KIT

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of GoodUnited. We help nonprofits turn one-time donors into lifelong supporters. We specialize in assisting with Facebook fundraisers.

What challenge were you trying to address with KIT?

We needed UI/UX designs and inbound digital marketing services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our goal is to create a website that presents information into a business intelligence dashboard and creates various calls-to-action based on user activity. This information is meant to upsell users to purchase higher service tiers. We approached KIT with specific requirements and early designs. We’re collaboratively working through the mock-ups and wireframes to deliver the desired outcomes. The product’s frontend will be built on HubSpot. They’re designing the backend wireframes as well, but we’re having a development firm build that out.

We also engaged them for inbound digital marketing. They took the lead on this effort and designed the strategy. We’re building a pre-launch page and they’re about to start executing.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Danny (CEO, KIT) and he manages his team.

How did you come to work with KIT?

A mutual friend introduced Danny and me.

How much have you invested with them?

The total project will cost somewhere between $25,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2018 and the engagement is ongoing.

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

That’s difficult for me to speak to because the product is still in the design and development stage. So far, they’ve delivered excellent wireframes. The quality of work is great.

How did KIT perform from a project management standpoint?

They manage everything reasonably well. We communicate through Slack and phone calls. I’ve also met the CEO in person.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I work directly with Danny and don’t have to trust a junior associate to manage the entire project. Danny’s an expert, so I appreciate working with him.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve yet to experience anything negative about working with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project and marketing manager of a local community bank in Charlotte, North Carolina. Our business model is geared toward building relationships and being committed to the community. We offer concierge-style services as opposed to being a traditional banking firm.

I manage our personal and digital channels, which includes our online banking mobile app. I’m also responsible for all the marketing for the institution. I am in charge of our brand identity in the marketplace, ordering branded materials, and advertising.

What challenge were you trying to address with KIT?

At that time, we had a very outdated brand that wasn’t relevant in today’s world. We needed a new logo, messaging, and market identity. Our website also had to be revamped.

What was the scope of their involvement?

On the digital side, KIT completely redid our website. We wanted a very image-driven website that was visually captivating. They started with a new CMS [content management system], photography, and graphics. KIT provided direction on how to load the content to the website. They made sure that everything lived up to the relationship-driven brand that we wanted to achieve. They also did a little bit of search engine optimization, but we didn’t pay to do any Google AdWords because we were on a very strict budget.

We asked for some integration with our “Contact us” forms. If a client was looking at a particular product or service page and they were interested in learning more, we didn’t want them to see a generic form that required them to select what they were looking for. KIT was able to integrate things on the backend, making things easier for our clients. When a client clicked on something they were interested in, the site would automatically fill in parts of the contact form.

Danny, the CEO of KIT, created our new logo. It was excellent. Our new logo had a very significant meaning behind it, from the design all the way to what it represented. On the marketing side, we did brand guidelines. They assisted in getting everything branded with our new brand. They made sure we lived out the core values in our brand book. KIT assisted with communications and things like that as well.

How did you come to work with KIT?

They are a local brand. Several people in our network know other people in various agencies. We vetted several agencies to see if we could find one that was all-encompassing. KIT was our choice because they could provide us with the tech side as well as the marketing side.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent more than $50,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2016, and the project was completed in August 2016.

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

Prior to the rebrand, our institution was quite lost. We didn’t have the presence that we wanted in our community. After the rebrand, we’ve gotten so much press and received numerous compliments. We received an award from The Financial Brand—our company was one of 20 bank and credit union websites with great visual designs.

The community received the rebranding very well. We’ve gotten great responses. People are starting to know who we are and what we do, and I don’t think we would’ve ever gotten that had we not rebranded or redid the website. We’ve become relevant again.

How did KIT perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive. It didn’t matter what time of day I emailed Danny, he would reply within a couple of hours. Any barriers were more on our side than their side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

KIT was all-encompassing—they were great at both marketing and tech. Their team did a great job on all of it, which was very valuable. Usually, other agencies we’ve worked with would be focused on marketing, on graphic design, or tech.

Danny really understood the message we were trying to achieve. He made sure they understood that prior to giving any suggestions. They did a review phase where they could ensure that they understood what we wanted. Because of that, whenever they executed, they executed exactly what we were looking for. Other agencies just forced their ideas on us instead of having discovery time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did a last-minute video for us, which turned out great. They excelled under that quick timeline, but oddly, the content wasn’t as diverse as we would have liked. They should always make sure they’re tying in as much diversity as they can.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-founder and chairman of Stop Soldier Suicide, a veteran-led nonprofit.

For what projects/services did your company hire KIT?

We hired KIT for digital marketing services, including PPC and SEO.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to lower our customer acquisition cost and optimize our search visibility.

How did you select this vendor?

KIT was referred to us.

Describe the project in detail.

KIT coordinated all of our PPC, SEO, and other digital marketing efforts.

What was the team composition?

I worked directly with a project manager.

Can you share any statistics or metrics that speak to the quality of their work and impact of the engagement?

They’ve done great work. I highly recommend KIT.

How did KIT perform from a project management standpoint?

Their customer service is excellent.

What impresses you about KIT?

They communicate well and deliver valuable results.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I would appreciate being sent a monthly report of relevant analytics.