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    Columbia, MD
    443 266 3217

We're obo. A B2B Sales & Marketing Agency

4.9
4 reviews

We’re obo. A modern, results focused B2B Account Based sales and marketing agency that translates concepts into reality.

We’re a bold, energetic group of data nerds and marketing professionals who take on unique clients to provide industry leading support.

We’re not your traditional agency, we’re technology and marketing channel agnostic — what works for most companies might not work for you. We’ll identify the best strategy for your business and work with you toward a successful implementation.

Our services range from sales and marketing assessments, marketing automation implementation, sales and CRM technology optimization, email marketing, content & design, Pay-Per-Click, SEO to data & analytics.

Start generating more business today with OBO Agency. Visit www.oboagency.com

READ MORE...
 
$5,000+
 
$100 - $149 / hr
 
10 - 49
 Founded
2016
Show all +
Columbia, MD
headquarters
  • 7165 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite A
    Columbia, MD 21046
    United States
    443 266 3217
other locations
  • United States

Reviews

4.9
4 reviews
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ABM & Web Dev/Design for Analytics Company

"I’ve worked with quite a few agencies and obo. Agency’s customer-focus outshines them all."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
Confidential
 
Nov. 2017 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Initially brought on for ABM strategy implementation, obo. Agency’s work has resulted in recurring marketing and technical projects, to include HubSpot migration, email campaigns, and website redesign.

The Reviewer
 
51-200 Employees
 
Washington DC Metro Area
Karen Megarbane
Marketing Campaign Manager, PublicRelay
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

obo. Agency is incredibly responsive and takes the time to understand short and long-term goals, enabling them to provide perfect fit solutions. Their website redesign and rebranding have established a solid footing in a competitive market, while their marketing strategies have engaged new contacts.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing campaign manager for PublicRelay. We’re an analytics company that works with the communications and PR departments of Fortune 500 brands. We sell them high-level analytics that help them prove their business value and report on their campaigns.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with obo. Agency?

We initially began working with obo. Agency for help implementing an account-based marketing (ABM) strategy. However, as we saw the value of their support, their work increased to include HubSpot migration, email campaigns, and a website redesign.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

obo. Agency developed an ABM program for our sales and marketing team. They created a detailed playbook, based on their independent industry research and best practices, and we followed their directions to the letter.

They also put our marketing automation tool HubSpot in place and helped us with the data migration. They assisted us with the move from our old CRM Zoho to the HubSpot CRM, and then provided a 10-person training to ensure that we understood how it worked and how to optimize it to suit our business.

Another large project they helped us with was the website redesign. Using Elementor, they completely transformed our existing site and highlighted our rebranding initiative. The site is much more user-friendly, engaging, and modern. They helped us weave wonderful content that we had been developing, such as videos, throughout the site. It gives users that land our site the incentive to consume the information, download free resources, and learn more about our company.

One of the added benefits of their work on our site is that it is much easier to edit now. Previous web developers, or web development companies, that I’ve worked with have used templates that make it difficult or impossible to customize or edit as our business grows. obo. Agency designed the site so that once the project was over, we had full creative control and could edit the site to our liking.

Additional work they have done for us includes two rounds of cold emailing campaigns, ad development, and SEO consultations. Specifically for the emailing campaigns, they helped us create engaging messaging and drove appointments for our sales team.

What is the team composition?

Depending on the project, we would have a different team, but we’ve consistently worked with Taryn (Marketing Strategist, obo. Agency). She is extremely customer-focused, patient, thorough, and has always been cognizant of our resources. She only presents us with solutions that are a good fit for the business.

How did you come to work with obo. Agency?

I believe that my manager met obo. Agency’s owner at a networking event. After we began working with them, we were impressed with their attentiveness to our needs and strategy, and their results. We enjoyed working with them, so it made sense to continue bringing them onboard for our marketing projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In terms of their work on our website, they helped us completely rebrand and boost our brand awareness. It’s helped modernize and professionalize our brand, competitively positioning us in the market. As a small company with large competitors, we really appreciated that.

Regarding their marketing work, they’ve helped us engage with new contacts and introduced a unique and effective marketing approach. Additionally, they were extremely helpful in training us with the ABM strategy and bringing that to fruition.

How did obo. Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

As a whole, the team was responsive and extremely receptive to deadlines. They’re always willing to develop plans and implement best practices. Taryn, specifically, would immediately respond to my emails. If she didn’t know an answer, she would find it.

