Walker Sands

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is an experienced, lower middle-market private equity firm that seeks to partner with growth-minded, founder-owned companies. I am the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the company. I am responsible for the firm's marketing, events, and communications activities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Walker Sands, and what were your goals?

Our website was created over 5 years ago and we were in need of a new site that reflected our growth and evolution. Additionally, we were in need of refreshed messaging that reflected this maturation. Our messaging was not resonating properly with our business model and we needed to rethink how we were positioning ourselves to our market.

SOLUTION

How did you select Walker Sands and what were the deciding factors?

We had an involved RFP process and ended up interviewing 5 different firms. Walker Sands stood out due to their knowledge of the web dev and B2B space. They also had a strong handle on data and analytics, which we felt was lacking from other firms we considered. That combined with their eagerness to work with us and their polished and professional demeanor made them a great fit.

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

• Brand Asset Audit
• Competitive Industry Analysis
• Internal/External Stakeholder Interviews
• Brand Strategy
• Stakeholder Surveys
• Site Content Audit
• Sitemap Development
• Site Wireframe Development
• Site Homepage Design Concepts
• Site Design Templates
• Image Sourcing
• Website Content
• Frontend Custom CMS Templates
• WordPress CMS
• Site Content Migration
• Post-launch Site Handoff & Training
• Google Lighthouse Performance Guarantee

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

A project manager/account director was our main point of contact throughout the project. Additionally, they had a robust team of design, copywriting, and development individuals assisting throughout (about 2 people per category).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After launching the site at our annual investor meeting, we received high praise from attendees commenting on its style and appearance. We also noticed an immediate increase in speed and efficiency. It is still too early in the process to determine how the site will improve traffic and click-throughs, but we have seen an increase in lead generation through our Contact Us forms since our launch on 10/5.

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

We had weekly check ins with our project manager. Separately, we had review sessions with the wider teams as appropriate, as well as training sessions when appropriate. We had a hard deadline of launching by our annual investor meeting. Despite several last-minute requested changes from our end, we met this deadline with time to spare, which was hugely impressive to our leadership team.

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

They gave us a slick and professional site that is easy to navigate and manage, both from a backend perspective and from a frontend user perspective. They were flexible and made a concerted effort to truly get to know us and our business. They were positive and eager to learn about our industry, which made the process engaging and fun! Lastly, they were extremely professional and put in a large amount of effort to ensure our site was launched by our aggressive deadline of October 13th.

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

After launch, there were a few bugs on the sub-pages of the site, as well as with some of the buttons. These have so far been easy to resolve, but ideally would have been identified and solved prior to launch.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing at Haley & Aldrich. We’re a professional services firm; we provide environmental and engineering consulting services to a lot of different markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Walker Sands?

Originally, we needed a few minor modifications to optimize our current website. We then decided to hire Walker Sands to overhaul our website platform. We wanted to build visibility in the market with our website as well as drive new conversions through our site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve worked on the SEO of our site. We wanted to put a lot more content on our website, so they helped us dive deeper and add more to our site, including our staff members.

Visually and structurally, our platform was very outdated and not efficient to manage, so they upgraded the platform to WordPress. I’m going to be working with them on an ongoing basis to manage and optimize the site, using them on a monthly retainer. 

What is the team composition?

I’m not sure how many people were involved on the backend but I have at least two people from a design perspective who help and one writer and SEO strategist.

There is a daily project manager who we work with and someone who supported the connectivity of our site with Hubspot. If I have a problem or need high-level guidance, Matt (VP of Digital Strategy) is there for me to reach out to. 

How did you come to work with Walker Sands?

I undertook a really intense research effort to find the right company that aligned with our values and had worked with similar firms. We wanted someone who could be patient with our business structure and understood our business model, so those were reasons why we chose Walker Sands.

I also appreciated their transparency and how they gave me their perspective and pushed back on my goals to offer higher-level strategic counsel.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since around February 2019. We just launched the site a few weeks ago, and they’re on a monthly retainer for website maintenance and SEO support. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Last week, they gave us a little presentation of the results we’re already seeing and some metrics that stood out include the site loading 50% faster, our Lighthouse score growth to the top, and the ranking of various keywords. From a search perspective, I’m pretty happy with those early results. 

