REQ

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of communications for Mattermost.

What challenge were you trying to address with REQ?

We needed help with our public sector and government relations.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They engaged us with a focused PR program to increase our visibility within both the federal government and public sector agencies. REQ has taken the lead on creating press releases, blog posts, and promotional videos. Their other specific products are customer case studies and award submissions.

What is the team composition?

Katie (Senior Vice President) is our main point of contact, and I also work with Samantha (Public Relations Assistant Account Executive).

How did you come to work with REQ?

They were referred to me before I started at Mattermost by a former co-worker.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since June 2021.

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

Their writing is very powerful and has received high marks from our CEO and executive team. Their efforts have increased the number of earned media placements within government technology publications, and they’ve also helped scale our marketing and customer engagement activities across our government customer accounts.

Their writing contributions have helped boost our overall thought leadership as well. There isn’t a direct correlation there, but we make the case that by driving more PR placements and article coverage, they’ve increased our overall web and social media traffic across the board, but, specifically, in government employees.

How did REQ perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent at project management, and especially setting strong agendas for meetings and scaling activities across multiple internal and external stakeholders. We communicated over Google Docs, Zoom, phone calls, and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have deep expertise working with government, technology, media, and publications, so they have a strong awareness of the means required to increase visibility across the government technology landscape.

Secondly, REQ has incredibly strong writing skills. They also have a team of writers that support the core folks that I work with; their writing is very persuasive and powerful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They very much rise to the occasion in every session and do what we ask them to.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

View them as a strategic partner and bring them into the fold as much as possible regarding planning meetings, customer conversations, and other strategy-oriented conversations.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the regional manager responsible for all sales and marketing at Copare. We’re in the health and wellness industry —  we focus on creating customized programs that help people lose weight and gain lasting health.

What challenge were you trying to address with REQ?

We wanted to do a better job differentiating ourselves from our competition and "telling our story" more effectively. We also wanted to elevate our brand, generate more brand awareness and ultimately grow our revenue.

What was the scope of their involvement?

REQ started the engagement by doing a lot of competitive research. Their discovery process also included interviewing key stakeholders as well as conducting their own surveys. Based on the feedback they received, they were able to gain a better understanding of our business including our key differentiators. From there, they formulated and recommended a brand framework/strategy that included a name change.

Once the new framework was approved, REQ developed a brand-new website utilizing Word Press.  The new website was more streamlined and had a modern look and feel that better reflected the new brand. REQ also assisted with marketing campaigns including e-mail and social media campaigns.  They helped develop content in keeping with the new brand and brand guidelines and assisted with the new brand rollout.

What is the team composition?

We worked primarily with their senior brand strategist as well as their creative team and one of their VPs.  Their VP served as the primary liaison and project manager, keeping the overall engagement on track and coordinating all parties. We also worked with their web development team.

How did you come to work with REQ?

We researched and interviewed several agencies prior to deciding on REQ.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $175,000–$180,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with REQ in January 2021. The bulk of the project was finished in December 2021, but we were still utilizing their services until the end of March 2022. 

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

Whenever you roll out a new brand, it takes time to get traction. The overall feedback on the brand has been extremely positive. REQ was a pleasure to work with. They were professional, responsive, creative and did a good job adhering to the project timelines. Their design team and brand strategy team exceeded my expectations.

How did REQ perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall REQ did an excellent job managing this project.  With weekly status calls, emails and in-person meetings we were able to adhere to the project timelines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creative/design team and their brand strategy work were top-notch.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a couple of communication issues. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ask a lot of questions, and make sure that you communicate with REQ. This ensures that everybody is on the same page. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was Vice President of Marketing and Communications. Under my remit, I was responsible for all performance marketing campaigns driving measurable growth across our portfolio of financial products and services.

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

We needed a complete digital transformation of their marketing program; the site was antiquated and wasn't serving the needs of the members and the digital campaigns were languishing under poor management by a former agency.

My initial engagement with REQ was for a website redesign and build. One of my key goals was to ensure that we captured internal stakeholder requirements to ensure that business goals were achieved. REQ's approach to discovery, design and building the site was methodical and well thought out and the site was well received by our membership, internal stakeholders and the executive team.

