Ulistic LP

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

SSE Network Services is a managed service provider, or outsourced IT support group. I am the director of client partnerships, which involves being a sales manager, marketing manager, account manager, helpdesk manager and project manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ulistic LP?

We had an old website that didn’t appeal to our clientele. We needed a complete refresh. We wanted a new design that focused on IT groups to let them know we could capture SEO knowledge, as well as create blogs, postings, and news.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the coming months, Ulistic LP will combine our two websites, but the main development phase is complete. We've now progressed to full-blown outsourced marketing. We set marketing priorities and Ulistic LP takes care of it.

We constantly look at how many touches we’re putting out there and to how many people. Ulistic LP is responsible for all content creation with our company, from our blog to our social media accounts. We make sure they get the right documents and write-ups. They run the language by me, and then it goes to market. They updated our marketing handouts (like fliers), set up our blog, and incorporated downloadable material like white pages on the site. They send out email blasts on a regular basis, depending on the fluctuation of the project. 

What is the team dynamic?

I work directly with Stuart [Marketing & Sales Team, Ulistic LP] since we’re at an appropriate level of usage.

How did you come to work with Ulistic LP?

We didn’t have the in-house talent, so we started looking for outside companies. Our old sales management team knew Ulistic LP, and they introduced us.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in March 2015 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have an average of 7.5 leads per week, which has been a running tally since January. We’re only now starting to hear and see that people are responding to us because of the number of touches and the relevant information being put out there. While it’s not a traceable metric, we are getting more calls, which is directly related to Ulistic LP’s work.

How did Ulistic LP perform from a project management standpoint?

Ulistic LP is an artistic group, so I set my expectations accordingly. For the marketing part, I work with them on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis. This is to ensure that we capture all the best ideas and get everything out on time. They are usually responsive and diligent about getting everything done. They also help set priorities because our project management is a joint effort in communication.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As long as we maintain good, solid communication and partnering, the results are exactly as I expect.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Stay in constant communication and don’t hand the reins to them, hoping for the best. Work with Ulistic LP and focus on what is best for the company.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of a managed IT services provider based in San Francisco.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ulistic?

One of the things we didn’t have a good handle on was sales and marketing. We’re primarily tech-oriented, so we focus on taking care of clients. We initially grew through referrals and word-of-mouth. As we started to expand our services, we decided to adopt a more sales-and-marketing push to see if we could start getting more organic leads coming in, versus word-of-mouth referrals. This started a process of us either looking to hire people internally, or searching for outside parties which could help us on an ongoing basis

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope of their services includes SEO, graphic design, website management, collateral development, email campaigns, PR and social media outreach. They also offer telemarketing services, but we haven’t done this yet. We also haven’t used their pay-per-click services. Ulistic offers start-to-end, thorough tracking, managing, maintaining and designing of all things related to marketing outreach and the external presence of our company to the world.

How did you come to work with Ulistic?

We had initially worked with another company which provided similar services to Ulistic, specifically targeting managed-service providers like us. We worked with them for around a year and a half, and I had been introduced to Stuart Crawford from Ulistic before that time, 5 or 6 years ago through a series of in-person events. We weren’t ready to start doing anything at that point, so we worked with the other company, which ended up going off-the-rails. We started looking for another provider, and brought Ulistic back into the picture.

Ulistic makes a big push around education, providing useful material which can keep people abreast of what’s going on. I’d been getting those communications for years, and kept Ulistic in the background. The relationship with our other company fell through, so we looked at a couple of other options in the new evaluation process. We initially thought that we should try a local company which we could meet in-person. For the type of service offered by Ulistic and the price, they were a much better option for us.

How much have you invested with Ulistic?

The cost of their work is around $2,500 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Ulistic in September 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have noticed a significant improvement in terms of what has been delivered to us by Ulistic, especially compared to our prior service. Looking at incoming leads, for all of 2016, working with our prior company, we had a grand total of 47 leads. In the first three months of 2017, we received more leads from Ulistic, than we did for the entirety of last year, and the number is continuing to increase.

In terms of page ranking, SEO and so on, our prior company made some changes to our website, which basically dropped us off Google. We weren’t showing up in any searches, and it became a big issue. When we came onboard with Ulistic, they made a bunch of changes which got us back. We receive weekly reports for our page rankings, and sit in the top 10 for multiple keywords. We have gone from being off-the-rails to showing up in the top for certain categories like “San Francisco network consulting”, “MSP services San Francisco”, and so on. It’s been a big improvement for us.

How did Ulistic perform from a project management standpoint?

We started by having Stuart as the go-to person, during the onboarding. He moved us over to one of his account managers, and we saw a bit of a drop-off, and have since gone back to Stuart, which improved things. He has a group of key clients which he manages directly, and we’re one of them. The direct contact we have has been helpful in getting us quick responses. We’ve been happy with the feedback and with how things are being tracked. Ulistic has accountability, and follows up with us on weekly calls.

What did you find most impressive about Ulistic?

The main thing I’ve appreciated is that Ulistic has a good design ethic, or aesthetic. They have a team which cares, and there is frequent back-and-forth communication as things are happening. We know where things are going, and can keep a master calendar of major projects, goals and metrics for tracking progress. It’s been a very positive experience.

Are there any areas Ulistic could improve?

We can see some similarities between our company and theirs. We both have 20-something employees, and our struggles have been around resources, and finding good people. Ulistic has gone through similar struggles as they’ve tried to scale things up. This is an endemic part of the industry at this point. Finding resources is challenging, and I’m not sure how much of this is due to Ulistic per se. I've been happy with Ulistic overall, and this has been a vast improvement over what we had before. From this perspective, and relative to the amount we’re paying, we receive a lot of value and have a collaborative engagement.