Marten Street Media

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a company that provides vacation property management services, including cleaning.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Marten Street Media?

I was struggling to create a website that summarized the services I offered.T he site had to be fluid and engaging for potential customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I needed a clear message, a catchy, clear “About” section, and clear images that actually matched my value and personality. I wanted the website to give a feeling of organization and class. The website was built on Wix, per my request, as I had started the website there before passing it over. They were responsible for the content, photos, organization, and more. We collaborated on everything.

Marten Street Media also helped me create my logo.

What is the team composition?

One person stayed with me throughout the process.

How did you come to work with Marten Street Media?

I found them through word of mouth. First, we had a consulting meeting where I talked about my struggles and they offered to help. I realized they were going to do a great job — I got a good feeling about them. They’ve been such an awesome choice.

How much have you invested with them?

I spent $1,500 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The website work was all done within the month of October. They've helped me with the odd task since then, including business card design, domain forwarding, and more.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everybody who looks at the website thinks that it is well done and professional. Some people have said that it’s catchy as well.

How did Marten Street Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We had very fast communication, and they met the deadline. It was easy to reach them throughout the project. Marten Street Media were very available.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really caught hold of my concept, transforming my idea and vision into a reality. The website perfeclty captures my personality.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have good communication and take extra time to speak about your brand value and your underlying message. This will help them transmit what’s unique about you into the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of Treasure Caretaker Training, a nonprofit founded in the US in 2015. We work with education for the preservation of cultural heritage treasures in remote monasteries. Most of our work is related to Buddhist art, but our education materials have been used in Canada, the US, and Europe.

We educate about documentation and risk assessment for cultural heritage treasures, and we offer practical and low-cast preservation techniques. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Marten Street Media?

I’ve had various people work on my website before, and it was becoming outdated and unworkable. Since so many people have worked on it, it was impossible for me to update it by myself. It was also impossible for our target audience to access the information that we offer on the website for free.

As a result, I asked Marten Street to design an entirely new website for our nonprofit. I also wanted an online resource that was easy to access and had all of the information we offer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Marten Street created a website on Squarespace for our latest offering, which is a resource called Preservation of Buddhist Treasure Resource. It was a free online resource about how monks, nuns, and community members could preserve their culture and heritage treasure. 

We wanted the website to be accessible to our target audience on their mobile phones. We also added new chapters in PDF format as the website was being developed. Moreover, it must be in different languages. Everything was going to be translated since not everybody spoke English in remote monasteries. 

In the future, they’ll also completely remake our main organizational website, which is a mess.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Jess (Owner & Lead Designer). 

How did you come to work with Marten Street Media?

Since so many people have tried their hands on our website, I knew what a clunky website design was. I shopped around and asked people for recommendations. Everyone said I should hire Jess, so I had a long consultation with her. In the end, I agreed with her recommendations. She came up with a website that could offer the information that people wanted in an accessible way. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $10,000 on this project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

They worked on the website from November–December 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website went live, and it has received excellent reviews, especially because we were the first people to apply the risk assessment model to cultural heritage preservation. Our target audience could easily find the educational resource on the website, which talked enough about our project so that the audience also knew where it was coming from. 

How did Marten Street Media perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was definitely collaborative, fine, and seamless. Marten Street knew what they were doing, and the website came out in such a good way that we got compliments for it and our materials. We communicated through phone calls, emails, and other ways. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The ease of communication was impressive, and they were willing to change things for me. Their design was cohesive to our background. Everything was done perfectly and in very good taste. For instance, some of my endorsers are famous. If I needed to have a section for them, they’d be featured well but without being showy. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. I’m a very critical person, but there was nothing they could have improved. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You have to know your own business and mission first. If you don’t know what your mission is, then you’re not giving clear direction about the product’s features. You have to have your own ducks in a row before you can approach anyone for a website. At the same time, you have to be flexible, because they’re website professionals and you’re not. That way, it will all work out very well. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner of Spilker McNally Tucker. We’re a full-service law firm focused on personal injury law.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Marten Street Media?

As part of our overall network marketing scheme, we wanted to have a good-looking website that’s functional. It gives a lot of information and allows people to access us by featuring our services and feedback we have from clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Marten Street Media built our website. Their team also handles all of our SEO and online marketing.

What is the team composition?

I just deal with Jess (Owner & Lead Designer).

How did you come to work with Marten Street Media?

