Obility

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Marketing Content Manager at Innovyze. The company is a "smart water analytics" firm that creates software solution for intelligent water management in both the public and private sector.

For what projects/services did your company hire Obility?

We hired Obility for an SEO project following a new website launch, and I only wish we would have brought them on sooner. Following the site launch, we saw a decrease in Organic traffic by 30%. This led us to look for a digital marketing partner who could help us right course.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to stop the loss of Organic traffic, and chart a course for positive organic traffic going forward. Also, we wanted to integrate our marketing automation platform so that we could demonstrate the efficacy of our Organic traffic acquisition as a lead generating channel.

How did you select Obility?

We chose Obility for there expertise in B2B software marketing, and their relentless focus on tying efforts back to leads and revenue. During the vendor evaluation, the Obility rep personally invited us to their local conference, Marketing Loves Sales, and set aside time for us to discuss how we can best organization an engagement to meet our business needs. This personal level of focus and domain expertise really set them apart from larger vendors we were looking at.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Obility started by auditing our old website, and the newly launched website to see where content gaps might have become apparent. They outlined a plan for us to migrate a legacy blog housed on a subdomain to live underneath the main .com so that we could consolidate a key SEO content channel and brand. That gave us a huge lift in main domain organic traffic, that still continues to grow to this day.

Next, they worked within our marketing automation and Google Analytics accounts to set up an event tracking framework so we could track lead submissions by product line and channel. This was a complicated project, and they handled it with flexibility and expertise. Following these two main projects, Obility consistently audited our site to fix technical SEO errors as well as provide SEO friendly content recommendations. They also provided extensive keyword research and recommendations to update our homepage navigation bar.

What was the team composition?

We worked with the SEO manager and two account managers. Our team involved Marketing Content and Demand Generation.

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

YoY we've seen a lift of about 30% organic traffic, which was the exact goal we set with the Obility team. We also saw an increase in our overall website conversion rate, which was previously unmeasurable.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was very responsive and informative. The workflow had essentially no inefficiencies.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their dedication to showing results and their specific expertise in B2B software impressed us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

If you guys can include content creation out of the box with your SEO engagements instead of an added service, you'll be unstoppable for B2B SEO.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior digital marking manager for a digital workforce platform. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Obility?

We have multiple business lines spanning different industries. It was important that we were operating our platforms and channels effectively across all business lines while leveraging expertise in those channels.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We asked them to manage our SEO, paid social, and paid search strategy. The SEO involved site structure changes and a complete rebrand of the platform. For the paid ads, they also played a role in mapping keywords and targeting audiences. They targeted Microsoft Advertising and Google Ads for paid search. On social media, they focused on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Typically, they would handle keywords research and discovery while we would focus on personas. That way, we could come together to build audiences and strategies. At that time, they’d take the first stab at ad copy and eventually launch and manage the ads.   

What is the team composition?

They had a customer success manager that was assigned to me. Under him, there was one person dedicated to each of the different channels we were collaborating with. For instance, there was someone in charge of social, paid search, and SEO.

How did you come to work with Obility?

A friend attended one of their conferences and recommended them to me. So, I recommended them to my agency, and we compared them to our other options. The team liked their proposal and style, so we ultimately choose them. 

How much have you invested with them?

The total for the year will amount to $132,000. We paid for the full year in advance to receive an 15% discount. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2020, and the project is ongoing.

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

On social, our conversion rate doubled. We saw much success with LinkedIn, where they were marketing particularly effectively. Our cost per lead was also but in half, which allowed us to get double the amount of leads for our old cost.

We’ve also ventured into new markets and are already seeing that they’re about a third of the cost per lead that we had on other channels originally. They’re super professional subject matter experts.  

How did Obility perform from a project management standpoint?

