STRATEGIES

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CCO at Aquity Solutions, a revenue cycle management organization serving healthcare providers across the US. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRATEGIES?

We hired STRATEGIES to do our creative agency and SEO work. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STRATEGIES assesses our website and SEO metrics. Mark (President) makes ongoing suggestions every month that help us optimize the website. He also helps me with our creative assets, working on how our social media content is displayed to our prospects. Mark does graphics, layouts, brand ideas, and other general marketing tasks for us. 

What is the team composition?

Besides Mark, I work with 2–4 teammates from STRATEGIES, depending on the task. 

How did you come to work with STRATEGIES?

They were referred to me when I was in my previous company. On top of that, I’ve worked with Mark on two different companies. 

What is the status of this engagement?

My current company engaged STRATEGIES in November 2022, and the partnership is ongoing. However, I started my engagement with Mark in March 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our ROI for STRATEGIES is in multiple digits. We’ve seen substantial and material improvements in our search rankings since engaging with Mark. In fact, we’ve recently had 19 non-branded keywords in the top 10 results. 

How did STRATEGIES perform from a project management standpoint?

Mark has been highly responsive to us even though he lives in a different country. He’s been highly engaged with our team, and we’ve learned much from him. Moreover, STRATEGIES delivers according to our plans, and they’ve exceeded our expectations. For communication, we have a stand-up meeting every week. I communicate with Mark every other day on various activities. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Mark is a thought leader in the SEO industry. He’s one of its pioneers, so his ability to provide SEO services and consulting is unmatched. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Engage with STRATEGIES early and often. The initial discovery meeting is important — engage with them, and give them significant background information prior to the start of the engagement. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the content strategist and marketing coordinator for a global software company that develops technology for debt collection for lenders and agencies around the country. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRATEGIES?

Our initial goals were to increase brand awareness, improve our website, and get better audience engagement. We also wanted to initiate our digital marketing efforts, which we didn’t do prior to working with STRATEGIES.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our website had a lot of errors that we didn’t even know about. Given that, Google didn’t recognize us as experts in our fields because we weren’t showing up on search results. The STRATEGIES team then did a highly extensive audit of the website, fixing errors as they did so. 

So far, they’ve added new keyword-rich pages to our website. The team has also helped us create content that’s relevant to the website. Simply put, their work revolves around continuously building our website in a highly strategic manner that we haven’t done before. This effort is tied into everything else we’re doing to leverage our digital marketing campaign. 

What is the team composition?

Mark (President) is our main point of contact, and we talk multiple times a day. Apart from him, three other people are actively involved in the partnership. Caroline (Director of Client Services & Technology) does our emails, while Anthony (Web Developer) does all the coding related to our website. Zoe (Relationship Marketing Coordinator) handles content and a variety of other things. 

While I engage with other members of the team for specific needs, Mark is involved in the day-to-day management of all aspects of the project. He’s also the team’s chief writer and strategist — the mastermind behind everything. 

How did you come to work with STRATEGIES?

I drafted an RFP that we circulated to five companies in various locations, including Florida, Idaho, and Washington, DC. We also put one out in Canada. Our team received a bunch of bids and did the initial interview process. Other members of our company joined me during the second and third rounds of interviews. 

STRATEGIES immediately came out as a frontrunner since they were highly recommended, and I was impressed by Mark. He put together a nice proposal with 18–20 slide decks on how they could address our needs. He also did a rudimentary but interesting and relevant audit of what was and wasn’t working on our website — nobody else did this. Moreover, Mark knew what he was doing since he’d done this many times before. He was solutions-oriented and highly familiar with our pain points. Overall, he had great energy, style, and proposal, and we liked what we heard from him. As a result, we signed him on right away.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $150,000–$180,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our work in January 2021, and we’re still in partnership. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have exceeded the inbound leads that we target for the year. In fact, we’ve more than doubled it year-over-year on a consistent basis. On top of that, we’re now on the first page of search results — we were previously on page three. Likewise, we’re ranking for 18 keywords in the top 10 search results for our industry. We’ve also quadrupled our website visits at one point. In short, STRATEGIES has far exceeded what we’ve hoped to achieve this year.  

Meanwhile, Mark has done a great job in terms of bringing high-quality UX to our website. We’ve been able to do great A/B testing to see what attracts more people to our site — we now have a better understanding of how we can engage people. 

How did STRATEGIES perform from a project management standpoint?

STRATEGIES’ communication is excellent, and their project management is great. Oftentimes, if I toss an idea to Mark, he’ll be five steps ahead of me by the next time we talk. His execution’s thoroughness is superior to anyone else’s.

