Directive Consulting

The compnay was seeking an opportunity to improve online marketing performance to drive more business. 

Courtesy of Green Rat Control's Omri Ben-Gis, who reviewed Directive Consulting's services on Clutch.co:

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They take care of all our content marketing on Facebook and Google, and with local agencies. 

We've seen more results, with a smaller budget, than what we used to spend. They’re also optimizing our website. They take care of all of our online marketing needs.

How did you come to work with Directive?

I took a course in Santa Monica, California on digital marketing. Garrett was the teacher on one of the extra courses. Within an hour of meeting him, and seeing how he talks, I fell in love with what he's doing. He's invested fully in the marketing process.

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

Our advertising budget used to be $30,000 a month, not including Facebook, content marketing, or any local directories. Since we started working with them, we've reduced our budget by almost $10,000, but are getting many more leads. We spend about $20,000 currently and get a fantastic ROI.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's an ongoing partnership. We've worked with them for four months.

Courtesy of Green Rat Control's Omri Ben-Gis, who reviewed Directive Consulting's services on Clutch.co:

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The content marketing they do for us is very beneficial. They've taken a lot of time for research, making sure they are on top of everything and that the users are compelled to read what they're writing. We get a lot of personal attention from them. Every month we get full reports on how we're ranking and concrete tips regarding what we need to do to improve the following month.

How did Directive perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a great job in this regard.

What distinguishes Directive from other providers?

They're great and they’re helping my business be successful.

Is there anything Directive could have improved or done differently?

No.

Finyl Vinyl, a retailor of outdoor vinyl products in southern California, was in need of improving online marketing performace to generate more leads and customers. Directive Consulting was selected to provide a unique blend of SEO, PPC, and content into a social promotion campaign. 

Courtesy of a DC review on Clutch.co by Finyl Vinyl owner, Don Barlow: 

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

I've given them benchmarks for lead generation that I'm trying to achieve, through either PPC or organic internet searches. They created social media campaigns and have done article writing. They offer me a full service solution to my online marketing needs. They are very comprehensive.

How did you come to work with Directive?

They were referred by another customer. I trusted their reputation.

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

As of now, between $10,000 to $50,000. It may increase as we roll over to e-commerce. I am strongly considering doing eCommerce work which would require more budget but Directive Consulting could handle that project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together four months ago. It's ongoing. I have no plans to stop but it is early in the engagement.

Courtesy of a DC review on Clutch.co by Finyl Vinyl owner, Don Barlow: 

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

They're doing a solid job. Two days ago we had a meeting after the first month of having Google Analytics. I don't have enough traction for any significant metrics, but I have been very happy with what they're doing. I foresee measurable results very soon that will be positive thanks to the effort that was put in.

How did Directive perform from a project management standpoint?

I am pleased with their management.

What distinguishes Directive from other providers?

Directive Consulting is good with giving accurate measurements of results and progress. I like how they measure stronger than other companies and insist on telling clients the results. They are transparent because they have real metrics to prove their progress.

Is there anything Directive could have improved or done differently?

They could give more in-depth comparisons to the competition. I would like to know what my competitors are doing online and borrow their better strategies.

Directive Consulting was selected to provide organic search engine optimization services as well as engage in pay-per-click social media marketing and some website redesign. 

Courtesy of the owner's review of DC's services on Clutch.co

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

I also market for another company, and they are helping us with that as well with SEO [search engine optimization]. They're writing content for us and making sure that content gets published, which helps us with visibility. They also help through social media, finding new customers and engaging old customers. They help us learn more about the changes in SEO, how things are a bit different, and what new methods need to take place. They're doing some pay per click through Facebook. They've chosen the right campaigns to market through Facebook because we have seen good return on our investment. They also did a little bit of redesign on the website for organic ranking reasons and a better user experience. 

How did you come to work with Directive Consulting?

I work with a guy who does pay per click through Google, and he referred them to us. 

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

The cost is less than $10,000. I'm definitely getting a great deal.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them four months now. It's ongoing work.

Courtesy of the owner's review of DC's services on Clutch.co

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Within just four months, we have significant results for our keywords, to the point that I wouldn't want to let our competition get a hold of them. Our search engine ranking for specific keywords have gone from second page to in the top three. Our national ranking for Luxury Dude Ranch is up to four nationally. Ranch Vacations is up one, so now we're at three. Luxury Ranch is five, which is up four. We've definitely seen an increase in traffic leads.

What distinguishes Directive Consulting from other providers?

I get hit up a lot by other companies who want $24,000 a year to fund the project. These guys are very personable. You're working one on one with the people in the company. They're not sending you to someone overseas to write you stuff. Directive Consulting is very motivated and passionate, and you can tell they care about your business. Your success is their success. 

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

No. I think they're doing a great job. I'd recommend them to anyone, if they aren't my competitor.

Mesa Property Management was unhappy with their previous SEO company, and wanted to find a better option for their website. Directive Consulting was hired to clean up the work done by the previous company and to redesign the client's website to make it more conversion-friendly. 

