Elevato Digital

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of AI-powered CRM provider.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The AI-Powered CRM Built for Insurance Agents

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Elevato Digital to accomplish?

• Run & manage ads
• Marketing

SOLUTION

How did you find Elevato Digital?

Online Search

Why did you select Elevato Digital over others?

Company values aligned

How many teammates from Elevato Digital were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

a

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

a

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

We hired Elevato as our marketing agency back in February after hearing big, bold promises about what they could help us achieve. Unfortunately, our experience has been extremely disappointing.

They lock you into a six-month contract, yet it took them over four months to produce the first new ad and two and a half months to create a new landing page. It took nearly six months just to get attribution properly set up. For a company that promotes itself as a performance-driven agency, there was a noticeable lack of both action and results.

While the team would apologize on the phone, their follow-up emails often shifted blame back onto us, which felt unprofessional and gaslighting. The management team consistently failed to take accountability for delays or lack of progress.

After this experience, I feel it’s important to warn others — stay away from this company. They overpromise, underdeliver, and fail to own their mistakes.

What was your primary form of communication with Elevato Digital?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Keep to their words

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an Executive at Quantum University

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Holistic Healthcare University

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• SEO

SOLUTION

How did you find Elevato?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Elevato over others?

Seemed Reliable and Credible

How many teammates from Elevato were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

$3000 SEO monthly: Includes monthly implementation of all technical and content-related items from the 8 Pillar SEO Audit, and monthly/quarterly reporting. 

• Quarterly SEO Audit and & Strategy
• Quarterly SEO Action Plans
• On-Page Optimization
• Citation Management
• Inbound Link Building
• Content Creation
• Conversion Rate Optimization
• Weekly Campaign Activity Reports
• Monthly Goals, Analytics, Ranking Reports & Review Calls
• Quarterly Campaign & Report Review Calls

$2000 one time: Includes account setup, full-scale content audit, Content strategy, and 3-month content plan.

$500 monthly backlinks (2): Links can be purchased on a per-link basis in increments of $250/link including custom articles on relevant websites, guest posting, and thought leadership pieces. Link Budget for outreach and securing high-quality links and baseline organic outreach.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Agreed works completed
• Increase in SEO rankings
• Increase in SEO conversions

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

Communication was problematic, with extended response times and sometimes no response at all. Items were never delivered on time, they also neglected to complete several tasks outlined in the contract and the initial agreement, yet continued to bill us for services and work intended to be done in upcoming months.

What was your primary form of communication with Elevato?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their ability to deceive small businesses

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

Our experience with Elevato was extremely negative. We found them to be deceitful and lacking commitment to their work. Our small business, based in Hawai'i, is dedicated to supporting healthcare students worldwide in their pursuit of additional credentials to enhance community well-being. We strongly caution against engaging with Elevato, particularly for smaller businesses like ours that are vulnerable to the deception of dishonest companies. We entered into a contract with Elevato in October, initially paying over $5000, followed by monthly payments of $3500.

At first, they appeared eager and willing to assist, but over time, their team made numerous mistakes that we had previously cautioned against. These errors ranged from spelling and grammar mistakes to incorrect terminology in our field. They even duplicated feature images across pages, neglected proper text formatting leading to a disjointed appearance, included incorrect links on our website, and duplicated meta elements across multiple web pages.

Communication became problematic, with extended response times and sometimes no response at all, exacerbating the failure to rectify errors promptly. They also neglected to complete several tasks outlined in the contract and the initial agreement, yet continued to bill us for services and work intended to be done in upcoming months. We expressed our concerns, requesting a pause and noting our intention to withhold further payments until mistakes were rectified and agreed-upon tasks were initiated.

Despite numerous follow-up meetings and clear action plans, Elevato consistently failed to fulfill their commitments. Our account manager frequently apologized for delays, but progress remained stagnant, and when questioned, he would sometimes act unaware of the task's existence. This inconsistency was bewildering, especially since meetings were well-documented through recordings, minutes, and email correspondence. The promised work, both from our initial $5000 investment and the subsequent monthly payments, remained incomplete.

Frustrated by the lack of progress and the recurring mistakes, we compiled a comprehensive document detailing unmet contract obligations. While Elevato apologized and pledged to rectify these issues, the pattern continued, often accompanied by additional errors. We could no longer tolerate the delays and mistakes resulting from their incompetence.