I enjoyed their organized team structure and clear action items. If I ever have a question, they’ll respond within hours. They’re very flexible, allowing us to switch gears easily due to the pandemic. We always have clear action items and assignments, sharing documents and spreadsheets on Google Drive. I’ve never experienced a better project management system with an agency.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their effectiveness in delivering more than what they originally promised was very impressive. The team turned tasks around very quickly and was super communicative from the beginning. We always had a communication cadence and milestones. That made the project so smooth.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be a good partner for them. It’s essential that you deliver according to your deadlines and absorb the information that they share with you. That will help them move faster.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a manager at a semiconductor manufacturer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Obility?

We were having difficulties receiving consistent service from a small PPC vendor. We reopened our search for a partner and hired Obility to coordinate our SEO and PPC strategies.

What was the scope of their involvement?

As a semiconductor manufacturer with a relatively new website post-merger—we were looking to target specific keywords centering on our two business units: mobile products and infrastructure and defense products. We also targeted keywords related to the technologies and different brands that we have associated with the products.

Over the years, our relationship has consisted of PPC programs and SEO campaigns to increase our visibility on Google’s search rankings. Our engagement has also grown to include display and targeted search ads around trade shows that we hold in the United States and Europe. Most recently, we’ve also implemented a paid social program focusing on LinkedIn.

What is the team composition?

In addition to one primary day-to-day contact, we have separate account managers for our paid search and paid social programs. Over time, we’ve also interacted with members of the leadership and business development teams.

How did you come to work with Obility?

I worked with several people at Obility while they were at a different agency, so I was already familiar with their work. Additionally, Obility came highly recommended by a former colleague.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in March 2017 and remains ongoing.

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

To track their success, we monitor the figures for impressions, clicks, click-through rates, and cost per lead that stem from each of their campaigns and programs. We also look at engagement metrics like bounce rate and the time spent on specific pages.

How did Obility perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been responsive throughout the engagement, setting them apart from our first vendor. Obility does a great job of drafting proposals and providing clear action items and deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their work is noteworthy, and I’ve had a good experience with every member of their team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the first year of our engagement, Obility had some staff turnover in our account manager positions, which was a cause for concern. They did a great job of addressing that, however, and we haven’t experienced anything similar to that since.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If possible, I’d recommend interviewing the people you will be working with to make sure there is a good connection. It’s also essential to have clearly defined goals and an understanding of how Obility will address them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Cloudflare provides security and performance for websites, APIs, and applications. I'm a global digital marketing lead.

For what projects/services did your company hire Obility?

B2B paid search is unique and more complicated than traditional B2B advertising. We hired Obility to support and manage our PPC efforts across multiple platforms. 

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to grow, expand, and improve our paid search program.

How did you select this vendor?

I got a few referrals, talked to at least eight other agencies, and allowed platform audits. After reviewing five audits, Obility understood B2B most. 

Describe the project in detail.

They manage paid search campaigns for multiple products across multiple regions and languages. They also work on UX, improve conversion rates across the sales process, and enhance sales interactions. 

What was the team composition?

We have an account manager, a campaign manager, and a secondary campaign manager. We also receive support from others at the agency. 

Can you share any statistics or metrics that speak to the quality of their work and the impact of the engagement?

We have hit our goals every quarter since we started working with Obility, and our growth goals are aggressive.

How did Obility perform from a project management standpoint?

Our account manager is a great project and task manager who makes sure they complete every task on time. We are constantly changing focus, which makes their work more challenging.

What impresses you about Obility?

I appreciate their unique understanding and advanced knowledge of B2B paid search, plus the fact that they could work with Marketo and Salesforce data.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are always areas for improvement. We currently use Asana for project management, but it would've been helpful to implement it at the beginning of the relationship. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the head of operations for a manufacturing firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with Haatzama Marketing?

During strategic planning, we noted a gap in our marketing strategy. We needed to hire a vendor because we didn’t have the in-house marketing skills to fill out our strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Haatzama Marketing revamped our website using Adobe Business Catalyst. The team then identified the tech stack to build a marketing infrastructure with our CRM and deploy that campaign. They built new functionalities including process integration. Next, we put our website on to HubSpot and they developed workflows for that software. Haatzama Marketing tested several strategies—including social media marketing—to determine their effectiveness.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people on a regular basis. They allocated additional resources for certain tasks.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent just under $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from January–June 2018.

