XploraBG

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Eurasia communication director for AES, a Fortune 500 global energy company. Our main focus is accelerating the future of energy with our customers by offering greener and smarter energy solutions, which the world needs a lot at this particular moment. We operate in 14 countries around the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XploraBG?

We wanted to reflect the market, and with the decline of the popularity of traditional media, we needed to switch to social media to be in more active dialogue with our customers. We started a discussion on how we could optimize our social media channels to better reflect what we were doing, boost the narrative with our customers and stakeholders, and gain more exposure.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

XploraBG helps us with social media marketing (SMM) through LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. They’re focused on helping us achieve our predefined metrics for social media presence. At the start of the year, we set KPIs for the rest of the year to measure where we are and what we’d like to achieve. 

Based on those measurements, we discuss with XploraBG what can be done, what new channels we can leverage throughout this period, and how to achieve the KPIs. Then, the team works with another provider of ours that is focused on the communication side. They collaborate to create assets that will drive more engagement in terms of content, structure, and format. We’ve implemented new post formats to see how they work, such as video narratives. Our other provider is the one that then publishes the content. 

Meanwhile, XploraBG monitors our social media statistics. They help us optimize our reach and enable us to provide the newest content to our predefined key target groups. We continue exploring new wares of improvement and target areas with them.

What is the team composition?

Usually, I deal with an account manager. However, when I want to change something strategic or explore new opportunities, I contact one of XploraBG’s managing partners.

How did you come to work with XploraBG?

I asked for agency references from colleagues working in the Bulgarian market. Based on these references, I shortlisted a number of companies, and XploraBG was on this list. After meeting with all shortlisted companies, I narrowed down our options to a top three and ultimately decided to pick XploraBG.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July of 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to XploraBG’s work, we’ve more than tripled our social media engagement in the last year, based on our KPIs. My team feels quite comfortable working with them, and I’ve never received negative feedback. On the contrary, working with XploraBG makes our team happy about knowledge and know-how exchange.

How did XploraBG perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management point of view, they’re quite accurate. I haven’t had any issues with them regarding deliverables or deadlines. 

Given that I’m very busy and usually have back-to-back meetings, the most convenient way to communicate has been to give them a brief phone call daily. If we’re talking about strategy or programming, we schedule meetings through Microsoft Teams. Before the COVID-19 pandemic started, we used to meet in person.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What’s most impressive about XploraBG is that they go beyond the scope of their work. Their expertise in social media is really impressive, too. I also see a clear trend of them promoting their knowledge. They’ve established Xplora Academy, through which they share their expertise, teaching wide groups of people how social media works, its benefits, weak points, and strategy. 

XploraBG interacts with social media developers through the academy, which is highly valuable. After such close contact with the source, they will provide better services and estimations or forecasts about how trends will develop. Based on this information, we’ll be able to adjust our strategy. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there isn’t anything they need to improve; they’re doing great. Of course, XploraBG is facing the challenges all companies are suffering at the moment, including reassessment of communication budgets and having to rethink social media presences. However, I believe they’re doing great and looking ahead at what’s coming. My only recommendation would be not to lose their speed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

First of all, I would 100% recommend XploraBG as a potential partner. This depends on the company, so you should have your goals clear to see whether XploraBG can enable you to achieve them. Although the team is extremely professional, they’re not a silver bullet; you should provide the narrative and the visual aspect. 

Having clarity about what you want to achieve will facilitate quite a lot of work on both sides, and it will give you the chance to go beyond the results you’re targeting. If you don’t have clarity, you lose speed and focus. I recommend having solid KPIs to know how XploraBG is performing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the fundraising manager for WWF Bulgaria, which is a nature conservation organization that is part of the WWF network.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XploraBG?

Our individual donor fundraising program in Bulgaria mainly relies on digital advertising, so we hired XploraBG for strategic and creative support with those campaigns.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve supported me in building our digital fundraising campaign with their expertise in marketing and advertising strategy. We gave them a brief with our objectives, our target audiences, and basic guidelines about how the advertisements should look. We also gave them quite a lot of stock photos owned by WWF.

Most of the time, we just provided guidelines and relied on their expertise as a digital marketing agency. They’ve helped with the creative assets, including banners, and have managed the Facebook and Google Ads campaigns. They’ve built a couple of landing pages for us where we can lead the traffic from our ad campaigns online. We also work with them on a number of other projects relating to youth, innovation, and education.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with two people, including Kalina (Project Manager), who is our account manager, and a Google Ads specialist.

How did you come to work with XploraBG?

I’d heard of their agency before and met their manager on a couple of occasions — he’s a well-known digital marketing and advertising trainer here in Bulgaria. We decided to reach out to XploraBG and offer them the partnership.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about €7,000 a year (approximately $7,700 USD) with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since beginning work with XploraBG, we’ve seen quite an improvement in traffic from Google Ads and Facebook Ads. We’ve also seen higher performance from our fundraising campaigns, with an increase in donors and more income collected from those donors. They’ve produced very nice creative assets, including banners.

How did XploraBG perform from a project management standpoint?