Courtesy of the client, Mesa Property Management's managing broker Steve Shwetz, who reviewed DC on Clutch.co :

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Directive Consulting did some backend house-cleaning from my previous SEO [search engine optimization] guy, making sure that everything was done correctly, and there were some things that were not best practices that they addressed for me. Subsequent to that, they ended up actually redoing my website and making it more conversion-friendly. It's a little bit early to tell. We did a website revamp, mainly to just make it look more like what every other site is evolving into, in terms of the look and feel when you hit it. They're doing Facebook campaigns, posting articles for me, and getting me boosted – doing all the social media and blog work.

How did you come to work with Directive Consulting?

They were referred from a guy who I've used to do some work for my company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together five or six months ago [winter 2015], and the relationship is still ongoing.

Courtesy of the client, Mesa Property Management's managing broker Steve Shwetz, who reviewed DC on Clutch.co :

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The biggest challenge that I faced with employing an SEO person or company, especially for a small business like mine, is providing reporting on what work is being done, and what is the result of that work on an ongoing basis. I went through two SEO guys, and other than me cutting them a check every month, and making sure I was on a conference call, and writing stuff down about what they were doing, and double checking to make sure that it was done, I had limited visibility into what kind of results I was getting.

One thing that caused me to look more seriously in doing business with Directive Consulting was that they provided several different points of contact on a regular automated/semi-automated basis, reporting that shows me what I'm doing in terms of visits, broken down by referring sites, direct sites and all that stuff in Google Analytics. They're delivering it to me in a format that I can understand, and then they're also doing some keyword reporting as well and one or two other reports, and I can see the progress and where we're at.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

No. Not really at this point. I haven't been with them really long enough to address the main issue that I had.

Intead of having a personally made website that was simply holding space to notify customers that the service was online as well. The business finally decided to invest in a professional agency to handle their online marketing campaigns, which led them to partner with Directive Consulting. 

Courtesy of the Clutch.co review of DC's services by the client: 

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Directive Consulting did Web design for us, SEO [search engine optimization], Facebook ads, AdWords, and they were managing our Yelp account, too.

How did you come to work with Directive Consulting?

I had partnered with a bigger company, and I didn't like how they worked. I didn't want to go with a big company. I definitely wanted to do a small one. I talked to a couple different other smaller ones that are local here. Their pricing was a little bit higher, and they didn't seem as accommodating. I actually got referred to Directive Consulting through one of my customers, so I gave them a call. Their pricing was on point. I spoke to Garrett. I knew a little bit about SEO, and it seemed like he spoke the language, so we decided to go with him.

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

They did the website for us. Then we wanted them to design some images for us to put on the website, and we wanted to take it a little bit further than what they normally do. It was under $10,000 even after all the additional things that I requested.

What is the status of this engagement?

I think we started working together in February of this year. They finished quickly. They did it once, and I wanted more. They were trying to do me a favor and keep the cost low, which is great, but I didn't want to keep the cost low at the expense of the feel for the website. I told them I want it to be a little bit more, and I'm willing to pay a little bit more to make it that way.

Courtesy of the Clutch.co review of DC's services by the client: 

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

It's really hard for us to keep a good track of what's coming from where, especially when we ask people where they heard about us, and they say, "Oh, the Internet." It's been really hard to keep track of it, but we definitely have experienced an increase in volume of calls. I think we were on page six for local searches of "appliance repair" when we started, and now we're on the top of page one, just underneath the Yelp pages. We've definitely seen the results there.

What distinguishes Directive Consulting from other providers?

Just how personable they are. Directive Consulting was really accommodating when I was requesting specific things. Since I did make my own website, I knew a little bit, enough to be dangerous. I had that picture in my head of how I wanted it to look, they really helped me realize that picture, and they completely did it in a cost-effective way. I was really happy about that.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

I was unhappy with one of their consultants that I was dealing with, the original manager of our account. He just wasn't really good at communicating things. I made that really clear to Garrett, and he was on it. Once he heard that, he got me over to Tanner, and he just took care of us from there. I really like Tanner's work. He is very focused and knows what he's doing.

Directive Consulting was tasked with improving the ranking for local SERP performance for People Share as a business looking to increase online activity, engagements, and conversions. 

Courtesy of the People Share review of Directive Consutling on Clutch.co: 

Please describe the scope of their work.

It was just SEO. The priority was to get better search engine ranking.

What was your process for selecting Directive Consulting to work with?

They actually work in the space so I can see how they work and how they deal with their customers. I see them 40-60 hours a week. So, I definitely know that they’re legitimate and do what they say.

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

It was under $10,000.

When was the work completed?

It’s ongoing. I changed up my website and they had to rearrange some things. We extended the project a bit longer to get things back on track. 

Courtesy of the People Share review of Directive Consutling on Clutch.co: 

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

People are Googling for co-working more than ever before. So, I don’t have complete statistics, but I do know that people who do walk in for a tour, 99 percent of them had found us through Google. We have nine reviews on Google.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

When I switched my website, I saw the rankings drop. Then, they went in and readjusted the architecture of the website and within a couple of weeks, we popped up as number one on Google. 

