Schaefer

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of Equilibrium Foods Inc; we’re a food manufacturing and marketing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Schaefer Digital?

We operate under a traditional food distribution model, so we sell our products through major retailers in Canada. We wanted to expand our online presence in the US, so we hired Schaefer Digital to help us market and advertise our bone broth product online.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we met with the Schaefer Digital team to discuss our project goals. Then, they drafted a proposal, which we reviewed before kicking off the project. Once we provided the team with photographs and other digital assets, they started working on increasing our online presence. 

The Schaefer Digital team has been responsible for developing creative assets and writing copy for our Facebook and Google Ads, which they’ve purchased. They’ve also analyzed our website to uncover why visitors add items to their baskets without checking out and made recommendations to redesign our website to address our problem areas. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Sidnee (CEO), Alex (Digital Marketing Strategist), and another team member. 

How did you come to work with Schaefer Digital?

We found Schaefer Digital through a referral from a friend. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invest roughly $10,000 CAD (approximately $7,000 USD) monthly with Schaefer Digital, which includes the ad buys. Overall, we’ve invested about $60,000 (approximately $43,00 USD) in the partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with Schaefer Digital since April 2022, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Schaefer Digital has made valuable suggestions and helped us make more effective ad buys on Facebook and Google. We started investing in social media ads in the summer and didn’t expect to significantly increase sales because our bone broth product is seasonal. However, our sales have increased progressively week over week, which has been great.

We’ve really appreciated Schaefer Digital’s commitment to understanding our consumers, which has informed their recommendations for our website. Since implementing their suggestions, our customers have shared positive feedback regarding the changes. 

How did Schaefer Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Schaefer Digital has collaborated with us and maintained an open line of communication throughout the project. They’ve been approachable and responsive via email and phone, and we’ve met weekly via Microsoft Teams. 

During our meetings, the team has made recommendations to improve our digital marketing efforts and effectively answered our questions. We’ve had ongoing discussions about our ad spend, which the team has tweaked according to performance. When we’ve faced problems or confusion, they’ve quickly identified solutions. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

This project has been our first venture into digital marketing and social media advertising, and it’s taken us some time to grasp some of the concepts. Schaefer Digital has communicated clearly, patiently addressed our questions, and explained concepts in detail, which we’ve appreciated. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Schaefer Digital could improve by expanding their focus areas. We’d like to maximize our opportunity to increase online sales through various channels such as TikTok and Instagram, but I’m not sure they have those capabilities. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I advise approaching the project with a clear understanding of your needs and expectations so that you can communicate them to Schaefer Digital. Since this is all new to me, my expectations didn’t align with their capabilities, which was on me. As long as you’re clear about the project scope, they will deliver on it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president of an organization that manufactures and sells mattresses to retailers who then sell them to consumers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Schaefer Digital ?

We needed them to help us update and revise our website in order to be more relevant in the digital space and find new people to carry our brand. We also wanted to attract paid traffic to the website to get wholesale clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Schaefer Digital created a couple of landing pages, which they migrated from Unbounce to our own website, using Shopify. One of these landing pages is visible to the public. Whenever a user lands on this page, we retarget that traffic with Google and Facebook ads to the second landing page, which is more of a secret page. Users are then taken further down the funnel to another contact page that they can use to get in touch with us about our mattresses.  
 
Schaefer Digital also handles all of the paid digital activity, for which they do keyword research and offsite SEO. 
 
What is the team composition?

We work directly with Sidnee (Founder & CEO). She handles everything from strategy to organizing campaigns and directing traffic. We also work with someone who’s more of an administrative role. 
 
How did you come to work with Schaefer Digital?

We discovered them through word of mouth.
 
How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $20,000–$25,000.
 
What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in October 2020, and it is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re generating quicker rates, between 6%–8% on our ads, which is a great number for us.

The way we measure success is not by any hard number measure but by establishing a baseline for our brand in the digital space. We’re trying to exceed the industry’s best practices and standard for impressions and click rates, and we’re massively exceeding in all of these aspects by leaps and bounds.
 
How did Schaefer Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t use any special management tool. Everything is handled by either phone, Zoom, or email. 
 
What did you find most impressive about them?

Communication is key and Schaefer Digital is world-class. They’re very good at explaining things so that we can all be on board on the project. They are joyful, really positive, and fun to be around. Moreover, they don’t try to do any activity that is too far outside of their competency. Instead, they bring in the right people for the jobs that may not be part of their core team on the development side. We really respect this mindset. 
 
Are there any areas they could improve?

I believe there are some changes underway in some platforms, for example Linkedln. Other companies might be a little ahead of what’s happening with those platforms. Therefore, Schaefer Digital could benefit from innovating their service offerings.
 
Any advice for potential customers?

We had a little snag when we first started because we failed to clarify what was going on, but we figured it out. Therefore, I recommend that prospective clients make sure to be clear on the flow of the funnel, if they’re doing something in the marketing space that is funnel related.