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

Haatzama Marketing made us more efficient. Their strategy enabled us to track specific marketing campaigns and understand how they impacted our customers. We stopped the social media campaign because it was not the best method to achieve our needs; the decision was not related to the team’s performance. They would have done more if that decision was up to me.

How did Haatzama Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

From the very first meeting, the team scoped projects clearly. During face-to-face conversations, they drew process flow charts on whiteboards to translate information from our scientists and engineers into marketing tactics.

Haatzama Marketing provided weekly reports and used Wrike. The team was organized, cohesive, and goal-oriented. As a result, the partnership was easy because our team did not have to manage anything. We had a very positive experience.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They guided our team through the entire process. Since my background is in operations and finance, I enjoyed learning about the creative and process sides of marketing. As a result, the potential of marketing strategies became more tangible for me. That guidance—especially from their management team—is something I haven’t seen with any other marketing agency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I had a high-level overview of the project. The team kept me updated and routinely asked for my approval before moving forward. There were no tactical issues from my perspective.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to their advice and be open to their suggestions. Clients should trust them because they are professionals; the team knows what they’re doing. Strategic planning may take some time, but Haatzama Marketing will identify appropriate solutions.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of finance and operations for a consulting firm. We work with organizations all over the world and help them build and increase engagement with their communities, whether that's their customers or employees. We help our clients amplify their messages out in the world.

What challenge were you trying to address with Haatzama Marketing?

We’d purchased Salesforce and developed a complicated instance, but the people who generally managed it left our organization, so we needed help. We hired Haatzama Marketing with the hope that they’d be able to get rid of some of the entanglements on the backend and simplify the instance to make it more usable, mainly for our sales function.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Haatzama Marketing only fixed the instance we already had; they didn’t create any new ones. Unfortunately, our engagement didn’t go well. They only completed about 70% of the work we asked them to do. For example, we wanted to be able to use Salesforce to determine our growth project margins, but they never showed me how to do that, so that feature currently doesn’t function. They cleaned up our screens and did some of the work we asked, but the partnership wasn’t as productive as we’d hoped. In some senses, it feels like our Salesforce instance is broken.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about five people, including a project manager and their president.

How did you come to work with Haatzama Marketing?

One of our employees recommended them. We talked to their president, and it seemed like they could do what we needed, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $43,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2017–June 2018.

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

They finished our marketing and account components, but other tasks weren’t completed and aren’t currently functional.

How did Haatzama Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They clearly explained their plan and laid out a timeline, but we didn’t end up sticking to it. We asked them to come prepared to meetings, but they frequently didn’t. The project manager didn’t provide useful weekly reports, although the team did keep good track of their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They need to have a better project manager. We ran out of time and didn’t meet all of our goals, although it was probably a combination of both of our companies failing to stick to the deadline.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Make sure you have someone on your team who understands the problems you want solved and who can work closely with Haatzama Marketing.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of development for Morrison Child & Family Services. We are a child mental health services organization that serves minors and their families.

What challenge were you trying to address with Haatzama Marketing?

Our organization had an aging donor base that we didn’t maintain consistently over 15 years. We received a grant to transfer that data on thousands of donor constituents to Salesforce. We then hired Haatzama Marketing to clean up and optimize the data for the Salesforce implementation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Haatzama Marketing configured Salesforce to help us get the data we needed in a variety of ways. The implementation focused on how we track prospective donors and different kinds of donations including grants, individual gifts, event sponsorships, and planned giving. They are now training our in-house team to use Salesforce. The implementation is still in progress because we’re refining our data processing. They are helping us transfer information more concisely, such as for mailing lists.

What is the team composition?

We work with three people.

How did you come to work with Haatzama Marketing?

After receiving the grant, we assessed our needs and then researched local organizations that had the capacity for a nonprofit setting. Our team vetted three different agencies before selecting Haatzama Marketing. However, my department experienced turnover and we had to restart the hiring process. During the second round, Haatzama Marketing stood out as a good fit for our company and we chose them again.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $29,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2018 and the partnership is ongoing.