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

They’re very result driven. If they have a specific goal, they can get it done.

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

Maybe they could give some more updates and explanations of the tasks that they’ve completed. They did quite a bit, but sometimes they didn’t report the full extent to me.

What advice would you give to a future client of theirs?

Be very task specific. They’re great for ongoing tasks, too, if that’s what you need. But, as in any project management situation, know what you want out of the work before you begin so that everything’s clear. They are great at being result driven. If you’re also that way, it will work really well.

Directive Consulting had the opportunity to creat a new digital marketing campaign for Shaffer plumbing in order to drive more customeres and leads through their website. This included web design, web development, serach engine optimization, email marketing, and more. 

Courtesy of Jeff Shaffer, the owner of Shaffer Plumbing, and his review of Directive Consuting's services on Clutch.co: 

Please describe the scope of their work.

They created a new website for me and did all of the SEO [search engine optimization] for that. We’ve talked about pay per click but, because I’m so busy right now, I don’t need pay per click. We’ve also talked about doing Facebook, but that doesn’t seem to be worth it. Now, we’re working on email marketing and keeping in touch with all of my current customers and keeping our clientele in a close geographic radius.

What was your process for selecting Directive Consulting with which to work?

One of their founders is my son, so it was a logical decision.

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

That is confidential.

When was the work completed?

It’s always going because they’re always writing articles and keeping me abreast of what’s going on. We’re working on an email campaign right now. 

Courtesy of Jeff Shaffer, the owner of Shaffer Plumbing, and his review of Directive Consuting's services on Clutch.co: 

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

My phone has been ringing with lots of local clients, which is great. I did have a website before and had maybe three hits a month on it, but they took on my SEO during my son’s time in college and improved things greatly. When I’ve had questions about short-term goals and long-term goals, they’ve had a lot of good input for my business, beyond SEO and advertising.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

Yes. Very satisfied.

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

They’re putting in the time and work and doing all of the groundwork. I have been contacted many times before with a promise to be put on the top of Google with a special technique. I know that’s not true. I know it takes a lot of work, and the guys at Directive are doing that tough work.

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

No. If there has ever been any hold up, it was always on my part. They’re doing their part to drive the project forward.

What advice would you give to a future client of theirs?

Be patient. SEO doesn’t happen overnight.

Directive Consulting was brought on to drive more visitors and sales qualified leads through the domain of the business. 

Courtesy of Banknote World's review of DC on Clutch.co

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They write articles for our blog. We don't approach social media, as it doesn't go hand in hand with our business model. Our buyers don't usually use social media.

They also write content for our products. It tends to be a little difficult for banknotes as they're not a common product.

How did you come to work with Directive Consulting?

The gentleman who found them no longer works here. Therefore, I'm not sure why we hired them, but they were highly regarded when I started.

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

We spend less than $50,000 per year, but it's an important investment for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in September 2015, and we have no plans to stop the relationship. 

Courtesy of Banknote World's review of DC on Clutch.co

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We're definitely satisfied. We initially set up all of our pay-per-click campaigns in-house. In the first month of our collaboration, they were able to cut our ad spending down by about 20 percent and increase our conversion rate by 4 percent. After the initial cleanup, they focused their effort on writing articles for our blog. We just had it up and running because getting it to function with the website was a bit of an issue. The articles that they wrote were great.

As far as pay-per-click goes, they are on board with any changes we want to make in terms of pricing and fees for Google Shopping. They're very quick to respond.

How did Directive Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

The only project that we've worked with them closely on was the content for our product descriptions. They won't deliver it until next week. I can't yet comment on them meeting deadlines, but we did have a face-to-face meeting with them for the kickoff, and that was great. Both Garrett [Mehrguth, MBA, president and CEO at Directive Consulting] and Tanner [Shaffer, vice president at Directive Consulting] were present, which was good for us.

What distinguishes Directive Consulting from other providers?

The one thing that stands out is Directive's dedication to finding new marketing avenues, and the latest changes being made in their field. They seem to always be going to seminars and increasing their knowledge, and are focused on gaining all the information and insight in the industry.

Is there anything Directive Consulting could have improved or done differently?

It's too early to tell, to be honest. They haven't missed anything yet. The communication is there, and their performance is great.

Via a clutch.co review:

They’re helping us try to rank highly on Google searches for relevant keywords, and also helping us put together a sales funnel. The ultimate goal of our work with Directive is to find leads and have a scalable system to take them through the sales cycle.

Courtesy of the same clutch.co review by the client: 

Please describe the scope of their work.

They’re working on organic SEO [search engine optimization], so we can rank for the main keywords that we’re looking for. They’ve also experimented with Facebook ads, and now we’re starting to roll out Google ads as well as the side project of helping us out with the sales funnel process and what tools we would use for that. The lead generation they’re working on through Google would feed into that pipeline.

What was your process for selecting Directive Consulting with which to work?

