piece. Killian Branding helped us develop that strategy and designed the material.

Most recently, we've used them to redesign our website from the ground up. Killian Branding updated it according to how our business has changed over the last 12 years—what services we've taken out, which ones we're trying to grow. They’ve made the site more client-focused.

How did you come to work with Killian Branding?

I had mostly worked with individuals before finding Killian Branding. They were the first agency we've used which had everything under one roof in terms of copywriting, design and strategy. I found Killian Branding through the friend of a friend. We met with Killian Branding's team and principal and decided that they were a good fit.

How much have you invested with Killian Branding?

Our projects with Killian Branding have ranged from individual ads to larger scopes, like the website redesign. An average project costs around $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Killian Branding at the beginning of 2005, even before our business was started. We have an ongoing relationship.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have kept our own metrics using Google Analytics. We're getting many more form submissions on the website, which is great. It's up to us to convert them into actual events, but getting more traffic is great.

How did Killian Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Killian Branding's owner has been my main point of contact. For small updates, I can also reach another manager and get responses right away.

What did you find most impressive about Killian Branding?

The overall focus on our brand involved cohesive thought around what we were trying to offer, rather than on making it look pretty. Killian Branding stuck to the same branding for all our material, helping make it more cohesive.

Are there any areas Killian Branding could improve?

Not that I can think of.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a board member of a Chicago-based non-union theater company. We have been around for 10 years, producing theater shows for events and children.

What challenge were you trying to address with Killian Branding?

We needed to have an organization rebranding. The website was severely outdated, our branding was unclear, and we needed some help with a complete overhaul.

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we initially reached out to Killian Branding, we discussed the rebranding of our organization, with an understanding that the project would be presented to our board of directors for approval. Killian Branding attended one of our board meetings and presented what they thought we needed, which was a huge help in getting the project greenlit. The work included a new logo, new messaging, a new website, and a new mission statement.

How did you come to work with Killian Branding?

We approached a total of 4 candidates in order to obtain proposals from each business and give our board of directors an idea of the variety of quotes and offerings. We inevitably chose Killian Branding.

How much have you invested with Killian Branding?

The cost of Killian Branding's work will end up being between $30,000 and $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Killian Branding around February 2016. The first proposal meeting took place in January of that year. We are still working with Killian Branding on designing our new website. During my time as a board member, we haven't worked with any branding companies other than Killian Branding.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

It's a bit hard to measure results this early in the game, given that we've just launched our new look in terms of a logo. Also, the new site isn't live yet. We also haven't incorporated our social media threads into the branding effort.

In terms of board response, we have found the logo to be much more professional. We’re excited with our new direction. We're optimistic about Killian Branding's work and its impact on our current and new members. 

How did Killian Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Killian Branding has been fantastic. They're very organized and have held us accountable. One of our struggles came from being a board trying to run a company. Everyone has a second job and other time commitments. Because of this, there have been times when we passed certain feedback deadlines set by Killian Branding. They have been great at working with us and understanding our challenges. Because we're a theater company, we also didn't have a huge budget, so we needed to organize the entire project in phases. Killian Branding was helpful in prioritizing tasks in a way which we could afford.

What did you find most impressive about Killian Branding?

Killian Branding is committed and invested in our organization, its work, and its goals. The very fact that Killian Branding's owner came to one of our meetings in order to present the proposal in person has shown real motivation and investment in what we're doing. For the last year, I feel that their investment in our success has remained strong.

Are there any areas Killian Branding could improve?

Not off the top of my head.