Simply IT

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Management Team of Emerson Zanzibar

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Boutique Hotel with two restaurants in Stone Town

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Simply IT to accomplish?

• Increase Room Bookings
• Increase Restaurant Reservations
• Improve Traffic to Website
• Increase Social Media Followers and effectiveness

SOLUTION

How did you find Simply IT?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Simply IT over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Simply IT were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Simply IT met with our Marketing Team and they outlined an initial 2-year plan which we implemented just as Covid hit in 2020.  Although Zanzibar was not closed to tourists the ban on travel effected us greatly.  So, Simply IT worked with us through that period, created a new website and running our social media to market our services to those tourists that were able to travel.  We also focussed on holding safe and secure local music and art events and although it was a tough time we did not have to lay off any of our staff.  After Covid restrictions were lifted we saw a great improvement in:

• Room Bookings (direct and through our channel manager) - average occupancy increased
• Restaurant Bookings (direct on our website)
• Increase of followers and interactions on social media (from 2K followers on IG to 12K followers)
• Coverage and marketing of all our events - content creation, videos, posters, online content

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Our brand has a sharper marketing thrust in our campaigns
• Increased Room Occupancy
• Increased online Restaurant Reservations
• From less than 1K visitors per month to our old website now we have 4.5K pm
• We had 2K followers on Instagram now we have 12K and growing by 4% a month
• We have good numbers booking our weekly live music events which are marketed on Facebook and Instagram and website
• Influencers use our facilities and these are mostly handled by Simply IT
• They saved us money by helping us host our websites, and handle our email hosting and deal with our domain registration and DNS and or online security

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

They always delivered ontime and always explained everything each step of the way.  Their team's experience and expertise is invaluable.

What was your primary form of communication with Simply IT?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They always go the extra mile. They're very friendly, very knowledgeable, and always ready to take on a challenge. The most impressive thing is theior experience.  It is unique to find a local company in Zanzibar that has more international IT and Digital Marketing experience gained over many many years in the global industry.  Plus they keep uptodat with all the changes, like AI recently.  They are always thinking of how this will effect us, and ways to keep up.

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

Very little!  Maybe cloned their team so that we could have one working on our staff!  :)