RocketDog Communications

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Communications Director of Microsoft

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation, its best-known software products include Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire RocketDog Communications to accomplish?

• Attract top talent to Microsoft (in a very competitive environment)
• SHOW, not just tell, potential candidates what MSFT LIFE looks like
• SHOW Microsoft as human (not a big faceless corporation)

SOLUTION

How did you find RocketDog Communications?

Referral

Why did you select RocketDog Communications over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Other

What was the size of RocketDog Communications’s team?

6-10 Employees

What was your primary form of communication with RocketDog Communications?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We hired RocketDog to build a brand new web site focused on life at Microsoft, for, through and about people and their work and personal stories - to attract top talent to the company. This was at a time when Microsoft was losing the war for top talent to all of the Silicon Valley companies and startups. We needed to humanize the company to attract top talent to consider and choose Microsoft.

Key deliverables included:

• Build a web site complete with a blog and CMS, the priority was for the web site to lead with visuals before content, which is a key reason why we selected RocketDog
• Build an easy content management system (CMS) for us to upload our own photos, stories, etc. as needed
• Automatically rank and shuffle stories to place most viewed stories at the top of the site and in newsfeeds
• Make the site dynamic; connect to social media to automatically feed each other
• Give us the ability to upload real-time news, media stories, etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Complete the project on budget
• Complete the project on an accelerated timeline
• Build a beautiful, visually appealing site
• They created a dynamic site that people want to revisit for fresh content.
• Build a site that was easy for us to update, internally

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project management was solid. On time. On budget. Communication was always proactive and responsive. One of the primary reasons I selected RocketDog was that I knew if anything went down/ crashed/ needed fixing - Michael and his team would be there for me in an instant to resolve, and they always were.

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

Michael's easy going and reassuring style that gave me confidence he knew what he was doing, and that he'd be there for me/ us anytime we needed him.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Changes Parent Support Network helps struggling parents find successful solutions. I am a board member and Chair of the Communications Committee,

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our website was dated and built on an obsolete WordPress template. We had recently rebranded and established a new visual identity, plus we wanted to expand our target audience beyond struggling parents to professionals working in fields aligned with our mission. We had limited to no website development skills ourselves, so we worked with RocketDog to create an entirely new site.

SOLUTION

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

We had been working with a separate creative agency and initially planned to work with them on the website. That agency suggested that RocketDog was better positioned to deliver a website and brokered the discussion. The existing working relationship between our creative agency and RocketDog as a strong reason in favor of selecting RocketDog instead of other potential agencies.

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

Scope of work included a needs assessment to inform what Wordpress template features were required, including separate paths for parents in crisis, Professionals, and Changes members. We wanted to develop our new website while keeping our legacy website in place, then cut over to the new site at the same URL and with the same member passwords.

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

Primary interface was RocketDog's CEO, whihc ws unexpected but welcome. We also met occasionally with two of their web developers as we worked through the final stages of website development and deployment.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Internal satisfaction and feedback (from Changes members) has been overwhelmingly positive. We finally have a professional, world-class website that serves as a confidence-building "billboard" for our organization.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

RocketDog used Asana for project tracking and communications. We had periodic meetings as needed, then shifted to weekly meetings as we approached the goal line so that we could track and discuss issues on the punch list.

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

While our former site was also built on Wordpress, it was so dated and delicate that only one person in our org was permitted to touch it, for fear of bringing the entire site down. This naturally slowed our responsiveness to execute edits or updates. The new site uses a more modern template that has a range of useful features that we incorporated. The WYSIWYG editor (Elementor) makes it a simple matter for people of all experience levels to update our new website, We now have about 4 people authorized to make changes on the site and will add more in the future.

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

They only area for improvement I can identify is that communication would occasionally go dark - but never for an extended period. It always turned out that work was ongoing in the background, but it made it difficult to be accurate in predicting when a certain feature or functionality would be available. As we reached the end of the project and instituted weekly check-ins, those minor communication issues disappeared.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO and Owner of Empringham Media, full service digital marketing agency located in Orange County, CA

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired rocket dog to develop creative strategy, launch social media advertising, and provide account services to our client during the launch, management and optimization phase of an EComm project

SOLUTION

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

We looked for several vendors online and tapped our net work within entrepreneur organization. Rocket dog was not only highly recommended by everyone but quickly rose to the top of our shortlist based upon their impressive credentials, background, portfolio of business

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

Project scope included presenting creative options to clients, developing creative strategy, developing online media strategy, launching creative and media.

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

I worked directly with Michael Elliott the CEO and his Copywriter

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We tracked everything from impressions, clicks, visits, bounce rates, conversions and all the cost per unit. From launch to End of project all the numbers were moving in the right direction and continued to do so. The client ultimately hired an internal team to begin executing yet I’m happy to say we moved in the direction of our goals with Michael and his team and highly recommend them.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Project management style is strong communication from the beginning, proactive communication throughout, above and beyond, extra effort all the way.

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

What I found most impressive about Michael and his team is how proactive they were in their account management and project management approach. They consistently thought ahead, looked around corners, anticipated our needs.

