ROCKETSHP

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing manager for Budget Car Sales, Kilburn Cars & AutoAngels. We sell 300+ used cars per month out of two busy car yards in Auckland. Most of our advertising is via digital channels, and we have 3 websites (one for each brand).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ROCKETSHP?

We recently got 3 new websites built for our car dealerships. We needed to be able to track conversions on our website and attribute them to various marketing channels. We hired Rocketshp to set up our website Facebook pixels, Google Tag Manager, inserting schema, Google Analytics goals as well as some Google Display Network advertising.

What were your goals for this project?

With such a big digital budget we wanted to be able to track and measure the amount of conversions (in our case, leads) and which marketing channels they came from so that we could optimize our marketing strategy and get the best results for our digital spend. We needed all the tracking put in place, and done to a high standard as we make decisions based on the reporting.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our front end website developer recommended them, and when I met with Mark Hayes I was impressed with his knowledge and that nothing was too hard to do. I gave him my vision and he had a can do attitude.

Describe the project in detail.

After an initial meeting I emailed Mark various jobs and he got his staff to complete the jobs. There have been countless requests from me for all sorts of things over the period we have been working with Rocketshp. They have been my first port of call for anything SEO related, Google Analytics etc.

What was the team composition?

I usually go through Mark, he is very prompt at responding to my questions/requests. His attention to detail is what stands out, and he always follows up and makes sure the job is done to a high standard. The team hasn't changed much over time, and I have been very happy with their communication and quick delivery also.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work they have done has been a huge success for us as we are now able to analyze very valuable data and it makes all the difference when I am working on my marketing strategy. We are miles ahead of our competitors because of what has been set up here.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very pleasant to deal with. I never had any issues. Managed expectations well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

As explained earlier, everything has been a very positive experience. Their knowledge is fantastic. They have always been able to answer any question I have, which to me is the most impressive thing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No I can't say there is.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Helping Hands is a hospitality job website. I was the Creative Director and General Manager there during this period.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ROCKETSHP?

Rocketshp was initially hired in a consultancy role to help with procurement. Then, once the team was assembled, Rocketshp was engaged to work on a variety of projects from UX/UI and web development to business strategy.

What were your goals for this project?

Essentially we needed help in translating our USP into a service that set us apart from our competition and generated revenue.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They came recommended, so, word of mouth.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We worked together on redesigning landing pages and the basic UX/UI of the site, right through to conceptualizing a rebuild of the site from scratch. We also captured and delivered better data and formed a better funnel for users.

What was the team composition?

We worked with team members relevant to what we needed, with a project manager helping to frame up next steps and keep us informed about what was happening.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The landing page changes were demonstrably successful, as we were able to test and measure improved acquisition using Hotjar. We only got to the estimate stage with the website rebuild.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was top-notch, exemplified by clear communication, timely updates, thorough estimates and costings, and flexibility when it came to updates/changes.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their CEO Mark is incredibly knowledgeable, bursting with creative ideas and constantly at the forefront of what's going on in the tech space of advertising and marketing. Problem-solving is their stock and trade—nothing makes you feel safer or more excited as a client than when a company sees your problems as opportunities. Rocketshp's approach is typified by optimism and creativity, but it's grounded in technical know-how. This is not blue-sky thinking, this is figuring out how to make the sky blue, and then making the sky blue. I've worked with a lot of people who promise the world and then deliver a 1990's subdivision; Rocketshp knows how to create holistic strategies that work. They don't trade in hyperbole, they test and measure, they love logic and they understand human nature and how to combine that with cutting-edge tech.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of a movie media website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ROCKETSHP?

We needed help improving traffic to our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ROCKETSHP provides digital marketing strategy guidance and SEO services, including Adwords and PPC campaigns. They also provide tagging services, oversee our Google Tag Manager, and track campaigns we run for clients. 

They've made suggestions for ways we can improve our site and how to approach Facebook ads. We also plan to engage them for frontend development services in the near future. 

What is the team composition? 

I mostly work with Mark (Chief Marketing Officer, ROCKETSHP), but sometimes others on their team will reach out to me as needed. 

How did you come to work with ROCKETSHP?

They were recommended by a friend and colleague.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $2,000 New Zealand Dollars (about $1,330 USD) per month on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since June 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They've consistently met Adwords targets and continue to improve month by month. They were able to achieve and maintain our targets a lot faster than we anticipated. 

How did ROCKETSHP perform from a project management standpoint?

They're flexible as challenges come up, willing to experiment and try new things, and responsive. They also go above and beyond to deliver; Mark has even called me over the weekend with new ideas because he genuinely cares about generating results for us. We mostly collaborate through Slack, Asana, and Google Sheets. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're results-driven and laser-focused on client goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't name anything really.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As with working with any vendor, it's important to clearly define goals and objectives before going into the relationship. Try to provide a detailed, clear brief if possible. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the managing director for an agnostic HRTech & Advisory practice of a boutique people strategy firm. Headquartered out of Singapore, we’ve recently pivoted focus with the release of our own proprietary career building and coaching application. Currently still in beta, BOLDLY is a web-based platform designed to empower employees and public citizens to take charge of their careers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ROCKETSHP?

