Red Cow Media Ltd

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a gym and fitness apparel brand that's been going for about five years now. I’m the marketing manager and I started working for the company two years ago. I run most of the marketing activity with another employee in the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cow Media Ltd?

We hit a wall with our marketing since all of our focus was all about conquering the influencer marketing space and we did quite well on that. We then hired Red Cow Media to grow and add different channels to our marketing efforts. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re responsible for SEO, Google Apps, Google Shopping, and unpaid social media. The Red Cow Media team doesn’t do our posting on social media since we do that in-house, but they create our ads that go out on the sponsored and boosted posts on the ad dashboard. 

What is the team composition?

We have two points of contact, namely Steven (Director) and Phil (SEO Manager).

How did you come to work with Red Cow Media Ltd?

We came to them because they had experiences in some sectors with brands that were similar to us. We did a search on Google, and we shortlisted around five agencies and contacted them. Then, we had an in-house pitching process which was led by one of our directors, and we asked them for an RFI document. 

After that, we narrowed down our choices to three agencies. Red Cow Media stood out because we liked their ROI-driven approach, which was in line with the path we wanted to take. We also noticed that they had some great experience with some of the bigger brands in the UK. Above all, they clearly communicated things in a detailed way. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend roughly £8,000 (approximately $11,000 USD)  a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our partnership with Red Cow Media in October 2019, and we continue to work with them.

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

We’ve noticed many changes because of Red Cow Media’s work. On the paid side, we’ve had 33 times ROI which has been phenomenal, and we haven’t had that level of return from any other channel that we’ve used. We’ve also had a 30% increase in our organic traffic which has resulted in a 35% uplift in revenue. Overall, we’re really pleased since we began working with Red Cow Media.

How did Red Cow Media Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

We typically communicate via email and calls, and we don’t have any project management tools. We tried Trello at one point internally and Red Cow media was happy to plug into that. However, it didn’t work for us as a company and the team had nothing to do with why we scrapped it.

Overall, we have no trouble communicating with Red Cow Media. They send us weekly updates, and we always know what’s going on. They also provide in-depth monthly reporting — the level of detail that they go into has blown us away. With their efforts, we’re well-informed. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their results and communication skills have been impressive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I prefer to reach out to only one main point of contact since I receive messages from two people, and that’s probably the only criticism I have. Sometimes, it’s easier to have one point of communication.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give clear directions and relay information to Red Cow Media in the first couple of months. Give them as much information as possible so that they can effectively draw a plan from your goals. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager for All Car Leasing. We’re a vehicle leasing broker who offers finance agreements for people to be able to lease cars.

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cow Media Ltd?

We engaged with them because we have a sister website called All Van Leasing that was bringing in very little work but we wanted to get it off the ground. We weren’t able to do it internally because we didn’t have the manpower.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were going to look at the basic principles of SEO including content on the site and links with the goal of increasing our visibility on search engines organically. We’d already done the keywords, but they did their own audit to determine them as well, so their campaigns focused on their keywords. Because van leasing is a smaller section than car leasing, the amount of target keywords isn’t too massive. They also built backlinks toward the end of the project.

What is the team dynamic?

We were in contact with one person mostly, Marco (Tech Lead), but also the two directors who oversaw it: Steven (Director) and Kelly (Managing Director).

How did you come to work with Red Cow Media Ltd?

They originally pitched us to help with All Car Leasing, but we went with another provider for that. When we realized we needed help with van leasing we remembered that their pitch was strong and that they were somewhat local so we decided to utilize their skills.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent £2,200 ($2,730 USD) per month, and just over £10,000 ($12,400 USD) total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June until November 2019.

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

I was quite pleased in the beginning of the project when they were working on the content and doing the audit. We could even feel rumblings of some positive impacts from their work, but this was quite basic stuff. Good work, but very basic. Things turned bad when they started to build links in August and September. The methods they used went against Google’s guidelines, so the articles they were linking weren’t very trustworthy, and the links would always be an exact keyword match, or keyword rich. Google sees that as spammy and not best practices. It’s a relatively easy way to catch the attention of one of Google’s manual graders. We had to disavow those links. Stephen stopped communicating with us after we presented them with evidence and just told us to pay the last invoice. They’ve actually engaged with a collections company to collect the invoice, which we haven’t paid because the work was not done.