For project management tools, we use Asana on a minimal level to keep deadlines in place. More frequently, we use HubSpot and Google dashboards. To communicate, we mainly use emails, Zoom calls, and texts on a daily basis.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The depth of Mark’s expertise is impressive. Every time I bring up an idea, he’ll put together something that’s so far beyond what I expect him to do. In other words, he knows what he’s doing. Overall, his depth of knowledge and expertise in digital marketing is fantastic. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We should do a better job of managing our timelines, though I put this more on myself than STRATEGIES. Other than that, we’re greatly pleased with their work. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a dedicated person to work directly with the STRATEGIES team. For example, my job is to make sure we’re getting the most out of STRATEGIES’ services. This allows Mark to be nimble, proactive, and prolific. You must have a main point person who ensures Mark gets what he needs, such as fast approvals. Simply put, be committed to supporting them to do their best; that makes a big difference. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a digital marketing manager at Blue Cross, and I’ve also worked in the enterprise architecture and UX area in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRATEGIES?

Our company was late in adhering to the digital culture, and we had a non-performant communication platform.

There was just one person on my team for marketing automation, so we didn’t have the capacity to do it ourselves. My company specializes in travel insurance, so communication was very important during the COVID crisis.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STRATEGIES helped us with the implementation of our platform, and they trained our marketing and IT teams on how to use it. They helped us onboard new people and focus our marketing automation.

They’re currently helping us with marketing campaign operationalization, including email template and landing page creation. They’re helping us determine what kinds of content and personalizations we need, and they’ve helped us produce content to explain our marketing strategy to other organizations.

What is the team composition?

I’m working with Mark (President), Caroline (Director of Client Services & Technology), and one other teammate.

How did you come to work with STRATEGIES?

They had the capacity to work very fast, had a more human approach, and could work with small-to-medium enterprises. They also had expertise in an email automation platform that was suitable for our company. 

I was first introduced to STRATEGIES by one of their employees at the time, who I was friends with. I met with their team twice before we started working together, and I liked their open-mindedness. Mark had begun his career working with traditional mail marketing, and it’s rare to see someone evolve from that into digital. 

That was something I liked about STRATEGIES — they focused on client experience, not technology. To them, technology is a means of reaching clients, not a purpose in itself, and I wanted to work with a company that understood that.

How much have you invested with them?

The spend in 2020 will be $500,000 CAD (approximately $375,800 USD). We’ve spent around $300,000 CAD (approximately $225,400 USD) so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2020, and our engagement is ongoing. We plan to continue with them in 2021 as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I appreciate their transparency and collaborative nature. STRATEGIES is competent and hardworking, and they work quickly. We’ve received good feedback internally for the platform and strategy. 

People couldn’t believe that we could build it in two months. The internal IT team had estimated the project at two years, but we did it in two months. The tool is very powerful and allows us to do a lot of things. We plan to use it for social media as well.

How did STRATEGIES perform from a project management standpoint?

We see them as more of a partner than a provider. We treat them the same as our internal colleagues, and we work closely together. They’re timely, and any missed deadlines have been our fault.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re friendly, competent, and transparent. If something isn’t working, they tell us about it, and they want to see us succeed. STRATEGIES works with us as though we are part of the same company. The team is also very involved in our business growth.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no suggestions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

At EuropAuto, we are car rental specialists for Europe and beyond with over 50 years’ experience. We make things simple, matching the right vehicle to our customers’ exact needs. We offer both traditional car rental as well as short-term car leasing in Europe.

We represent the big top automakers in France which are Peugeot, Renault, Dacia and DS Automobiles, as well as the top car rental companies worldwide including Hertz, Avis, Budget, Enterprise and EuropCar.

I am the director of operations and am responsible for the customer experience from end-to-end including marketing communications and the customer call centre.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire STRATEGIES?

We hired strategies primarily for their expertise in email and relationship marketing. They first proposed a concrete action plan designed to grow our business quickly. Then they designed and deployed an email marketing plan focused on customer conversion and loyalty.

This included a new contact strategy, template design, revised cadence and sequencing. In the process, they updated our brand image, revamped our website design and handled events and press coverage for a successful new automotive brand launch. But their primary focus was centered on the email marketing program for our three main brands.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to grow our sales across Canada while building customer loyalty. We also wanted to project a more professional image to our customers that was better aligned with the high-quality service that we offer.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We chose Strategies because of their enthusiasm and team spirit as well as their strong knowledge of the tourism industry which is our main market segment. They also provided great references from other clients they work with and came highly recommended.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

First, they did their homework, analyzing our email engagement, website traffic trends, conversion rates, customer value, transactional behavior as well as a thorough competitive review. They are very results focused.

