&Marketing

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the department head of a global tea and beverage company. I oversee the marketing efforts for the US and Canada and report to the global business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with &Marketing?

We were traditionally known as a black tea brand rooted in British heritage. Recently, we underwent a repositioning to move into well-being drinks, such as teas that help people with their immune systems, calm down, or relax. Once we had this repositioning, we realized that our collateral, website, Amazon product pages, and owned media properties were outdated because the words we were using focused on black tea and the brand’s heritage.

We needed to update everything to be a well-being beverage brand, so we had to figure out the keywords that consumers used to talk about wellness and well-being. We wanted to incorporate those words into our properties so our products could rise to the top when people search for well-being drinks. In summary, we mainly needed SEO work to put the right keywords into our sites and platforms.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first step was business intelligence research. &Marketing looked at what keywords were being used by most consumers, where we ranked for those, and what were our top-ranking keywords to understand where we could improve. They did a benchmarking report to list all the opportunities in front of us because we didn’t rank well for any wellness-related keywords.

Currently, &Marketing is helping us update our product descriptions and build out pages for our website, Amazon, and Walmart. Once everything is reviewed by our legal team and us, they’ll start to populate it on various platforms. Additionally, they’re running copy, working on our backend, and building out content for us to post on our website. In summary, they've worked on our marketing strategy, SEO, content, and copywriting.

What is the team composition?

We’ve had different people for the three project phases. Initially, the founder and CEO was instrumental in getting us onboarded. For the marketing strategy, we had two data analysts; they were responsible for digging into the data and doing the analysis.

We also have an account executive, a marketing manager, and 2–3 team members focusing and content and copywriting. In total, we’ve worked with 7–8 people, but we regularly deal with 3–4 main teammates.

How did you come to work with &Marketing?

I worked with them at a previous company, so I knew what they could do. I put them into a list of recommended agencies, and the team actually made the decision. They voted to bring &Marketing in based on their capabilities, which they presented in the pitch process.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent about $70,000. The upfront cost was between $20,000–$30,000, and we've been on a monthly retainer ever since.

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked things off in February 2022, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Organic search has gone up by 12%, while the keywords in the top three positions have improved by 11%. One of our blog articles has organically generated the most instances of any page, indicating the importance of continuing the focus on organic content. Also, site visitors have improved by 17.7%; articles have brought in 28% more page views; and we have an average time on page of 24 seconds, which is up by 13%.

Finally, our sleep and probiotic tea blogs have about 480 and 33 page views respectively, which is up quite a bit. Overall, we have 1,574% more sessions, 700% more transactions, and 500% more revenue due to blogs, so we’re certainly moving in the right direction.

How did &Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly meetings with them, and there haven’t been issues at all. They’re always on time with their work, if not early. If anything slips as part of the project, it’s on our end.

We mostly use email, Google Meet, and Google Docs. We’re a bit old-fashioned, so we don’t use project management platforms on our end.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We don’t have technical experience, so we appreciate that they explain the technical side of things in ways we can understand. They don’t use jargon that goes over our heads, or if they do, they explain it and give us a chance to ask questions before they move on. Also, &Marketing’s team uses a lot of dashboards, which is very helpful. We don’t necessarily have the time to get into the weeds on all the different projects and how they’re performing. With the dashboards, we can see what’s important and act on it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t really think of anything they could improve. We’re still getting things off the ground, but they’ve been a phenomenal partner. They’re very patient and helpful. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The clearer you can be, the better work you’ll get back. Be as open and transparent as possible and spell everything out in your initial brief; you’ll be amazed by their results. If you let them know where you’re having troubles or what you don’t understand, they can track the problem down for you and help you fix it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company works to help businesses build their online reputation through online reviews. I am the owner of the company and manage all client interactions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire &Marketing?

We hired &Marketing to completely redo our website. Our old website was multiple years old, didn't speak to our updated services, didn't have product pages, and was not optimized. With &Marketing, we were able to modernize our look/feel, optimize our pages for SEO, build out specific product pages, and better attract our customers.

SOLUTION

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

I was looking for a full service team of experts who can do it all. &Marketing is this. I needed a team that would coach me and help me not be a bottleneck in the process. They were incredible at providing experience and advise, specifically around copy, on how to better explain our services so that anyone reading it could understand.

I loved the full team approach, their quick 'can-do' attitudes, and felt they truly understood our business/mission.

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

We hired them for a full website overhaul. First we diagrammed wireframes of how the new site would flow, pages, content, etc. They also worked to update the overall look and image. I filled out questionnaires to help give them guidance for copy and they got to work. We met weekly to review progress and provide approvals.

They were responsive, fast, and easy to work with. We did a soft launch for review and I shared feedback with them to change then we launched the full site!

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

I had 3 direct points of contact - our project manager, copy writer, and web developer, but there were many others who were pulled in during the process, for example an SEO expert, design expert, etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As someone who in 3 years has never had a lead from their website, I didn't have a strong belief in organic SEO and optimization for my own website. One month after our official go-live and I had multiple conversions who said they found the site through a Google search.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very good - they worked through Google Sheets/Docs/Forms to gather information and review things which makes it simple as we all have access at all times and aren't having to send and resend files.

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

Their 'team' feel is incredible and they communicate very well. Everyone on the team was a true expert and always willing to share and help in any way possible.

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

The process was great and 2+ years later the only thing we update on the site are blogs!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Digital Marketing Director

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire &Marketing?

We've had the pleasure of working with &Marketing for more than a year. We originally hired them because our brand, Pieology, was looking to increase our SEO and grow our online presence.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched for a number of vendors and wanted one that had the expertise and service level that was best for us. &Marketing promised and delivered.

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

We ended up doing several different projects with the &Marketing team - including:

1. a new website
2. digital ads tests
3. ongoing support

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

We worked with a number of different levels across & Marketing

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

What most impressed me is their ability to "get it" when it comes to being a brand owner. I truly felt like their team spent our money as if it was their own, and made recommendations that were not necessarily self-serving. I'd recommend working with the &Marketing team - they truly feel like an extension of our team!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Fluid and very effective they were an extension of our team.

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

Their ability to work and deliver results ahead of the project timeline is impeccable.

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

None, they were a great partner