Based on their site work, I eventually chose REQ as our agency to manage our digital performance campaigns. REQ's engagement, expertise and active management of our campaigns was also excellent. They regularly came to the table with recommendations to drive increased performance and were responsive whenever needed. I've always insisted on access to the campaigns, but with REQ's management, I didn't have to spot check to ensure that they were being managed effectively.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

When I RFP'd for the site work, I developed a standardized ranking sheet and included representatives from all the major internal stakeholder groups to participate in the selection process. REQ's response and presentation raised them above the three other agencies I brought in.

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

As our digital marketing agency, REQ's scope included search, display, social, SEO, as well as some limited IT resourcing. REQ is an integral part of our efforts, providing a deep bench of expertise and working as an extension of my team.

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

Between the site work and campaign management, I had numerous teams from REQ engaged; creative, IT, SEM, SEO, social, account management. All were high caliber and provided solutions to move projects along.

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

When we launched with REQ's campaign management, I saw an immediate increase in reporting visibility. Of all the improvements, that was the foundational element that allowed us to make smarter budget allocation decisions, and in turn, improve performance in all facets of our program.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was always excellent.

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

REQ has grown significantly, expanding its footprint and capabilities, but despite that growth, they still have somewhat of a boutique agency feel and attention to detail.

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

Not necessarily an area of improvement for REQ, but my recommendation to anyone would be to be an active client and engage with REQ on the campaigns or project. You'll get out exactly what you put into the relationship.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Evolution Healthcare is an integrated healthcare solution that moves employers from a fully insured acquisition strategy to a partially self-funded one. I’m the company's EVP.

What challenge were you trying to address with REQ?

Our prior digital marketing firm had great brand awareness and recognition strategies. However, we were trying to take it to the next level with targeted employer and insurance broker campaigns. As a result, we were looking for somebody that could help us grow our lead generation. In the end, we reached out to REQ.

What was the scope of their involvement?

REQ created the scope of work and jumped right in. They started by managing our website development overhaul project, and they spearheaded the automation of our sales funnel with our current CRM. They now assist us in writing blog pieces, and they provide social media strategies and lead generation ideas. In addition, the team is responsible for implementing search optimization strategies, creating a brand calendar, and more.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with 10–12 people from REQ.

How did you come to work with REQ?

They had experience in our industry and that was helpful because they already understood what we were doing. We found them through a competitor in our industry that used them. After that, we reached out to REQ, and we picked them because they already had existing materials that we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $600,000. We invest around $275,000 annually.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing collaboration started in April 2020.

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

Our lead generation click-through rate (CTR) has increased by 30%. We’ve also been pleased that they’ve created a multi-strategy, so we expect our CTR to increase by another 10%.

How did REQ perform from a project management standpoint?

REQ is always on time, and they’re always prepared. Our weekly calls are concise, and their schedule is always flexible. There are times I get pulled into other meetings, and they’re able to accommodate and move things around my schedule. We communicate through video calls, and we schedule several conversations on different topics rather than trying to juggle everything all into one meeting.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listen, and they have an understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish. On top of that, they’re willing to research in order to help us execute our vision because we’re doing some things in marketing that are outside of the norm.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think I have any negative feedback about REQ.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you’re looking for before hiring a company. If you don’t have a clear direction of what you’re trying to accomplish, it can be very hard to communicate with a potential vendor.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing at ActiveNav. We’re an on-prem software company and we serve the B2B and B2G markets.

What challenge were you trying to address with REQ?

REQ helped us with renaming and rebranding. When we started the project, we knew that we were struggling a bit with our name. Before this project, we were called ActiveNavigation, and “navigation” was causing some confusion in the market. We wanted to refresh our brand to look a bit more modern.

