Lorem Ipsum

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product marketing for Equinix, a global data center provider. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Lorem Ipsum?

We updated our brand identity as a digital infrastructure company, so we wanted to learn more about how to be a leading digital company. We contracted Lorem Ipsum to do primary research on that subject. Our objective was to understand our current and future digital infrastructure customers to the point where we could help them meet their goals faster and better than our competitors. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lorem Ipsum put together phases for this engagement. The first phase was about external research and analysis, where they also provided strategic advice on how we could go about the project. To bring them up to speed with our industry, I did a one-on-one session with them, explaining where we were in the market. They’d been serving the tech industry for a while, so this wasn’t too difficult to do. 

Phase two was focused on qualitative analysis, where they came up with an interview guide for specific types of people at leading digital companies. We collaborated to identify who those people were in terms of role, responsibilities, and experience. Then, they worked with a third-party service provider to put those interviews together. After that, they collated interview data and came up with their analysis. 

Phase three focused on quantitative analysis, where Lorem Ipsum wrote a survey and administered it to our customers, prospects, and other leading digital companies. The goal was to know how much these entities embraced the key attributes usually associated with leading companies. 

The final phase will be about developing demand generation assets based on their research results. We’ll be using those assets in our marketing campaigns and sales account plans to serve our customers. Lorem Ipsum will also help us improve our brand awareness as a new digital infrastructure company. We hope to increase our overall sales and revenue. 

That’s just one project that we’re working on with them, and we have 3–4 other projects with them. They produce a podcast for us and work with our content development team to produce professional content for a digital magazine. Moreover, their team produces day-to-day assets for us, including updated architecture diagrams, sales slides, and many others. Our global brand team works with them to ensure that their outputs fit our brand guidelines.

What is the team composition?

We work with a marketing strategist, an account manager, a project manager, a designer, and a writer. One of their co-founders is involved in the project as well. 

How did you come to work with Lorem Ipsum?

I worked with them in the past. We were looking for someone to produce an animated video about a product that I covered at that time. I mentioned it to a friend, and they referred me to Lorem Ipsum.

I chose them over other providers for this engagement because they had few people working full-time but they brought in freelance professionals who were fit for the job, which struck me as unique. These professionals also stayed on the account for a long time. As a result, if I wanted a videographer, they could look for one in their network. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $600,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the partnership in April 2020, and it’s ongoing. 

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

We don’t have any specific success metrics or numbers yet, but we’ll launch the campaign and assets next month. Meanwhile, the speed and quality of their design and writing are impactful. Their turnaround time is less than a week even without notice. By contrast, my in-house branding team takes four weeks to finish the same tasks. 

Their marketing strategist is also fantastic and has an incredible amount of marketing experience. She’s been a marketing executive at several companies, so her insights and advice have been invaluable to me and in helping me do my job better. I’ve even avoided wasting time on things that don’t matter because of her. Overall, she’s made me incredibly efficient not only in my job but also in this research project — the analysis she applies is highly insightful. 

How did Lorem Ipsum perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform incredibly well. I hate doing project management; luckily, their account manager has great project management skills. She’s extremely good at politely reminding us to do things so that everything happens on time. She’s also easy to work with, ensuring that we get the work done. Overall, they’re highly collaborative and team-oriented. 

To communicate, we’ve brought them to our internal Slack channel so that we can work faster. Some people on my team use Trello boards to work with them, but they’re open to whatever works for us. We also participate in Zoom meetings to collaborate with them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re enthusiastic about understanding our business and goals. They’re also adaptable and have become part of our team, whereas other agencies simply let us throw things over the fence. On top of that, they enjoy being our backbone. If I forget to put something together, they’re always there when I ask for help. Overall, the team is maniacal when it comes to customer satisfaction; they even freak out a little if anybody’s dissatisfied. They’re truly on top of everything. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. They work well with my style.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re struggling or need two more hands, go to Lorem Ipsum. They can extend your team quite easily. As you get comfortable with them, they can also start providing guidance from a marketing perspective and offer services for you to reach your goals. 