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

There is nothing I can think of that they could’ve done differently or better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of a physical therapy company. This project was building out a second website for a new company and cash pay service line for the health field.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our major challenge was creating a website more focused on marketing and cash pay services. Our original company, offering services that are insurance-based, does not need the same level of functionality and design to market directly to the public. We needed a different organization, layout and functionality to support a new line of cash pay services.

SOLUTION

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

Several people within my business circle has used RocketDog with great results. Their team came highly recommended.

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

The hardest part is getting started. From the beginning we needed guidance on what type of platform, layout and functionality that would be required to reach all of our goals. This included educating on services, marketing and connection with scheduling software. Once there, a logical organization of services and visual representations needed to be designed.

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

Both design and development teams were significantly involved throughout the process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This brand-new functional website was designed and launched on time. It doesn't get more measurable than that.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Communication and organization included face-to-face, email/phone, as well as online organization through Asana to electronically organize and track the workflow.

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

It always nice to know what you don't know. That was a significant amount on this project that was different than previous needs for website functionality. It was nice how they educated and assisted us through this process respectfully and helpfully.

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

As my schedule is busy, with easy distractions, they could have been more proactive in keeping me on task. I hate being the choke point on these types of projects.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a media company and marketing agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RocketDog Communications?

We run a number of media sites that operate as tech blogs for specific geographies. We wanted to improve the readability of our site and add revenue-generating features.

SOLUTION

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

We looked at RocketDog's experience with Wordpress as a started. Also at integrating plugins and other off the shelf features was a big factor for us.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The project started with cleaning up our existing site, pages, and a database. From there, RocketDog brought us a variety of new website templates to choose from and once we selected the right one, they began migrating content and building up the new site. Adding new plugins and features also happened here. Finally, we had a staged site that we were able to utilize and make sure it worked the way we wanted it to. Support has continued even as the site is live now.

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

Mainly two resources from RocketDog, developer and project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our site is live and it looks great! We're already generating revenue within the first few days of it live with zero down time. We're now embarking on two new projects with RocketDog.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow has been very easy. We added their team to our Slack and communication has been so easy. A few meetings to quickly work through a few to dos, otherwise, all through Slack to get the site live.

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

The talent from RocketDog is top notch. They were able to handle every question we had and take care of it without asking.

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

The team has done everything we asked and we're excited to start on our next project together

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director for strategic projects for a large technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RocketDog Communications?

We had a need to refresh and simplify the way complex content is presented for an emerging program.

What were your goals for this project?

A fresh and clean design for an internal portal was need to reach various internal audiences from novices to experts with content that is consumable and easy to find. We needed to create a presence for the new program to make finding our content easy and enjoyable, which will enable colleagues across the company to find what they need to get their work done.

SOLUTION

How did you select RocketDog Communications?

I compiled a list of local UI/UX design firms and interviewed two of them and contacted a few development firms and interviewed two and RocketDog was the only one that had both design and develop capabilities.

Describe the project in detail.

The project involved the design and development for an internal portal to reach various internal audiences from novices to experts with content that is consumable and easy to find. This included working along internal technical constraints and specific guidelines for branding and marketing. RocketDog provided wireframes, which we reviewed and approved, then RocketDog built a dev site for building and refining the customized web parts. Once these were finalized and approved they moved to production.

What was the team composition?

We had an account manager (also the company owner) that worked directly with us to prioritize our feedback and work effort with their development team that primarily consisted of two devs. We also worked with a designer at the start of the project to review the design concepts and wireframes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The site launched and feedback has been strong, we've received complements on the clean fresh look and the straightforward organization of the content. With only a couple of months of usage, we are seeing increased traffic and longer duration of site usage.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The RocketDog team is very responsive and made themselves available to work within our timeline. They did a lot of research to determine how something might be done and would come back with recommendations.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They had a blend of design and develop capabilities, which really helped streamline the project to work with a single vendor instead of two.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They were really patient in working through the multiple internal processes that exist on the client-side.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a branded merchanidse firm. We help clients open doors, create connection and make lasting impressions through the use of branded merchandise.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our website was created about 12 years ago. Who we were then and what we offered is very different than now. We needed a website that told the story of who we are now and the services and products we provide to clients.

SOLUTION

How did you select RocketDog Communications and what were the deciding factors?

I spoke with several companies and chose RocketDog because of the creativity I saw in other work they had done and because they were very competitive price wise to others I spoke with.

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

We had a few initial meetings to discuss look at feel and then we were off and running. We had meetings as needed during the 3 months the site was in development.

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

I had one contact during the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My team was so excited to share out new website with existing clients and prospective clients. I know the new site will help us present ourselves in a way that will drive more business.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We had Zoom calls as needed to discuss next steps throughout the project.

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

Michael made the process easy and fun.

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

n/a

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing partner at SumBridge. We do accounting and finance recruitment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RocketDog Communications?

