Lens End Media

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the operations manager at the Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William. We provide support and networking service for not-for-profits in our country. We’ve also recently started acting as a foundation that provides grants for not-for-profits across the country.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lens End Media?

Lens End Media provided us with our marketing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Lens End Media as our marketing consultant. They developed our marketing plan and related marketed content; they produced videos for us to utilize as marketing content. They also provided us with marketing training for different marketing outlets. These included Mailchimp and several social media outlets, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Ibrahim (Founder & CEO) and another teammate from Lens End Media.

How did you come to work with Lens End Media?

We put out an RFP for a company that could cover the content and marketing services we needed. We interviewed 4–5 companies, including Lens End Media, who we selected.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $25,000 with Lens End Media. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Lens End Media was from October 2021–February 2021.

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

Before hiring Lens End Media, we didn’t have any social media marketing. Thanks to them, we’ve also seen an increase in followers on our social media accounts and a lot of engagement from the videos. Our announcements are getting a lot more engagement than before — we’ve had better turnout at our in-person events because more people see our content. 

How did Lens End Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Lens End Media stayed within our budget. Typically, we communicated through emails, phone calls, and Zoom meetings. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lens End Media’s knowledge and content were amazing. For the investment we made, the content was great. Lens End Media put us in a great marketing position and provided us with the right training to ensure we could carry on their successes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were very satisfied with Lens End Media, which is why we want to use their services again. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Lens End Media is really good at planning, so customers should go into the partnership with a concrete idea of what they need from the engagement. That way, Lens End Media can mold their services to the client’s needs.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of The Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We’re an association of human services providers in our area and provide training, networking opportunities, grantmaking, advocacy, and education.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lens End Media?

We were looking to advertise one of our grant programs created with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding we received. Our goal was for the community to have public awareness regarding how those funds were used.

The program was really short; it lasted about three-and-a-half months. We didn’t have time to put out an advertising campaign for our partners because they would have expended their funds by the time people heard about what we were offering. Therefore, we pivoted and decided to do a retrospective to highlight some of the success stories that resulted from the program.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lens End Media (LEM) produced a series of videos for us highlighting the good results that came from the CARES funding. They met with our grant partners, staff, and program participants. The team came to our location and filmed for a day, providing their own equipment and staff. After they finished editing, we posted the videos on our YouTube channel.

Additionally, LEM did a series of training sessions for our staff on social media best practices, including different ways to do marketing and community engagement. They also provided training for our members about using video to engage people. The team also developed a brand guide and a marketing plan for us. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with the founders, a videographer, and someone who helped with the marketing plan. 

How did you come to work with Lens End Media?

They were referred to us. We had issued an RFP and asked trusted partners to recommend vendors they thought would do a good job. One of our board members had worked with LEM and spoke highly of them. Through the RFP, we collected three submissions, and LEM’s was by far the best. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2020–March 2021.

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

LEM’s work got really positive comments from those who watched the videos we posted. However, we haven’t advertised the videos a lot. Since we have a very small staff, we haven’t had a chance to apply their marketing plan, so we don’t have any metrics. We’re currently looking to hire someone that can implement their ideas. Overall, we were pleased with their work, and if we have another opportunity to engage them, we’ll definitely go to them. 

How did Lens End Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great about staying on budget and meeting our deadlines. We didn’t have any surprises in terms of how much things cost. Moreover, they were very communicative through phone calls and emails. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we also used virtual meetings. LEM made sure we could ask them any questions, and when we requested edits to their work, they were great about addressing them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

LEM is very friendly and easy to work with. The team is also very thorough, and their work is high quality. Some of the other proposals we got were equally expensive, but the production quality wasn’t there. With LEM, their production team knew what they were doing and were head and shoulders above other vendors in terms of the end product’s look. Overall, we really enjoyed working with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive feedback for them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to make sure you have a plan to sustain what you learn from LEM. Although the team was awesome, when they passed the baton to us, we weren’t prepared to run with the information in the way we would have liked. Once you’ve made an investment, the LEM team will do everything they can to equip you for success, so you have to be able to take it from there.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Surgical residency program in academic hospital. I am the residency program director

For what projects/services did your company hire Lens End Media?

Due to the pandemic, we faced the challenge of recruiting medical students for our residency program. Traditionally, students spend a month rotating in our department so that we can get to know them and they learn about our department, faculty, patients, culture, etc. We hired Lens End Media to produce a series of videos highlighting our faculty, facilities, teaching efforts as well as a glimpse of life as a resident in Washington DC.

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

Vendor was recommended by one of our residents. We interviewed Mr. Zafar and knew instantly that Lens End Media was the right fit for our needs and did not seek other vendors.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We met with Mr. Zafar on multiple occasions to discuss our vision for the project. He made recommendations regarding location, timing, content and we came quickly came to a mutual agreement.

He tackled the administrative hurdles to shoot onsite (approvals, etc.) including organization of the content and people and within 2 weeks had the necessary footage. He performed all the editing and sent us a preliminary product for review. With some minor feedback, the video series was made available to us for website and social media distribution.

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

2-3 members of the team, videographer and project manager. There may have others behind the scenes. Due to COVID, number of onsite persons was limited

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

Our Instagram site experienced record numbers of followers and the videos with similar likes. We believed the high-quality videos were extremely effective in portraying our department.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent, very easy to work with their team. They were responsive and timely.

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

Personal and focused attention to our needs and the overall completion of the project

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

None

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is called the Caribbean Neurosurgery foundation. I am the foundation director.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lens End Media, and what were your goals?

We wanted to hire a company that could really capture and embody what our organization stood for.

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

We were referred to this vendor by a friend. After looking at some of his work and comparing it to others, we decided to go with this company.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail, including the project steps and all stages of production.

We started off with a get to know your meeting via video chat. Each meeting there after was via video to touch bases.

Who did you work with and what was the feedback process like?

We work directly with Ibrahim. Feedback process was very seamless.

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

We showed the new video to potential investors and on our initial campaign we raised in the upwards of $250,000.

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

Their project management style was very straightforward and direct. They took the time in each meeting to give updates. Outside of the meetings they stayed in touch via email and/or a text message.

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

They took the time to learn about our mission by reading and researching. This was very impressive!

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

There are no areas for improvement we noted. We were very pleased with their services.