Moreover, you should know what your objectives are since they can do whatever you need them to do, thanks to their project management skills, ability to empathize with you, and their business model. They can bring any professionals who are the best at what they do because they have a huge network of people that they can call. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a regional sales leader at a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning company. I work with our North America, Canada, and US regional sales teams to drive revenue and deliver solutions to our customers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lorem Ipsum?

Our industry saw a cycle of compression, expansion, and compression again in the last 25 years. We’ve had an incredible increase in the number of young people working in our business in the past decade. As such, we had a 10-year gap where our newer employees lacked the knowledge that we used to acquire by working with the older people ahead. 

We wanted to educate the younger generation with our “tribal knowledge,” so to speak, and in a consistent manner. We needed to take the information from those with 20, 30, and 40 years of experience in our company and condense those into a portable, professional, electronic, and innovative document. Our goal was for the younger people joining our business to leverage that document and gain the knowledge they need to serve our customers. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We didn’t know where to start, and it was Lorem Ipsum’s idea to interview people in our company who have decades-worth of industry knowledge. We didn’t provide them with any documents. Another colleague and I made a list of people we believe had the knowledge that we needed, and we listed their phone numbers and contact information. Lorem Ipsum conducted a series of interviews with them to gain their insightful perspective and best practices. Those interviews became the basis of what was going to be our output document.

We started with the idea of how do we go after a particular customer in a unique buy cycle. That document served as the first version, and we received a lot of feedback about it from our company. Lorem Ipsum did an excellent job of collecting those feedback and working with me to fill in the gaps that people said we missed. We continued that process until we came up with version two. 

We published version three last year, and we thought the project was finished, and we already have the final document. Lorem Ipsum continued to support us and ask more questions. Because they’ve become so integral to the document, that instead of only responding to specific requests, they are now helping us drive and formulate what the next version will look like. It’s amazing how strong they are in putting two and two together and helping us advance the ball. 

What is the team composition?

I have worked with Beth (Account Manager), and she introduced me to 6–7 subject matter experts. 

How did you come to work with Lorem Ipsum?

A colleague and I pitched the project to Beth just to see if they would be interested. At the time, we knew Lorem Ipsum had the capabilities to execute, but we wanted to ascertain if they would be passionate because it was such a big undertaking. Beth just lit up — we saw in her eyes how excited she was, and she started discussing what her company could do for the project. Lorem Ipsum was exactly what we wanted. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent more than $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2019, and it’s ongoing.

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

One of our VPs, who has been in the industry for more than 30 years, read the document. According to them, it is the finest document they’ve seen in the industry that can help our organization grow and that our competition would love to have it for themselves. 

As far as statistics, this is one of those soft projects that is intended to have a real impact, but we struggled to measure its results. Obviously, we spent a lot of money, time, and energy, and we’re training the field with it. Nevertheless, I can say that our business is stronger overall, and our sales organization is healthier as a whole. 

How did Lorem Ipsum perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m in sales, and as a result, we’re more focused on opportunities in front of us — project work is often put on the back burner. As such, I requested that Beth drive the timelines since we had a lot going on in sales. I even asked that she act like she’s my boss, since we have a hard deadline and it’s a big project. I told her if I delay for a week, she has to push back. That said, their project management is exceptional, and they are able to adapt to our work schedule to finish the document. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lorem Ipsum has specific knowledge of our business that is genuine and applicable. That is invaluable because our industry is full of acronyms and slang. If you’re not familiar with our jargon, it’s confusing and impossible to figure out anything. Lorem Ipsum has that knowledge — I can speak to them in that language, and they get it. 

When we work with other vendors, I find myself teaching them our business, which slows the process down and takes more time, effort, and energy to get to the end product. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We did debriefings after each version of the book, and Lotem Ipsum was able to act on it. We didn’t do any debriefing for the most recent iteration since I can’t think of anything anymore that they might have done differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ensure your scope and deliverables are well-understood upfront so that you’re not shocked with cost overruns and scope creep. As we build our book, we had so many change orders, and the cost ended up bigger than expected by the time we ended the project. However, it was worth it since the product was better. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the executive VP of sales and marketing of an electric motor company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lorem Ipsum?