However, our driving issue was that our website was underperforming. Our older site wasn’t set up for marketing automation and didn’t have a good way to convert users on the site. Unfortunately, it was also very slow. This, in turn, meant we had problems ranking on Google and Bing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They really did everything. They gave us three different options for our name, style, theme, look, brand, and everything that goes along with that. That includes typography, colors, logo creation, and things like that. We then worked with them to settle on one set of brand guidelines that we could share with customers and partners. Since then, they’ve designed business cards, podcast cover art, icons, and other things that build out our visual identity.

For the website, they did both the design and development. They also host our website.

What is the team composition?

We had two main points of contact Katie (Senior Vice President) and Carly (Account Executive).

How did you come to work with REQ?

I saw their SVP speak at an event and was impressed with what they were talking about. We saw that they had experience with both enterprise and B2G markets, so that was a big differentiator for us. They also local to us so we were able to go see them in person.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started at the end of March 2020, and we’re still on a retainer with them, and will be moving forward.

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

We’ve seen conversion rates and inbound leads shoot up pretty dramatically. We also tracked Google PageSpeed Insights. We were less than 20 out of 100 when we started this project, but now we’re regularly 85 out of 100. That has been a huge improvement.

We’ve also seen a significant increase in traffic to the site, especially now that we’re able to do promotions. Users can find our site on search engines a lot better. In the first month since the new site launched, we’ve seen a 300% increase in website traffic.

How did REQ perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent at that. Carly and Katie always reply to my email within the day. They consistently gave me updates regarding timing. We also met every two weeks, but they were also available for additional meetings. They were extremely flexible and were always available to answer our calls.

The team was very good at explaining who was on our team and who to contact. They had charts on which they laid everything out, so there weren’t very many surprises or roadblocks for us. They set very clear expectations, and that made the entire engagement really easy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with how flexible they were. When we originally started the project, we had a much larger scope,  but our budget was slashed because of COVID-19. They worked very hard to stay within our budget, and that was really impressive. That’s why we hope to continue working with them. They were just really accommodating to our changing needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we really enjoyed working with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Macro Solutions. We’re a woman-owned business that focuses on government IT and management support.

What challenge were you trying to address with REQ?

We needed to cast a bigger shadow with marketing and initially engaged REQ to develop a better web presence. We needed to develop capability briefs, white papers, and other printed material to share with existing and prospective clients and partners.

What was the scope of their involvement?

REQ runs a full-service marketing operation for us. Their team initially worked on a strategic overhaul of our website. Since then, they reskinned the site. Their team helped with our branding and messaging. For example, their team provided recommendations for the phrases that we should use in our print and digital materials.

They drive awareness as well as help us with our content and website mechanics. Their team edits our blog posts and develops all of the graphics for our website and printed materials. They also connect us with potential awards and communities that hold events in our space.

What is the team composition?

We have a couple of contacts at REQ but Melissa’s (Public Relations) our main point of contact. There are a handful of other folks who work on various projects.

How did you come to work with REQ?

Elizabeth (EVP) and I worked together many years ago. I trusted her judgment and approach as well as appreciated her connections. We began working with Elizabeth, and then REQ acquired her company.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend anywhere from $50,000–$75,000 a year on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship began in 2015, and it's ongoing. We started this engagement with a project-oriented approach, and we now have them on a monthly retainer.

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

REQ hit specific timelines that we needed to hit, which was important. Their team teed us up for awards too.

How did REQ perform from a project management standpoint?

We have biweekly meetings during which we share updates. That cadence’s terrific. REQ set up a distribution list on their email system that enables us to send one email that everyone on our account receives at the same time. Their team drives us and helps us to stay on top of projects because we’re a little thin in terms of internal staff.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re aligned with our branding and messaging. Their team’s responsive and can almost predict our needs, which is exactly what we require in a partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I miss working with one of their previous team members. He had a keen design sense. He could bring many different elements into an image that worked. We’ve still been able to achieve similar outcomes but miss his perspective.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to have regular communication because conditions change all of the time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Carahsoft. We are a distributor of software and IT to federal, state, and local education governments and the prime contractors that they support.

What challenge were you trying to address with REQ?

Our marketplace is very complex, so we hired them for PR.

What was the scope of their involvement?