We’re already ranking in various searches for keywords we weren’t previously ranking for. The site is much more modern, cleaner, and easier to navigate. From a UX perspective, it’s much better now. 

How did Walker Sands perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done a great job from a project management perspective. They really knew when to push us and when not to. My company was the bottleneck for why it took so long to get done, and they were really respectful and understanding of our internal difficulties while being results-oriented. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really appreciate the results we’ve gotten for how beautiful the design is and the SEO work. The ultimate value of working with them is that they are a trusted advisor for me. I can go to them with any questions about the digital world and they will not just tell me the answer I want to hear, they will give me the answer that will get me the best result.

I appreciate that they push back and challenge me to get the best results for the company. That approach is exactly what I was looking for in a digital strategy company that can guide us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I work for a really complex company; we work in nine different markets and offer up to 70 services. They’re not experts in this industry, which meant the content development side of things was a bit more time-consuming for me and I needed to be more hands-on.

I wouldn’t say it’s a negative thing, but it’s impossible to be an expert in this industry unless you specialize in it, so a little bit more understanding of our complex industry would have made them even better. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work at a global consultancy that helps our clients drive growth, enhance performance and sustain leadership in the markets they serve. We partner with them to develop strategies and implement solutions that enable the transformative change our clients need to own their future. I lead the sales enablement and sales operations teams for our higher education business. We work directly with our managing directors in response to sales pursuits.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Walker Sands?

Due to COVID-19 our sales meetings turned virtual, and we needed a quick (virtual and digital) solution to help represent our team in the best, modern, effective and differentiated way when they couldn't be in the room pitching to our potential clients. Something that we could stand up quickly and is a repeatable process.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was a modern, best-in-class designed microsite that can effectively represent our team and our story / unique solutions for our client.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Walker Sands is already on retainer for us for other digital and marketing initiatives.

Describe the project in detail.

Scope was a microsite with 6 pages, best-in-class user experience, interactive components to bring our strategy and people to life. Mobile responsiveness was high priority.

What was the team composition?

Our (all star) Account manager, the PM, 2 UI/UX designers / creatives, and a supported team of creatives and developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The microsites were delivered on time and in budget (6 weeks!). The end product was awesome -- our executive leaders were really impressed (and also skeptical that we would be able to deliver such a superior product in such a short time frame!)

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was efficient, effective, transparent and completely integrated. It had to be for the tight turn around. We communicated often, and our account manager was super proactive. Ayman was on top of everything at every moment -- my team really appreciated his detail oriented nature. Always checking in to make sure we had what we needed. He even texted when he thought it was odd that we hadn't responded -- turns out for some reason their emails weren't being delivered. So glad he was so proactive!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Everything all around was impressive from day 1. The ability of the Walker team to flex in the virtual environment, keep things on task and on deadline while everyone was navigating a new normal -- they truly are an all star team. The designs (wire frames and creative) knocked it out of the part the first round -- and they were quick to respond and come up with ideas. They really listened to what was important to us, and adjusting accordingly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Keep on doing what you're doing! The team, talent and end products are top notch.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the senior director of digital marketing for Mattersight. We provided SaaS-based enterprise behavioral analytics software to U.S. enterprise call centers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Walker Sands Digital?

Our company’s logo was outdated, our website was cluttered, and our digital strategy wasn’t cohesive. I was brought on and tasked to find a digital agency to partner with for a brand refresh, website redesign, and other digital marketing initiatives.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals for this project were threefold: differentiate us as a modern technology company, increase web traffic and conversions, and support demand generation efforts through a series of digital marketing campaigns. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We needed a full-service digital agency with great design and web development skills. Mattersight put out an RFP to multiple vendors and invited three companies to present to senior marketing members. I joined Mattersight at this stage and re-evaluated the top three. Walker Sands won me over with the effort behind their initial proposal, their local, comprehensive team, and their strategic focus. While other vendors would have filled a consultant role, Walker Sands wanted to take a hands-on approach. 

