Nuanced Media

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a beauty and skincare company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nuanced Media?

We needed someone to provide us with Amazon paid advertising services to gain awareness and optimize our ads for convergent businesses.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nuanced Media is our primary SEO and PPC provider, helping us create digital campaigns and strategies to grow our online presence. Some of their tasks include keyword optimization, Google Ads management, and Amazon account management.

What is the team composition?

We’re mainly in contact with a project manager, a coordinator, and an ad strategist.

How did you come to work with Nuanced Media?

We were researching different agencies specializing in Amazon, and several people I talked to referred me to Nuanced Media. We felt comfortable with them after our initial meeting, and we liked how transparent their pricing was and how easy it was to work with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in March 2022.

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

We’ve seen a significant increase in the volume of sales, traffic, and organic ranking since partnering with Nuanced Media. 

How did Nuanced Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve had no issues regarding project management, as the team is very communicative and regularly stays in touch.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their biggest strength is their deep understanding and experience in Amazon PPC marketing. Moreover, they’re very easy to work with their transparent communication — they execute their tasks seamlessly and don’t overpromise, so it’s been a great experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they need to improve, as I’m very happy with my partnership with Nuanced Media.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d advise you to be clear with your expectations and what you’re trying to achieve, and they’ll be very straightforward with you on whether the project's scope is achievable.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Digital Marketing Director for True Citrus, a company that produces powdered citrus wedge replacements and clean ingredient drink mixes.

For what projects/services did your company hire Nuanced Media?

We hired Nuanced Media to optimize our Amazon catalog and ads, expand our advertising options and to help grow our Amazon business overall.

How did you select this vendor?

We talked with 4 different vendors for this project, ultimately choosing Nuanced because of their experience and flexibility. They operate on a points system which we can use on different services depending on how our needs change.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

On the advertising front, they were responsible for updating all existing campaigns to fit our new goals, creating new campaigns and continuing optimization to maximize sales. For catalog improvements we needed project management to oversee various teams including copywriting, SEO and graphic design.

What was the team composition?

We work closely with Randy and Pat on project management and Ankit on advertising.

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

We closed out 2022 with Amazon sales up 28% YOY, beating our sales goals. Plus, we maintained a ROAS above 3x while maximizing our Sponsored Products/Brand sales. All great results!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Maintaining organization is one of Nuanced's strongest skills. We're constantly working through multiple projects and they keep us and their teams organized and moving forward at all times.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their deep knowledge of Amazon and how to grow sales on that channel. Their insight has been invaluable in continuing to grow our business double digit percentages each year.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

We could be a better client by providing feedback faster, but Nuanced Media is great!

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a business manager at Oatman Farms

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

Nuanced Media is helping us optimizing our Amazon shop and Shopify store as well as google ads integrations

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

Nuanced Media is a trusted local marketing company that has a great reputation of helping local business to reach their destiny.

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

The team was first helping us optimizing Amazon A+ content, launching our Amazon store, generating reviews, create UGC, PPC for campaign. It was a transformational change for us in the few months that Nuanced Media has delivered.

The team then started helping us integrate google ads and shopify architecture. They were able to help us go through all the hurdles we were running into. The project is still on going, and we have very high hope and very excited about the new outlook of our webpage and contents.

How many resources from the Nuanced Media team worked with you, and what were their positions?

From the executive to the backend support, the team is always available to discuss any issues we are facing. Despite a small team, they are constantly finding avenues to help us resolve issues as fast as they can.

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

The outcomes were generally great. Despite running through supply chain issues on our end, the Nuanced Media team has been able to set a good roadmap for the next step for us.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication is always seamless. The team is always able to address our concerns within 24 hours.

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

Organization. Every member on the team who are involved in our work knows exact timeline of where our project is. That makes the conversation, resolutions of tasks very straight forward.

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

The Nuanced Media is a local small business, but with a global reach of working on different projects. The actions and reactions from the team has always been very positive. The team has established a robust system for each project and seems to work well.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Marketing for an eco-friendly toy company. We make educational eco games, our mission is to raise environmental awareness through play.

For what projects/services did your company hire Nuanced Media?

We were looking to boost our sales on Amazon. We're a very small team so we didn't have dedicated resources to focus on this full-time.

How did you select this vendor?

We researched online and short listed 3 different companies. Once we interviewed and heard each team’s proposal, we decided to go with Nuanced Media based on their general expertise and plan of action.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

For each of our products, Nuanced Media carries out competitive landscape research and analysis.

1. They then define the best performing keywords to use, help write copy and create images according to Amazon best practices.
2. They implement diverse tactics to gather consumer reviews and boost rankings and product visibility.
3. They manage inventory, PPC campaigns and provide regular reports.

What was the team composition?

I've been working closely with the account manager and the strategist. We also have regular check-ins and contact with the CEO/founder.