We needed an external digital marketing partner to strategically help us shape and execute the marketing for our BOLDLY product B2C beta launch.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to test our early stage MVP before beta releasing to a mass market. Our beta runway needs to ensure a successful product launch in targeted markets across Asia in order to achieve overall platform adoption. The goal is approximately 200 unique users by the end of our first quarter acquired through a “closed” beta market release.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We considered three partner options. Deciding factors included creativity and vision; knowledge of web application product launches; entrepreneurial spirit; and a gut feeling.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

ROCKETSHP is providing a variety of digital marketing services to inform and engage our target audiences. They started by devising a suitable content strategy, such as a website and newsletter. Next they’re creating electronic direct mail campaigns (staggered releases) and building associated landing pages. They’re providing advanced analytics including keyword analysis. In addition, they’re gathering early adopter data and testing a digital acquisition strategy designed to scale for the mass market beta launch. 

What was the team composition?

We work with four key people: an overall project manager, an SME expert, a designer, and an analytics lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new landing pages were released to a closed group of beta B2C audience groups. Since launch, we've had about 225 new users sign up at a 62% conversion rate. Mark (CMO, ROCKETSHP) and the team have been really helpful in offering us guidance. Using heatmap tools, they glean insights for how we can improve pages and increase conversions. We’ve yet to fully launch ROCKETSHP’s roadmap and content strategies, but they continue to ensure our readiness for our B2C mass beta release (date still to be determined). 

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their team is extremely responsive. It’s great to have Courtney (Project Manager, ROCKETSHP) overseeing the work. Mark is also extremely proactive and offers us relevant market intelligence to help shape our thinking. It’s offered to us without us asking, and we find it to be of great value. We don't have an in-house marketing team. It gives us comfort that ROCKETSHP is keeping us abreast of potential growth opportunities.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Mark is so knowledgeable. He surprises me all the time with his in-depth knowledge of tools, applications, and methodologies. They also provide us with much-needed creative and technical capability. The ROCKETSHP team feels like an extension of our own.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We may have skipped too quickly past the setup phase. It would have been great to run with their strategy as soon as it was built. However, we now have the runway and a clear vision around what’s possible for when we’re ready to mobilize. We didn't know what we didn't know, so our decision to hold back on a mass beta release was based on their advice. It’s been valuable to have gone through this process with ROCKETSHP. It opened our eyes and challenged us to think about our state of readiness, which was invaluable. It’s also saved us money in the long run as an early deployment may not have delivered results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the creative director and principal of a design company called SOAP. We do a variety of digital and print-based design, branding, and communications work.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ROCKETSHP?

We engaged them to develop our new WordPress website. We wanted to ensure that our new website would be developed to support our SEO goals.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We briefed them in terms of what we wanted to achieve with our website. We created design assets ourselves in Adobe Illustrator. We talked through the process with them as we started designing. We took some of their perspectives onboard in terms of setting up tags and the search functionality of the site, in order to maximize SEO. We then handed over the assets, and ROCKETSHP built from there.

Their developer worked closely with our team. They delivered a picture-perfect result after the first round of changes, and those changes were relatively minimal.

What is the team composition?

I interacted with Mark (CMO, ROCKETSHP) and a project manager. I worked closely with Mark around the SEO functionalities, and I also got advice from him in terms of our SEO writing. We also had support from one of their interns. We were changing our email addresses to a new host at the time, and they provided support during a few teething issues with Google.

How did you come to work with ROCKETSHP?

I’d worked with Mark on another project we had, and we developed a friendly working relationship. I found him to be knowledgeable, and they worked quickly and efficiently. When we were looking for developers for our own website, they were an easy choice.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $4,000 New Zealand dollars ($2,670 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between June–August 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The development was fantastic. I’ve worked on other projects like this one, and it’s common to go back for adjustments a few months later or to discover a few issues with things, but we had none of those. Our site’s functionality has been seamless. We’ve had both current and new clients comment on how much more both the look and UX of the website reflect our services.

We also got advice from ROCKETSHP on doing some work to our Google My Business page. That, in turn, helped bolster our SEO performance. We’re getting a lot more hits on our website, and a lot more of those are qualified leads.

How did ROCKETSHP perform from a project management standpoint?

It was one of the most painless development jobs we’ve had. Not only were they technically skilled, but they had no problem interpreting the work creatively and to the same degree as any designers would.

We used Slack for day-to-day reviews, check-ins on particular issues, and feedback. This kept things agile and made the whole process very swift. There were a few phone calls as well when we needed to talk about something quickly. We also used email and Trello. They worked with the Illustrator design files we gave them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s their accuracy and attention to detail, as well as their deep knowledge in terms of both SEO and development. They considered all of those things at the outset of the project, rather than trying to incorporate that thinking later on. I think that that’s definitely influenced the excellent outcomes of the project. It meant that, in terms of adding content to the website, we’re now doing it right from the outset with SEO success in mind.

They have also been supportive in terms of addressing whatever questions I had about tags and what priorities our content pieces should have. They were happy to give us that support while we set up the site ourselves. I found it to be a collaborative effort, as opposed to them doing a specific role for us and going away, which I’ve experienced in the past with other developers.

They want to get things perfect, exactly as we envisioned them, rather than almost right and good enough. That was a fantastic way to work with a partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should focus more on keeping clients updated on any potential delays or issues, as a project unfolds. There weren’t any in our project, but they should be proactive about any timeline shifts so that their impact can be calculated by the client.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to be clear about what you’re trying to achieve. Also, if you’re not sure about something or wonder whether something could be a benefit to your business, ask for that advice at the outset. That will save time and effort.