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

Reporting and database management are already much easier. Our fundraising process is now streamlined with better communication between departments. We recently onboarded a new database manager who found the Salesforce implementation highly intuitive.

How did Haatzama Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is responsive and works at a good clip, especially when we request support. The partnership started when my department was under-staffed. Consequently, I couldn’t track their work how I wanted to. But we were able to trust them instantly as they accommodated our hectic situation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Haatzama Marketing is easy to work with because they are responsive to our needs. The team’s professionalism distinguishes them from the competition.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They’re a really good partner.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients should be clear about their needs because Haatzama Marketing can meet them. The team is always on top of it, but we could have also utilized their time better. Ultimately, clients should expect the team to be very responsive.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We do criminal investigation compliance work around e-commerce organizations and large internet and payment companies. I am the associate director of client partnerships.

What challenge were you trying to address with Haatzama Marketing?

We wanted a CRM that could grow with us, so we chose to implement Salesforce for the first time. It solved all our problems and operated as a business process automation platform. However, we still needed a team to help us with process planning and to do some of the more complicated steps in our implementation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had two leads on our side working on Salesforce and a group from Haatzama who came in as best practices experts. We went through 2–3 stages to implement the new process and synthesize all the data. They helped outline and drive discussions around the business process of sales. The team also met with our leadership and stakeholders to get approval for their plan.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of 3–4 people, including a project manager, a business process analyst, and a Salesforce engineer.

How did you come to work with Haatzama Marketing?

We chose them based on a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $64,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between December 2017–May 2018.

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

Their work has been incredibly impactful on our business. We use the system they created in multiple departments and have seen some exciting changes. Haatzama Marketing's team was incredibly helpful, and I appreciate the effort they put in.

How did Haatzama Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well and focused on specific steps. They had a very prescriptive process, which was helpful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were dedicated to the projects and spent time answering our questions and explaining processes that were new to us. We don’t have a lot of experience with this sort of project, and it was helpful to have their guidance.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Because they were so prescriptive in their steps, they sometimes lost attention for how fast or how slow the rhythm of the project should be. We experienced a few roadblocks along the way and would have liked more training. We asked multiple times for documentation that wasn’t delivered.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you are organized and can track your needs from a business process perspective. Align your steps with theirs so that you can move forward without forgetting anything.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of a B2C SaaS company. We provide a data platform that allows customers to connect and use their data with machine learning and AI. This ability allows them to better serve their customers with improved marketing tools.

What challenge were you trying to address with Haatzama Marketing?

We were having trouble with optimizing our sales force, marketing ops integrations, and administration. We didn't have enough people in-house who were able to handle optimizing those platforms, which meant we couldn't effectively leverage our data. We also wanted our sales and marketing teams to be able to use platforms like Salesforce, as well as our own Linux platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their role focused on data integrity and cleanup, setting up basic governance, and automation operations processes. They also enabled some of our teams to start leveraging the work that they put in place from workflow and automation perspective.

In addition to sales and marketing ops, they provided e-mail services, including three email template designs.

What is the team composition?

I worked with several people at the agency, but most of my contact was with two team members to discuss day-to-day operations.

How did you come to work with Haatzama Marketing?

I'd worked with the agency's president and some of the team members in a previous capacity, so I knew the quality of the work they would produce and knew Haatzama would be a company I could trust. Furthermore, we needed to move quickly and the team is local, so we knew the partnership would be easy to facilitate.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together March 2018 and are continuing work on campaign optimization, attribution, and tracking across each stack, and day-to-day sales ops.

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

By cleaning up our data with Salesforce, we were better able to leverage our visibility to help us target specific companies and accounts. I don't have financial statistics or metrics that can show the impact of their work, but it did make us more efficient and saves us a lot of time. The same goes for the improvements they made in operational automations—for example, they automated the previously manual process of task assignment. By reducing the time we spend on administrative work, the team created more time for us to focus on industry selling.