They’re in the same building, so I was aware of them. They had some seminars that they were hosting, so it was relevant to our interests. It was obvious to us that they knew, inside out, what tools people need to be aware of, and how to use them. We knew we couldn’t learn that ourselves, and their team seemed really current, really eager, and high energy.

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

It was less than $10,000.

How long have you been working with them, and is the project ongoing?

Yes. It’s ongoing. We started in the third quarter of last year.

Courtesy of the same clutch.co review by the client: 

Are you satisfied with Directive Consulting’s work?

Definitely. We had ranked pretty well with our Google AdWords advertisements, but we’ve seen it improve since the engagement began. They put something in place so that we appear twice on the top of the page for outsourced accounting, which is our main target keywords.

They’re experimenting with social media ads. I think that was useful. We expected that Facebook maybe not be the right place, so we validated some of our assumptions. The results of the SEO campaign seem useful, the tweaks to the website have helped. Also, being able to have someone know how to track what’s happening has been helpful, too.

Do you have any statistics or metrics, or just general trends to gauge their success?

I don’t have any stats to share currently but, generally, there have been increased leads coming in. In terms of appearing on the first Google result page, I can lots of improvement. We’ve had more leads, and we are just starting to see the benefits of analytics behind the leads, which tells us useful information about potential customers. We have a meeting planned to discuss analytics.

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

I can see that the other firms we spoke to just seemed more traditional or old school, so we like that these guys are pretty new and aggressive in a positive way. They reach out to industry experts and build a reputation and knowledge as they continue to expand on their services.

To me, one unique thing is just their proactive attitude. A lot of marketers tend to just tell you what they do and tell us to follow it. With these guys, it’s collaborative and they’re eager. They find out what’s out there and just go get results for the client. They’re constantly learning, trying to tweak and stay on top of changes in the industry.

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

The one challenge is blogging. To us, it doesn’t read well because we know what we would have written as industry insiders. Instead of spending time working on the blog, we should have had them working on landing pages.

What advice would you give a future client of theirs?

Be ready to spend and have a budget. To run a successful, comprehensive campaign costs a little more than a small business may think. Be prepared to trust Directive Consulting and use their suggestions.

Total Phase is an electrical engineering company based in Silicon Valley, California. They were looking to generate more sales leads as well as lower their cost per acquisition. Directive Consulting was chosen to provide organic SEO, PPC management, social prommotion, and some tech consulting in order to optimize their digital marketign campaigns. 

Courtesy of the Total Phase review of DC on Clutch.co

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Directive provides organic SEO and strategy work for us. They also handle our pay per click work, including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter marketing. I have a bias with regards to social media expenses, based on my past experience. Directive is trying to convince me otherwise by obtaining results.

How did you come to work with Directive?

A manager in our company was in charge of looking at available agencies. I got the number down to a top three. I interviewed each one, looking at the breadth of their service and attitude. The agency we'd worked with in the past gave me the impression that we were being taken for granted. They stopped coming in with new ideas, as opposed to Directive. They come up with a lot of ideas and are willing to tell me if they're unsure if something will work or not.

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

The cost of their services is in the six figures per year.

Courtesy of the Total Phase review of DC on Clutch.co

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I'm beginning to see preliminary metrics which are showing me that my SEO is way up. During the last month, I received 20,000 organic visits, which is 15% better than any other month before that. On the pay per click side, the cost per conversion has been driven down by well over 50%. I think that this is quite remarkable and due to Directive's work. I now need to reallocate those funds to even more of the same work. My aim is not to save money, but to get more sales.

The process with Directive started off with a comprehensive review, which took a month. During that time, they didn't do anything significant from an activity perspective. They then agreed upon an action plan. Directive has a breadth of skilled people, including individual specialists for pay per click, SEO, engagement management, blog writing, social media marketing, and initial investment strategy. They're a relatively small company, but are big enough to have specialized resources in what they do. They've been also willing to help with technical issues with my site, including WordPress items.

Their latest recommendations had to do with user interface [UI] changes within the website aimed at enhancing searches and user comfort. I wouldn't have taken their advice about the UI unless I was reasonably certain that Directive was starting to learn what my particular audience was. They're as full-service an agency as my company can afford. I fall within the 8-10 million dollars per year slot. In my case, going to a non-full-service agency would have left me with many shortcomings. I do most of my advertising through a different company, but the SEO, pay per click, social media work, ghost writing blogs, and assessing our technology has all been handled very well by Directive.

How did Directive perform from a project management standpoint?

They're focused on getting the job done and it's very easy to get a hold of them. There was never an occasion in which I had to wait for a day or more for a response to an issue.

What distinguishes Directive from other providers?

I can contact their owners directly and they'll get back to me within the hour. The accessibility and customer service they provide are excellent.

Is there anything Directive could have improved or done differently?

They're a small company, which entails some specific challenges. They don't have a multitude of SEO experts that can bring different views to an issue, and they don't have specific expertise with regard to my technology. They're an agency trying to learn embedded systems, which is a market that encompasses a million engineers worldwide, out of a population of seven billion. A bigger company would be more likely to find someone familiar with this space, allowing me to not invest as much time in things like finding the right keywords.

