TechnikOne

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Bamford Associates. We’re a strategy consulting firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TechnikOne?

Our company was starting out with no web presence whatsoever.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed and developed our website. A couple of years later, I decided it needed to be responsive to mobile browsers and able to take payment. They implemented those changes easily and have been our web partner for the past seven years. The team also does our SEO work, security, emails, and workshop functionality. I create all the content.

What is the team composition?

I only work with Martin (Creative Lead, TechnikOne).

How did you come to work with TechnikOne?

I was getting ready to start this business while running the Entrepreneur Leadership Circle in Charlotte, North Carolina. That’s where I met Martin.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $10,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in April 2013 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We show up in the first three Google search results pages for our targeted keywords, thanks to TechnikOne’s SEO work. We’ve also received praise from others on the website. I’ve referred TechnikOne to many, many clients—including some big names—and every single person has come back to me completely satisfied with their work. 

How did TechnikOne perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve met in person a few times, but now we communicate mostly via email. Martin is incredibly responsive. I can put together a whole slew of updates to the website, and he’ll get it done quickly. Any time I have an issue or question for him, he gets back to me within an hour.

What did you find most impressive about them?

TechnikOne’s capability astounds me: I’ve never thrown anything at Martin that he couldn’t do. When I started running workshops around the country through my firm, I need to be able to process credit card payments through my website. I’d never done it before, but Martin handled it seamlessly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly can’t think of anything. As a strategy professor, I’d love to come up with something, but I can’t.

Any advice for potential customers?

Outline your goal and what you want to achieve. Martin will do a lot of the work for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Boundary Street Advisor, a commercial real estate brokerage that serves sellers, buyers, tenants, and landlords.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TechnikOne?

We needed help with our brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first met with TechnikOne to discuss our ideas about our brand. They provided a questionnaire to talk through with us what our thoughts were and learn the value behind the company. We went through several iterations to define our vision. My partner and I had some differences in opinion at first, but when TechnikOne came back with a draft, we immediately agreed that what gave us was perfect. 

TechnikOne helped us come up with the name and steered us away from other options. They then created the logo, brand standards, and collateral—cards, letterheads, road signs, physical banners, and more. Lastly, their team designed and developed our website, which is responsive to mobile and desktop browsers.

What is the team composition?

Our main contact is Martin (Creative Lead, TechnikOne). He leads a team of 3–4 people behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with TechnikOne?

I had worked with Martin while at two different companies. When I started this firm, I knew I wanted to work with TechnikOne.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $20,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in October 2018 and is ongoing. We still rely on TechnikOne to create new pieces of collateral from time to time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was very headstrong at first about a particular name and image. I appreciated their feedback about why that name didn’t bring out what was behind our brand. Through their question, they coaxed out the name Boundary Street, which is the street that my father grew up in that has since been decimated by gentrification. Thanks to TechnikOne, we have a name that means a lot to us and informs our daily mission.

TechnikOne creates clean, professional materials that are very relevant and bold in their creativity. For anyone looking to start a company, TechnikOne is a branding firm that gives you top-of-the-line quality without burning a hole in your pocketbook. They allow us to express our creativity by taking what’s in our heads and bringing it to life.

How did TechnikOne perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a good job of working at our pace while pushing us to achieve our goals. However, if we’re too focused on our day-to-day tasks as a business owner, they’ll do it for us. They always know what we need, even if we don’t. We use a project plan, emails, and weekly phone conversations to keep in touch.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Because they think proactively, we only ever need a few iterations before they landed on what we want. For example, I wanted TechnikOne to design an email newsletter for Constant Contact for a campaign. I expected some back-and-forth like with any vendor, but they nailed it on the first try. That saved us both money and time. Whenever we give them a task, TechnikOne just gets it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. They’re professional, timely, and a pleasure to work with.

Any advice for potential customers?

Just bring what you know that you like, and leave the marketing to them. I’ve referred them before and believe they do a good job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Chief Operating Officer for The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture. We’re a non-profit organization celebrating African American excellence in the arts, as well as history, and culture. We’re one of three art institutions on the Levine Campus for the arts.

Our goal is to be a destination for the arts, like Lincoln Center in New York. We primarily showcase exhibitions where the artists or scenes are African American. There are 3 galleries with rotating exhibitions as well as a permanent collection. We feature fine arts and have a robust programming schedule.
 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TechnikOne?

We had a website that was not user friendly, not functional. The technology was almost obsolete. We needed a new website, it’s kind of our 2.0.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed the first website around 2010, but recently just did a total redesign of the website. There had been some modifications and revisions, but last year they totally redesigned it. They did the design as well as all the backend. They do frontend, host it, and manage it for us. They recommended that we feature a video on our homepage instead of a typical static page. We use this for social media covers as well.

They also managed our database of newsletter subscribers so it’s certainly beyond just the website. That’s a big thing—they also manage our database for us. We changed our customer’s database system 2-3 times, but TechniqOne talked about the advantages and disadvantages of different databases, and recommend what other arts organizations use for software or systems. It ensures that we’re always current.

In addition to developing and designing the website, they also make marketing recommendations. For example, they would advise against emailing digital collateral every day for 2 weeks. TechnikOne let us know that strategy doesn’t follow best practices and a lot of people would unsubscribe.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with 3 different people at TechnikOne. I worked with a developer, a designer, and someone who helped with marketing.
How did you come to work with TechnikOne?

Their expertise was a big factor. They’re on the leading edge of technology.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000-$15,000

What is the status of this engagement?

We probably started talking about other ways that we can make the website more user-friendly in mid-2018. We wrapped up the work in September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The arts and science council are the funders for arts organizations in town and they talk about how great this website is. Compared to other institutions, our site has a better aesthetic and UI. Since launching, other art institutions have developed websites that look more like ours and are mimicking some of the capabilities we implemented.

TechnikOne’s recommendations keep us at the forefront of our industry and on the cutting edge of technology. They ensured that we remain leaders in the community by evolving our digital presence. Our CEO was pleased about how easy it was to navigate our site and find things easily. We got that feedback from patrons and visitors since the launch of the new website, as well.

How did TechnikOne perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily communicate over email, but quarterly, they come to visit our office. Since we also worked with a consultant to design our print collateral, we all come together quarterly. Sometimes TechnikOne would take the lead on what one design was going to look like, and sometimes the graphic designer would have the responsibility. Either way, the cross-team collaboration went well.

What’s so great about working with them is that they operate almost as an extension of our team. They almost feel like they’re part of our staff.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re just as concerned about our brand as us. They want us to maintain a level of excellence too. It doesn’t feel like we’re working with a contractor or that we’re just one of  their many clients. They go above and beyond. For example, if something happens and it’s a weekend and we need to have an alert on the website to let people know that we’re closed because something happened. We can still reach out to them and it’s seamless.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we wouldn’t work with them this long if they did not provide exceptional, committed service.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open. Don’t walk in thinking that you’re the client and you know what’s best. They really know what they’re doing. Be open to listening to them and to their recommendations, because what they recommend is beyond the industry standard.

If you decide to contract with them, they’re going to put you ahead of your peers with the products and services they provide. I’m looking for people who know more than me when I hire someone, and they know more than me.