What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I must admit I haven’t spent much time measuring their impact. However, I can tell you that having a presence in our space is important, and they’ve helped us achieve that. We now have cohesion and consistency in our messaging. Having a clean, professional, and positive message helps us establish credibility and gives our partners the confidence that we can get the job done. We’ve received compliments on the work Relish has done, which is a good indicator of success.
Since they’ve provided us with effective tools, we can now do things on our own in a nimble fashion. We don’t need a marketing team to manage these tools since they can be handled by account managers, which is an advantage for a small company like us. Even people who don’t typically engage in this part of the business can give input. While I can’t equate it to dollars and cents, their work has put us in a spot to make money.
Initially, I volunteered to take this project on and work directly with Relish. SEO was new to me, so I required a certain level of orientation and simpler tools, which I had to teach to others. I came in with no knowledge of the category, and now I feel like I know enough to accomplish things that are important to the company. They did a great job with that.
How did Relish Studio perform from a project management standpoint?
They’re very collaborative. They communicate clearly when setting objectives and meeting deadlines—they couldn’t have made it easier for us. Our team uses a variety of project management tools while they use Basecamp, which is very easy to work with. We have regular weekly meetings. They respond quickly to our questions, so they aren’t handling everything during our meetings.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Trust is the biggest thing, and I trust them—they’ve put themselves in a position where we would defer to them on anything if we had doubts. I don’t feel the need to negotiate with or question Stu if he wants to go in a direction that I’m not quite sure of. So far, he always tells us when something’s right or wrong, and we’ve done the same. If there is any gap, he’s reasonable and meets us in the middle. You don’t always get that with similar companies, where you feel like you need to cover your exposure. In the future, if Stu finds himself in a different industry, we’d probably work with him if we needed those services as well.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Since they’re a small company, I wondered if we could get enough time and effort from their team. We didn’t want to be outsourced to vendors or assigned to junior staff. Despite my initial concerns, they are doing great. Any mild trepidation I had around their capacity was unfounded.
Relish Studio has improved a brand's messaging to be clearer, as well as more cohesive and professional. They have provided useful tools and shared their knowledge for creating a sustainable strategy. Overall, Relish is an attentive and trustworthy partner.