How did Red Cow Media Ltd address the challenges that arose?

When we challenged Red Cow about it they denied the poor quality despite the irrefutable evidence in Google’s guidelines. From there, we had to pause our cooperation since we were having some staffing issues. We also realized that they weren’t going to change their behavior.

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

They were causing us more harm than good and wasting our money. Rather than apologizing and doing better, they only wanted to argue and defend themselves. The website hasn’t gained the traction we wanted it to, and we’re not in a rush to engage with another agency because we got our fingers burned with Red Cow. Our experience has made us distrust the agency sector as a whole. We’ll have to insist that other contracts moving forward have wording that will protect us since the wording in this contract forced us to pay the final invoice.

How was project management handled?

The communication was quite regular when we were doing the basic content stuff. We mostly spoke over email. They were fine from that point of view, but links were the next natural step and their work was dangerous to us.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

No.

In what specific areas can they improve?

If they had apologized and not chased the last invoice, then I wouldn’t have been instructed to take these steps and review their performance. We wanted to advise potential future clients not to take up with them or at least ask them specifically what kind of links they are building.

They also need to build links in a completely different way.

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

You should straight up ask them if the keywords they build will be anchor-rich, within Google’s guidelines, and organic. Also, ensure you can terminate the contract mutually, with no penalty.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the Communications Manager for Apadmi, a mobile tech company that builds everything from apps and software platforms to Alexa voice skills. We work with clients of all sizes to understand how and where to use mobile in their organisation to improve operations – and then deliver the solutions to make it happen.

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cow Media?

We needed a partner to add search and SEO value to our website. Our goal was to boost search rankings in Google and to attract more organic traffic to increase our conversion rate.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Cow Media worked on various SEO components, such as content creation and keyword optimization. They created pages for our website that would increase our keywords rankings and collaborated with our in-house team to make minor content changes. Our team wrote the copy, and they tailored it to improve our ranking. They also helped with our website migration and improved our domain authority.

What is the team composition?

We interface with the operations director.

How did you come to work with Red Cow Media?

We put the project out to tender and heard back from numerous companies. Red Cow Media seemed to understand our business and took an active interest in our company objectives, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been partners since early 2017, and the work is ongoing.

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

Our organic traffic has increased by 128%, our conversion rate is up, and our domain authority has also improved. Ever since hiring them, the quality of the traffic into our site is much better and more targeted.

How did Red Cow Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They have good communication and resolve any concerns quickly. We have monthly meetings but are able to talk to them whenever we need to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re easy to work with and extremely knowledgeable. The entire team is personable and approachable, unlike many other firms. They proactively make suggestions to help us best meet our goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We're working together to make our partnership as effective as possible.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director and owner of Wish Upon A Sparkle Ltd. We are a face and body art company specializing in glitter, face painting, and hair. We work at corporate events and festivals.

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cow Media Ltd.?

We needed help with SEO and media strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Cow made some backend adjustments to our website and linked it to Google Analytics to help improve our search rankings. Their team has access to all of our information and accounts, but they always check with us before making any changes.

Additionally, they help with our social media outreach efforts. Each month they run sponsored Facebook ads that target one of our many objectives. Their campaign’s strategy focuses on gaining followers, and we can further tailor it to boost online sales or to bring awareness to our services by adjusting the demographics.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team leader.

How did you come to work with Red Cow Media Ltd.?

Previously, we tried to improve our social media with a PR company, but weren’t satisfied. We had a different company work on SEO, but we didn’t find them professional. We were searching for a partner to fulfill both these needs.

Our old PR company recommended Red Cow. We were located in the same area, which we found convenient. In our additional meeting, their team was welcoming and approachable. They promised high-quality results, and they delivered.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend £1,800 pounds per month ($2,369 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in December 2016, and the partnership is ongoing.

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

Red Cow sends a monthly report detailing our Google search rankings and we are happy with the progress. We are now ranking above some of our competitors. We have also experienced notable increases in website traffic since the start of our engagement.

