MAN Digital

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of marketing for Pragmatic Coders. We are a digital product studio that works with startups. We build products for them and help them develop their venture.

What challenge were you trying to address with MAN Digital?

When I joined Pragmatic Coders, I was facing around 20 different tools for marketing automation and it was really hard to move on with that large number of tools. 

The automation was scattered among different platforms and systems. One of my first goals was to build metrics for every step of the customer journey, and we selected HubSpot to be that platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAN Digital is a HubSpot implementation partner, and they helped us reshape our thinking about the customer journey, market automation, and nurturing campaigns, and they helped us set up HubSpot processes, templates, and good practices.

They guided the sales and marketing team in terms of certifications and in-depth agency domain. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people from MAN Digital: a partner and a project manager.

How did you come to work with MAN Digital?

I had personally heard about them a long time ago because they are really good at content marketing.

I wasn’t aware they were partnered with HubSpot, so when we were considering HubSpot as a platform of choice, I went to the HubSpot marketplace to look for partners and MAN Digital was listed there. I knew that I wanted to talk to them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent €3,000 (approximately $3,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in July 2020 and lasted three months.

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

We now have metrics for every step of the customer journey. This is really important because we needed to understand how we could improve our customer’s journey and increase our demand for our services and conversion rates. 

That is the sentiment of everything that we do now. We have metrics for the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel conversions. They also helped us in a fantastic way to re-engage old contacts. 

MAN Digital provided us with a cheat sheet to prepare and launch a B2B webinar for the contacts we have in our database as well as for new contacts, which was a really valuable insight.

How did MAN Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was really good because they have a template for HubSpot implementation. They used that upfront prepared template and adjusted it to our situation. It was all digital and remote during the pandemic, of course. We used Slack during the cooperation with them. 

MAN Digital knew the domain and had the knowledge. They had the insight because they knew the agency domain, which was really useful because we didn’t have to explain what we did to them. 

In the first meeting, they already had a pretty good understanding. It was more about what was unique about the business and how to measure that unique proposition, process, or whatever it was that helped generate demand and leads.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everything was top notch.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We are parting ways now, but they should never part ways and they should try to sell more. They did what we ordered, and it seems to me they are busy with other customers.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would really recommend going with MAN Digital for HubSpot implementation.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Strategic Growth Manager at a software development consultancy company that delivers scalable custom software solutions for the transportation & logistics industry. We want to digitalize the industry with custom software and system integrations that are easy to use and make an instant impact on business processes and provides a competitive advantage. I oversee our growth strategy and digital marketing activities.

For what projects/services did your company hire MAN Digital?

We were looking for a partner to build a long-term digital strategy for our marketing activities. We wanted to reshape our messaging towards specific market verticals, gain more website traffic and qualified leads, design a clear marketing funnel and place a proper content strategy backed up with SEO activities.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to design a new funnel to start acquiring leads, build an infrastructure to capture, segment and nurture leads, run lead generation campaigns to acquire traffic, deliver a long-term content strategy as a proven and sustainable traffic source. The end goal for these activities was to deliver several sales qualified leads.

How did you select this vendor?

We have searched online for digital marketing agencies and compiled a list of 3 based on the case studies on their websites. We contacted each company and shortlisted it down to 2 after receiving their initial pitches. The choice was obvious because only Man Digital presented the understanding of the software development market.

We selected this vendor based on the quality of their final proposal and their willingness to work alongside members of our team on the creative aspects of their work. During the cooperation, we felt that Man Digital is a team member, not an external company just supporting our efforts.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After we selected this vendor, we had a series of discovery meeting to discuss our goals and our company's brand. The team focused on understanding what the major drivers were for our business, and they talked with all the members of our team to understand our market position. From there, they developed a digital marketing strategy, started to support us in the execution, and trained our team members.

They have supported us in competition analysis, keyword and topic cluster research for the specific market verticals, website redesign (structuring, copywriting and copy feedback), preparing landing pages which actually convert, set up proper visitor tracking solutions, introduced a content strategy, delivered key content articles and blog posts based on research, facts, and data.

Additionally, they onboarded us to a CRM and several other digital marketing tools, introduced email marketing and conversational marketing, supported us in paid ads strategy redesign starting with test campaigns and subsequently with full-scale campaigns both LinkedIn and Google (remarketing campaigns as well) and optimized them week by week (bids, budgets, copy, targeting). They participated in daily standup calls, review calls, and project management calls delivering valuable knowledge and insights each time.