Having worked with a couple of agencies during my thirty year career, I can say that Directive is pretty self-sufficient. My last agency was much needier regarding the time they demanded. With Directive, I can explain something once and they will come back to me with a comprehensive plan.

The Divorce Firm had recently had their in house SEO expert leave the firm with little notice. Directive Consulting was brought on to fix any of the various issues within the firm's website and online presense as well as to start a more optimized organic SEO campaign to generate more incoming leads. 

Courtesy of the client's review of Directive Consulting's services on Clutch.co

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They offer organic SEO, social media marketing and pay per click services. They help us tailor our content efforts, online blogs, and all the keywords going into them. Directive also helps us find places where we can post content and back-link to our site.

They work on syncing all the online directories in which we're present and strategize on getting us positive reviews from customers.

They do all these things in a much more optimized way, with a lot more thought put behind it than our previous agency.

How did you come to work with Directive?

We had a major fallout with our previous company, and had to find another one with haste. I reached out to five or six different online marketing companies I had found through traditional searches. Directive won our business by being cost effective and through the historical analysis that they did on our business by going over our analytics and our Google Ad Words campaign. They showed us all the things that we were doing right, and everything that we could have been doing better.

Directive had a great online presence themselves, which is a major prerequisite when researching for a digital marketing agency. Unlike most agencies we approached, they were willing to do a lot of upfront test work, without signing on. We didn't want a standard, cookie-cutter offer that couldn't fit with the specific niche of our business. After 90 days, they've proven themselves by getting us to the level that was promised.

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

The annual cost is confidential but it's a significant investment for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed on with Directive in October 2015. They haven't yet had a lot of time to achieve results, but they've worked around the clock for us. We plan to work with them indefinitely if their transparency and attention to detail remain the same.

Courtesy of the client's review of Directive Consulting's services on Clutch.co

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We had a landing page for our business that had been set up by our previous company. It didn't work exactly right, and the team obsessed with it as a result. We tried many small tweaks until we got to the same stats as before the hiccup. We're now slowly increasing in traffic.

Their overall audit to every little detail has been remarkable. They got our Google business page up to order and enabled us to get reviews through it. They set up our Moz Local listing and synced up our online directories. They're also helping us with directories like Avvo and Mediators.com.

It's hard to name all the specific things they've done.

We've started from almost zero because of our past experience. It took the Directive team 30 days to rebuild everything with the budget that we'd allocated them. It was limited because we'd lost a lot of money due to decreased business. We don't yet have proper analytics, but the phones are now ringing at the same level to last year, when we were prospering. We're now at neutral and trending upwards.

How did Directive perform from a project management standpoint?

A lot of the companies we worked with in the past didn't even set goals or benchmarks. Simply showing us the number of visitors we'd had in a month isn't enough without a historical context and conversion rates. Directive has shown us the full extent of the data and have held themselves accountable. They don't have a fear of being measured and don't become defensive.

What distinguishes Directive from other providers?

They're obsessed with what they do. They didn't enter the market just because they saw a need for this type of service. Directive treats every customer the same in terms of being success-oriented, regardless of how large they are. They hold themselves accountable.

Their attention to detail and striving to constantly learn more, instead of getting the impression that they've figured everything out (which is a common vibe in the technical world), is what sets them apart. They take the time to explain figures to you and they admit when they don't know something.

Is there anything Directive could have improved or done differently?

Down the road, I'll probably find something, but up to this point, I can't think of anything.

Dexafit was looking for help in regards to developing a holistic campaign across all digital channels and social platforms. In order to account for their microsite strategy, it was important to maintain consistency across all sites to establish Dexafit as a trustworty authority. Their main goals were outreach, growth, and consistency accross the multi-channel brand. 

Courtesy of Dexafit's review of Directive Consulting on Clutch.co

What was the scope of their involvement?

Directive Consulting is helping us tighten up and optimize our social platforms, pay-per-click ads, and also providing SEO services.

How did you come to work with Directive Consulting?

I might have read an article about Directive. I looked them up, reached out, and had a long courting process. Directive took the time to talk to us, explain everything, and put together a thorough report of their offerings, showing us how we could improve. After talking to Directive, we had a good vibe. We're still a young company and had a tight budget at the time, so it took us a while to get to a point at which we'd be comfortable with delegating the work to a specialist in the digital world.

How much have you invested with Directive Consulting?

We plan to spend around $50,000 to $100,000 for Directive's services in 2016.

Courtesy of Dexafit's review of Directive Consulting on Clutch.co

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

Our relationship is still in the early stages, but we've seen some good results. It's been a pleasure working with our account rep from Directive. I'm familiar with this field, so I've been able to work with him.

Subjectively, I have seen an increase in our site visits and keyword rankings. We're still learning which ads need to be optimized in order to get better results, but the experience has been positive.