How did Red Cow Media Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

Our team leader is very attentive. If there are any delays, it is usually due to a busy schedule on my end. On their side, all of their services have been great and they always deliver on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We really appreciate their loyalty. A competitor tried to hire them, but they decided to continue their relationship with us. We are very grateful because their efforts continue to drive incoming inquiries.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a consultancy business. We provide e-commerce and digital marketing services to clients nationally and internationally, ranging from small startups to established companies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cow Media?

Our main project involved an Amazon-focused client who wanted to drive sales traffic to their site. We needed resources to augment our team and implement a full SEO strategy. In particular, we sought people to advise our developers and ensure the site was SEO compliant.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They supported our contracted developers to build the site and ensure that all data transfer was SEO compliant. They also provided an overarching SEO compliancy document and strategy for the digital marketing team. Once we approved a budget, they implemented a full SEO and AdWords campaign over a six-month period to ensure that we ranked against top keywords. They targeted 80 keywords in total.

Beyond the scope of the project, Red Cow Media also leveraged their SEO knowledge and experience to advise us. They understood the most efficient way to build sites that appealed to an international audience. They provided an overall infrastructure review detailing how to effectively host sites on CDN in six geolocations.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was their owner and technical lead.

How did you come to work with Red Cow Media?

In the past, we’ve had poor experiences with SEO agencies because they didn’t deliver the expected results. We had heard of Red Cow Media from their stellar reputation in both America and the U.K. Their portfolio and references, as well as the breadth of their knowledge, impressed us. We then decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

For this project, we’ve spent about $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work for this project lasted from March 2014–March 2015. However, we’ve actually worked with them since 2013 and have contacted them for multiple projects. If we have clients in need of SEO work, we consult Red Cow Media.

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

The campaign was overwhelmingly effective. After a six-month period, we saw an 85% delivery where we appeared on the first Google search page. Of our top 10 keywords, we ranked within the top four positions on Google in both the U.S. and the U.K. We also saw a 200% increase in site traffic, yielding higher sales conversions. In terms of the AdWords campaign, the ROI was about six pounds for every pound spent.

How did Red Cow Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They produced monthly status reports to show how we compared to the previous month. This allowed us to see the cumulative impact of their work. They also conducted bimonthly meetings, either on the phone or in person. In terms of communication, they were available night and day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In the e-commerce world, the most important factor is delivery. We appreciated Red Cow Media’s commitment to producing strong deliverables and meeting expectations. They do just as they said they would do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Like all growing agencies, it’s difficult to hire talent to keep up with the workload. Our only criticism is that they could have benefited from a larger team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Customers should maintain as detailed a brief as possible. They should clearly understand their project scope and expectations. This allows both the customer and Red Cow Media to be much more focused on achieving specific outcomes.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of marketing for Gorvins Solicitors, a full-service law firm in the northwest region of England. We have more than 130 employees.

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cow Media?

Our goals were to improve our online profile across several departments and to gain more website visitors and conversions. Our previous agency was too large. It didn’t give us the time and dedication we needed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Cow Media manages the SEO for our conveyancing, dispute resolution, wills, trusts and probates, and employment law pages.

We specify the keyword areas for each department that we want to push and their team conducts the necessary research. They edit the website as necessary and perform quite a lot of outreach. Our internal effort is on the periphery, making sure that the work done by Red Cow is helping our sections.

What is the team composition?

Their owner was my main contact. I currently work with one of their SEO managers.

How did you come to work with Red Cow Media?

We searched for Manchester SEO providers, and Red Cow Media was the first result. We deduced that any SEO agency that turned up as the first result must be good. We approached them when the company was just starting out, and they took the time to understand our business.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Red Cow Media in November 2014.

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

We started with the conveyancing page, then expanded to the dispute resolution page after noticing an increase in traffic. The page also began to show some good returns, so we assigned the final two sections to Red Cow Media. Since then, they have also started to show returns.

Our number of visitors has increased every month that they’ve worked on our account. Conversions have nearly tripled.

How did Red Cow Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve gone above and beyond our needs. The team became involved with every aspect of the website, including its relaunch. They provided regular updates, training, and industry insights. We’ve never had an issue with Red Cow Media.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take the time to fully understand our business, treating us as a client rather than a number. We see it as more of a friendship than a working relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their communication could have been better at times, and they could provide more insight into how many people are searching for specific keywords.