PBJ Marketing

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

All of our paid media campaigns wouldn’t exist without them. Their work in expanding and enhancing our presence in digital channels has directly translated to new leads and accounts. Our SEO rankings also increase slightly every month thanks to the cleanup they performed and the content they’ve created for our website.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

Larger agencies I’ve worked with in the past administer project management via a playbook. They set up guidelines for regular meetings, designated points of contact, standard operating procedures, and so forth. Unfortunately, this approach falls short when a project requires special attention. PBJ Marketing, being a smaller firm, customized their approach to managing our project. While some ambiguities arose in our initial meetings, their style has ultimately worked well for us. They can work nimbly and change gears when issues arise.

What did you find most impressive about them?

From the get-go, PBJ Marketing took the time to get to know our business, our niche market, and our goals. They spent many hours to put together a 20-page report on cultural differences in how people think about student loans around the world, including where they go and what sites they visit. That level of preparation for a client engagement impressed me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The reports they send us don't always have summaries to explain what the numbers mean and how they can apply to future planning. If they could provide interpretation of the data more frequently, that'd be helpful.

Any advice for potential customers?

Have a solid brief that describes what drives the business’s bottom lines. This helps focus PBJ Marketing on measures and metrics that really matter to your company.

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

We've noticed incredible results. Our previous firm wasn't really doing much to help get traffic to the website and they weren't tracking data the way PBJ does. That's something that I really appreciate about them. They are data driven.

Last year we created a microsite for one of our signature events. In the three months that it was launched, we got 20,000 views. That was 11 times more than what we had seen the entire previous year.

With the new website that we're getting ready to rollout, we've presented that to the board, our senior staff, some of our staff here at the foundation, and they're wowed by it. They're so excited because it looks much more modern, it's cleaner, and it's set up to do a variety of different functions, given the structure of our organization. Our team is really happy with those services.

How did PBJ Marketing perform from a project management standpoint?

With their website development project, they give us access to the GAMP timeline. They're very communicative. When things are changing, they reach out, take feedback, and turn it around quickly.

They use Asana and they give us access to that through InstaGAMP, but we currently don’t use a project management tool in-house. We basically use whatever PBJ is working with, including corresponding over email and phone as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I find PBJ to be more agile, responsive, and prepared than previous firms we’ve worked with. They're much more knowledgeable about the full environment that we're operating in. They prepare comprehensive reports and they tell us about implementing future strategies.

When we have issues, they’re on it right away. If we ever get a website error, I email, and it's generally resolved within the hour. They're always happy to hop on the phone whenever we need them. Their availability is something I haven't experienced in my career so far. We very much appreciate that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As the company grows, I think they can add more people to take on new clients. They're great, especially with us being a nonprofit, and I feel like they could move into that space with more capacity. They’re small right now and there’s a lot of room for them to grow.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I suggest to show up with a loose idea of what you want or a developed plan. But also understand that PBJ has a great wealth of knowledge about the digital space. They come up with quite a bit of ideas and they're very willing to help if you want it.