How did Directive Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Directive has been very professional and thorough in terms of monthly reports, which was important to me. More than simply showing results, I appreciated the amount of detail we've received. Directive isn't simply putting in the minimum amount of effort, but actually taking the time to break down the information for us and helping us understand it.

What did you find most impressive about Directive Consulting?

I have an older colleague who hates technology, but wanted to have a conversation with Directive if he was going to spend money on their services. Directive did an excellent job in handling his personality. There is definitely an age gap when it comes to understanding technology and how it can optimize a business. People with a more old-school approach to business can be skeptical and hard to persuade. Directive's principal stated his case well during our conversations.

Are there any areas Directive Consulting could improve?

No. Directive could improve our ads and SEO, but they're still learning our business. Our relationship is still new and there will always be improvements.

The client was a small legal document startup in southern California looking to drive engagements and leads through organic SEO and targeted Facebook advertisements for social promotion. Directive Consulting was tasked with developing the Facebook ad campaigns and optimize organic SEO performance. 

Courtesy of the client's review of DC on Clutch.co 

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Directive provided Facebook advertising services for us.

How did you come to work with Directive Consulting?

We'd used them in the past for SEO [search engine optimization] work, which we stopped due to budgetary reasons. We were pleased with the work done by Directive, so we called them back.

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

The current project cost is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was short term. After the setup done by their team, we've taken over the campaign ourselves. If it pays off, we will circle back to them and do more work. We've worked with Directive for a total of four months combined for our Facebook advertising and SEO work, during a period of around two years.

Courtesy of the client's review of DC on Clutch.co 

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Directive is great to work with, very helpful and responsive. Our experience has been positive. I love their passion and technical knowledge, they are a young and vibrant group. We've only engaged in Facebook advertising for a week, so it's too early for meaningful metrics.

How did Directive Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

I can't comment too much yet on project management. They are certainly a driven and passionate group that goes out and gets results quickly.

What distinguishes Directive Consulting from other providers?

They're simply great to work with.

Is there anything Directive Consulting could have improved or done differently?

With Facebook, we were hoping to start an automated campaign targeted at the people who had clicked on our ads, but we found out that this wasn't possible. We now need to either do this manually, or hire Directive later on. Had we known this, we would have changed the project specs in the beginning.

GPS Tracker was struggling with a limited budget and was having difficulty building a competitive business in the field. They deal with some big corporations in their competition, so it was importnat for them to be creative in terms of marketing endeavors and spending. 

And that's what brought them to Directive Consulting. 

Courtesy of GPS Tracker's review of Directive Consulting on Clutch.co

What was the scope of their involvement?

Directive Consulting has helped us with the SEO [search engine optimization] profile of the company, as well as with content marketing and pay-per-click. We try to separate ourselves from competitors by creating a consultancy image for the company. The marketing spend is driven towards our online presence and brand identity.

Directive helped with back-linking, on-site and off-site SEO, cleaned up our website code, and created custom landing pages supporting social media campaigns. Directive Consulting has tracked our conversions and worked on improving our general SEO profile.

How did you come to work with Directive Consulting?

I've used many SEO companies in the past, and found Directive through research. I was able to contract them once the company assigned a bigger marketing budget, and they've been my best partner so far.

How much have you invested with Directive Consulting?

We will spend at least $50,000 in the first year.

Courtesy of GPS Tracker's review of Directive Consulting on Clutch.co

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

Since we've only been working together for a short amount of time, I haven't seen many results, especially given that we have a 90-day sales cycle. There have been more conversions on the pay-per-click campaigns that Directive managed, so I've been happy so far.

Outside of conversions, we have seen an increase for the return-on-investment given by our landing pages. Our ranking has been increasing steadily after the site launch, which was surprising to us. Usually, at this point in the relationship with an SEO company, there comes a period of excuses and requests to wait for 3 months before seeing any kinds of results. Directive Consulting has handled back-linking behind-the-scenes and worked on our pay-per-click campaign, optimizing our keywords and moving the budget around. This made a significant difference.

How did Directive Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Directive has been great in terms of communication. Because I'm working with an outside SEO company, I've felt the need of keeping a very close relationship, but Directive has performed great on multiple lines. I've worked with many of their team members, who have been helpful to me.

What did you find most impressive about Directive Consulting?

Directive is made up of great, intelligent people who are passionate about what they do. This is the main thing that separates Directive from other SEO companies and gives them good value for the price point.

Are there any areas Directive Consulting could improve?

Directive doesn't have a good graphics department, and it would be nice if we could buddy-up our content marketing with infographics and animations.

The Saas Industy entails losing some customers each month. Mobile Text Alerts had recently seen a plateue in their product growth. So they came to Directive Consulting looking to invest in some digital marketing expertise to help increase sales conversions. 

Courtesy of the Mobile Text Alert review of Directive Consulting on Clutch.com:  

What was the scope of their involvement?

SEO is one subject about which I'm knowledgeable, so we were doing well in this regard. Even so, Directive came in with a bunch of suggestions that have already provided great benefits during the course of only 2 months. Directive also helped manage our Facebook ads and Google AdWords campaigns as well as organizing the content on our home page, optimizing it for better conversions.