XploraBG has been very well-organized, and they’ve strictly observed deadlines. They send reports quite often. We send them a brief for each project, and then we usually join them on a call or a meeting to discuss the agenda, deadlines, media budget, and other main points. XploraBG has delivered everything that I’ve asked for — I’m very happy with our partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been impressed with how quick they are to find out what we really need. We don’t need to explain much about nature conservation or what we need to do to succeed — they are pretty quick at grasping this. They can almost immediately understand our needs and how to reach our audience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no areas for improvement to suggest for them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a very clear brief with your goals, audience, approach, and branding guidelines so that they can understand your specific needs and tailor their deliverables accordingly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Internet Service Provider and Cable TV company, ranked in top 5 in Bulgaria, where I was Marketing Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were changing the marketing strategy, switching from traditional marketing channels (such as print, outdoor and radio) to digital and needed a trusted and capable partner to facilitate the process and help the internal team.

The main business goal for the company was to improve the online sales with over 100%. We needed an agency to set up the digital infrastructure, validate our strategy and channels, and most importantly - to manage the ongoing digital campaigns.

SOLUTION

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

I have had an excellent experience with Xplora at my previous job as a Group digital marketing director, where they won the pitch for 3 of the companies and managed to deliver outstanding performance and proved to be a reliable partner.

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

1. First, we have introduced Xplora to our business goals, the market and our new marketing strategy. Then, together, we considered the current digital infrastructure (i.e. websites, tools, social profiles, etc.), budget limitations and set-up the main and secondary KPIs.
2. Moreover, we decided which will be the top channels and target groups to achieve the goals. Once we had everything mapped, they have:
3. installed Google tag manager, and set up events, goals, and linked all other accounts (i.e. Search console, FB and Google ads) altogether with tools such as Hotjar (heatmaps, surveys, UI), Sumo (pop-ups for additional leads), Google Optimize (for running A/B tests and optimize the conversion rates on the website), Livechat and One signal (web push notifications).
4. After that, Xplora have set-up all the needed audiences for outreach and remarketing. Using all the additional information gathered through the tools, we had more valuable insights and structured data, which enabled us to improve greatly our creatives, communication messages and target groups.
5. On top of that, we took advantage of Xplora's team exceptional ad optimization capabilities, and thus, we managed to over-achieve our initial goals for online sales.

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

We worked with an account manager and two digital experts - one highly profiled for Google ecosystem, and one for Facebook (Meta).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We managed to deliver over 100% increase of online orders in the first 6 months and over 300% in the first 24 months.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our workflow was quite straightforward - we had 1 meeting to deep dive each month - to analyse the results and to plan the next steps and we were collaborating weekly on the ongoing and upcoming tasks. I would describe the process as very effective.

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

The most valuable thing is their human approach as they are always trying to understand the challenges that we have. And then to suggest a solution, based on their vast experience and knowledge. Moreover, they are straightforward, friendly and easy to talk to and work with.

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

Maybe there is, however, I haven't found it yet.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Publicity Officer of Ciela Publishing House

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Ciela Norma is the leading Bulgarian publisher with more than 200 titles a year in hardcover, e-book, and audio formats – fall in our own state-of-the-art printing facilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire XploraBG to accomplish?

• PPC Projects
• Email Marketing Projects
• Awareness

SOLUTION

How did you find XploraBG?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select XploraBG over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from XploraBG were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Monthly planning, management, monitoring, and optimization of advertising campaigns on social media. The package includes the following advertising formats:
  A) Banners, Posts, Videos, Carousels, Instant Experience, Story, Reels, and others.
  The listed advertising formats are not required to be included in every advertising campaign. We provide a campaign assignment and Xplora prepares a media plan explicitly specifying which formats are included and their respective scope.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Higher revenue
Development of dynamic remarketing campaigns
Increase in ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend)

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

The Xplora team is very prompt, responsive, and ready to assist, even with tight deadlines or delays on our part. Highly recommend.

What was your primary form of communication with XploraBG?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The approach to the client, the attention to projects, the professional perspective, and the enthusiasm of an amateur.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Manager of an Appliance Manufacturer

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The company is the local business unit of a global white goods / brown goods manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire XploraBG to accomplish?

• Ongoing SM presence management and ad-hoc digital activations management

SOLUTION

How did you find XploraBG?

Referral

Why did you select XploraBG over others?

High ratings

How many teammates from XploraBG were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Xplora's work involves both operational and strategic tasks, both requiring in-depth knowledge of the company's portfolio and the business environment. Operational tasks involve localization and creation of digital content, aligned with the company's brand identity. Strategic tasks involve preparation of action oplans and communication materials for development of new products / product lines, brand respositioning, etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Improved SM analytics; Improved Google analytics; Specific SKUs sales performance improvement

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

Delivery is on time, even in the cases when the briefs / raw materials are delayed.

What was your primary form of communication with XploraBG?

Email or Messaging App

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

XploraBG manages to find ways to fix any operational troubles and remains reliable in rough conditions.

