MARKÉTIKA

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director of an e-commerce company that houses three e-commerce brands. We recently launched our third brand, Ascend, a home gym equipment brand.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTBA Group?

We were launching our third brand in 2021’s holiday season, but the whole launch was rushed as we didn’t finish the branding until late October 2021. Still, we wanted to meet that holiday deadline, so we hired TTBA Group with very short notice to help us with PPC advertising.

What was the scope of their involvement?

TTBA Group helped us with PPC advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and Google to support our brand launch. We already had a more mature fitness brand, so we initially gave TTBA Group some data on our audiences. Thanks to our past experience, we were able to provide them with very good information. Thus, our very brief onboarding included a lot of iteration on that information.

We quickly understood the assignment and set December 27th, 2021, as our launch date. After the onboarding, TTBA Group was in charge of building all of our ad campaigns from scratch, creating the different segmentation. Regarding the visuals and copywriting, we collaborated closely, creating assets from both sides due to the urgency of the time window.

What is the team composition?

Three people from TTBA Group worked on our account, including the founder, a paid ads specialist, and a content manager who coordinated the imagery and copy assets. Additionally, they had a graphic designer working on our project, but this person wasn’t involved in the meetings.

How did you come to work with TTBA Group?

I Googled for PPC advertising firms in Montreal and called 3–5 different companies, including TTBA Group. We ultimately chose them because the other companies were either too expensive or unwilling to work in the very short timeline.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $150,000–$200,000 during our engagement, including the ad spend.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2021–March 2022. We parted ways because our plan was always to build an in-house marketing team. Thus, we recently hired our own paid ads specialist, eliminating the need for external help.

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

We launched our new brand promoting three treadmills and three spin bikes. Our advertising efforts were so tremendously successful that we sold out all of our bikes, 830 units, between January and February 2022. I expected a $50,000 revenue in January, and we made $300,000.

Speaking of general aspects of our collaboration, TTBA Group was very receptive to feedback, and they showed great willingness to better our account. Overall, they offered great value for the money.

How did TTBA Group perform from a project management standpoint?

When launching a brand, the PPC efforts should ideally start no later than six weeks before the launch. However, we came to TTBA Group with a very tight window of three weeks before the launch, and they were able to get this up and running for us within that timeline.

They were very communicative and always available for us. We communicated over Slack and email, and we had weekly meetings in which they were always present. Our meetings were either via Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

TTBA Group was affordable, flexible, and easy to work with. Additionally, they were transparent and open to feedback and criticism. We were not an easy client, and our demands were a bit unrealistic, but they always did their best with the resources they had.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As I mentioned, TTBA Group helped us with some visuals, and their graphic designer was great. However, I would have liked it if they offered a higher caliber graphic design. Still, they didn’t advertise themselves as leading graphic designers in the industry, and at no point in our contract did they stipulate their expertise in graphic design.

Additionally, they seemed to be a bit demoralized by our unrealistic demands, which was understandable. However, their lack of enthusiasm never affected their work, and they always got the things done. Still, it would have been lovely if they showed more positivity during those challenging tasks.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Firstly, I would absolutely recommend working with TTBA Group, and I might even work with them again in the future. Secondly, you should be very proactive to get the most out of your engagement. Be clear about what you want and don’t be shy to ask questions or provide feedback. The more active you are, the better results you will get.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a software company in the electronics manufacturing industry. We help the manufacturing process of circuit board assemblies be more intelligent, connecting various types of equipment and ensuring that the data is actionable, intelligent, and share able. We also add controls into the process of circuit board assembly. I’m the global marketing manager.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTBA Group?

We brought the onboard to help with a total website refresh. This wasn’t a full rebrand, but a brand revitalization. Our old website was outdated and didn’t address our goals from a digital marketing standpoint. The goal was to make information on the site easier for users to find, as well as to make it easier for us to gather users’ information and gauge their level of interest.