The team worked in two-week sprints. So, we would have weekly meetings to discuss the status and/or review deliverables. Outside of the meetings, our communication was mostly through email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

From our first project together, I was impressed with how attentive they were to our needs and the time that they took to understand our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve worked with quite a few agencies and obo. Agency’s customer-focus outshines them all. I have nothing negative to say about them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Something we appreciated about obo. Agency was that they took the time to understand our short and long-term strategy and aspirations. I suggest being open to their questions and allowing them to see the big picture of your business goals.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Content and Digital Marketing for a Software Company

"As an effective coordinator, Alex makes my life easier."

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4.5

Quality: 
4.0
Schedule: 
4.5
Cost: 
3.5
Willing to refer: 
4.5
The Project
 
$50,000 to $199,999
 
Jun. 2016 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

obo. Agency manages ongoing omnichannel marketing campaigns. The team focuses on marketing automation, but also assists with SEO, SEM, copywriting, and design. They execute data hygiene as needed.

The Reviewer
 
Columbia, Maryland
Director of Marketing, Software Company
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The team’s extensive expertise has expanded in-house marketing bandwidth. Quarterly reviews effectively assess performance and inform strategic resource allocation. Consistent in-person and remote communication ensure flow between projects. They are particularly helpful for smaller businesses.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager at a data warehousing CRM software provider. We serve associations in the nonprofit market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with obo. Agency?

We were a small-to-midsize company with reactive, not proactive, marketing. Our organization created my marketing position to elevate outreach and expand into more marketing channels. However, we lacked in-house resources to fulfill this objective effectively. We needed a vendor to supplement technology stack skills for SEO, search engine marketing (SEM), and website CRM data management. Ultimately, we wanted obo. Agency to increase our marketing revenue.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

obo. Agency serves as our agency of record. The engagement started with web designs, during which our freelance web developers advised about layout, lead forums, and workflow processes. Next, we focused on SEO and SEM as smaller components of our total ad spend. Primarily, obo. Agency does hosting and marketing automation.

For each project, we identify the target audience, the segment, and determine the right messaging. They assist with pop up ads, banner ads, and copywriting and design for the landing pages. Also, obo. Agency does data hygiene including email validation and enhancements for our contact lists.

What is the team composition?

Alex (Senior Marketing Strategist, obo. Agency) serves as our account representative. But subject-matter experts may take the lead for particular campaigns. We work with a graphic designer—who focuses on the layout—and a data lead; the latter does enhancements and tracks compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The technical team works on HTML development.

How did you come to work with obo. Agency?

My company engaged obo. Agency one month before they hired me. obo. Agency reached out to our VP of sales and built a relationship. Originally, they were across the street from our office, but have since moved a few minutes away. In addition to being a local vendor, the team had experience in providing sophisticated marketing services to other small-to-midsized businesses.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent more than $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2016 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re now able to implement marketing campaigns—SEO, SEM, paid ads— and measure their impact. obo. Agency does quarterly business reviews for outbound marketing; these reports track pickup, key performance indicators (KPI), organic traffic, and open and click-through rates. During the quarterly reviews, we assess the KPIs to determine which tactics we should be using.

How did obo. Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

As an effective coordinator, Alex makes my life easier. She assembles campaigns’ launch plans and strategically selects team members for each in-person meeting and project. This approach maintains flow. We communicate via email outside the scheduled weekly calls. I call Alex when issues are time sensitive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a result of obo. Agency’s extensive subject-matter expertise, we’re able to keep up with omnichannel marketing. Our company benefits from their cost-effective knowledge of the PR, CRM integration, and marketing automation fields.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We want to increase our digital ad spend to include count-based marketing on top of the personal level, but our budget cannot accommodate those services.

4.5
Overall Score
  • 4.5 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 3.5 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 4.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 4.5 NPS
    Willing to refer

Email Marketing Campaign for Printing Company

"I was impressed with their willingness to understand the nuances of my business."  

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$10,000 to $49,999
 
Nov. 2016 - Dec. 2017
Project summary: 

In an effort to increase qualified lead generation and improve brand recognition in the modern space, obo. Agency established an email marketing campaign that replaced the client’s traditional sales model.

The Reviewer
 
11-50 Employees
 
Silver Spring, Maryland
Robert Firestein
CEO, Ecoprint
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

No longer reliant on time-consuming methods like cold calling, the campaign has garnered dramatic increases in sales volume and positive response rate. Obo. delivered a customized, on-target solution that addressed the client’s unique challenges and resulted in major changes in sales procedures. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and president of Ecoprint, an environmentally friendly printing company with a history in commercial offset and digital printing. Established in 1977, we also offer in-house mailing and large format services as well as promotional items and apparel. We have 30 full-time and several part-time employees and an annual revenue approaching $5 million.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire obo. Agency?

We reached out to obo. to help us generate qualified leads and improve our brand recognition.

What were your goals for this project?