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

There is always room for improvement since today's status will not be relevant tomorrow. However XploraBG is always actively seeking improvment and development which is clearly visible in the way they deliver.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of BGC AD

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Retail industry. Convenience stores.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire XploraBG to accomplish?

• Develop a social media strategy.
• Ongoing support for all social media channels.

SOLUTION

How did you find XploraBG?

• Referral
• industry contacts

Why did you select XploraBG over others?

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

How many teammates from XploraBG were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Develop a social media strategy from scratch, with focus on fast expansion, weekly new store openings, HR marketing and partners recruitment, ongoing retail promotions in the stores.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Popularity of the social media sites of the company, recruitment successes, growing customers numbers in the stores.

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

Well organized project team, with highly experienced team lead. They're very responsive to our needs and requests for changes and adaptations, very good delivery speed.

What was your primary form of communication with XploraBG?

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

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

Company cultures is unique, a great mixture of leading marketing professionals in the senior positions and many devoted enthusiastic young professionals.

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

Keep the good work up :)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital manager of Boni Holding

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Founded 30 years ago, today “Boni Holding” AD is one of the largest companies in the Bulgarian food industry, leader in the production of pork, and one of the most recognized manufacturers of meat products and delicacies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire XploraBG to accomplish?

• brand awareness
• building community

SOLUTION

How did you find XploraBG?

Other

Why did you select XploraBG over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from XploraBG were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

What was your primary form of communication with XploraBG?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Social media advertising and target audience validation. Content creation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Impressions, reach, CTR

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

Great response rate and professionalism. They have an open communication policy that helps consistently meet our needs.

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

Personalized approach.

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

There's nothing they need to improve on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is leading manufacturer and distributor of foods and beverages, operating in the FMCG sector. We are international company with business in a few countries, all part of the Polish Maspex Group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire XploraBG?

Xplora is our SM agency which supports one of our leading juices brands for a few years now. For one of its product lines we wanted to run a digital campaign in order to associate better the products with specific occasion for consumption. We had a trade marketing campaign running previously and we wanted some digital continuation of it.

SOLUTION

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

Due to our partnership in the SM fields we have briefed Xplora to come up with a proposal how to execute this digital project.

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

We sent a brief, after which we had debrief, followed by a proposal from Xplora. They have proposed a list of influencers to cooperated with who would have to share their own content but under one common idea, namely "start your day with love." The campaign had to be continuations of our trade marketing campaign on St Valentine's day.

They have negotiated the influencers for us, signed the contracts, paid fees, coordinate the creative with them and with us, follow on the KPIs, posting schedule. As well as prepare the posting plans in the SM channels of the brand and plan additional boosting in proposed places.

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

We have one account who is responsible for our company and coordinates everything for us. So let's say that most of our work is done on one to one basis with our account manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All the established KPIs were reached. We managed to execute the campaign with better CPM than the one planned and also generated higher CTR than it is typical for those type of activities.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very easy to work with them. We had constant contact, and they were easily reached. Very fast is answering back and flexible.

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

We like a lot their capabilities of media planning and I think they are absolute experts in that. They send one week report after each campaign start which is very useful because by monitoring how the activity goes, we can bring some improvements in order to make it more successful. They post report is also very nice and detailed, a rare find in many other agencies on the market.

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

They need a little more experience in working with influencers which is normal because this trend is quite recent let's say. Also on creative part.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the local manager of Bridgestone Europe, branch Bulgaria. Bridgestone offers a diverse portfolio of premium tyres, tyre technologies and advanced mobility solutions. The company’s vision is to provide social and customer value as a sustainable solutions company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Since 2016 BRIDGESTONE branch Bulgaria has been working with Xplora as a service agency for digital marketing activities with focus on FB pages of BRIDGESTONE Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

SOLUTION

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

Xplora was recommended to me by another company.

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

Xplora is fully responsible for FB pages management and content creation of Bridgestone Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

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

A team of experts in Facebook.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Constant growth of our FB fans and very good results in terms of CTR and budget efficiency in both countries - Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

BRIDGESTONE has always had perfect communication and very smooth workflow with all Xplora professionals involved in activities related to Bridgestone FB pages.

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

Their enthusiasm, creativity, punctuality, and perfection in everything they do impress me.

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

As far as it concerns the organization and implementation of our current professional activities I have not identified any area for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of online retail business, focussed on trading with accessories for fishing

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire XploraBG?

As the business continue to grow, we needed someone to help us with our digital marketing

SOLUTION

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

Its been recommended to us, by someone who already used their services

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

Once we started the project, they identified our weak point, created a plan where to focussed and time frame how to improve it.

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

We are working with our team leader, 4 social media specialists and 2 graphic designers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Over the period of 1 year, our online sales raised with close to 150%. Our SEO improved massively, campaigns are much more targeted and our social media channels had huge reach jump.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very easy communication, scheduled weekly meeting with updates and statistics, and recommendation for further improve

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

They're an extraordinarily polite and friendly team who jumps and helps in any situation, even on weekends.

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

Their management is absolutely professional, they will digest all the data and provide it in understandable statistics and targets