REQ has helps us with PR. They mostly look at the awards list that we get added to, how we write our PR content, and how we write content for our audiences. They manage the awards we do for ourselves and those we enter for our vendor partners.

For example, in our industry, there is a project called the Fed100 that is highly prestigious, and it’s an award that’s not easy to get. The team helps us write different nominations for it because a specific tone and language are required. They also find sponsors for the nominations.

Additionally, they do case study development and editorial contributed content on behalf of the vendors that we represent. They also help us with our own press releases or those that our vendors want to do. 

What is the team composition?

My primary point of contact is Elizabeth (EVP, Public Relations).

How did you come to work with REQ?

We hired them because they know how to do PR and case study awards better than anyone in the industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $1 million over the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since 2004, and our relationship is ongoing.

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

REQ has gotten us onto about 15–20 different award lists that we wouldn’t have gotten if it wasn’t for them. They find the right awards for us and get us into them.

How did REQ perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really skilled at what they do, and they guide us through the timelines and make sure that all of the deliverables are being met. They are the ones who make sure that the workflow and timelines are managed effectively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve grown at a fast rate, and REQ has helped us scale from a few vendors to over 100. They’ve allowed us to scale faster and with much higher quality than if we had done it ourselves.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of right now. We’ve had a long-standing relationship, and when we asked for certain capabilities, they added them over the years.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them as much access to your business as possible. If you treat them as a part of the team, you will be successful.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing and strategy at Save a Child's Heart, a humanitarian aid organization that provides heart treatment for children who have a lack of or no access to that care in their home country.

What challenge were you trying to address with REQ?

We are a big initiative with a small team. We needed to bring in a marketing professional so that we could do our job better, both in terms of advocacy and awareness, as well as the promotion of our ads and digital imprint.

Our goals were to raise more money through our digital initiatives and to clarify some of our brand messaging.

What was the scope of their involvement?

REQ helped us create and launch a new global website. The team designed an entirely new sitemap. They’ve also helped us with digital ads, both on Facebook and Google.

Additionally, the team assisted with several individual campaigns, helping us create targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram and making sure that we were getting exposure.

They’ve been able to help us find international platforms through which we can take international donations. So, we’ve been working with them through Webflow, Fundraise Up, and Geo Targetly, which they researched.

Part of our work with them has also been strategy-based in terms of building up and understanding our audiences. Additionally, they’ve helped us with a lot of brand language and refining our logo. We were featured at a large policy conference in February 2020, and REQ also helped us with our materials and booth design. 

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Carly (Account Executive).

How did you come to work with REQ?

We had an executive search committee that helped us. We were coming off of working with a company that is similar to REQ, but that engagement wasn’t successful, so we knew what we were looking for.

The executive committee interviewed 4–5 companies and was impressed with REQ and the contract they were able to outline. The team was committed to understanding and being a part of our mission. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent about $175,000, including ad spend

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in Sep 2019, and our engagement is ongoing. Now that we’ve accomplished a lot of the goals that we set out to achieve together, we’re looking at how we can continue to grow, so we plan to continue working with REQ.

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

I’m extremely grateful for our partnership and love working with them. REQ has been extremely patient in dealing with us as a nonprofit, and they’ve done a great job.

How did REQ perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is excellent. Carly and I check in multiple times a week, but we have a standing call once a week. We also have a larger team call once a week.

There’s a tremendous amount of email back and forth, especially for the larger elements that we want to have a paper trail for. The team has been very transparent, showing us quarterly and monthly reports as needed.

We have access to all of the clicks and engagement for our social media ads. They are amazing with response times.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve gained a partner who cares about the projects we’re doing now as well as our future. They are committed to us and the work that we’re doing. It’s been a boost for all of our staff members to have someone we can look to when we have questions. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The reason we’ve been so successful is that we had a list of things we wanted to accomplish before going into it. I would advise customers to that and to also be transparent.

We’ve been transparent with REQ when we have delays, and we’ve brought them into some of the inner politics of why things are the way they are for us as a nonprofit.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the creative director of a large LGBTQ civil rights organization. We have about 3.5 million members and supporters.

What challenge were you trying to address with REQ?