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

We've seen exponential growth in our Amazon sales since the beginning of the project. I am really pleased with Nuanced Media proven results.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I have weekly meetings with the account manager and strategist to review progress and results, and discuss next steps. We use the basecamp platform for each and every step of the project, so it's easy to keep track of everything.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The Nuanced Media team is extremely communicative, very proactive and responsive. They are very adaptable and able to pivot and adjust priorities according to business needs. They have lots of expertise and hands-on experience that bring real results.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

Things are going great and I'm looking forward to continued growth with the help of Nuanced Media

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of CX of a mid sized marketing company focused in beauty and cosmetics in the anti aging skincare market.

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

We identified Amazon as a significant opportunity for our business, and had existing presence in the space, but lacked the overall expertise to drive a strategy to maximize that presence. Nuanced Media was brought in to act as our strategy and implementation partner, helping us maximize and optimize our listings to help us create better opportunities for growth on Amazon

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

After searching and interviewing multiple vendors, we decided to work with Nuanced Media because of their data driven approach. They have a very talented group of experts who are focused in on metrics and the market, and leading us through the optimization process with data. Ryan, the CEO, was very involved in not only the onboarding process, but continues to be involved to making sure our needs are met and exceeded.

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

First, they delivered a complete market analysis of our brand, our competitors and the work it will take to compete in the space. We also laid out at a high level, the growth expectations for our brand. From there, they laid out the timelines and sprints and in detail, described the work and items that need to completed to achieve the goals. We meet weekly to discuss project status and approve items worked on.

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

We worked with an account manager, a strategist, the CEO, and graphic designer

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

We have seen lines of our brands on Amazon become transformed and fully optimized.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had weekly meetings to go over status updates and approve and discuss items being delivered. It was highly effective.

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

I like that we feel connected to their team. We don't feel like we are in the dark about items happening within our account. We appreciate their data driven approach.

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

I can't think of any improvements so far.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the account manager for branding, promotions, and web content development at Lienhart Design, but I’m also the social media director for Trumpet Social Media.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nuanced Media? 

My client, a fruit concentrate company, had reached its ten-year point. We needed to expand our online availability to meet growing demand. We were seeing our competitors selling on Amazon and we wanted to be there, too. We also needed to develop a new website and shopping cart.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We agreed to an initial six-month plan. They created a fully loaded Amazon presence and built a proactive Shopify website. They’ve also integrated the platform with 12 other platforms and apps. Our marketing strategy focused on the product’s six health benefits.  Now Nuanced Media is helping us optimize our e-commerce platforms.

What is the team composition?

We started working with Ryan (CEO), Haelim (Account Manager), and Cody (Senior Strategist). After a few weeks they brought  in five more experts in their fields including Sara R., Sara K., Kelsey (E-Commerce Strategists), and the brilliant web designer Nikita (Web Designer).

How did you come to work with Nuanced Media? 

I knew Ryan (CEO) and Nuanced Media from the Tucson, Arizona business community. I had referred other clients to his firm for web development and online marketing. I had also enlisted his counsel on advising me on the development of my company, Trumpet Social Media.

Ryan’s reputation was impeccable. He was professional and his business services were a cut above most other web and e-commerce firms we spoke to. There was never a time when we felt pressured to sign.  He conveyed a trustworthy working relationship.   

How much have you invested with them? 

We’ve invested between $10,000–$50,000 

What is the status of this engagement? 

We approached Nuanced Media in June 2020. After a few months, we learned of Nuanced Media’s expertise and signed up with them in  September.

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

Connecting with Nuanced Media has made a world of difference. The results have been stellar.  

We’ve only been on Amazon for a month, and on Shopify for a month and half. From initial sales that are pouring in on Shopify and coming from Amazon, we’re on track to grow the company by about $1 million in revenue this year.  

How did Nuanced Media perform from a project management standpoint? 

We didn’t know how to fast track two huge projects at the same time and still be productive, but Nuanced Media pulled us into their framework. They created a  high-level project management system - a multi-scaled agile framework - that accesses all plans, initiatives, marketing strategies, apps, creative projects, and all creative content, all under one network of connected mini-networks.

Basecamp is one of our main hubs, but we also use Gather Content, both of which I  would highly recommend. We communicate on Zoom during weekly meetings that often last 1–1/2 hours. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very knowledgeable on how Amazon works. Whenever we had questions, they were able to answer our questions. They blew us away with their experience. They provided a lot of helpful insight into how a company can thrive on Amazon. They clearly know what opportunities we can take advantage of.

All of their team members were respectful, helpful, and contributed a wealth of knowledge. They were brilliant.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

I don’t see how they could improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Lay all your cards on the table and trust them. They’re going to be able to help you way more than you could ever imagine.