How did Haatzama Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

I really appreciate their commitment to consistent and thorough project management. They give weekly status updates, use a product management system so we always know the status of a task, and they ask the right questions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're cost effective and they have the right individuals to deliver the specific work you need. They're not trying to be a full-service agency, so there's no middle management or other ancillary roles that inflate costs. While we originally started with sales operations and sales force and marketing optimization, they were also able to quickly provide design work when we realized we needed it. The quality of work they provide at the price they charge is much more competitive than other agencies we've worked with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It often takes time to understand the nuances of a client's business, and since we needed to move fast there were a few occasions when we had small problems. Everything was entirely fixable, and I think largely a result of our immediate deadlines, but I think they'd be well served by asking more questions to determine the details of a project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Haatzama is a great choice if you need to execute a project quickly, but it's still important to know exactly what you want to accomplish and what you want them to do for you. The team will help you expand on some ideas, but it's helpful to have defined goals beforehand.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior marketing and communication specialist for a company that produces building automation supply equipment and sells it worldwide. We manufacture power meters, relays, current relays, sensors, etc.

What challenge were you trying to address with Obility?

Our goal was to increase our web presence through SEO and bring in qualified leads to our website and sales force to convert them into sales. We had worked with an independent consultant for SEO and weren’t happy with the level of work that was provided, so we made the decision to change to a more reputable agency.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started off doing a lot of research into what our current status was and worked on identifying keywords that we needed to target in order to rank higher. They also did a competitive analysis for us against some of our chosen competitors.

We executed some of the strategy recommendations they initially made while they implemented new keyword changes to our content. Additionally, they fixed some site errors and eliminated duplicate content. Due to the age of our site, we’re limited in what we can do. A lot of it has been strategy and problem solving, for which I’m really grateful. We haven’t done much by way of backlinking yet, but that’s next on our list.

Obility also led us through a project to rebuild our website. We haven’t started it yet, but have been doing a lot of research and work with our senior leadership to get approval and funding. Once we get there, we’ll be using their team to leverage the site and make sure we’re moving forward in the best way possible to serve our SEO goals.

How did you come to work with Obility?

Someone I knew on LinkedIn recommended them. I did some research and I met with them and a couple of other companies. I decided on Obility because I really liked the people behind the work. I felt that I would get really personalized care and that’s ultimately why I chose them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2017 and the work is ongoing.

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

Our site errors and duplications have gone down, which was one of the technical strategy suggestions they made. While we haven’t seen major results yet for our keyword work, they did give me some recommendations for updating our YouTube videos for getting rankings there. I implemented those and saw changes right away.

How did Obility perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great in this regard. They provide monthly and quarterly progress reports and we have bi-weekly check-ins where we review what we’ve done, what’s still outstanding, and what we want to do in the future. I’m in communication with an account manager and an SEO manager. I can reach out to either of them at any time and they’re both in touch with me regularly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication and ability to create relationship are impressive. It’s not just a contract for them. They feel like an extension of your team, seeking to understand your business and keeping up with what is going on in your project. I never feel like I have to fill them in on what we’ve talked about previously, and they’re proactive in finding ways they can help outside of the general scope. I’m a marketing team of one, so I had to outsource some of this work. It doesn’t feel like outsourcing, it feels like they’re truly people that I can call colleagues.

Obility has also been extremely helpful and understanding in working within the limitations of our site. Whenever we’re not able to make a recommended change because our website can’t handle it, they’re good about pivoting, suggesting other options, and working to move us forward in some way instead of letting it be a failure.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The transition from their business development phase to the implementation phase was great, though I didn’t hear again from the business development guy after they started the work. I would have liked a check-in rather than a clean cutoff. I understand he had other things to do, and it’s not a problem, but rather the tiny thing I could nitpick at if I had to.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do the research and look at the company. It’s worth looking at others to really know how much better Obility is. They were at the top of the line when I was doing my research.

They host a B2B marketing and sales conference every year, which I’ve attended and is really great. I highly recommend to anyone interested in their services to go to that and see the breadth of experience and knowledge that they have to offer.