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We conducted a kick-off meeting where we explained what we liked and didn't like about our existing brand, gathered examples of brands we did like, and clarified our goals and expectations. From there, they surveyed key stakeholders within our organization and presented a number of options. We refined their choices and ultimately created a full brand identity as a final deliverable (logo, color palette, photography, examples, templates).

The web redesign began with initial discovery and requirement gathering and transitioned into wireframes, designs, and development. The digital strategy focused on developing buyer personas, conducting a content gap analysis, segmenting our database, and developing a series of campaigns focused on demand/lead generation.

What was the team composition?

The brand team consisted of a project manager, designer, and manager, while the web redesign team included a project manager, designer, developer, copywriter, and team lead. The digital team was composed of a project manager, SEO expert, copywriter, and several other resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve been through numerous corporate rebrandings in my career, and this is the quickest adoption of a new brand I’ve ever seen. Internal stakeholders, employees, and clients were overwhelmingly positive in their discussions of the new brand. Employee morale shifted immediately after launch, and our sales team was much more confident.

The website results were just as impressive. Within weeks of the launch, visitors reached an all-time high and traffic to business-critical pages grew significantly. An interactive web tool we revamped reached its highest traffic in two years, and conversions drastically improved.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The entire Walker Sands team was extremely easy to work with and amazingly responsive. The processes put in place and the account managers I worked with were seamless. To this day, I still use the tools we used for the web redesign and digital campaigns because they were so effective and instrumental to our success. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to understand and adapt to their client is outstanding. I've worked with other agencies with a certain level of arrogance, but I never once encountered this with any member of the Walker Sands team. They listened to us, took our feedback to heart, and came up with brilliant ideas. I also think they are the whole package—smart, creative, hard-working, technical, strategic, and genuinely nice.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, not that I can recall. I can’t say enough good things about them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for Magnetic, a technology company with a marketing platform for enterprises, brands, and agencies. Our prospecting, remarketing and merchandising solutions help marketers find, keep and bring back customers across channels and devices.

What is your position?

I am the senior digital marketing manager of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Walker Sands?

Our biggest challenge that Walker Sands helps us address is the top of our funnel with qualified leads. We were doing a good job getting leads through the PPC channels that we run with Walker Sands, but we were having difficulties in qualifying leads. So worked with them to make sure our targeting ads and landing pages were all synced in terms of messaging and better poised to give us qualified leads, not just junk.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We work with Walker Sands on PPC and SEO campaigns. We’ve had that level of service with them for just over a year now. They work with us on everything between strategy and analytics. They do the bulk of the day-to-day execution on those campaigns. They are also responsible for setting up our analytics to properly capture the results of all those campaigns, which is a nice little perk that they offer.

How did you come to work with Walker Sands?

They were recommended to us.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Our monthly cost is that under $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It is ongoing work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We went through a big site redesign this fall and then reworked a lot of our paid campaigns. When we first launched our campaigns, we were seeing pretty low conversion rates. Between Q4 when our new site launched and then into Q1, we’ve seen a 12% lift in our conversion rate, which has been really great. They were also able to reduce our CPA [cost per acquisition] by 12%, as well.

How did Walker Sands perform from a project management standpoint?

Walker Sands’ project management skills across the board for our services are really top-notch. They are really easy to work with and open about our results. They provide weekly reports for our PPC efforts, so it’s really easy to keep a really good pulse on how we’re performing overall. The same goes for their SEO work. As soon as we give them a project, they really stick to their deadlines well, and the end product is always really well done. They keep me to my deadlines too, which is always appreciated.

What distinguishes Walker Sands from other providers?

Their communication skills are outstanding. They have a good amount of flexibility for their clients from what I’ve noticed. They are always super quick to respond to emails, and they're always super flexible and transparent.

Is there anything Walker Sands could have improved or done differently?

I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. They are doing a great job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We create products for loyalty programs that help companies engage their members. We also work with merchants who then are able to award the loyalty program points and miles to their customers through our partnerships.

What is your position?

I am a marketing manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Walker Sands?