Finally, the website had to position us as a technology-forward company within the electronics manufacturing industry.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We scrapped the whole design of the existing website and put together a new infrastructure to hold the new design. Our side delivered all the content and imagery, and TTBA handled the wireframing, lead capture, and updating the site.

There was some serious discovery and competitor research in the early stages, as I don’t believe they’d worked in our industry before. The site is built on a Tilda backend and features a lot of custom work.

What is the team composition?

I mostly worked with Sasha (Business Development Account Manager). Leo (President) was in some of our kick-off meetings, as the head of the design team. Day-to-day communication went through Sasha.

How did you come to work with TTBA Group?

We engaged in a RFP process last spring and received bids from three different firms. TTBA was our choice because we wanted to push the envelope from a design standpoint with something really unique and different. TTBA came to the table with that sort of open mind and a penchant for doing things differently.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent just under $40,000 CAD (approximately $32,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–October 2021.

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

We saw a little dip in users and sessions right after launching the site, which was a bit discouraging, but the content on our site is presented in a clear way and we’re bringing in the right type of leads. 44 decent leads came in through the site last month, whereas we received only five leads per month with the previous site.

Anecdotally, they took feedback very well, especially on the first design draft. We didn’t like what they did, but they took the onus on them that they didn’t exactly follow the brand brief. They were very humble.

How did TTBA Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Sasha was very communicative. Engineers can be very picky, which caused some frustration on our end when changes came, but they handled it quite well.

The website met all the goals we laid out and presented information in a clear and concise way. It also represented an update to our brand and revitalized and repositioned us as a technologically forward provider.

We collaborated over email, InDesign, and Adobe to fill out the content of the wireframes and keep track of the edits.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their willingness to think outside the box to help execute your vision stands out. Because they’re designed to push the envelope, they do custom code for what we want, which allowed us to take a big leap. They didn’t hold us back.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have used more project management tools to hold everyone accountable, on both sides. This would have helped deliver on schedules and milestones.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Things slipped a bit more than I was comfortable with on TTBA’s end during the end of the project. We didn’t have a set deadline, so other people should set clear milestones and dates.

Additionally, trust what they bring to the table from a web design and UX standpoint.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a mining and metal's transformation start-up. I am VP of People, Culture and performance.

For what projects/services did your company hire TTBA Group?

We are in the final stages of financing our project and wanted to develop a new look and complete rehaul of our website for the official launch.

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

We looked for local and smaller firms in the Montreal area. We felt TTBA group was the most creative and responsive throughout the proposal process (5 firms were invited to make proposals)

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

First we supplied a lot of information to TTBA thanks to a simple question document they sent us. They also interviewed some members of our leadership team. They then proposed 2 versions of the new branding which would be used throughout the website.

Then, we worked internally on all of the site content, sent to them for editing, readjusted, did the translation to french internally, sent for editing to them and then we were done. The most difficult part of the process was to find the appropriate pictures to incorporate within the text. Since we are a start-up, we had to go with stockpictures for now and it is not easy to find. We really had to get involved here.

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

At least 3 that I remember: Sash, our project Manager, Danie, the English writer (she was amazing by the way), and the designer (can't remember his name but he is VERY creative and really gets it when you explain something).

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

Beautiful design, very responsive team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Generally, their turnaround time was very fast. But our project lagged by at 2 months from our initial date. Part of the reason was finding the right pictures but also the process to validate content was not always efficient (changes were sometimes lost or not done when it went through different people for example from the me to TTBA google drive, to the writer and back to TTBA.

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

Design ideas, functionalities of the site, content layout, flexibility.

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

Sasha our project manager was very good, on top of things in general and VERY patient with us. Just tighten a little on the project execution side for all the changes to be done more efficiently. Final quality check could have been a little better, we found typos in what should have been final versions.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Marketing Manager for North America at a Global SaaS company.

For what projects/services did your company hire TTBA Group?

We needed a group to help us manage our social media as we expanded into Quebec, as our team did not have the necessary tools, including the Quebec language. From content and post creation, to paid ads. Our goal was to increase our followers, and increase engagement.

