Digital Marketing for Corporate Training Company
- Other Digital Marketing
- Confidential
- Nov. 2012 - Ongoing
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"Within two months of hiring their team, I could see results on the bottom line."
- Business services
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- 1-10 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
Mischa created a digital marketing plan and marketing collateral in an ongoing partnership. Other services including blog writing social media marketing. They managed online advertising, including paid ads.
Their work stimulated positive growth in measurable marketing trends, including an increase in revenue. Mischa follows thorough management and planning processes and they’re conscientious of deadlines. They use customer feedback to iterate on future campaigns.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the founder and CEO of an online training company that specializes in training for executive and administrative assistance.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Mischa?
We wanted a consistent marketing plan to promote our business. Prior to hiring them, we were making newsletters when we got around to it, and we would try to get marketing emails and broadcasts out on upcoming events, but we didn’t really have a good system or a set schedule. Sometimes, it was very last-minute, and not with enough advance notice to fill the classes.
My goal in hiring Mischa was to gain support in creating a consistent marketing plan and strategy, that they could then help me implement, with the right writing and editing support.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
They helped me become more consistent with publishing newsletters and creating content for the blog, and together we developed a more consistent strategy for social media marketing. In addition, they’ve been instrumental in taking content I’d already developed and turning it into additional pieces like infographics and blog posts on key aspects of some pieces. I tend to put very long pieces together, and Mischa has helped me shorten those into more pieces to use across time.
About a year and a half ago, we had people contact us about advertising to our audience. Michelle (CEO, Mischa Communications) and her team helped me develop an advertising strategy on our website and find advertisers who would advertise with paid ads on our site and in our newsletters. We also started doing sponsored blog posts and broadcasts, which have added additional revenue streams we didn’t even have on the radar prior to working with Mischa.
In addition to that, they’ve also helped me get my second and third book developed, edited, published, and on the market. I'm sure that would’ve taken years longer if I didn’t have them helping me keep the process on track and systematic.
What is the team composition?
I’ve primarily worked with their project manager. She’s on my weekly all-team call, and I have a separate one-on-one call with her later in the week, to drill down on various aspects of the projects we’re working on, related to marketing. There’s a writer on her team, whom I also work with. She’s been able to pick up my voice and writing style quickly. When I send her talking points and article ideas I want to develop, she can put something together that looks and sounds like something I would write, had I done it from scratch myself. This has been hugely valuable for me. There are some pieces that I need to write word-for-word myself, but we don’t need a really in-depth piece all the time. She can still make them sound like something I would say or write, but she’s actually done a lot of the work behind the scenes. I edit and approve everything before it goes out.
There’s another person on the team, who’s one of the most fantastic editors and proofers I’ve worked with. When I do my books, or anything like an e-book, we save all the rounds of editing until we think we’ve got it almost perfect, and send them to him. He catches things that no one else catches, and he’s phenomenal with grammar. When something’s not right about the flow of the document, he can pinpoint it immediately. Between the writer and the proofers and editors from Mischa that I’ve worked with specifically, they’ve helped make me a better writer. I know what mistakes of mine they’ve caught, and I can write better as a result.
How did you come to work with Mischa?
I found them on Elance or another job board, where I’d posted a blog post project. I accepted three people’s bids, and had all of them do the same project to see who could—just by looking at my past articles and work samples on my website—create a post that was the closest to the tone and style I write in, as well as the research and information they’d be able to put into it.
When I got the three samples back, I was the most impressed with the questions Mischa had asked me in the process of writing the piece, and in the finished piece that was produced. That’s how I selected them to begin additional conversations about the services they could provide for us, beyond blog posts and newsletter development.
How much have you invested with them?
My invoices with Mischa are $2,500–$3,000 per month.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Mischa in November 2012, and the collaboration is ongoing.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Within two months of hiring Michelle and her team, I saw our previously flatlined marketing trend start to go upward on the income side of my business. That was our consistent trend, several months following. We always reach new plateaus and have to try different things, but, within two months of hiring their team, I could see results on the bottom line. It’s continuing to work for us.
Adding advertising to the site in 2018 gave us a boost in a new direction. Mischa is helping me keep diversifying and finding new opportunities for us to maximize what we’re already doing, without a lot of additional headaches and work.
How did Mischa perform from a project management standpoint?
We use a project management tool to keep us all on track. I have a team of six people, all independent contractors, and we work together virtually. Having a good project management tool that all of us can log in to at any given time and know exactly where they’re at on any part of our marketing plan and initiatives each month, was important. We use Teamwork for that, and we use Dropbox for file sharing. I’m a productivity expert, and I have a structured process for how we move things through the creation, approval, and publishing process. We use named and numbered folders in Dropbox, so that anyone on my or Michelle’s team can know where we are in the process with newsletters, publications, books, and articles. Because of the project management tool, we’ve rarely missed a deadline. I never worry about things being late in working with Michelle and her team.
They create a marketing plan each month, with my input. We also have more strategic planning sessions throughout the year. Once a year, they put together our content calendar for the whole year, and we use that to feed into the marketing plans we create, with specific topics for each month, and drilling down into specific aspects of those for each week. All our newsletter articles, blog posts, and social media content that’s developed around that ties into the same theme each month.
We’re using social media to gauge interest in topics. They look at what we’re getting feedback and questions on, and we use that to create a document that gives us additional content for planning for the next year. Mischa has helped make that process almost flawless, and it’s part of our system now. We have calls twice a week, and we stay connected to the flow of article writing.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They have a soft spot for small business owners and helping them succeed, and they’re very respectful of budgets and timelines. They try to make sure that what they’re doing is creating the value and results we’re looking for, not just causing us to pay more than what we should be for something that’s not performing. Mischa is conscientious and aware of the small-business environment.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I’d been hoping they would hire more resources, and they’ve just hired someone for social media and graphics. I’d been using an external party for that, and being able to add team members to support their growing business is helping all of them. Mischa has been growing, and the additional skillsets they’re adding are helping them become a more well-rounded communications and marketing service provider.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
For clients who are struggling with getting their marketing figured out, with consistency, and with getting it all done, Mischa will help relieve those headaches in weeks, if not days, of engaging with them. Clients should go in knowing what they’re looking for, and Mischa will help them figure out the best strategy for getting that accomplished. I started with a list of priorities, and I checked them off the list and added more along the way. It’s been a fabulous addition to our team.
RATINGS
-
Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
-
Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
-
Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
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Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