I'm specifically working with them on a project to revamp our website. We have three websites, a consumer website, a website for developers, and a website for businesses and loyalty programs, that showcase our products.

The initial challenge is that most people are ending up on our consumer-facing website. If you were a business, a loyalty program, or a developer, it wasn't very easy for users to find the way to the information that they needed. They are also working with us on PR.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

It's a big project we're working on with Walker Sands. We're looking at redoing the structure of the sites as well as the way people move between the sites. They're helping us update not only the content of those three sites, but also the navigation and the structure, so that it's easier for users to find their way between them. They are ultimately, improving user flow and updating content on the sites.

How did you come to work with Walker Sands?

I actually don't know because I wasn't part of that process. We do work with them for PR, so that's how I found out about them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

For this specific project, it cost between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's ongoing work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The project is still in the early stages, and nothing has been implemented yet.

How did Walker Sands perform from a project management standpoint?

Walker Sands has been awesome. The project has a very tight turnaround for the amount of work that they're doing, and they're super organized. Quinn [Sharp, digital account executive at Walker Sands], the person who is leading the project, has sent out great documents that track our progress. We know exactly when to expect things and when we need to deliver things to them. We're meeting weekly to review assets and updates, which has been very helpful. They are always delivering on time or even earlier, which makes my job easy.

What distinguishes Walker Sands from other providers?

Aside from delivering on time, which is huge, they are not afraid to push back. I've been with my company for a long time, and it's a project I've worked on three or four times before, so what I've really appreciated is their outside view of the company and our products. They sometimes push me when I feel uncomfortable with changes to terminology or changes in the way that we're describing something. They're eager to come back and give a new perspective. That's been super helpful.

Is there anything Walker Sands could have improved or done differently?

No, I don't think so. They've been good. I work with a ton of external vendors, and I've honestly had no complaints about working with them. It's been great. They've made me look good internally, too.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

I’ve worked with Walker Sands a few times. I used to work at a private equity firm that owns a portfolio of companies. They helped redesign three or four websites for those firms. The private equity firm I previously worked for helps buy small businesses.

What was your role and responsibilities?

I was a vice president at the private equity firm. My role was to help them find new companies to buy. I helped them do a better job of online marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Walker Sands?

They helped us with online marketing efforts.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

The first time I worked with Walker Sands was at a startup. They helped us build out these micro sites. There were roughly a hundred of them. I worked with them on SEO [search engine optimization] strategies and website redesign projects with SEO in mind. When we redesigned the pages, we optimized them for SEO.

Can you provide more details on the online marketing campaign?

Walker Sands is very strong on SEO and has a deep expertise. They are not in the top tier in terms of design, but that is more subjective. Some people just like different styles. They can make a site that will work very well, and their CMS [content management system] is very good and easy to use. If you want to add content or make changes to the site, you can do that through their CMS.

The design is OK. I wouldn’t say it's awesome. The spirit of what we needed was met. I am less concerned with how pretty it looks versus whether we're getting traffic and leads. That's what they’re very good at.

What was your process for selecting Walker Sands with which to work?

I found them when they did an SEO project. We looked at a few different firms in Chicago, where we're based. They were the best that we came across. When I went to Hedley Capital, I compared their pricing for the website redesign against a few other firms, and they were very competitive on pricing. We selected them because their quality of work was better than we found, and I found that they were priced competitively. The combination of the two made them very attractive.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

The website redesign budget depends on how much content you have. If you have a microsite, it's not that much. An average-sized site that they helped us redesign was in the $25,000 to $30,000 range. They price their services differently if you plan to do monthly maintenance with them, which they’re very good at from the SEO content. They charge a monthly fee for that. If you want them to manage your paid search kit, they can do that too for a percentage of the spend. In general, their pricing is reflective of what the market has to offer, and they’re very competitive.

When was the last project completed with Walker Sands?