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

They were the best fit for us based on their portfolio and what we were looking for.

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

They handled all of our social media. They not only wrote the content and captions based on our English versions, but helped us strategize and maximize our footprint.

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

We worked with the Founder and CEO, Kosta, as well as the head of PPC and Paid social Berkay, as well as social media coordinator Marie-Elena.

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

We grew our social media following in Quebec.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was great. We had frequent check-ins and catch-ups to go over strategy, posts, KPIs, and data analysis. We had a slack channel but got a lot done on the calls.

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

The people at TTBA are really excellent. It has been a very collaborative environment and we really enjoy working with them.

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

Cracking the Quebec market was hard for us and we didn't have enough content or a solidified strategy to really make use of a lot of TTBA's talents.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Hanbay manufactures electric valve actuators in our facility in Pointe-Claire. We sell our product worldwide to many different types of industries.

For what projects/services did your company hire TTBA Group, and what were your goals?

We hired TTBA to take care of our Google Ads campaigns. We felt as though we needed experts to be able to target the right people and companies. Our product is very niche so it is important for us to have very specific and targeted ad campaigns. Our goals were to increase our website conversions/

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

They were a local small company. We worked with large companies in the past who never really produced the results we were looking for and did not check in with us. We felt this would be much better with a smaller local company. Also the price they were charging for their work was very reasonable.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

TTBA does all of our Google Ads management for us. They create/change/modify campaigns and keywords and fine tune them according to what is working and what is not. They track conversions for us, which includes where the conversion is coming from as well as cost per conversion. They also help us with understanding Google Analytics better and making changes there wherever necessary.

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

I am not sure, but we get monthly updates on how things are going as well as what was worked on and what needs to be improved.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our conversions from our website paid ads improved as well as our cost per conversion.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was good, when we decided on changes in our strategies they were implemented within the next month.

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

They are professionals, who know all of the details on how Google Ads work and how to optimize results. They continue to work on our campaigns month after month, fine tuning our keywords.

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

Sometimes we were unaware of when the monthly meetings were scheduled for. Also a report was sent to us every month of our performance which was rarely mentioned or examined in our meetings. I don't know how effective these reports are.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Outgo Experiences, a company specializing in the sale of experiences (activities, outings and gift ideas) in the Province of Quebec, Canada.

For what projects/services did your company hire TTBA Group?

We had a good online presence, but very little engagement and success on our social media. We called on the experts at TTBA to help us increase engagement, our following and ultimately conversions through social media.

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

I first searched on Google for agencies specializing in media strategies and I came across their site. I read about them, the members of their teams and their achievements, then I decided to book an appointment with them. They are young, dynamic and very professional. The determining factor for me was the "fit" between us, I felt comfortable and listened to, they sincerely want the well-being of their customers and partners and this is very important for me.

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

TTBA uses a very detailed questionnaire which allows them to learn more about their clients. I completed this form of approximately 7-10 pages and then we had a few strategic meetings during which we discussed our objectives, our means, our tools and the options available to us. The rest is at the execution level, we can follow the work in progress through their communication tools which are at the cutting edge of technology, then we have access to performance reports in order to take cognizance of the results and provide our comments, if necessary.

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

4: Web designer PPC/SEO/SEM pro Social Media strategist/expert General manager

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

Strong growth in our follower base, community, engagement and sales. Overall, our social media looks a lot better too.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective.

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

The quality of the deliveries, their talent and their level of execution. They know how to deliver the goods.

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

I don't see anything negative or for improvement. Ultimately the customer would always want more, but for the price charged we couldn't ask for more.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of sales and marketing for a floor coating distributor. We distribute products to our authorized and trained applicators.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTBA Group?

The primary objective or challenge was to attract new applicators who either want to start a new business with our product and process or add our product to their current offerings. Truly, we wanted to generate phone leads based on a specific geographical target market. Additionally, we wanted to drive social media engagement.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They develop posts for us on Facebook and Instagram, as well as drive leads in terms of phone calls in our target markets. Their processes are very data driven.