We hired them to do an audit of our web store and provide recommendations for improvement.

What was the scope of their involvement?

After auditing our website, we started working with them on digital marketing campaigns. Then last summer we started working with them on paid social ads. They run our ad campaigns for Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. Recently, we had them do a Google Ad campaign. They did some SEO as well.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Katie (Senior Vice President, Client Service).

How did you come to work with REQ?

We worked with another company who had helped us with other projects in the past, but we never gained any traction with them on this project. I reached out to other organizations and one of them recommended REQ.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent about $300,000, including ad spend.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with REQ since September 2018 and our relationship is ongoing.

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

We’ve seen an improvement in page loading times, organic searches, and $200,000 of our revenue came from ads in June. In July, revenue is up by about 200%. We have better load times and bounce rates than we have previously. 85% of people who came into our store in June had never been there before.

We’ve done Google Ads and social media ads before, but we didn’t see the results until we started working with REQ. They clearly know something we don’t know. They’re very good at reviewing member files, conducting analysis, and creating lists of lookalikes to grow our list.

How did REQ perform from a project management standpoint?

We work with a team of people and they do a report review. My team is very satisfied with their work.

We had in-person meetings before COVID-19, but we’ve switched to Zoom. They were only two blocks away from our office.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They project a level of confidence that made us feel good about the decisions we’re making. Those decisions have also led to performance improvements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish they were cheaper. Other than that, everything has been great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

There was great value in the process that we used to do the audit. They understood what was going on and they took a holistic approach. They took the time to understand what we needed and created a strategy that delivered.  

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re the Vegas Chamber, which is the largest business support organization in Nevada. I’m the vice president of marketing and brand strategy.

What challenge were you trying to address with REQ?

REQ started with the Vegas Chamber before my time. However, my engagement with them focused on building a refined digital strategy that included engagement initiatives.

What was the scope of their involvement?

REQ started as our website administrator. After redesigning our site, they continued to maintain it. They cleaned up our backend in terms of where we hosted our site.

Their team continues to support our website’s security. For example, we had a significant site outage around December 2018. REQ was instrumental in getting it back up. They looked into the issues leading up to the outage to understand why it happened. Their team continues to ensure that our website functions.

REQ also cleaned up our SEO initiatives. With an internal team, they went through keyword research. Their team also looked into alt text.  

They help to advance our digital strategy. Their team thinks of ways to better position ourselves to be found digitally.

What is the team composition?

I work with Danielle (Account Director) and Justin (EVP).

How did you come to work with REQ?

The cost of their services was a big factor in the decision to partner with them. We’re a not-for-profit, so we’re conscious of our expenses.

I also sent an RFP back in December 2018 because I hadn’t worked with any of our vendors and wanted to make sure that we were on the right track. In the end, we decided to stay with REQ because our relationship worked so well.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $33,000 a year on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our organization started with them in 2017, and it's an ongoing partnership.

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

REQ’s been an incredible advisor. We couldn’t accomplish many of our goals without them. 

When the pandemic happened, REQ was proactive. Our goal is to support our members, about which 80% are small businesses. After they recognized our efforts, they wanted to help us get our COVID-19 resources out. Their team created videos and infographics that made the information easy for our users to understand.

Users accessed those resources and stayed on the page. We wouldn’t have been able to produce that content and without it, we wouldn’t have gotten as much interest in our COVID page. Their team was swift, attentive, and delivered the content quickly.

How did REQ perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re responsive, flexible, and proactive. Rather than a simple response, their team gives us feedback. They’re great collaborators, which I appreciate. No matter the topic, they match our attempts to continuously improve our efforts. I consider them an extension of our team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re amazing humans that truly care about us. Their team’s flexible and positive. They always look to provide better results to their clients. Their team always has the end game in mind and while working towards it, they look for ways to improve.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could’ve worked faster to understand the cause of our website outage. As I'm unfamiliar with technology, I expected them to find an answer quickly but had to push them a bit. However, it wasn't because their team wasn't looking into the root cause.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know your goal because REQ will get you there and then take you to the next level.