Please describe your company and position.
I am the COO of Launch My Book, Inc.
Describe what your company does in a single sentence.
We help authors with all aspects of the book publishing and promotion process--from copy editing and cover design to self-publishing set up, distribution, websites, marketing campaigns, and more--while providing personlized guidance every step of the way.
How did you find HawkSEM?
Online Search
How many teammates from HawkSEM were assigned to this project?
1 Employee
Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.
We have been running google ads to our website for authors searching for relevant services with the goal of receiving lead form fills that turn into phone calls which eventually (hopefully) become clients. We wanted to promote our self-publishing services most specifically in order to secure leads who were earlier on in their book publishing journey. This is proving to be a good strategy, although expensive due to the competition, which is outspending us dramatically.
What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
After a very rough start with a different account manager, we began to see a significant up-tick in leads shortly after Justin took over the account in April/May. So that was the first measure of success: Leads entering our funnel! Then, as he analyzed our data and started refining the quality of the leads, our quality of leads has improved. Although we still are not earning back in revenue the amount we are spending in ad spend or management fees, we are seeing a very positive trend. (1) Quality Leads (2) a managable quantity of leads.
Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?
Justin is amazing. He is responsive, he is simple and yet thorough in his communication style, he is clear about what he needs from us and about what he is going to do next. It is very clear that he is attending to our account, that he is thinking creatively about it, that he is staying on top of the data and managing the keywords and negative terms. We love working with him.
What was your primary form of communication with HawkSEM?
Virtual Meeting
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
This is a tough question to answer. We had such a rocky start, and we felt underwhelmed by the response we got initially following the 5 months of management during which we had almost no leads despite an ad spend that was double what we normally had spent in the past. When HawkSEM notified us that our account manager was no longer at the company, it wasn't a shock but it was also shocking, as we had invested already 5 months and $7,500 in management fees, and $12,000 in ad spend (and maybe 3 confirmed leads to show for it). So we basically had to start over with Justin. We were given 1 free month of management to allow him to come up to speed. Two months later, I got an email from HawkSEM's customer success team, checking in to see how things were going. When I expressed my disappointment at the company's thin response to what had happened before Justin took over, we were given the opportunity to sign a 12-month contract and receive 3-months gratis in acknowledgment of what we had experienced and to mark our joint commitment to a long term relationship.
Are there any areas for improvement or something HawkSEM could have done differently?
Please see my earlier response about the rocky start, the first 4-5 months took a big toll on our business. I think that it would have been good if someone in management had been more attentive to our account, and intervened when we were repeatedly asking for solutions and begging for response. I also think it would have been more appropriate for HawkSEM to waive more of our monthly management fees to compensate us for the almost $20K we lost during the November-March failure under Houston's watch, and to have received some sort of explanation of what had happened. While the internal workings are not any of our business, it did feel like we could have been given some sort of more human response to what happened, and some acceptance of responsibility. It's clear now, since we're working with Justin, that those initial 5 months were a big loss for us that could have been avoided.
