Morsekode

Please describe your organization.

I work for Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates on the Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc. side.

What is your position?

I’m the Director of Marketing and Communications. I oversee several different teams for internal communication, compliance documentation, and our external communications team that works on communication with the student loan borrowers whose loans we service. I also have a client communications team that focuses on the schools and lenders to which we provide different services and products.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Morsekode?

We needed to work on brand strategy and positioning. We wanted to tell a better overall story of who we are, not only in our current business but with the potential of extending into new business lines in the future.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They began with a deep dive into our company, industry, and background, along with interviews. Then, they did an in-depth competitive analysis by first seeing what our key competitor's online presence is and the strength of their brands. This gave us a great understanding of where we were with regard to our competitors. Morsekode held a workshop for about a dozen of us in marketing and sales, to get a better idea of how we see ourselves and where we want to be in the future. They created a final strategy recommendation presentation for us with some positioning grids which included the key messaging hierarchy to take forward. They also produced an internal manifesto video to use to start telling our story better.

How did you come to work with Morsekode?

I had worked with Morsekode with a previous employer and engaged with them on several projects while I was in that role. Being very comfortable with the quality of the work that they had done for us there, led me to engage with them again.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was in the $10,000 to $50,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are wrapping up. You could call it completed at this stage.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

So far, we've gotten good content to position ourselves well. To accomplish that, we're updating our website, to line up with that positioning and thinking about other branding ideas.

How did Morsekode perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management has been really strong and they do a terrific job of listening. Morsekode is very in tune with what you're asking for and your expectations. They're very good at keeping the project moving and are realistic about timelines.

What distinguishes Morsekode from other providers?

The biggest thing for us was how well Morsekode listened to us. The end product we got is quality work. I've worked with them on higher education finance and law enforcement biometric tools – both with no problem understanding the material. Morsekode gives great measured opinions to help make the product better.

Is there anything Morsekode could have improved or done differently?

There's really nothing I can think of.

Please describe your organization.

My organization is called 3M - we’re with the Traffic Security Division within 3M. We work on materials for transportation agencies. We’re selecting sheeting, pavement markings, and license plate sheeting. We primarily work with government agencies.

What is your position?

My position is Communications Manager for those product lines.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Morsekode?

We wanted to understand what our DOT [Department of Transportation] customer needed through experience mapping. Additionally, we needed video production and a position paper for a project I can’t talk about specifically. We’ve done a couple projects with them now.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Morsekode helped us develop a white paper – although we are calling it a position paper. They’re helping us work out how we want to position ourselves in the marketplace, showing our expertise within 3M, our long history in the transportation industry, and how we could influence new markets that we’ll be working in.

They’ve interviewed a number of technical people within our company. That coupled with supporting data, creative writing, and design work will culminate into a video. The purpose of that 2-3 minute long video is to come up with a high-level summary that we could show people explaining what we’re all about.

How did you come to work with Morsekode?

A colleague of mine was working with Morsekode on a customer journey mapping project in a different market, and she highly recommended them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The customer journey mapping project was $50,000. For the video, we’re partnering with an illustrator as well, but Morsekode’s part is between $30,000 and $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are currently working with Morsekode.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

For the customer journey mapping that we did, we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback within the company. We want to improve our website and its content so this feedback is good news. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback within both our division, the company generally, and corporate.

How did Morsekode perform from a project management standpoint?

Morsekode performed excellently. We meet on a weekly basis which keeps us on track. Our account manager is very attentive to our needs. He’s become very knowledgeable about our business, so it’s easy for us to interact with him and for him to understand what we’re requesting.

What distinguishes Morsekode from other providers?

One of the biggest things that distinguishes Morsekode from other providers is how our account manager has become part of our team. They’re very responsive, attentive, and have helped us meet all deadlines. The status meetings we have each week are great to keep us on track and make sure all questions are answered, so we can keep moving forward.

Is there anything Morsekode could have improved or done differently?

I can’t think of anything. They’re very helpful in giving us ideas of things that we can do differently, things that we may not be thinking of. Suggestions like that are always helpful.