Please describe your company and your position there.

My wife and I started an eCommerce beauty products line. Our strategy is to initially sell on Amazon.

For what projects/services did your company hire Nuanced Media?

We were looking for assistance in building our Amazon presence. They have assisted us in product research, digital content, Amazon registration and content creation for our new product lines.

What were your goals for this project?

Successful registration and launch on the Amazon platform. Also, we want to launch a total of 5 products in 2021. Further, we want them to create a strong digital marketing strategy and content that fits our brand.

How did you select Nuanced Media?

We spoke with several vendors and ultimately we were impressed with Nuanced's project examples as well as their data-driven approach to selling on Amazon.

Also, they are really focused on project management and have been very efficient and organized.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Discovery calls, product research, collaboration on digital content and launch strategy.

What was the team composition?

I've worked 3-4 different team members, including the CEO. Everyone has been a pleasure to work with and very professional throughout the process.

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

We succesfully launched our first product! Also, we have a strong pipeline that we hope to launch in Q2 2021.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their project management system has been very effective and has led to strong communication and task completion on a bi-weekly basis. We have a strong cadence.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Very project management oriented. Also, everyone has been very enthusiasitc, patient and extremely pleasant to work with. I've been impressed with their problem solving skills and high efforts.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't think of any.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief product officer for a board game seller.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nuanced Media?

We were launching and selling board games through Kickstarter, and we were looking to grow our Amazon presence. We needed to customize our fulfillment capabilities and scale our presence there.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nuanced is helping us with digital marketing, including SEO, Amazon DSP campaign management, and listing management. They ensure products are showing up in searches. Our main focus has been increasing our Amazon presence and sales.

What is the team composition?

Ryan (CEO) and Francesca (Account Executive) are our main points of contact.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Nuanced Media around October 2019, and our relationship is ongoing.

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

There are no specific statistics that I could call out. In a time of uncertainty in terms of supply chains, Nuanced has helped us sell consistently on Amazon. A lot of people have seen negative impacts on their sales flows, and we haven’t. Given how we were set up on Amazon, we were able to maintain and grow sales earlier in 2020, when general sales were going in the opposite direction. It’s still early to mention a year-over-year growth, but we’ve consistently maintained sales.

How did Nuanced Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a detailed system for tracking and reporting. They’re transparent, and they’re great at setting weekly and monthly campaign goals. Communication and deadline management are probably the biggest benefit of working with Nuanced. They’re operationally-sound in taking on and managing projects.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide innovative solutions for continuing our growth. They’ve helped us with reviews and rankings, SEO, keywords, and listings. Nuanced has a holistic thought process for how a brand is presented on Amazon, and they can set up sprints and overall goals. Beyond statistical data, what I’ve been most impressed with is Nuanced Media’s ability to create an overall plan and give us bite-sized things that we can do in sprints. We can make campaign shifts in order to achieve our goal. Other companies will set up pie-in-the-sky goals, but the pathways for getting there is where a lot of people stumble. Nuanced can make strides based on a weekly plan.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Every client wants to do everything and go from zero to a million. In 2020 in particular, the goalposts moved every week for everyone. Sticking to the most important thing rather than the one we want right now is essential. This isn’t necessarily a pushback from me, but it’s something that would be helpful. We still have to fix some foundational things before moving to the next level, but we’re doing it.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to set campaign goals and objectives in the beginning and stick to them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a distribution support administrator for Great Plains Industries. We manufacture fuel transfer pumps and flow meters.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nuanced Media?

We started getting into our Amazon presence late last year and realized it was going to be a bigger project than we anticipated. We decided to bring in an Amazon consultant and found Nuanced Media.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an existing Amazon platform that we took over from a different internal team. It was a vendor account, and we weren’t really familiar with it. At first, our goals were to clean our presence and optimize our listings better. Then we realized we had opportunities in our market as a seller account.

Nuanced Media presented that to us along with long-term goals and how we can achieve them. The team took our three main families and optimized them. Once that happened, we could get more into marketing and advertising spend. We’ve since added accessories, spare parts, and more.

The Nuanced Media team has also done image marketing. They started some PPC and demand-side platform (DSP) campaigns in the last 2–3 months.

What is the team composition?

At first, I met with Steven (COO) and Ryan (CEO). Now we’re set up with two account managers.

How did you come to work with Nuanced Media?

I googled several consultants. Nuanced Media seemed the most personable of our options. They also knew what they were talking about, and I liked that they were a smaller firm: they could spend more time with our company and our questions. After 2–3 phone and Skype interviews, we made our decision.  

How much have you invested with them?

For the first 3–4 months, we had a pretty high budget — $7,000 per month — to get everything rolling. Now we’re down to $4,000–$5,000 per month because we have an established account and have learned from Nuanced Media how to do stuff on our own.

