Planned Growth

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO, president, and founder of a technology company specializing in phones, cabling, and a host of voice over IP (VoIP) products. We also do some axis controls and surveillance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Planned Growth?

We wanted to make our website more relevant and work on our SEO. Our goal was to lend more legitimacy to our company and the products we carry in addition to improving our image for manufacturers and prospective employees.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Up until the past two years, we usually worked with them on an as-needed basis for a variety of projects. This included designing a new SEO-friendly website, optimizing its pages, and implementing a new CRM. We’ve since matured a lot over the last two years and have started creating more content in-house. We’re much more regimented in our marketing focus and what we want to achieve. We now go over our expectations with them to slowly improve our digital marketing strategies/methods that aren't as successful as we'd like. For example, we tried incorporating PPC options, but they weren't cost-effective enough to continue.

They currently do a lot of SEO work, refining our keywords and suggesting new ones to improve our rankings. They've introduced a new service called Nearby Now, which allows us to utilize client testimonials across different locations to boost our SEO and drive traffic to our site. In addition, we write a company newsletter, which reaches about 3,000 readers. Planned Growth takes that content, modifies it to include our targeted keywords, and sends it out. They also post that information on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, although social media is less relevant to our business. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve had one primary contact for the past few years who manages our account.

How did you come to work with Planned Growth?

I knew their people and have worked with them since their inception. We didn’t have the budget to hire someone full-time, but they worked within a price range we liked.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $1,800 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2011 and are still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I track our leads and where they come from using Google Analytics. We have seen an increase in leads in the last two years, and the keywords they've added are improving in ranks. They continue to refine and adjust SEO and content to keep those improvements going. Nearby Now has been one of the best things for us. It allows us to get testimonies from customers and helps our visibility. We have a fleet of people to meet with customers and convince them to review us.

How did Planned Growth perform from a project management standpoint?

They do an excellent job. We get monthly status reports on the website and set up 15–30-minute discussions each month to discuss what we’ve done and what hot items to cover next. They drive us to create more content.

They’re very involved and quick to respond. They catch things that no one else does and often fix issues within a day. Whenever I send a request, I get an automated ticket back and a response with either a status update or a report that the work is done. They work fast, and we’ve never had an issue with the work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their task management is a major strength.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We would love to see more leads through our SEO, but we are competing against companies who use PPC marketing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take the time and plan out what you want to accomplish. Customers usually get disgruntled with projects when they don’t come in with a plan. Marketing takes work, and it’s important to budget the time to write content, meet with them, and complete any other tasks you need to succeed. The world has gotten quicker, so if you don’t put in the work, you’re setting yourself up to fail.