After multiple attempts at resolution, we informed Elevato of our decision to terminate the contract. Their COO, Hannah, is now pursuing unpaid invoices using deceitful and manipulative tactics. Firstly, she shifted blame to us, citing "additional requests" as a reason for incomplete work. This explanation doesn't hold water, as these requests were meant solely to rectify their own mistakes, yet they neglected to address them. She then claimed that we provided no feedback as a reason for incomplete or delayed work, which contradicted her previous statement.

However, we possess evidence of our timely and specific feedback concerning spelling, grammar, incorrect links, and terminology. Responses were received only a month later. Additionally, we have documented instances of incomplete or uninitiated tasks. She stated that Elevato had undertaken comprehensive website work, which directly contradicts our website logs, showing only a few website articles created.

Moreover, our communication and email confirmation indicated that our web developers completed all Technical SEO, instead of Elevato handling it themselves. Despite our requests for evidence supporting her claims, they have been consistently ignored. It is disheartening that Elevato has disregarded our evidence, perpetuated contradictory statements, and even threatened collections actions against us.

The initial positive impression we had of Elevato quickly faded due to their actions. We strongly advise against engaging with Elevato.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Sinful Lashes

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are an e commerce and brick and mortar retail/ academy

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• To help us with SEO ranking
• To help us with Facebook and Google ads
• To expand our reach to new customers.

SOLUTION

How did you find Elevato?

Online Search

Why did you select Elevato over others?

Other

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

They did SEO work on our site and unfortunately our ranking dropped dramatically. From 38 to under 20. They also designed a Facebook campaign that was supposed to be approved before launch, they did not send and launched a really badly designed campaign and the text did not match the poorly designed photos, it cost-us $7,000 with absolutely no return.

Our google ads were equally as bad and every month they ran them our income kept dropping. It’s has been a very expensive mistake working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• There were none

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

They did not deliver items on time and some not at all. We are still waiting on them.

What was your primary form of communication with Elevato?

Virtual Meeting

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

They were fantastic at promising great results. Unfortunately, they did not live up to expectations.

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

Yes, we asked to work with a new team and one of managers Tessa assured us that is we have this team another chance it would improve, it did not

Company Responses

The vendor responded on April 27, 2023.

Michelle, thank you for sharing your feedback and we are disappointed to hear that your experience did not yield the results you expected. At Elevato, we set a high standard for ourselves and want every client to experience success. Our entire team reviewed your points of frustration thoroughly because we care. 

Upon review of our communications and meeting notes, we see that ad approval was given by your employee during our pre-launch meeting. We understand that this approval was frustrating to you specifically and our team made sure that your creative input was prioritized going forward. Your Account Manager adjusted our agency’s creative approval process a total of three times to facilitate your requests and we gave your team creative control over ad production when you requested it.  

We are known for caring deeply about our customers and helping their businesses grow online. We are committed to setting up every client for success because we genuinely want to help them grow and maintain a healthy digital footprint. Please know that we enjoyed working with your team and wish your business prosperity and success.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of Credo, a marketing matchmaking company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Elevato?

We needed help with software development and SEO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Elevato has provided further software development for our existing WordPress site. They’ve updated the code for a web development matching system that we’ve recently launched. The main function of the platform is to match companies with web development providers based on their needs and types of projects. In addition, Elevato’s team is taking care of the system’s maintenance by fixing any bugs that arise.

Moreover, Elevato is helping us with blog content creation and SEO. Regarding SEO, they’re doing an audit and updating all our pages to improve our SEO rankings. Additionally, they’re doing keyword research to find new words and ensure that the ones we already had were accurate.

What was the team composition? 

We’ve worked with seven members of Elevato’s team, including Jake (CEO), a project manager, their software team, SEO specialists, and content developers.

How did you come to work with Elevato?

Our founder had worked with Elevato in the past. We chose them for this project because they seemed to know what they were doing and had a full spectrum of services they could provide to support us with our software and SEO.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent around $250,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2022, and the engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Elevato has been great at going in and identifying our clunky coding to update and fix it with a thorough explanation of why it wasn’t working as expected. Moreover, we’re noticing an increase in our website traffic and the ranking of some of our articles.

How did Elevato perform from a project management standpoint?