I had one simple goal: replace the old sales approach that was dependent on cold calling and traditional sales representatives with a process that consistently generated warm prospects for follow-ups.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I had been struggling with our existing prospecting practices and knew I needed to do something different. While I was confident that my brand and name were marketable, I was skeptical of the email marketing (i.e. spam) method. Still, I felt anything was worth a shot and one of my employees at the time had connections at obo.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After obo.'s co-founder met with my key staff members and me to share his company’s success stories, he developed a 90-day plan, researched the printing industry, and presented his outline, which we readily approved.

What was the team composition?

Fortunately for us, the team leader was familiar with the printing industry after spending several years working for a commercial printing company. He could understand and relate to our challenges.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

At 30%, our positive email response rate dramatically exceeded expectations and our sales pipeline increased by nearly 200%; the volume was almost overwhelming. Determining how to best distribute the positive responses among my sales staff was the only internal challenge I faced.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

My management team and I worked well with obo., but my traditional sales staff had difficulty with the amount of leads. I have since released most of those staff members and am trying to build a more contemporary “hybrid” sales representative. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed with their willingness to understand the nuances of my business. Rather than force on me an inadequate or inappropriate solution, they truly did their research, which is demonstrated both in my results and those of similar printing companies throughout the United States. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

Only for myself.

5.0
Overall Score I would recommend their services to any business that requires consistent opportunities in their pipeline.
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    The scheduling was phenomenal.
  • 4.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    This cost less then any sales experiment I have tried during my 15 years as a business owner.
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    I've embraced their model and brought it in-house, implementing the strategy on a daily basis.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    I refer them and their strategy all the time.

Lead Generation & Content Marketing for Wireless Communications Provider

"They take the time to know your business and be proactive."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$50,000 to $199,999
 
Jan. 2017 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Obo. Agency conducted customer-based research and provided data cleansing and marketing automation services for a client in need of lead generation. They assisted with email campaigns and content marketing as well.

The Reviewer
 
51-200 Employees
 
Baltimore Metro Area, Maryland
Director of Marketing, Wireless Communications Provider
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Inquiries, appointments, quote requests, and orders increased to a volume so large, marketing efforts had to slow down. Obo. Agency stays proactive, re-evaluating campaigns and adjusting as necessary to surpass expectations. They are always up for a challenge and meet all deadlines.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is a wireless communications company based in Baltimore, Maryland. We've been around for over 40 years, and we provide Motorola two-way radio communication as well as in-building solutions. If an organization does not have a strong cell signal in their building or strong public safety signal for first responders' two-way radios, we go in and fix that.

I'm the director of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with obo. Agency?

We were looking for a lead generation solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were interested in obo. Agency's marketing automation services. Their process consists of doing a strong overview and learning everything about how we function, what we sell, and who our ideal customer is. They did a lot of research and came back with some recommendations. We also needed help with our database. They were instrumental in helping us scrub that, identify, clean up, and then market a lot more specifically to unique groups instead of just general marketing to the whole group.

They also did email campaigns, content marketing, and newsletters. The lead generation involved email marketing. They created the content for our outbound marketing email campaigns, and it was a combination of warm to our database and cold to prospects. I was impressed with obo. Agency and their capability, so we let them handle our newsletters that we had been previously been doing with another marketing firm as well. For the newsletters, I provided most of the content.

Now, we're talking about working with them on blogs, webinars, and case studies. That's going to be new for us.

What is the team dynamic?

Noah [Co-founder, obo. Agency] was our initial contact. He is incredibly bright, wonderful to work with, and he's always responsive. We have an account manager we also work with. We have weekly phone calls, and she's incredibly responsive and capable. I've worked with many marketing agencies, and they're the most responsive, creative, and proactive group I've worked with.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $50,000 annually with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since January 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our email outreach efforts generated a total of 128 unique positive responses out of 430. They rate all the responses either positive, neutral, or negative. It's almost a 30% positive response rate we've generated. We're not only getting inquiries; we're getting appointments, request for quotes, and even orders. At one point, we had to slow it down because we were having trouble handling the volume. We've had great success with them.

How did obo. Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

We had deadlines to meet all the time. It's never been a problem with them. They have a very can-do attitude and make things happen. We recently had an acquisition, and they helped us with promoting it as well. I wrote the press release, and they tweaked and developed it into an email that we sent to our database and the acquiring company's database.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're incredibly knowledgeable, responsive, and proactive. We've gotten to a point where it's now time to move ahead and develop new tactics. They take the time to know your business and be proactive. They evaluate, re-evaluate, and adjust campaigns as needed if we're not getting the results that we're looking for. Some agencies get campaigns going, but then fall short with the analysis and follow-up. Obo. Agency is constantly reviewing ongoing campaigns and looking for opportunities to improve them for better results.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I haven't had any negative experiences with them since we've been working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open to their recommendations.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer