True Market

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Director of Marketing & Communications of Liver Canada

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're transforming the future of liver disease in Canada. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire True Market to accomplish?

• A new user-friendly and visually pleasing website.

SOLUTION

How did you find True Market?

Online Search

Why did you select True Market over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from True Market were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

A revamped website, including a menu/navigation and content overhaul. This project also included custom sections such as a recipe bank, and information hub, and connected donation and information forms. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

user navigation, ease of information, number of visitors 

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

True Market went above and beyond! They always adjusted their team's timelines to fit our team's busy schedules. They responded to our questions in less than 1 business day and were always available to hop on a call if needed. They kept us informed at every step in the process and helped us find solutions if internal wants/needs changed. They stayed within scope of budget and there were no surprising fees or extra work. Our website is beautiful - they went above and beyond our wildest expectations and hopes for this website. 

What was your primary form of communication with True Market?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

You can tell that their team loves what they do, and their work shows it! They are friendly, approachable, and trustworthy. They had our best interests in mind every step of the way!

Are there any areas for improvement or something True Market could have done differently?

Nothing - everything was perfect!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive Director of The Consortium

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Consortium provides Professional Learning Supports to the Education sector in Alberta.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire True Market to accomplish?

• To unify the brand of our seven regional offices into one provincial brand.
• To improve the quality of our website aligning it's functionality with the professional nature of our work
• To provide an improved end user experience for stakeholders accessing our website and resources.

SOLUTION

How did you find True Market?

Referral

Why did you select True Market over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from True Market were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The Consortium project began with unifying the seven regional offices through the development of a common Brand Message for the organization.  This process was pivotal in aligning the efforts of our group to deliver equitable professional learning services across the province of Alberta.

Phase Two of the project began in early 2024 with the development of a new website and supporting marketing materials for The Consortium.  A Branding and Marketing committee was established and they worked closely with the True Market team over a seven month period to brainstorm and develop a new web presence that adequately portrayed The Consortium in a professional manner to our stakeholder partners.  This process was rich with opportunity to "think aloud" with the True Market team on what could be possible.  These dreams were then brought to life through the True Market designers and developers who always provided the Branding and Marketing committee with ample opportunity to provide feedback, make suggetions, or ask critical questions.  The end product was a new website that moved our web presence into a completely different atmosphere, and provided our end users with a significant upgrade in their ability to seek our and utilize the many resources housed on the website.

In addition to the new website the True Market team provided design and procurement support for the development of additional marketing and operational materials.  These materials included items such as business cards, trade show assets, promotional materials, newsletter template design, document and presentation template designs, social media logo designs and last but not least Zoom background options all aligned to our new brand.  The quality of these additional assets are phenominal and have led to significant positive feedback from our stakeholders on how the image of the organization has been elevated significantly. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

1. A new Brand Message for the Organization
2. A new Website aligned to the Brand Message
3. Creation of additional brand assets to support the organization in rebranding
4. Continual consultation on the implementation of the Brand and potential next steps

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

True Market was amazing to work with.  From our inital coversations with Greg to the support received from Graham and Marni our team was thrilled with the level of support we received. 

All of our project deliverables were delivered on time and on budget which was an essential component of our success.

We would not hesitate to work with True Market again on future projects.  Our experience with the True Market team was nothing short of amazing!  True Market is made up of great people doing great work! 

What was your primary form of communication with True Market?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

True Market is a company with dedicated knowledgable professional individuals focused on ensuring their clients have a positive experience that delivers on their project goals.  True Market was responsive, provided great advice, and deliverd on their promises!

Are there any areas for improvement or something True Market could have done differently?

I have no suggestions for improvement for the True Market team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Board Chair of Helping Families Handle Cancer

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide financial support to families in Alberta and Saskatoon who are journeying childhood cancer. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire True Market to accomplish?

• Help our charity update its brand message and visual brand, and develop a stronger understanding of who our target audience is.
• Develop better tools for communicating with donors (individual and corporate), volunteers, grants/government, and cancer families.
• Improve the visual aesthetic of the brand through a logo and website redesign
• Equip our team to present the charity in the best possible way
• Improve ROI of our staff and volunteers' efforts

SOLUTION

How did you find True Market?

Referral

Why did you select True Market over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fits our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from True Market were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

True Market planned, designed, developed, and coded our website in a way that fits our charity's unique needs and goals. 

Prior to helping us with our website, True Market also designed and developed our brand messaging and brand visuals to reflect the heart of our organization. This included our logo as well as a finalized brand package. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new website and logo were thoughtfully curated, attractive, and represented our organization perfectly. Our team, especially our Executive Director, was happy and excited with the logo. We integrated the new branding into our presentations, ads, social media, and other marketing activities, all of which have helped us improve our engagement with donors and increase fundraising revenue. According to our Google Analytics, our newest ads have been very successful.
Our new website is not only visually attractive, but functional, fast, easy to edit, and I believe it has improved the experience of users and donors who are looking to contribute to a great cause. True Market has equipped us with a great set of tools that we can use to create deeper relationships with stakeholders and their strategic input has been absolutely invaluable. We are incredibly grateful to them for everything they helped us achieve. 

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

The quality of service we received from True Market is truly unmatched. Not only is their team skilled, talented, attentive, and detail-oriented, but they are also kind, patient, and diligent in their efforts to deliver the best possible results. They consulted with our team extensively to make sure that our new branding captured the essence of our charity. 
We could tell they care deeply about the people they work with. Timelines were planned and communicated clearly. If there were any delays they updated us right away. They were also incredibly helpful with the planning of our big reveal! The whole design and consultation process from start to finish was smooth, professional, and punctual. Couldn't have asked for a better experience! 

What was your primary form of communication with True Market?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The True Market team can understand and tell stories like no other. They have a unique eye for building a brand and helping you convey your message to the right audience. They will go above and beyond to help you achieve your goals in a way that is methodical, strategic, and creative. Not only that, but you can tell that these people genuinely care about you and your business. They are the best of the best. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something True Market could have done differently?

They did everything perfectly. Keep up the incredible work! 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a managing editor at Tsuut'ina Nation's communications department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with True Market?

Our website had been severely outdated for a long time, so our Chief and Council directed me to seek proposals for a brand-new website. We hired True Market for web design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

True Market designed and developed a WordPress website for us. Since they hadn’t worked with a First Nations government before, many things were new to them. Therefore, our team created a branding guideline that contained all the information applicable to the website and gave it to them. 

From there, True Market came back with a first draft of the website with all the pages. Once we approved the design, we dove into the content together. We have many departments and services, so we had content such as a directory, a culture and language portion, a historical timeline, and audio files. We provided them with the content, and the team organized the pieces for us. After they built the site, they handed over the domain to us. 

What is the team composition?

We had one main point of contact at True Market, who was assigned to our project early on. Initially, we worked with another teammate who’s no longer with the company. We also met with the entire team in person. 

How did you come to work with True Market?

We found them through an RFP process. True Market was one of six companies that sent us proposals. They were the company that was willing to write out all the issues and concerns with our previous website; they identified problems and came up with solutions. The proposals went through a committee above the Nation’s administration, and they chose True Market. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent almost $60,000 CAD (approximately $45,000 USD). Our initial agreement was for $49,000 CAD (approximately $36,000 USD); we requested additional things later. We paid the first 50% of the original contract in October 2019 and the rest in December 2021. Then, True Market gave us an estimated quote for $13,000 CAD (approximately $9,600 USD) for the extra work, but we ended up paying $9,600 CAD (approximately $7,100 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2019–July 2022. They’re always available to us if we need help or have questions about items we can’t code through WordPress. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we launched the new site, we've received an enormous amount of inquiries from our contact page, which is great. We average about 15–20 inquiries a day, whereas our previous site didn't receive any, also showing our traffic increased. The site has also received a lot of compliments and acknowledgment for how nice and useful it is. Our executive director and counsel gave us a standing ovation when we presented the new website to them, so we were very pleased with everything True Market delivered.

True Market's design was stunning, and they knocked the content organization out of the park. The Nation is a huge entity with almost 2,400 citizens and 83 departments and services, and there's a lot to go over; even people immersed in it get lost in the information. I was really impressed that True Market was able to put themselves in our shoes to understand and organize the site's content. 

Moreover, they brought modernization to our branding. Now, we create all our media resources to complement the website and its details. Our point of contact has been a pleasure to work with; she's answered all our questions and trained our staff to get familiar with WordPress. When we ventured into this agreement, one of our concerns was that we held all of our information internally and didn't want it to sit anywhere else. The team agreed readily, and now, the Nation's administration completely manages, hosts, and owns the website. 

How did True Market perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was useful and helped us stay on track and coordinate what content was missing. They were fantastic and were on time with the tasks we assigned and the ones they promised. The team was very responsive to us every step of the way. They were great communicators; we were always in the know. If we needed time to do something, they respected that and didn't pressure us. That gave us a took stress points down regarding the website's content.

The only thing that delayed this project was our sensitive content and the departments and committees we needed approval from before we could give them that information. Although the vetting of information took a long time, True Market understood that we needed to cross our t's and dot our i's to ensure we were respectful of our Nation's language, culture, and history. 

They included 25 buffer hours in the breakdown of the first contract. However, as we went through all the content and realized we needed out-of-scope hours, we changed what we wanted to put on the site. For example, the first proposal didn't include the language and culture page. They sent us a quote for the hours they felt they would need to finish the project with the changes, and they came in under budget.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by True Market's level of professionalism. We do a lot of graphic design, and from the second we opened their proposal, we realized they didn't set the bar; they were the bar. The detail and work that went into preparing that proposal blew us out of the water. They were organized and committed to showing us what they could bring to the table. Therefore, even though they were the most expensive proposal, it was easy to go with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would have enjoyed more in-person meetings with their team; we did most of the project remotely. We only had one meeting at their offices, and they came to our office once. However, I can't judge them harshly because we were working through the COVID-19 pandemic; they would have catered to that request if there hadn't been a health and public safety order. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Which company you hire depends on your needs. True Market was the right fit for us, and they did things at a caliber way above our expectations while being easy to work with. Therefore, I would tell anybody to work with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director at Camp Evergreen. We’re a children and youth camp. We have guest groups; we also work with schools, do summer camps, have retreats, and so on.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with True Market?

We needed to redesign our website and work on our print media.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

True Market has taken on our vast website redesign project. They’ve built the site from scratch, working on design and development with Drupal and our CiviCRM backend.

The website is pretty extensive. They’ve written all the content, and many pages have dropdown menus and tabs that users can work up and down. Additionally, they do maintenance and hosting. True Market helps us change anything we need to the website structure. If we need to switch the staff pictures, they do it for us.

We’ve also worked with them on our branding. In January, they did a rebranding for us; we got new colors, logo, and everything else. Now, when they do other design work, everything is in line with that.

What is the team composition?

They’ve brought in a developer, a graphic designer, and a content writer. 

How did you come to work with True Market?

Initially, someone connected us to True Market, so we found them through word of mouth. We’d already worked with them for brochure development and print media, so we approached them for the website redesign. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000 CAD (approximately $7,000 USD) on the rebranding and $20,000–$25,000 CAD (approximately $15,000–$18,000 USD) on the website. In total, we’ve spent over $50,000 throughout the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since March 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We get tons of compliments on our website — the design is beautiful and easy to navigate. Also, there’s a lot of information on the website, which is an essential requirement for us. Moreover, everything they produce for us aligns with the character we want to portray. 

How did True Market perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve never been over budget with them; they’re great at pinpointing costs. Most of our communication is via email or phone. Over the last three years, we’ve started meeting on Zoom or Google Meet. All in all, they’re very flexible. We’ve also done in-person meetings to talk about project details.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everything they produce is beautiful. True Market has worked hard to get to know us as an organization and deliver outstanding outcomes for us. Our website is fantastic; we’ve had it for years, and it’s aging well. The fact that we don’t have to go back to redesign it or do major upgrades after 4–5 years is massive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just know what you’re asking for. Do your previous work ahead of time so they can work efficiently for you.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Chief Revenue Officer - responsible for sales and marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire True Market?

Our website needed a refresh. The team at True Market really understood our brand and the design we wanted. We hired them to develop the site.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking at three factors: value for price, understanding of our brand, and their process (ie how easy was it to work with them).

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We started understanding their step by step process and each stage of the project. Our first meeting was a series of questions to communicate our brand and value proposition. I felt like this step was critical in their full understanding of the company and culture. We then were presented with design ideas and were able to select what we liked. From there it was a fairly seemless process of providing content and images for the layout.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with the owner for the initial brand and culture understanding, then with a project manager and a designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The look and feel of the website had lots of feedback from visitors in a positive way. We did get higher engagement with lead generation and more people reading our blogs. It did impact revenue as it expanded our market as we saw clients contacting us from other parts of the country.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent. It was consistent, clear, and scheduled.

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

I loved the creativity of their designs, the ease of working together, and the method that they led us through their process.

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

The timing was spot on for completion and everyone was really easy to work with. We're pleased with the result.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chair of the board at a not-for-profit organization that advocates for positive changes for people undergoing mental health and addiction challenges. We started the organization due to our son’s suicide. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with True Market?

We needed help presenting ourselves professionally as a grassroots organization in a world that we didn’t necessarily understand. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially discussed True Market’s scope of work. Once we finalized the details, they proceeded to execute. 

First, True Market designed our executive report. They used our colors and logo to create the template, and they integrated it into our website.