What is the team composition?

One of the partners handles targeting and campaign management. There are three resources on the creative side — one person who works with graphics and two others who develop the content of our posts.

How did you come to work with TTBA Group?

We’ve used other agencies in the past, and although they were generating followers and likes on social media, we weren’t seeing leads. What attracted me to TTBA originally was their website and their literature, which states that they’re data-driven. I interviewed several agencies, and TTBA seemed to be the most competent in terms of campaign management and targeting.

Additionally, we needed someone who could work in Spanish, French, and English.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $2,5000 per month with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since November 2019. The engagement is ending in mid-May 2021 because our budget is shrinking due to COVID-19 considerations.

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

TTBA Group’s posts and ads for Facebook and Instagram are innovative and creative. They also delivered on the data-driven side, consistently generating 2–5 leads per week depending on our ad spend. Although we don’t close all these leads, they are all qualified leads.

How did TTBA Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a fantastic team. They meet with me on a monthly phone call to discuss what’s working and not working, which a lot of agencies don’t do. Moreover, we discuss what we want our future to look like and if there are any changes they need to know about. TTBA is a small company, but they’re focused on keeping their customers happy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First, we can have intelligent conversations with them.

Second, although other agencies talk a good game, their campaign management and targeting have been less than expert. TTBA truly customizes their work for our business, whereas other agencies have templated proposals that they generate for every company. They take the time to understand our business and generate custom campaigns.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, there’s very little I could say. Perhaps some of their ads have grown a bit repetitive toward the end, but it isn’t a big deal. TTBA has done a fabulous job throughout.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

In the beginning, I had a face-to-face meeting with TTBA’s team, including a mini-training on our product and objectives. Invest in that training time upfront.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Th Canadian Marine Industry Foundation is a nonprofit aiming to increase interest about careers in Canada's marine sector. Specifically, it aims to engage in dialogue with youth to recruit their imagination. As Director of Communications, I lead all comms strategies and projects, including the Imagine Marine campaign.

For what projects/services did your company hire TTBA Group?

The web design for the Imagine Marine website.

What were your goals for this project?

Create a visually enticing and youth-forward website aimed at increasing interest in Canadian marine sector careers. At the same time, be able to display a lot of sometimes complicated information and ressources in a UX friendly way.

How did you select TTBA Group?

Our creative partners shared their successful working partnership and following a general comms pitch, TTBA and cour creative partners were selected.

Describe the project in detail.

The web page design and set-up included months of preparation in terms of set-up because the content is so vast and complex. Although the project itself was to design a visually appealing and informative website, one of the biggest tasks was structuring a whole lot of information in a way that was still visually appealing and that made sense from a storytelling and UX perspective. In addition, solutions for including huge amounts of information (database) in one easy place had to be found.

What was the team composition?

On the client side, two directors of the foundation attended weekly meetings and gave the final approval for each step. As intermediaries, the foundation's Communication Director and a representative from Griffintownmedia worked directly and closely with TTBA and suggested approvals to the directors. On the agency side, web developper Leo was on board for the entire project. This was supported in terms of project management by Kosta and additional problematics were tackled by Sasha.

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

Following the website's go-live we received several emails and calls praising the fresh look and feel of the website - something very much needed in Canada's marine sector.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I always felt like we could reach out to TTBA for anything at anytime. They did their best to deliver on numerous unplanned changes and revisions. If anything ever through a wrench in the project it was not because of TTBA.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their willingness to think outside of the box to find solutions to complicated problems.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Double internal quality control before delivering on a product or part of a product.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a nonprofit organization that conducts research to support safe and sustainable marine shipping in Canada. I am the manager of communication.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTBA Group?

Because we are an online business, all of the content that we produce is made available online. Therefore, to fulfill our mandate and inform as many Canadians as possible about key marine shipping issues, we need to maximize the reach of our research and communication products.

Social media is helping us generate awareness about marine shipping in Canada and is a key component of what we do.

What was the scope of their involvement?