They came back with a comprehensive 3-year action plan identifying key leverage points that would have the most impact on our growth. It was a collaborative process with several workshops before landing on a final plan.

Next, they redesigned the email template, look and feel and deployment strategy. This included greater emphasis on the travel experience to balance out our previous product and price focus. Part of that redesign included building a modular Master Template to accelerate time-to-market. The template was customized to the key automotive brands we offer. Strategies then went on to apply their new brand look and feel to a new website and booking engine.

For this new website, they also implemented a content strategy and SEO optimization plan. In addition, they provide ongoing marketing advice, track and report on market trends and technology innovations. For the launch of our latest automotive brand, they also handled PR and event planning.

What was the team composition?

Strategies created an agile team of talented professionals that varied according to the need at hand. Our main contact is Mark Morin the agency president, as well as an account manager, a marketing coordinator, an email developer and more.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Together with Strategies, we developed a flexible marketing approach that varied according to the target audience, the product offering and the promotional calendar. This approach and the processes that support it has led to a strong year-over-year growth in traffic, retention and sales.

In the fall of 2019, we received an award for the strongest growth in sales amongst all Peugeot licensees worldwide. It also was nominated for an award from the Email Experience Council for the best improved program. Our customer satisfaction ratings have increased substantially as well. Customers feel that they are doing business with a professional organization that delivers a quality experience from end to end.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management process was very effective. The core account team met with us once a week to review ongoing projects, set timetables and discuss issues and challenges. Daily interaction by email and phone covered the approval and deployment process.

The owner of the agency and our owner were in regular contact, reviewing results and making any necessary changes to the strategy. As a result, we often had last-minute requests and changes to implement. The agency demonstrated amazing flexibility, making changes on the fly and re-arranging their calendar to suite our needs. They always worked as a trusted partner, having our interests at heart (and above their own) at all time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their adaptability, agility, and willingness to adapt to our changing needs impressed us. Especially in a market that is competitive and unpredictable by nature! Also, their creativity and ability to deliver quality work at an affordable price – work that was always on-brand and beautifully engaging.

Are there any areas for improvement?

So far, no.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

#1 Ski Resort in Eastern North America. Located in the Laurentians, Qc, Mont Tremblant Resort is a four-season holiday destination and ski resort that offer year-round events and activities to keep everyone entertained.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRATEGIES?

We wanted to reach the next level in customer relationship marketing by turning our communications objectives into strong and lasting relationships with our guests throughout the customer lifecycle.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STRATEGIES is involved from start to finish in the communication process. STRATEGIES understands our brand and our different clientele. With their knowledge of data and their expertise, the agency is an essential asset in our marketing ecosystem.

What is the team composition?

Caroline (Director, Client Services and Technology) is my go-to person.  Mark (Owner & President) is often involved but is constantly on the lookout for innovations. The entire team cares about the success of our business.

How did you come to work with STRATEGIES?

Our relationship started shortly after the 2008 economic downturn. We needed a reliable partner to provide CRM expertise in both email and direct mail. A member of our team had previous experience with STRATEGIES. They were called in to design and deploy a personalized Destination Marketing campaign. The campaign was highly successful, and sales grew by 33% that first year. We’ve been working together ever since.

How much have you invested with them?

The budget for the renewal campaign is between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Tremblant has partnered with STRATEGIES for over a decade. Still today, we are pleased to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Email sales increased consistently, often achieving growth of 30% or more. Our unique email open rates are generally in the 59% range for core segments, and unique click rates per email are as high as 25%.

Tremblant has partnered with STRATEGIES for over a decade. The agency is an essential asset in the Tremblant marketing ecosystem. Over the years, we have built a strong relationship based on trust, success, and results. They are extremely reliable, knowledgeable, and hard-working, and they always treat us as their main priority. They apply their expertise to turn our communications objectives into strong and lasting relationships with our guests, throughout the customer lifecycle. We recommend their services to any company who wants to reach the next level in customer relationship marketing.