The last project they completed was a redesign for SGA.net that was completed in December of 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

They designed another site for us, Sproutnet.com. There was a lot of content on that site, but it wasn’t optimized. The founder had written all the content about Sprout, but didn't optimize it for the search engines to find it. After the redesign, we saw an incremental improvement in leads we were generating on a monthly basis. The leads went up by a meaningful amount, and we ended up selling more equipment as a result of the work they did.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

Their SEO expertise stands out. Their approach for the content you want to optimize on your site is very good. They also help identify the keywords we want to optimize for and how to build content around those keywords. They are very good at that process.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

On the design side, they can invest more in designers. Overall, their design is fine, it's adequate. If I were to say one thing that they could improve on, it would be the quality of the designers they have on staff.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

MPN Research Foundation is a nonprofit organization that funds research into a type of rare blood cancer called myloproliferative neoplasm. I am the deputy director and was involved in this project with Walker Sands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Walker Sands?

Our goal has been to attract more people to the website, and to get them to sign up for the free newsletter that we have and potentially make a donation. There is an online and hard copy newsletter.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

Their work focused on online marketing. They’ve worked with us in other capacities, but one of the biggest projects was working with AdWords. That is the only online marketing we do.

What was your process for selecting Walker Sands with which to work?

We were already working with them when we did our website overhaul. We had been managing our AdWords in-house. Google Grants allows nonprofits to apply up to $10,000 per month in free AdWords. We applied and managed it ourselves for about two years, and we got very incremental growth. We were nowhere near the $10,000 per month. The goal was to spend as much of Google's money as possible to reach as many people as possible. The measure of success is what you're actually spending in in-kind service per month. We were only doing up to $2,000 per month, just managing it in-house. No one here is a dedicated marketing professional. I used to do it, and I needed to find someone to check up on the ads monthly to retain the funding.

We hired Walker Sands to take over the AdWords campaign. They took over, re-organized, and cleaned up our AdWords. They did a great job of putting the ads in different categories. They also regularly looked at traffic patterns for people searching for related terms. We knew that we had to do it, but never did. They really impressed us with this trial run. We kept them on to manage the service after they proved that they did a great job.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

We spend about $1,500 to $1,800 per month. The work is ongoing, and it is open ended.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

It's hard to measure. We’ve been figuring out how to have Walker Sands report the metrics to us. We have seen a great deal of growth in terms of traffic to our website. A lot of it has been in paid ads, and our organic has gone up as well. That is somewhat related to the paid ads, because your ranking is related to overall traffic. Our traffic is very high. We have seen some growth in what we consider to be an important metric, which is the registration for the newsletter for patients and their families. That metric hasn’t grown as much as we would like. It's not commensurate with the amount of traffic that we get, but it's inching up. We're still trying to work on that ourselves. That's not Walker Sands' fault.

How did Walker Sands perform?

They’ve been excellent. The person we work with on this project is very responsive. He issues reports frequently, and he's always there to follow up with answers to questions when we dig into the details. They are very responsive via email, which I appreciate very much.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

We haven’t worked with other firms in this exact capacity. It does seem like they have a great deal of intimate knowledge of SEO [search engine optimization] and AdWords and how all that works. We have worked with several other marketing firms, and I don’t think anyone is as much into the details of this as they are. They seem extremely knowledgeable.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

This is a stretch, but perhaps if they were seeing trends in keywords that were relevant to our disease group. Perhaps one of their departments could suggest action in another marketing realm that would be pertinent. That may be a way for them to exploit the knowledge they already have, to be more proactive with the AdWords results. I want to be fair. They did a fantastic job for us. This did not influence the AdWords project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Accounting Firm; Marketing Director

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Walker Sands?

We hired Walker Sands for a full redesign as well as content audit on our website.

What were your goals for this project?

A crisp, clean website that is modern and user friendly that helped drive traffic and increase leads.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Formal RFP Process, found the vendor on the web.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Full redesign as well as content audit on our website to include helping us better define the customer journey to create a better UX and increase leads coming in through the site.

What was the team composition?

We had a team of about 5, with a project manager and creative lead wo we had the most communication with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new website positioned us much more as a leading, progressive firm and helped us bolster and highlight our thought leadership.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We had regular status meetings and deadlines for all phases of the project. The team was on-time and well prepared for each of these. We launched the website exactly when we wanted to

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Customer interaction/communication

Are there any areas for improvement?

N/A