What is the status of this engagement?

We conducted interviews in November or December 2019, but we didn’t start working together until January this year. Even though our collaboration has shrunk, we like having access to Nuanced Media. They still manage our marketing spend from month to month.

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

Nuanced Media gives us reports monthly or every other week. Our sales go up each month. We've had to raise advertising budgets because we see them doing well. They offer graphs to help us make those decisions.

Their team also regularly gives suggestions and feedback. From the progress we’ve seen, we’re confident in following Nuanced Media’s advice.

How did Nuanced Media perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is easy to get a hold of. We communicate mainly via Basecamp. If they need anything from us, they post it there, and vice versa. We hear back the same day whenever we ask a question. We also have biweekly meetings with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to our previous Amazon consultant, we receive a lot more deliverables from Nuanced Media for what we’re paying.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The cost is pretty high, which is why we’ve reduced our budget. Maybe their point system could be reevaluated, but I’m not sure.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Magnitude Management. We are a business development agency that works with a variety of companies both launched and from scratch around the world, supporting them to help roll out new products, services, or channels.

We are currently focused on a company called Metal Labs LLC, which is a fintech company that provides support, education, tracking, and supplements to women in menopause.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nuanced Media?

We hired their team to provide Amazon marketing and optimization services for Metal Labs LLC.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Amazon is its own entire ecosystem of marketing, algorithms, optimizations, and other processes that need to be handled in order to successfully launch and scale a company, and Nuanced Media provided the expertise necessary to navigate that ecosystem.

Particularly for a supplement product, since Amazon represents 73% of all online supplement sales in the United States, if you don’t get it right there, you don’t stay in business. So far, Nuanced Media has able to handle our listings, PPC spend, and review optimization. Once we get our trademarks completed, they will also help with brand content, stores, additional PPC targeting, and even helping to promote a book written by the founders of Metal Labs.

What was the team composition?

Primarily I work with Halee (Project Manager) and Ryan (CEO) as the strategists for the project. Internally, I know they have a lot of other resources, including graphic designers and content and PPC management leads on it as well, but my main contact is with the project manager and the strategists.

How did you come to work with Nuanced Media?

A couple of years ago, I was a consulting strategist for various marketing agencies, one of which was Nuanced Media. I had a pretty good understanding of their capabilities as a result, and so when they moved aggressively into Amazon and I moved into this other venture, I needed someone that I felt I could trust to really drive that part of the project forward by bringing pre-built playbooks and best practices to the table.

How much have you invested with them?

Our total spend with them in agency fees is around $5,000–$6,000 a month, so we’ve probably spent about $20,000–$25,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We launched the product in February 2020 brought them on in March and we’ve been working with them since just after that.

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

We’ve been up and running for somewhere between 90–120 days, and we’re already at an annual run rate of about $10 million per year. The initial ROI on ads on Amazon is far higher than any other ROI we have, including Facebook and Google. They just blow them out of the water by 2–3 orders of magnitude. That itself has been a huge benefit to me in being able to balance out market acquisition.

Additionally, every month I give them daily revenue number targets, and they figure out a way to hit them. It’s not quite that he guarantees it, but Ryan gets about as close as you can without explicitly saying what he’ll deliver.

How did Nuanced Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve actually provided an entire data dashboard that was customized to me. It includes not only Amazon but my entire e-commerce channel, which was really helpful to be able to see what’s contributing what value and what revenue all tied together.

They also use Basecamp to manage the specific milestones, and I can chat at any point with Ryan or other members of their team about what we’re working on. They often respond even on weekends, but especially if it’s a workday someone will almost always get back to me in under an hour.

On top of that, we hold bi-weekly meetings with 30–45-minute presentations where we go over the last two weeks and the plan for the next to, which we’ll probably move to weekly as we increase our work with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The real sweet spot with Nuanced Media is that they have codified the process for building a scalable Amazon product link. They have a recipe that lays out the exact steps you need to take to demystify the Amazon process and really guarantee results at a level that most other businesses simply cannot do.

If you try to do Amazon on your own, it can be a really terrible experience because it isn’t friendly to sellers at all, but because they’re Amazon, you just deal with it. Nuanced Media serves as a field guide to that process, stepping in for anything that we ask from them and then also allowing us to handle whatever we want in-house and simply providing advice as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only potential area for improvement is that because they have such a well-defined process, it can sometimes be a little bit more difficult to adapt to outlier situations. A little bit of increased flexibility there would be helpful, but I would also be worried that if they went too far in that direction, they would actually just stray from their core competencies, so I would only suggest a very minor amount of change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re not ready to make an investment in Amazon, then this company might not be the right fit for you, because their process is way more involved than a tiny side hustle to make you a bit of extra money. But if you are committed to spending time and money on building a successful Amazon company, they are absolutely the people to get you there.