We needed someone to help us with branding, marketing, and advertising.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lorem Ipsum provided us with branding and digital marketing services that include web development. We initially started the project with an extensive discovery phase that required a bit of research, since we were in the process of branding our product. 

They provided us with naming conventions, product logo design, and marketing and product architecture for the branding side. They did this so it was easier for our employees to describe our product to folks outside the company. For the marketing side, they gave us support on the website and our social media platforms, specifically for LinkedIn.

In addition, our company was a technical business, so they also delivered technical requirements like case study templates to present the new technology we were building to our customers.

What is the team composition?

What I liked about working with Lorem Ipsum was that they weren’t a traditional fully-staffed firm. They were made up of a core group of people with a large network of partners who they worked with intimately. At any given time, there might’ve been 2–6 people working depending on the scope of the project. My key contact person was Beth (Account Services Lead).

How did you come to work with Lorem Ipsum?

I met two of the partners in a bar while waiting for my daughter. We struck up a conversation about what I did for a living and they said they did marketing for companies that were in our space and industry. At the time, I was dying for marketing, and the next thing I knew we were chatting about business and brought them in for a presentation — they ended up earning some business from me. 

How much have you invested with them?

We probably invested around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

For this project, we worked together from March 2016–January 2018. I don’t work with that company anymore, but I believe they still do business with them.

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

The impact of their work was significant.

How did Lorem Ipsum perform from a project management standpoint?

Lorem Ipsum had a couple of key project managers that did a fantastic job of staying on top of things. We mostly did regular status calls through video conferences.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What distinguishes them from other companies was their methodology for building a team of partners, and having the best quality of people for whatever you need at any given time. One of their advantages was their flexibility and ability to bring the right people with the right skill set to the right project. They knew how to get things done and give the most bang for your buck on marketing and PR.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Off the top of my head, I can’t really think of anything that disturbed me about working with Lorem Ipsum. Although, I think they could do better at walking before they run. Sometimes they jumped into early engagements with larger companies and it scared the smaller companies away. This resulted in promoting more work than what the customers were ready to do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The biggest advice I could give is to make sure you know what you want and need, and articulate it very clearly to Lorem Ipsum up front. That would help both parties in making sure that the focus and initial discussions are limited to exactly what the customer wants.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founding partner and creative director of Pollywog, a naming agency.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lorem Ipsum?

We were working on a naming project with a large, international cleaning product manufacturer. They were looking to create a single name for a product that’s marketed under different names in a number of global markets. To do this, the company needed to understand the core values of their products among their various target audiences. So, we hired Lorem Ipsum to conduct voice of business (VOB) research and recommend alternative strategic positionings that could serve as a foundation for the brand. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

To start, Lorem Ipsum worked very closely with the company to identify key leaders and pull together relevant assets to better understand the brand and competitive market. This included marketing brochures, product information, and performing a competitive audit. 

Once they had a better grasp on the current landscape, they conducted 15 one-on-one interviews with global product leaders to better understand the audience. They synthesized this information into a strategic report in which they presented the various final brand positioning alternatives. 

What is the team composition?

Shannon (Founding Partner, Lorem Ipsum) was our main point of contact and provided most of the services, along with one other associate. 

How did you come to work with Lorem Ipsum?

We’d been working with Lorem Ipsum for many years, so we were familiar with their expertise in B2B strategy. We knew they’d be a great fit because of their experience with VOB work. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $25,000 on the project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September–December 2018. 

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

The client was very happy with this phase of the naming project. Understanding the audience through the VOB interviews was very helpful for them. They appreciated the comprehensive work Lorem Ipsum delivered and the valuable information gleaned from key stakeholders. 