What was the team composition?

Our marketing team consists of five team members. Man Digital supported us with additional team member and introduced consultants who had a supporting role.

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

With the support of Man Digital we started to gain more than 100 leads, several marketing qualified leads and few sales qualified leads each month.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager that we were assigned became a team member. We connected over Zoom each day and used Monday.com and Slack for all other communication.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was blown away by the knowledge and experience that this vendor had about our industry and our market. We learned much more than we thought possible, and we appreciated that they were patient and thoughtful while we struggled to keep up with their innovative ideas. I have worked with other digital marketing companies, but this was a particularly collaborative and positive experience. I will certainly engage with this company again for any digital marketing needs that we have in the future.

Are there any areas for improvement?

To be honest I cannot come up with any areas for improvement. We were very satisfied with their work every step of the way.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Marketing Manager at itCraft. We are a software house that focuses on mobile and web app development. We have 60+ employees who cover all stages of development: from business analysis through business design, development up to QA and promotion. We've been working with clients from different parts of the world delivering custom solutions for their businesses.

For what projects/services did your company hire MAN Digital?

We hired MAN Digital for the marketing and sales workshops. We wanted to understand the needs of each department, make our cooperation more efficient, talk about vision and aims we all have and find new ways for lead generation. MAN Digital supposed to help us based on their experience.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to find new lead generation sources, learn how to measure our activities, what to focus on and how to calculate the effectiveness of our activities in this area. Also, we wanted to know what tools should we use and how to make our data-based decisions.

How did you select this vendor?

We just found their marketing lead generation materials and found out that they converted us the way we would like to convert people into our clients. That is why, seeing what and how they do, we wanted to cooperate with someone who understands our pains and struggles and can share own experience. This way we decided to work with MAN Digital.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we signed the agreement for the workshops with MAN Digital, we met in one of our offices. A person who prepared two-days workshops came to our city, prepared everything and conducted the workshops. Right before them, we got a necessary material and all the stuff they wanted us to fill before the actual workshop to be aware of some points and prepare them for further discussion. Then again, after the workshops they contacted us multiple times, asked about results, offered their help and we are still in touch with different activities.

What was the team composition?

From our side we had 2 owners of the company, 2 marketing employees and 2 sales employees. From the MAN Digital side there was Romeo, who conducted the process of workshops.

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

We could understand the mutual needs of the marketing team and sales team. We verified our approach and found new ways of acting and lead generation sources. Up to date and it is more than half a year after the workshops, we are still using techniques and tools we discussed during the workshops and use the knowledge MAN Digital shared with us.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything was on time, we were notified about any changes. All our actions were agreed with both sides.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their experience in our industry. There are a lot of marketing and sales specialists but they do not actually know how to sell services for software houses. The attitudes and strategies differ a lot compared to e-commerce or businesses that sell low-cost products or services. Here, MAN Digital was experienced agency in this area so we trusted them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really. As they taught us, they try different attitudes, they do different activities and we can see that they follow what they teach others. That is why we trust them and we think that they do a good job!

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a business development manager for a custom software development company.

What challenge were you trying to address with MAN Digital?

We wanted to improve our marketing strategy and generate more leads.

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAN Digital provided us with marketing consulting services. Initially, we had an in-person workshop to discuss the strategy we’d implement to approach the market. We focused mostly on a combination of content marketing and social media marketing.

From there, MAN Digital offered a couple of consulting calls after the workshop, to ensure that we were on the right track.

What is the team composition?

There was one person assigned to work on this project. He came to our office for two days for the workshop and consulted us virtually over Skype after that.

How did you come to work with MAN Digital?

We came across one of their ads online and gave them a call to see how they could help with our project. The first offer they gave us fit our needs well, so we decided to start a collaboration.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around €3,000 on their services (approximately $3,300 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The collaboration took place in mid-December 2019.

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

MAN Digital took the time to really try and understand our situation. The solution they provided us with was tailored to our needs. We’re still implementing the strategies we discussed at the workshop, and we’re still generating leads from it. The change to our content strategy was dramatic, and we’re now managing several campaigns, but it’s all going well.

How did MAN Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed very well. I have no complaints.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their experience with IT companies in our segment really stood out. MAN Digital had a detailed knowledge of our industry, which helped them deliver the best strategies to our company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The overall workshop could’ve been longer. We didn’t have much time to discuss certain things, but we were satisfied overall.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’d suggest preparing information about where your company stands and what your campaigns look like. It’s important to have this kind of input in the very beginning, and not waste time later on trying to figure it out.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product marketing manager for a SaaS company. We help companies sort candidates more efficiently by using a mix of social media, niche platforms, and job boards to promote their brand, talent acquisition capabilities, and job openings.