TTBA Group helps to manage our social media channels so that we can spend more of our time creating new content. When we brought them on board, there was also no French capacity on our team, so they have helped us to expand our market to French- as well as English-speaking audiences in order to appeal to all of Canada.

They manage our social media calendar, proposing content every month that we approve and then they post on specific dates. Their team also sets and manages our ads, the budget that we allot for those, and recommendations for types of campaigns that we should pursue in order to meet our objectives.

What was the team composition?

We have two main points of contact Konstantin (Customer Acquisition Specialist) and Kristina (Social Media Manager), but I believe there are more people working on the project behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with TTBA Group?

I joined the organization just after we brought them on, but I do know that their capability to provide bilingual services was a large factor in the decision. They also have some experience with other maritime industry clients, so that was an element that worked in their favor as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2019 and are continuing to partner together.

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

It has been a learning experience for everyone, but they have consistently met the engagement objectives that we set for them. They’re very knowledgeable in social media campaigns and how to effectively the ad budget, so everything is working well in that department.

We’ve been learning how to work together over the past year, in large part because my colleague and I who were in charge of communicating with TTBA had just joined the organization when they started. We have settled into a rhythm together by now, but there was certainly a learning curve for everyone. 

How did TTBA Group perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m not sure what they rely on behind the scenes, but with us, they use a software called Gain, where they submit all the content they intend to publish. From there, we can review it and leave recommendations within the software’s interface, and that system has been very efficient so far.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Throughout the process, they have been very open and receptive to learning about our approach and dealing with unexpected requirements that pop up during our work together. We like to be in control of the content we put out there, and sometimes we change our minds, but they are always patient, listening to what we have to say and then making the changes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could probably do a little bit better in terms of reporting the results every month. We have other web-based providers that provide very comprehensive and detailed reports, so we have a relatively high bar, and TTBA Group does a good job of providing reports but could certainly come up a little bit in terms of detail and frequency in those.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think it’s always good to be completely honest and straightforward about your objectives. The better you are able to define those for their team, the better they will able to help you. They have a wide scope of services that they can provide, so they just need to know what the end goals are and can work toward them effectively from there.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Joane L’Heureux Chocolats. I’m a chocolate maker.

What challenge were you trying to address with TTBA Group?

The web was very brand new to me, and I didn’t know anything about it.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started selling online last year on our website, and this year, we started doing web marketing with them. TTBA Group really helped me to do the website as well as the text, pictures, and everything involved. They did everything, and still do everything. They’ve also helped me with SEO. When we decided to do web marketing, they really explained to me what they will do. 

What is the team composition?

I have worked with Konstantin (CEO) and Sasha (CTO), but I don’t know the names of the other people who worked on the campaigns. We are starting a new project with them, so I know it won’t be the same people.

How did you come to work with TTBA Group?

I made an announcement on LinkedIn looking for someone to do my website. At the time I decided to create a website, I had just appeared on Shark Tank, and I had a shark that wanted to make an investment. He knew a lot of people and we picked five people. Via a conference call, we asked them questions regarding the price; we wanted to find something in the middle.

How much have you invested in them?

We've spent between $15,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with them in August 2019, and I’m still working with them.

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

In the beginning, we had some problems, but they fixed them very fast and even on the weekends. They did it very well and within 24 hours, they put the campaign up.

How did TTBA Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Since we started doing more web marketing and sold a lot online, I didn’t have time to have meetings with them because I had too much work. We communicate by phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I liked that they explained things to me. I told them they have to talk to me about the web like talking to a kid. I didn’t understand things the first time and they’ve been very patient, and they take care of me. They don’t judge me because I don’t know about the web and they always try to help me. If I call Konstantin and have a problem with something, he will try to find the best way to make things faster and will take care of it for me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Konstantin speaks French but I don’t think the other people that work with him speak much. I am from Montreal and speak French, so I speak with him and not the other people on the team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They really take care of me, and for me, they have done everything well. My husband has a company and wants to work with them as well because he has seen the difference.