How did Lorem Ipsum perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team was excellent at project management. They handled all of the schedules for interviews, kept the project on time, and didn’t go over the budget. We mostly communicated through the phone and over email. Their team was good at keeping in contact, so we never had any issues with that. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lorem Ipsum was skilled at assigning the right people to the project who perfectly fit our needs. Overall, they were a small, nimble, and adept team that customized their services for our project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything—the project went very smoothly. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep in touch, trust their process, and expect good results.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I've worked with Lorem Ipsum for over ten years, both in my current role and as global marketing and customer intelligence director for an industrial engineering company. For the purposes of this review, I will discuss my experience with them in my former position.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lorem Ipsum?

We were trying to establish a global process, in which we could do cost-effective market research around customer needs for a variety of projects and solutions.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We established a global research panel. Our work included three or four major research programs to inform product strategy, development, and pricing. Most of our techniques involved online surveys, but we captured customer feedback in various ways to inform our strategy.

They provided all the program management, as well as access and availability to a network of subject matter experts to execute this program. They put me in contact with professionals who could execute online surveys and analyze the data, and a team to provide executive summaries, results, and recommendations. They wrote everything up professionally with infographics and recommendations for data usage. They provided a wide gamut of capability from start to finish.

What is the team composition?

We had a program manager who coordinated our schedules and our workload. We also had a master networker who put us in touch with other third-party professionals. They're a much bigger company now, but we mostly started with just those two individuals.

How did you come to work with Lorem Ipsum?

When I started at the company, the executive above me had a strong relationship with them. He recommended that I contact them to start this level of the program.

How much have you invested with them?

Over four years, we spent roughly $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from about 2012-2016.

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

The research directly impacted our product development strategy at least a couple of times. Several quantitative pieces of work informed product managers and defined use cases, feature sets, and price comparisons. An online focus group informed user experience and interface designs as we completed agile software development. The developer got immediate feedback on potential designs and actions, which influenced the finished product.

How did Lorem Ipsum perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly or biweekly phone calls to manage the programs and ensure we stayed within the scope of the project. We didn't use any special software, and most of our communication was through phone and email. They were very good at meeting deadlines, and any scheduling issues were usually on our side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their experience in B2B and B2C environments sets them apart from other agencies. They understand the value of adhering to a budget and a timeline. They never let their creativity get in the way, and they’re very aware of our needs. I’ve never worked with anyone who was so consistent in delivering so closely to the statement of work. They do a fantastic job.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could act as more of a partner, beyond just executing individual projects. I look forward to having that kind of conversation with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do your homework upfront, and be very clear about your budget and what you want them to achieve. If you give them the support they need, they will execute the project and give you what you pay for. They are worth your time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for an HVAC and controls manufacturer. We build automations, mainly management controls. We’re a leading HVAC supplier to the commercial and industrial markets, and we also serve residential clients. I serve the commercial and industrial segment of the company, covering large buildings and commercial high-rises.

I lead our systems control portfolio. My group’s products are the building automation components that coordinate and optimize the control of HVAC equipment in commercial applications.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lorem Ipsum?

For the commercial market, the sales process is complex. It goes through a series of decisionmakers, starting with the building owner or property management firm. Because they don’t have the expertise to make good decisions about building systems, they’ll hire architects, consulting engineers, and contractors to run those projects and make those decisions. Our office sells to those players. As a manufacturer, the better we understand how to engage with and meet the buyer’s needs, the better we serve that market. We wanted to improve that understanding.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project is a guidebook describing our process and how to be effective at decision making to help our account managers have greater success and earn more share of the business. Lorem Ipsum generated 60%–70% of the content with input from us. We did a buying process study and had focus groups, so we learned along the way, and we engaged with Lorem Ipsum in that learning. They took that content in various forms including recordings, notes, PowerPoints, white papers, and interviews, put it together in a digestible format, reviewed it with us several times, and then we took the drafts back to that audience and refined them further. Lorem Ipsum did the bulk of the heavy lifting. 

What is the team composition?

They assigned three key players for this project. I worked most closely with one of their account managers. She had a domain expert involved who worked with her on research. They also had a creative designer involved, who made the content look appealing in book format. They had some artwork support as well.

How did you come to work with Lorem Ipsum?

They’ve been a partner on several projects. They know us and our business, customers, and process well. When it came time to document the best practices and best methods, strategies, and tactics to serve that buying process, Lorem Ipsum already knew us well. It’s been easy to do business together. 