What challenge were you trying to address with MAN Digital?

We needed help with online strategy to attract more qualified leads.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, MAN Digital did an overall strategy audit. From there, we worked collaboratively to fix issues and improve our strategy, including cultivating buyer personas, content, marketing, improving the customer journey, and more. They also helped develop an email marketing campaign.

On the strategy side, we’re working on materials we can offer to support our sales team in conversation with prospective customers. These include business cases, buyer’s guides, eBooks, and articles.

MAN Digital also provided some of the content in our PPC advertising. They guided us through some webinars to increase the reach among our targeted customers.

What is the team composition?

There were about four or five people assigned to the audit. Then, we shifted to collaborating with two people from the team.

How did you come to work with MAN Digital?

We spoke to multiple agencies about the challenges we were facing. We hired MAN Digital because we liked their data-driven approach and the way they presented numbers and projections of the results of their strategies.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about €15,000 (approximately $17,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2019 – March 2020.

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

The articles they wrote for our blog were fantastic, and they resulted in an increase of engagement with our desired audience, and the campaign that they launched led to more demo calls. We’ve seen a 70-80% improvement overall in qualified leads, which was one of the main issues we needed to address. 

How did MAN Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Their skills are top notch — one of the best parts of working with them. MAN Digital was highly organized, providing an overview of progress and plans for the future. They suggested strategies according to what was happening in our overall business, not just the specified project. Plus, they were very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

MAN Digital’s team was knowledgeable. They provided not only ideas, but also insight on how to implement them. We really admired their data driven approach. They felt like part of our team rather than an external resource. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There wasn’t anything that bothered us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Depending on your needs, they can meet them. They’re professional and will function as an extension of your team. MAN Digital guides you through the things you don’t know and helps with a strategy for your project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing for a Polish software house that specializes in Python. I’m responsible for the overall marketing strategy.

What challenge were you trying to address with MAN Digital?

In September 2018, we were planning to implement the HubSpot CRM and marketing automation tool. One of the requirements involved having training and onboarding workshop sessions. We decided to work with a certified partner based in Poland. We were thinking about how to leverage the tool and what marketing strategies to utilize.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with two workshops that went over HubSpot and the overall inbound strategy. MAN Digital showed our team how to implement marketing methodologies like competition analysis frameworks, messaging maps, and content generation frameworks. They showed us how to apply these into our daily activities, and how to work with them to improve our overall marketing strategy.

The team also helped us define overall marketing metrics, showing us how to set the overall effectiveness criteria for the activities we wanted to run. The first sessions were held in person at our headquarters, and the rest were mostly online.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people.

How did you come to work with MAN Digital?

HubSpot wanted us to use one of their certified partners. For us, it was crucial to work with a Poland-based company, so that their representatives could visit our headquarters. That’s mainly why we talked to MAN Digital. During different phone calls, I challenged Romeo (Managing Partner, MAN Digital) a few times with tough questions.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with MAN Digital between September 2018–January 2019.

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

The team at MAN Digital was engaged throughout the entire strategic planning process. We had no communication issues. Whenever we were expecting a follow-up, their team was there for us.

We use their messaging map and content generation framework today. They analyzed our competition and showed us what kinds of crucial activities and metrics we should follow. Their team also had expertise in overall digital marketing aspects. They helped us define what to follow, how to track our competition, and how to be better than them.

How did MAN Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, I’m satisfied with their support. The communication was good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

MAN Digital understands how software houses work. They know how the industry works, who the top leaders in the market are, and what the customers are expecting. Their intelligence about the sector was quite high from the start, and I haven’t found comparable knowledge in other agencies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could work on their branding. While they’re quite good when it comes to digital marketing, their branding image lacks confidence. In regards to our collaboration, I wouldn’t improve anything. Maybe they should bring more people on board to assist with execution.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Customers should describe their expectations and goals at the start. If we don’t describe our goals and expectations, we can have problems later on. That’s more on us–how we can define our overall goals.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the communications manager for a software house headquartered in Katowice, Poland, with a development branch in Gdansk. We had a small marketing department in Katowice consisting of myself, a marketing specialist, a UX researcher, a developer, and a QA specialist.

We produced backend systems, mainly for transport logistics companies in Scandinavia and the US; we only had a few clients from Poland. We also provided frontend services and creative workshops.

What challenge were you trying to address with MAN Digital?

We mainly got new projects from client referrals, but we also wanted to open a sales channel through our website and landing pages. We wanted to build a new persona for our clients, and we asked MAN Digital to help us create our whole digital marketing strategy. This was the main question and challenge we faced with them: to reach new clients just through internet channels.

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAN Digital hosted an initial two-day workshop with us to build a persona based on the RACE framework. We also canvassed a short-term strategy. They showed us where we had points to upgrade and update, what we were doing well, what we weren’t doing well, and what our challenges were. They showed us many areas that we hadn’t seen.

We decided to work with them beyond the workshop. They made an audit of all channels: marketing, technological, design, communication, and digital marketing. We decided to work with them for three months to run the strategy that they built through the workshop and the audit. They oversaw our SEO, managed our Google Analytics account, and did Google Ads and LinkedIn campaigns. 

We made A/B tests on the website and changed them three times. We also created new landing pages and implemented all of the recommendations from MAN Digital.

What is the team composition?

Romeo (Managing Partner, MAN Digital) was our account manager. We had a person dedicated to the Google Ads and LinkedIn campaigns. She prepared the content for the campaigns and ran them. We had a Google Analytics and Tag Manager specialist on the SEO side. There was another person who reviewed our content.  

How did you come to work with MAN Digital?

We found them through a blog post about a famous Polish software house. MAN Digital had done a very nice analysis of their digital marketing activities, and that blog post was very popular. The SEO for the post had worked very well.

How much have you invested with them?

The three-month collaboration cost €7,500 (approximately $8,100 USD). The workshop was €2,500 and the audit was €2,500 (approximately $5,400 USD). They provided a good price for their services, and I’d recommend them to others.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had the workshop with MAN Digital in June 2018. The audit was done in late July of that year. We took some time to think about what to do next, and then we ran the three-month collaboration with them between September–December 2018.

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

The two-day digital workshop is absolutely valuable to all software houses that want to reach clients through the internet. We started to understand how to communicate with our clients. This led us to completely change our website’s design and language, and it worked. We realized through the audit from MAN Digital that people want to see people, so we replaced icon graphics with pictures of our employees smiling. 

The traffic increased, but that wasn’t the most important part. We realized that the visitors coming through campaigns were more likely to become our clients. Before, we were getting random traffic.

How did MAN Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked with them through daily sprints and weekly planning sessions. We made summaries of what was done and what the plan for the next week was. All changes were implemented very quickly on our side, and MAN Digital acted very fast. They gave us very good recommendations, and everything we did with them worked. They recommended very good marketing automation tools to us, and the strategy we built together with them worked.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re unique in the Polish market. There’s no other agency like MAN Digital on the Polish market.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything they brought to our company was different from what we’d done earlier. Their philosophy and activity worked, and it ultimately brought clients to our company.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If someone is looking for a working digital strategy and a good partner for building that strategy, they should start working with MAN Digital.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner at a management consulting firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with MAN Digital?

We needed to develop a marketing strategy to achieve higher conversion rates and gain larger clients. We were working with a large software house, and we needed to have a better process in place between our sales and marketing teams to help serve bigger firms.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project began with MAN Digital building the marketing strategy. We had an extensive brainstorming and testing period, in which we developed a plan for our B2B services and our SaaS tool. They helped create our outreach approach and all the channels involved. I helped with the development, trained our departments on the new process and aided the marketing team in running it.

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with Romeo (Managing Partner, MAN Digital). They also provided a project manager who I had limited interaction with.

How did you come to work with MAN Digital?

We’d heard of MAN Digital through word-of-mouth, and listened to other companies' experiences. Romeo had worked in sales before, so we valued his perspective and unique insight. During our initial meetings, it was clear he wasn’t pushing us to seal a deal but was actually interested in providing quality work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between €12,000–€13,000 (approximately $13,600–$14,800 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in March 2016 and wrapped up in September 2016.

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

Now that we’re using smarter marketing channels, we’ve seen a growth in inbound leads. The increased spending on Google Ads aided to a higher rate of closing sales. By cleaning up our communication approach, both internally and externally, we were able to get higher quality leads for bigger companies. We experienced more downloads of our SaaS tool after implementing the new strategy, too. Everything MAN Digital did helped us become a better provider for the companies we work with.

How did MAN Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very communicative and easy to work with throughout the project. They had a thorough, agile approach. There were weekly online meetings and some remote work. We used our own templates for documentation purposes, and every step was laid out for us. I was pleased with their efficiency in managing the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their deep understanding of sales and the B2B market made them valuable. They took the time to show us their process and helped us incorporate their advice into our strategy. Additionally, they didn’t ask us what our issue was, they found it themselves.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They communicate more directly than other companies that we’ve worked with, which could be attributed to different cultural norms. However, everything was comprehensive and I wouldn’t change their process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should be able to tell if MAN Digital is the right fit after the first few meetings with them. Also, make sure you focus on the link between marketing and sales—don’t put one ahead of the other. Their team will know how to approach the project once you find the balance.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the operational director of a publishing company.

What challenge were you trying to address with MAN Digital?

Because we were selling a large number of products, we wanted to automate our marketing and sales. Our clients weren’t aware of just how much information we had to offer, and we wanted to increase the visibility of our data.

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAN Digital performed an audit on our history and proposed alternative solutions based off of that information. They provided a complete strategy on how we should communicate with our customers, both existing and potential. The platform they suggested had capabilities to organize mailings and campaigns.

From there, we implemented the marketing automation system they recommended with a team they recommended, as MAN Digital weren’t available full-time. 

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Romeo (Managing Partner, MAN Digital) and Alina (Inbound Consultant, MAN Digital).

How did you come to work with MAN Digital?

We followed a recommendation from one of our company’s owners. He was very involved in the small-enterprise community at the time, so we valued his input.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with MAN Digital in May 2017, and the project lasted around one year.

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

The system MAN Digital recommended helped surge our sales generation. We also received higher quality leads.

How did MAN Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication was smooth, but they weren’t as available as we needed for the project. We wanted a fulltime resource, and MAN Digital wasn't able to dedicate that time to us. We met in person a few times, and there was a system in place for communication with our IT department.

What did you find most impressive about them?

MAN Digital was more caring and personally involved in our project than the larger companies I had worked with. They were both coding experts and good people—we could feel they truly wanted to help us. We had no experience in this area, and we appreciated their flexibility and approach.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If MAN Digital could expand their team while keeping the same approach, we would've been able to finish the project with them. They had a great attitude and process, but not enough resources to fulfill our needs.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They do their best to deliver what you want, and they care about the client.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a medical clinic.

What challenge were you trying to address with MAN Digital?

We wanted to get more patients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAN Digital worked on our SEO and AdWords campaigns. We worked with a group of providers and they were only a part of that team, so it’s hard to say exactly what services they provided.

What is the team composition?

We had a big team working on an entire campaign for us, and Romeo (Managing Partner, MAN Digital) was responsible for the AdWords and SEO portion of the work. At first, he was doing the work by himself and it was great. Later, he started bringing people in from other cities, and the work that was delivered was done terribly. I was really disappointed.

Initially, we didn’t know him as MAN Digital, and when he was present during meetings by himself, everything was perfect. After that, the people he brought in would only Skype with us, whereas we prefer talking to people face to face when brainstorming. He became uninterested in that after the first year of the two we worked together. The quality started going down, so we put an end to the relationship.

How did you come to work with MAN Digital?

Two people in our general team were friends with Romeo (Managing Partner, MAN Digital) and they hired him as an add-on.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with MAN Digital in 2015 or 2016 and finished the collaboration almost one year ago.

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

After the first year, the worst thing about them was the communication. They didn’t have an idea of what to do next, which was terrible. Their team initially only worked on Google Ads and it went well, but they then got the idea to move on to SEO, which was okay, except they stopped working on the Ads campaigns. 

​​​​​​How did MAN Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

He became hard to contact after a while. The other team members were mainly responsible for communicating with Romeo and they told me he wasn’t doing anything. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

In the beginning, they were doing well in terms of SEO and Google Ads. We saw big improvements in the website and marketing. 

​​​​​​Are there any areas they could improve?

They should improve their client contact skills and be more focused on what they want to do. They should also learn more about the client. At one moment, we felt that they were doing the work without knowing about our profession. Healthcare is a specific business, and they didn’t have anything to contribute.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should talk personally with Romeo and try to get his attention focused on the project. I believe that at the moment, most of the work is done for him by other people and he’s mainly traveling. If he controls the work and puts his heart and mind to it, I think it will be good. Clients must keep him close and collaborate with him.