I know Jess through one of my business partners. We were keen on Marten Street Media because our discussions produced some interesting information from an outside perspective. Jess was intelligent and willing to provide a good service that was compatible with what we offer and hoped to achieve.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested less than $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in July 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I rely on and trust Jess to let me know how our analytics are doing and what benefits we’re getting. Since revamping, we’ve received a lot more calls. A lot of our business is coming from Google searches and potential clients finding our website. It shows a good quality product and highlights the services we provide. Jess is quite creative and engaged. Our ongoing partnership is fantastic.

How did Marten Street Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is excellent. Jess is consistently prompt and on top of things. I feel confident in her abilities. She continues to tick all of the boxes and is easy to work with. Jess is clever and understands where we’re heading and what we’re trying to do. She does everything we ask of her. We communicate through emails, phone calls, and Zoom conferences.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Jess is amazing at pinpointing and understand what our needs were. Then, she was good at responding to those and augmenting them with really useful recommendations and suggestions. She rewrote some of the stuff that was on the website. The general package was awesome.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any areas that need improvement. We have a great relationship.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go ahead and work with Marten Street Media.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Banff Cycle Tours. We operate in Banff, a tourist destination that has over 4.4 million visitors a year. We have a suite of approximately 70 bikes of different varieties. We also offer guided tours on a daily and weekly basis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Marten Street Media?

We wanted to switch from our entry-level WordPress website to a more sophisticated platform to increase our exposure in the marketplace.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Marten Street Media delivered an entirely new solution. They generated more professional photos and streamlined the verbiage on our website. They also integrated TripAdvisor into the platform, which was a huge plus.

What is the team composition?

I just worked with Jess (Owner & Lead Designer). I’m not sure if she had a larger team behind her.

How did you come to work with Marten Street Media?

Jess reached out to us and told us about her services. Their pricing and value propositions were very attractive, so we decided to take a chance.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent a couple thousand dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

The website development lasted between February – March of 2019. We have an ongoing relationship where I can reach out to her at any point for adjustments.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered a stellar platform that drove real results. We saw an amazing uptick in online bookings and phone calls. While I’m not too familiar with how Google Analytics work, I saw our numbers jump around 300­–400%, year over year. We went from making $70,000 to $300,000 in one season, so the engagement has proved to have been enormously valuable.

How did Marten Street Media perform from a project management standpoint?

Jess was top-notch.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Jess is a very good listener who listens before she talks. She works with you to understand your industry. She’s always looking for ways to benefit our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I feel that Jess sometimes hesitates to push us in a particular direction because of her fear that we’re not ready, from a technical perspective. I’d let her know that I’m definitely ready to consider any of her ideas. I’m confident that they’re all in our best interest.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you want to make more money, engaging them is a sensible course of action. The ROI has been tremendous for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

located in a small resort town, we offer a full range of commercial real estate services including sales and leasing of industrial, retail and office and development properties I am the broker/owner

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Marten Street Media, and what were your goals?

we asked Marten Street Media to review our website, create a new website to modernize and improve our media presence

SOLUTION

How did you select Marten Street Media and what were the deciding factors?

Marten Street Media was selected because of their knowledge and reliability

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

our previous site was created in 2003 so was very tired, cumbersome and used old technology. Martens Street Media extracted the basic information we needed from that site and created an all new, user friendly format

They also had to retrieve the site as the site host had accidentally deleted it as I am not at all technologically inclined, I have no idea what they used

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

Our needs required that we work directly with one programmer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

we began to receive compliments from peer businesses and clients immediately. the new site is much easier to use and looks far more professional

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

we met initially to provide them with access to our site and to describe our needs. a few days later the presented us with our new site. we were impressed by the smooth transfer and how thoroughly they captured our needs

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

we worked with Jess McNally. she was a delight to work with in every way. There are so many options available for websites.

she took all the anxiety out of the process and created a very professional new image for us she has also offered considerable followup to ensure our needs are met

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

none

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of KME Dispute Resolution

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Civil and Commercial Legal Mediation and Arbitration

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Marten Street Media to accomplish?

• create a website
• create a Link In page
• create business cards
• design a logo and trade name

SOLUTION

How did you find Marten Street Media?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Marten Street Media over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Marten Street Media were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Marten Street Media helped me open new arbitration and mediation for business by creating a design and logo, designing a website with scheduling ability and links to cvs etc, a business card and LinkedIn profile. Everything I need to get going.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

My business was up and running once the website etc were completed. Clients were able to find me and receive services seamless and quickly.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes - very timely and helpful re training and use

What was your primary form of communication with Marten Street Media?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were imaginative, resourceful, efficient, and helpful.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Marten Street Media could have done differently?

no