How did you come to work with Directive Consulting?

I believe that I found Directive on Clutch, where they had some good reviews. I also interviewed other candidates, but ultimately decided on Directive.

How much have you invested with Directive Consulting?

We spend between $10,000 and $50,000 per year with them.

From Clutch Reviews of Directive Consulting: 

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

I've been very satisfied. We've seen a huge bump in our conversion rates, which is in large part due to Directive's suggestions. We have taken off navigation button from the sign-up page, making people more inclined to fill out the form, rather than visit other pages.

The Facebook ads made by Directive have seen many conversions. We had been dumping a lot of money on Facebook ads that weren't converting at all. Directive directed the same funds toward a better direction.

September 2016 was the first full month of having Directive's systems put in place. We saw a 60 percent increase in sales. I don't attribute all the credit to Directive's work, but they were a huge part of that increase. We saw paid signups go up by about 45 percent, which is also in large part due to Directive's work on Facebook ads.

Through the SEO and the different keywords targeted by Directive, we've also seen a huge spike in traffic. These will be long-term dividends, so we weren't expecting to see short-term results so quickly.

How did Directive Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Our collaboration is done mostly on the phone and through email. Directive is in California while we're located in Lincoln, Nebraska. Directive gives me a project update once a week, going over any concerns I might have and the current update agenda.

What did you find most impressive about Directive Consulting?

Compared to other marketing companies I've worked with, Directive seems to have experts for each of the different fields that we were looking for like content and SEO, as well as Facebook and Google marketing. Some of the agencies we used in the past consisted of one person trying to do everything. They may have been strong in terms of SEO, but lacking in the Facebook ads area, for example.

Are there any areas Directive Consulting could improve?

When I first signed up with Directive, I was paying a lot of money without being sure what they'd be doing. I based my decision on some of the Clutch reviews saying that the work would be worth it but wasn't sure what Directive would actually do. I did mention having a better upfront explanation about what they offered to my account manager from Directive.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Directive Consulting?

Many people have asked me this question. I usually advise them to consider marketing a worthy investment. Many companies don't want to put the money in for marketing but, especially considering Directive's consulting, it's been worth the investment. People need to look at the work as an investment in the company's future dividends, rather than as a purchase.

The client, eSub Construction Software, had worked with other small, one-man shops with expertise in SEO and PPC, but had yet to see the ROI (return on investment) that they were looking for. 

eSub approacehd Directive Consutling to revamp their entire edigital approach and start from the very beginning with a keyword strategy. 

It was a ground up overhawl of the entire digital marketing campaign. 

Courtesy of eSub's review of Directive Consulting on Clutch.co

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have worked with Directive Consulting in implementing a solid end-to-end digital strategy aimed at increasing traffic to our website and generating a return on investment. The philosophy is if it isn't measurable and working, we need to try a different approach.  Directive was also in charge of SEO, social media marketing, and content creation.

One of the things that was exciting about Directive was their transparency regarding working with me to develop goals and objectives, building out a plan, running test scenarios for every campaign, and taking our investment strategy on different channels into consideration. We worked backward from there through a content strategy which could support our digital efforts.

How did you come to work with Directive Consulting?

We interviewed a number of agencies, met with them and checked expertise and references for each one. It came down to who was a better fit, had the best references, and was the most transparent regarding their capabilities.

How much have you invested with Directive Consulting?

The cost of Directive's work is above $50,000 per year.

Courtesy of eSub's review of Directive Consulting on Clutch.co

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

In the first 30 days of our collaboration, we gave Directive an audit project through which they were tasked at identifying the opportunities for improving our website, as well as keyword and content strategy. Directive looked at what type of content would push up our organic ranking. From there, we carved out different responsibilities between my own team and Directive's. We tested out several different campaigns, working on multiple action items. One of them involves a 5-minute soup to nuts promotional video. We have built over 40 pages of content which will be deployed on our website after the video is completed, so we're still working on many action items.

The results have been very positive. Over the last month, we've reached new levels of organic traffic on our website, and we're starting to see higher conversion rates from our pay-per-click and landing page efforts.

We have a vertical relationship with a software company, offering business advice. We've seen an increase in conversion rates, and have closed a deal with one business as a result of increasing our rankings on our 2 landing pages.

In terms of organic results, we've generated the highest number of demo requests of all time, during last month. It was a 20-30% increase which resulted in more business.

Over a short period, we've seen a return on investment through Directive's work. From a marketing standpoint, we're hitting our numbers.

How did Directive Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Directive has had weekly meetings with us, shared strategy, and worked towards action items, providing result reports on time. They're also very good people with whom it's easy to do business.

What did you find most impressive about Directive Consulting?

Directive is very transparent, which is very good for a digital agency. There are many competitors out there which, while not being Black Hat, have secrets which they're unwilling to share with clients, or they simply don't know what they're doing.

Are there any areas Directive Consulting could improve?

