Optimotive

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior sales and marketing manager of a cold storage solution company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Optimotive?

We’re a small company and needed help with research on marketing campaigns and strategies as well as keyword analytics.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

On their day-to-day, they manage our Google Ads and other online marketing campaigns. They also do research on market keywords and help us improve retargeting for online ads.

We’ve launched two new products to offer our clients a turnkey solution. Optimotive worked on all of the marketing materials including email copy and workflows.

Additionally, we recently updated the platform for our website. Optimotive was a key player in migrating all of our content from our old site to the new one. They also help with the backend of our marketing software as well.

What is the team composition?

I work with Andrew (Founding Partner), Michael (Managing Partner), and Pranit (Director of Marketing Strategy).

How did you come to work with Optimotive?

Andrew knows the owners of our company. We worked with them in the past and decided to work with them again.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The results have been tremendous. The sales for our new products are extremely successful YoY. Our spend has been returned 20 times over in profit thanks to their marketing efforts. The foundation that Optimotive laid out is key to our success.

How did Optimotive perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re super organized. If I need anything on the day-to-day, I simply Slack Pranit. I can also reach out to Michael and Andrew easily. We have weekly meetings to catch up and touch base about a number of projects.

Everything is color-coordinated on spreadsheets, which is great. The deadlines are being met and the communication via Zoom, email, calls, and Slack is excellent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re great to work with, which is why we work with them YoY. I appreciate their prompt communication. The team is extremely professional and personable. I’ve met Andrew multiple times since we both lived in Denver. Even though I haven’t met the rest of the team in person, they’re wonderful to work with.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the past, they had some staffing issues. While they never missed any deadlines, they were sending us emails at 12–1 AM because they were busy with so many other accounts. That issue has since been resolved.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re committed to learning as much about our business as possible so the marketing materials are specifically catered to us and our customers. Go to Optimotive with as much information about your customer base and best practices and they’ll use that information to put out great material.  

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am one of the owners of Antero Homes & CP&M. We are a multi-family homebuilder, as well as a full service general contractor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Optimotive was hired to redesign our CP&M Website, as well as help us design a logo and create a website for Antero Homes. They also do our ongoing website maintenance, and help us create new website as needed.

SOLUTION

How did you select Optimotive and what were the deciding factors?

Optimotive was referred to us through other clients they have used. Both price, flexibility and a general likability about Optimotive is what led us to choose this company and stay with them all these years.

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

They have completely redesigned our CP&M website, working with us on the ideas we have and turning them into exactly what we are looking for. They have designed logos for us, websites for us, and assisted us with all website needs that we had

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

We have worked closely with both of the owners of Optimotive as well as with one of their designers Eva, all of whom are awesome.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have always delivered what we want and done so in a timely manner. They are easy and fun to work with as well.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

They use google drive for communication tools which we find extremely helpful and easy to use. They often do zoom meetings which is easy because it allows us to chat and share our thoughts while sharing screens as well. They always finish within their timeline and are patient with us when we don't meet deadlines.

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

They are a smaller company that gives a lot of personal touch. We feel like we have really gotten to know the owners which makes us feel like they really care about our company and our vision. They are good about listening to what you want and then figuring out who within the company will best suit our needs.

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

No where, we love them!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of a regenerative agroforestry agency. We plant local tree species and valuable crops like turmeric to create regenerative farms.  We also manage an ecotourism regenerative farm in Costa Rica and have recently launched a product line in the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Optimotive?

Optimotive built websites, designed ads, and managed our ad accounts for all three of our entities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Optimotive developed two WordPress websites. One of our sites was much older and many people have worked on it over the years, so it was really a can of worms when we handed it over to them. They cleaned it up and redeveloped it. Then they rebuilt our third website on Shopify from scratch.  

They also designed our ads and managed our Google Ads and Facebook Ads accounts.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Andrew (Founding Partner).

How did you come to work with Optimotive?

My coworker knew Andrew. We were looking for a marketing company, and they seemed like a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

\We spent at least $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership lasted from February 2017–February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Some ad campaigns were more successful than others because we were experimenting with different strategies. We were still gathering data and were trying to identify our target audience.

I really enjoyed working with them on a personal level, but ultimately, we decided to part ways because we outgrew them. They were happy to execute our strategy to appease us, but they could have guided us a bit more. They didn’t do anything wrong and I still hope to work with them again in the future, but we needed more help with our strategy.

How did Optimotive perform from a project management standpoint?

I really enjoyed working with them. Overall, they were pretty organized and it even improved when we got a new point of contact. Whenever we gave them a to-do list, they always followed through and delivered on time.

They also communicated very well. I never had a hard time reaching them and they always responded quickly.

At the beginning of the project, we communicated over WhatsApp. More recently we started using Slack and it was a more efficient way of communicating.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re honest, authentic, and very personable. They specifically choose projects that they believe in and are inspired by, so they were a great fit for our organization. They go the extra mile and act with integrity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Every once in a while, they would make a mistake that seemed pretty obvious. For example, they misspelled something on the website. I got the sense that their team was pretty big and they were handing it off to different people. However, it got better over the course of the engagement.

We tried to hire them for copywriting, but the quality of their work didn’t meet our expectations. After asking for several revisions, we decided not to continue that part of the engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you already have a strong strategy and you just need to expand your staff, Optimotive is a great partner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We import and distribute seafood under the name Bela in both brick and mortar stores throughout the country as well as our online store. We’re the exclusive importer of this brand of seafood and other products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Optimotive?

We were launching an online store and were looking for a partner to help us manage that process. We underwent this project before the COVID-19 pandemic when online shopping was still a small percentage of our revenue.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us create and establish an e-commerce Shopify platform. From soup to nuts, they were responsible for the front- and backend development of the platform. I provided them with information specific to the business, but they built out all aspects of the functionality. They also managed to upload products and descriptions as well as integrating credit card processing technology. They provided our brand with an online presence.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with four people: Andrew (Founding Partner), Michael (Managing Partner), Alice (Director of Digital Strategy, and Pranit (Director of Marketing Strategy). Michael was my main point of contact.  

How did you come to work with Optimotive?

We came to their services through the recommendations of a family friend. They had launched online stores for several other clients and their skill set seemed to match up with what we were looking for.   

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since November 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

 Their service is very good. We’ve grown our sales significantly through the online platform. We’re doing north of $20,000 of sales each month and weren’t selling online at all prior to this relationship. They’ve been great at A/B testing and deploying ads across Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads. In my experience, we’re seeing strong customer retention. We’re not simply spending a dollar to make a dollar.  

How did Optimotive perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re proactive on a month-to-month basis as well as reactive to my needs when I voice an issue. Additionally, their response times are quick.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re great at analyzing companies to determine whether or not they’re a good fit for online selling. From there, they’re excellent at deploying a soup to nuts strategy. They’re excellent at content development as well as driving sales through content. We’re happy with their ability to drive repeat customers and our product in general. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would not recommend them for Amazon marketing work. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having them do a financial model and apply it through content-based deliverables will help you get the most out of their services. They’re good at applying their financial plan in terms of capital spent and expectations against capital. Their creation and deployment of blog content are strong as well.