True Market also refreshed our website’s design. We had a lot of emotional attachment to our original website because my son’s friends created it. We wanted to keep the feel and tone of the site, and True Market was amazing at adding new features while retaining the site’s original feel. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with two teammates.

How did you come to work with True Market?

Another not-for-profit organization recommended True Market to us. We appreciated that they were mindful of the financial challenges faced by not-for-profits. We found them reasonable to work with and were impressed by their work with other organizations, so we engaged with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $18,000 CAD (approximately $14,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2021–March 2022. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

True Market’s efforts improved our ability to do our advocacy work. They increased our confidence in meeting with government officials and high-level executives thanks to the quality of the tools they provided. In addition, we were able to present our materials with confidence in a way that we weren’t able to before working with True Market. They brought us to the next level.

We also liked the caliber and quality of their work and the artistic component of their output. Their design abilities were amazing and very thoughtful. 

How did True Market perform from a project management standpoint?

True Market’s communication skills were excellent. They were able to clear up and resolve our issues really well. They were very good at following up with our team and implementing any changes requested. Their turnaround time was quick, and their team was always accessible. We couldn’t recommend them enough. 

In terms of tools, we just trusted True Market’s judgment and deferred to them to deliver what we wanted. We mostly communicated through emails and phone conversations. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

True Market cared about our organization and the work that we did. They understood that their work would reflect on our image. They really paid attention and listened to our team — they got the essence of what we wanted and who we were. 

We were also impressed by True Market’s collaboration skills; they were very patient with us and surpassed our expectations. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. The whole experience was really positive. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hesitate to engage with them. They’re worth every penny.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the partner of our accounting firm. We are a full service chartered professional accounting firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire True Market, and what were your goals?

We recently rebranded, which True Market helped us with 2 years ago, and needed a better website that was branded to our firm and had the opportunities to grow. Our goals were to have a professional, yet informative website that allows clients and future prospects to understand what we do and how we can help them.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

As True Market was involved in our rebranding we did not obtain quotes from the market place and we were very impressed with their professionalism so we decided to trust them with this very large project

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Where do I start, we had multiple meetings to discuss our brand and our messaging, as well as reviewing of multiple markups and 'feel' of the website. This including messaging and our overall vision for the website. We deferred a lot of the design and look to the team as we just weren't up to date on the modern looks and just aren't that creative in the process so very helpful they took a solid lead in this project. In our website we incorporated online webpayments, joining a newsletter as well as various blogs and online resources

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We were switched project managers mid-way through the project, which does make things a little more challenging as dealing with one person throughout the project would have been helpful. But the new manager was caught up to speed in a relatively short time. basically that was our main point of contact with the company

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

we haven't yet generated the results we wanted to see through SEO or anything yet - but it has only been one month. the website itself is what we expected, and then some.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

we had online virtual meetings several times throughout the project to stay on time.

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

The site was professional and it was different, we didn't want a cookie cutter site and was impressed with the custom nature of the site we were provided

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

On the file product there were a few typos, incorrect address/phone numbers, etc. but these were quickly fixed. I feel these little errors should have been picked up on their QC side.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Allenbrook Homes. We build houses and do large-scale renovations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with True Market?

We wanted to have more volume and inquiries to the website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built our website three years ago. On our current project, they’re handling all the investigating and giving me findings. We’re updating the website and implementing SEO practices so we can get more hits. True Market is looking at our competitors and analyzing which keywords we should target.

Out of those keywords, they gave me a lot of findings of the numbers in relation to the word that was being searched by our local community. They’re helping us narrow down those keywords to best utilize the top words that are related to our business. Their team also handled our branding and company logo design.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with the owner and two other team members.

How did you come to work with True Market?

We met them at a trade show.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $10,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in 2017. This new project started in March 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The response anytime we engaged with True Market is immediate. They’re always there to help.

How did True Market perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m very happy with project management. There are certain people who take the lead for certain parts of the project. When I need to engage with them, I’m put on to those people and it all goes very well. We primarily communicate through Zoom and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like that they’re a smaller organization. I’m also a smaller organization. True Market caters to me and wants my business even though they have my business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s only been one incident where a team member was looking after our project and left. They dropped the ball when they passed our project onto the next person. I don’t know how True Market could have avoided it. It was more due to the person not caring about what was happening with the company after they left. It was a small, misfortunate circumstance that I certainly wouldn’t hold against True Market.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open to True Market’s ideas and suggestions. As much as I thought I knew what I wanted, once they explained how things work and best optimization practices, I learned a lot from them.