No. Directive has good experts who are dedicated to various areas of our digital efforts. They're involved in every little project, so I have no recommendations for improvements.

Aegis was looking for a more global approach to SEO. So they were originally looking for lead generation out of the North American region. But they are expanding into Europe and eventually China as well - requiring globalized SEO efforts in terms of lead generation. 

Courtesy of the Aegis review of Directive Consulting on Clutch.co

What was the scope of their involvement?

It’s pretty comprehensive. We did a lot of SEO [search engine optimization] work on the back end, which has proven very fruitful on the organic side of things. We’ve seen our metrics on the organic side go up quite a bit since they’ve been engaged. They’re doing a full pay-per-click campaign for us, which incorporates Google, Bing, and some software referral sites as well, like Capterra and Software Advisor. Also, they’re doing paid social, LinkedIn and Facebook, and then organic as well.

Directive Consulting produced a few content pieces initially for us, but we have a really technical audience, so it’s difficult to write content that’s really engaging at an engineering level. What they are doing is providing keyword-based topics and headlines for content that we’re queueing up and panning to develop internally. Directive will then incorporate that content into our paid and organic social media programs.

How did you come to work with Directive Consulting?

A Google search, of course. They were recommended on MOZ and ranked very high organically on Google, so I put them on my short list. They were one of three different companies that fit my profile in terms of the scope of what they were offering. I wanted somebody local to my area as well. Our corporate headquarters are in Philadelphia, but I’m in California, so I wanted somebody in Orange County who I could meet with periodically as needed. We do a lot of stuff over the phone and via the web, but it’s always good to meet face-to-face at certain key points throughout the year.

How much have you invested with Directive Consulting?

The average year is going to be about $50,000.

Courtesy of the Aegis review of Directive Consulting on Clutch.co

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

I’ve seen improvement in a lot of different areas. We’re tracking a whole slew of metrics, and they’re almost all up because of Directive's work. I’ve built out a pretty comprehensive web tracker that tracks the whole of KPIs [key performance indicators] relative to historical performance. We’ve also established goals that go against that.

We track the overall visitors that come to the site, so we do track quality visits. Those have gone up relative to organic and paid quality visits. Then we have our leads. Obviously, we have a couple of different categories of leads when they come to our site and fill out different forms. One is when they fill out an information request, which is specifically requesting a salesperson to contact them. A secondary softer lead is when they download gated content. We’re tracking those, and those metrics have improved as well, both paid and organic.

We track our total paid clicks, our ad-click-to-lead ratio, and then cost per lead. Everything is going up. I was seeing positive results within the first 60 days. We were definitely getting results I could brag about within 60 days.

How did Directive Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

My project manager is really outstanding.

What did you find most impressive about Directive Consulting?

They get it. I’ve been doing this 17 years, and I have worked with hundreds of vendors for different projects in the past. I have longstanding relationships with certain contractors. I kind of have a best-of-breed model where, rather than hiring internal people, I pay even a premium to work with best-of-breed in different areas, whether it’s web development, graphic design, advertising, or PR. I try to establish long-term relationships, so the relationship is really important to me. From the get-go, I could tell that they were really out for my best interest, and they wanted to establish a long-term relationship that was going to be beneficial to both of us.

They’re no-nonsense. They knew I was very data-driven and that my decisions about them were going to be based on a combination of a good working relationship as well as measurable results. I knew that right from the get-go. I tasked them with several things in the vetting process that I wanted examples of, and I only gave them a short period of time to do it because I wanted to gauge their willingness and desire to work with me, and they accommodated that. I basically gave them an absurd request before I even signed a contract with them, and they fulfilled it. That was at the beginning, so that gave me a good feeling. I had been burned by another vendor, and I wasn’t going to make that mistake twice.

I wanted to set aside a half hour or so each week to have tracking meetings and measure the performance from that previous week, and they’ve been very accommodating with that. They were always providing me with comprehensive reports, but they weren’t exactly in the format that was easiest for me to convey that information to my superiors, so they’ve been very accommodating and adaptive in putting together a measurement model that works really well for me. It ties the measurable metrics to the activities that they’re doing, so it makes it very easy for me to say to my management, “Hey, these are the things that we’re doing, and this is the result. These particular categories are key KPIs.” I can show them what we’re doing that’s driving those results and what we’re going to be doing in the future, along with what’s working and what’s not. They’ve adapted to my requirements enthusiastically.

Are there any areas Directive Consulting could improve?

They could always be cheaper, but you get what you pay for. They’re considerably more expensive than my last vendor, but at the end of the day, the value I’m getting from them is far superior to what I was getting previously. I don’t blame them for that, especially since I sell six-figure software. What else could they do differently? Nothing. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with them, and I’m hard to please.

They go the extra mile. I have a project manager and then they have several people on the back end, and they’ll bring those people in on the call any time I have a question.

They leave no stone unturned in their quest to drive new leads to our site. They’re looking at every angle constantly, measuring, testing, and improving. I don’t have to ask for anything. They know far more about this than I do, and they’re leveraging that to get the results.