How much have you invested with them?

The project budget was $60,000. Some outshoots of it will involve incremental spending including learning collateral, promotional material, and web forums.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Lorem Ipsum in September 2018. It was a 4–6-month project start to finish.

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

Lorem Ipsum did audits of our ongoing projects and invoiced us based on a statement of work that lays out the planned scope. Between the biweekly audits—which are Word documents tracking the scope, time spent, and deliverables—and the monthly invoices, I have a high level of confidence that we’re getting what we’ve paid for.

One of the cool aspects of the guidebook is that it has a lot of content from and by our account management audience. Any account manager who picks it up will see that it’s by them, for them. It was built on a foundation of our best practices, learnings, and methods.

Our goal was to have the book completed and delivered to 1,000 of our account managers at a recent sales conference. We heard positive feedback, and I’ve had many calls from account managers and district leaders asking for guidance on how to put together a 30–45-minute presentation about it. 

Our sales training group wants to incorporate the book into our curriculum. We do sales training for new hires and seasoned account managers, and this book will be core to those training curriculums. To grow the effectiveness of our account managers, it’s been well received, and it’s now a part of our standard work.

How did Lorem Ipsum perform from a project management standpoint?

This is an aspect we rely on them for. Lorem Ipsum learned our timeframe, needs, and availability, and they put together a project plan. They were diligent in ensuring that we met milestones along the way. They pulled the group together when people didn’t meet their deadlines and helped them get to the content they needed. There were several times when I had a Friday deadline, and we met on a Thursday to work on the content. They helped us make sure we got there along the way.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the partnership. The degree to which they’ve come to learn our business and needs is superior. We have a relationship that’s far beyond understanding our business. They want to be part of our business and enjoy our success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard to complain. They do good work, and I attribute a lot of it to our account manager, who’s a professional, high-quality person. This is the caliber of people they hire. Without any hesitation, I highly recommend working with Lorem Ipsum. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The investment and partnership should be taken very seriously. There are a lot of businesses that see vendors as serving them and expect their deadlines and needs to be met. When this is viewed as a partnership, both parties share in the success.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the global marketing lead for a brand consultancy firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lorem Ipsum?

As an agile, lean organization focused on external client activities, we have a shared services organization that is required to manage the operations of the entire organization. We reached out to Lorem Ipsum, because we lacked a staff of marketing professionals to meet the needs and demands of our internal and external customers. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lorem Ipsum acts as an outsourced marketing department with an ability to scale as needed. Their tasks include: managing social media strategy and posts, deploying a team of writers and designers to create new case studies and research papers, and creating marketing and campaign strategies. They manage campaigns for clients from start to finish, providing creative assets as needed.

What is the team composition? 

We work with two people primarily, including a project manager and social media lead. We generally hold weekly status calls with their team to go over our long list of current and future projects.

How did you come to work with Lorem Ipsum?

I've known the principals of the company for about 20 years and have worked with them in many capacities, so I already had a strong relationship and level of trust with their organization.

What is the status of this engagement?

In my role at this company, I've been working with them since March 2017.

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

The increase in our social media engagement is without a doubt attributed to their efforts. That engagement has turned into conversions and at least six new clients, so their work has been instrumental in our targeted campaigns. 

How did Lorem Ipsum perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very approachable, responsive, and proactive about communications. No matter who picks up the phone on their end, they make our needs a priority.

They're very agile and flexible in their approach; we don't have to micromanage or follow up with them, because they're very communicative every step of each project. It's also very clear where our money is going, because they provide detailed audits of their work. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They combine tried and true practices of marketing with new ideas and technologies. I appreciate their balance of traditional marketing principles with innovation (i.e., infographics and video capabilities). 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Adding some public relations experts to their in-house team is an opportunity for growth for their business. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Consider all angles of marketing that would benefit the business when approaching Lorem Ipsum, but also ask a lot of questions and be open to their feedback about other routes. It may come as a surprise just how many services and capabilities their team can offer.