We were looking to update our website. It seemed very outdated. In a quick timeframe, our goal was to bring a more current website that creates a personal connection with viewers of our site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In terms of functionality, we have a few complex backend components that needed to be tied into our database system. RocketDog Communications took charge of the information we had and ran with it to figure out the next steps.

Initially, they came to me with a detailed project plan with our goals incorporated within it. For the integration work, we use an applicant tracking system that pulls and feeds data in and out. Their team did a lot of research to ensure they had everything to make the technical pieces happen.

Along with the functionality and integration work, they designed the look and feel of the website.

What is the team composition?

Michael (Owner) has been our lead person. He has a development team with one or two people.

How did you come to work with RocketDog Communications?

One of the partners in my firm has known Michael through a networking group. In the past, they did some print marketing work, and since we were happy with that, we reached out to them for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with RocketDog Communications in May 2020. The site is set to launch soon.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re a small firm, so the fact that we could trust them to get it done was awesome. Since we are a tiny business, we had to be cost-conscious, especially with everything that’s going on in the market right now. They’ve also been really fantastic with sticking to the timeline.

RocketDog Communications is proactive to work with. Michael is waiting for me on new information all the time, not the other way around. I’ve also been impressed with their quality and attention to detail. I never felt that our business was less important than other projects. I appreciate that we get the time and attention no matter what the dollar amount is.

How did RocketDog Communications perform from a project management standpoint?

RocketDog Communications knocked project management out of the park. They committed to delivering on time and on budget.

They put together a great project plan, detailing everything step by step. We also use Asana to communicate back and forth. If they hit any roadblocks, they’re very communicative. They’re also proactive about solving challenges.

They managed the entire process. I’ve appreciated that because I don’t have a lot of time, but they made sure to update me when they needed to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their quality is most impressive. In the beginning, we had a mindset of where we wanted to go. We communicated that in a simplistic way, and we were all impressed with the thought process of how they put it together.

Our previous site felt clunky, but RocketDog Communications delivered a new story with our updated website. I’ve personally struggled with past developers when telling them what I want to be accomplished. They think they get it but don’t. I appreciated that RocketDog Communications put the story behind it, but were also inclusive of our audience.

The level of detail was found in the little stuff as well. The pictures and visuals had a variety of age and cultural backgrounds that ties into the narrative that they were trying to tell. They know what they’re doing creatively.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. I’ve been satisfied with the service.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be organized and have your materials ready. Their team will hit the ground running, and you don’t want to block their success helping you. I would also say be open-minded. The more open they can be with your end goal, the more creative license they can have. I was pleasantly surprised by all of the options they gave me.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Coworking space in Seattle and Redmond. I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RocketDog Communications?

Website rebuild

What were your goals for this project?

Create a new website

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I've worked with them before

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

"Thinkspace was looking for the right partner to take our Brand to the next level. We found that partner in RocketDog! They approached the project from a holistic mindset and created a more comprehensive and integrated look for all of our materials. They delivered a complete solution that encompassed a fantastic new Website, digital marketing, email marketing, as well as a full suite of marketing collateral. They delivered on all fronts, both on time and on budget. We feel our brand is stronger, more engaging, and certainly positions us well in a very competitive space.” – Peter Chee thinkspace Founder & CEO

What was the team composition?

Three people were on the team

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Everyone says our website looks great!

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Yes it was handled between my EA and RocketDog.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They do great design work.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No really

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing manager for Wipliance- we are a custom integrator for home technologies including audio/video/home theater as well as home automation, lighting control and window treatments. I manage all print, online and other outreach campaigns.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RocketDog Communications?

We hired RocketDog to take our graphic design for print work to the next level- as I am more versed in web design. RocketDog has since created a series of banner ads, print magazine ads and handout pieces with a cohesive look and feel that complements our brand image.

What were your goals for this project?

We have objectives for a targeted mailing campaign as well as pay per click and retargeting campaigns to utilize this creative. We anticipate a decent ROI from PPC campaigns as well as the multifunction print piece that can be mailed or handed out as needed.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected RocketDog because we felt their approach aligned with ours in terms of communicating a message to our audience with a unified approach, and the work they have done for businesses in our area is renowned. We selected between a few firms that had similar objectives, but ended up choosing RocketDog because they match professional style with a personal approach.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After determining a vendor we had several meetings with our company owner and RocketDog to determine best method for carving out a lengthy design punchiest with a monthly retainer- prioritizing projects that have the shortest runway to implement so we could see results quickly (banner ads and ppc creative) as well as catching up on magazine print ads that have deadlines for later issues.

What was the team composition?

Currently we are in communication with Michael (owner) and am not familiar with other team members. Michael has taken a hands-on approach to this project and we appreciate the level of detail he has used.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have just started the PPC and retargeting campaigns, so no tangible outcomes yet, but we are very optimistic.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

RocketDog uses Asana to collaborate between client and creator, we like this system as it provides accountability on both sides and quick response methods.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We appreciate the personal approach that RocketDog has taken to understand our unique business model and how to best increase our audience with messaging and design.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It is too early to tell- but we are satisfied with work done thus far.