The following are the awards we’ve won with STRATEGIES over the years:

Flèches d’or 1994
-Gold award – Best services marketing
-Golf Le Géant
Flèches d’or 1996
-Gold award – Best services marketing
-Tremblant Max Loyalty Program
CMA RSVP awards 1996
-Silver award – Best Loyalty campaign
-Tremblant Max Loyalty Program
Flèches d’Or 2013
-Top award: Campaign of the year
-Gold – Best consumer marketing campaign
-Emerging marketer of the year award
Flèches d’Or 2017
-Emerging marketer of the year award
Flèches d’Or 2018
-Gold – Best customer retention campaign
-Finalist – Best consumer marketing campaign
2019 Email Innovation Award
Email Experience Council (EEC)
Winner – Best omni-channel use of email

How did STRATEGIES perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via email and Slack. The team is always available and supports us in every way they can. We have weekly calls with Caroline to keep track of ongoing projects and to plan future projects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very good at innovation and interactive content. We have multiple segments as well as clientele in the US and Toronto, and they customize the message and the images within the emails. For instance, they put a banner in the email with the rate exchange, which changes depending on who receives the email. They’re very strong with that and are very good with data.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not for now. We are very satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the founders of Levenswater Inc. The commercial products we sell are all gins.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRATEGIES?

We have a product that’s made in Niagara, Canada and in upstate New York. I was entering a predominantly French market, and I needed an agency that understood that market. I also wanted an agency that understood the duality of that market which is that it’s French and English.

Additionally, even the English demographic is different from that in other parts of Canada. We wanted to go into that market because it’s a very mature gin market – the number one or two gin market in Canada.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STRATEGIES started off by doing a deep dive into the brand and understanding it. The team then got into finding key insights for the market to understand how they were going to be able to develop a transfer of identity into that market.

They didn’t just focus on the market as a mass-market; they also looked at some of the subsets, for example, Montreal versus Quebec City. We thought they would just work with us on digital and social media, but the team ended up helping us with a mix of PR, social media, and experiential marketing.

One of the experiential events we did with them was not in a place you would expect to find liquor. They set it up in a fashion retail store and we had our closed-door event there.

What is the team composition?

Mark (Owner & President) was my go-to person, but I worked with other members of his team depending on what area of communications we were discussing. So, I dealt with a PR specialist and an experiential specialist. 

How did you come to work with STRATEGIES?

I knew Mark because we had worked together previously. When I reached out to him, having that trust in place helped. He then came back with a proposal and impressed both me and the partners at my company. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$50,000 on this particular project.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in about October 2016, and we’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were completely unknown when we went into the market. We’ve won two major awards in the Quebec market. We’ve won top gin and cocktail awards at two events. The experiential event was very cool and it helped us to find the right audience. It also helped us to differentiate our product from others in the marketplace.

From a fundamental business standpoint, we built our share with the SAQ, which is Quebec’s government retailer for wines, spirits, and beers, by 36% year-over-year (YoY). Additionally, STRATEGIES helped us build our footprint with on-premise bars and restaurants. Within 4–6 months, we were in 63 locations.

How did STRATEGIES perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is very nimble and is good at pivoting. There are external factors that can affect the success of campaigns for brands like ours because there’s a seasonal bias with gin. The team was very good at dealing with weather changes and being aware of other events that might affect the events that we were doing. 

They worked very well with my other vendors. In some areas, they actually took on a leadership role, especially around the experiential aspects. I didn’t have to force alignment because STRATEGIES stepped up and effectively merged their thinking and processes with those of everyone else. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team didn’t make a big deal about the fact that they had to take on someone else’s work because we’re working primarily in the English language. They took those ideas and principles and adapted them to the French Quebec market. They understood that when working in a different language, it’s about adaptation, not translation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent and let them inside. You might think that they’re only representing one market, but they have the ability to think beyond the market in which they’re headquartered. STRATEGIES understands the bigger picture.

If you let them in and let them be part of some projects, it will help you. The team is very strategic and is able to execute very well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

At Europ Auto, we make things simple. We are car rental specialists with over 50 years experience. We know how to match the right vehicle to your exact needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Strategies?

Marketing strategies

What were your goals for this project?

Look more Professional. Grow our business all over Canada. Build customer loyalty.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Team spirit. Knowledge of tourism market. References.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Strategic e-mail promotion tips. Web tips. Tracking market trends for us. Event planning. Google AdWords strategie.

What was the team composition?

The project team present us professionals depending on the skills needed. They convinced us to develop an agile approach.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Together we developped a markeging structure depending on the customers we wanted to reach , the products and promotions we had and the time of the year. The team helped us to improve our websites both in French and English and also visually. We finally got an up to date image.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project manager listens to our needs and constraints, and they adapt to our context while promoting trends.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The adaptability!

Are there any areas for improvement?

So far, no.