Elevato has been communicative, involved, and available for us whenever we need to reach out to them — we use Slack, weekly video calls on Zoom, and a Teamwork page as our main communication and project management tools. In addition, they’re meeting all of our deadlines and are transparent in explaining why sometimes our SEO budget goes up.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Elevato’s best attribute is Jake’s willingness to get on the calls to ensure that we’re pleased with their work and that everything’s running efficiently.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on because everything’s going well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear scope and understanding of what you want and the goals you’re trying to reach with that. In addition, be engaged with them to go through the project’s strategy and get the most out of them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing director for a VC-backed medical device company that manufactures and markets a new treatment option for patients with brain tumors.

My position is responsible for raising awareness and educating patients and physicians about the treatment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

When COVID-19 led to all in-person events being canceled, we needed to find a way to reach prospective patients and physicians digitally, ASAP.

Our product had only been on the market for a short time, and nearly our whole marketing plan was based around in person events (conferences, advocacy group events, fundraising cancer walks, etc.).

We had been running a branded Google Ad campaign, but wanted to take it to the next level so that we could reach more of our target audience. Our goals were to raise awareness and drive inbound inquiries from physician stakeholders, brain tumor advocates, and prospective patients/caregivers.

SOLUTION

How did you select ParaCore and what were the deciding factors?

We reached out to a few different companies to receive quotes. I had worked with ParaCore in a different capacity at a former company, and was always impressed with their team and their work.

Adam spent time with me understanding the goals for the campaign and working through the unique challenges that come with marketing a medical device. Their quote was competitive and we started with a 3-month trial.

The results after 3 months were impressive, so we extended our project and increased our investment.

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

Our engagement began with a discovery phase, an audit of our existing campaigns and websites, landing page design and development, integrations into Pardot, and the launch of three campaigns: In-Market Patient Campaign, Out-of-Market Patient Campaign, and a Physician Campaign.

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

Four people from the team worked with us on this: Adam, the President & CEO, Bekah, the Director of Accounts, Veronica, the Account Manager, and Mark, a web designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since launching the campaign, we have had over 250 inbound inquiries about the company, which has resulted in at least one new account adopting the therapy and at least two patients receiving the therapy after consulting with their physicians.

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

Veronica and Bekah are excellent communicators and have been very responsive to our feedback, requests, and reporting needs.

We have a monthly meeting where we do a deep-dive into the prior month's progress and challenges. There have been no issues meeting the communicated deadlines.

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

ParaCore is great to work with, with a very friendly, kind team that consistently delivers on their promises and our goals. When presenting the idea of a greater investment into our PPC campaign, a board member recommended going with an agency based in the bay area.

We are happy to find a world-class PPC agency based right here in Phoenix!

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

The only thing I can think of is helping us create a plan for the leads as part of the project steps. Admittedly, that was a bit of an afterthought for us, but Paracore did share best practices and we were quickly able to put a plan together.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of an email analytics company. We provide tools for enhancing your email through custom signatures and banners. We also allow users to track their emails to see which recipients are opening them and which ones are ignoring them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with ParaCore?

We hired them for direct advertising services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us set up PPC ads for Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. They also launched paid search and banner ad campaigns for Google. Their team helps with everything from copywriting to design, and even creating landing pages that the leads we generate are directed to. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Veronica (Paid Media Account Manager) and Bekah (Director of Accounts). 

How did you come to work with ParaCore?

My former boss recommended them to me. I also did some research online.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2020, and our engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw results by the second month of working with them. They find ways to qualify more leads while lowering costs for acquisition. They’re smart, responsive, and knowledgeable. The team worked quickly to understand our business so they could help us start generating leads.  

How did ParaCore perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re proactive and act as an extension of our team. If they see an issue, they let us know immediately. They also provide frequent feedback and reports on the efficacy of PPC and ad campaigns. We can communicate with them daily. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I love their responsiveness and attention to detail. They’re easy to work with and match the urgency of our needs as a startup. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any complaints. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Call them to discuss your challenges and give them an understanding of your brand. They only take on clients that they’re confident they can help. Make sure they’re the right fit for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of marketing for Equity Estates. We are an SEC-regulated luxury residence fund.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ParaCore?

We needed digital marketing support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ParaCore created our media buy in the digital space, including Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. We worked collaboratively to evaluate the creative work we wanted to put out. We sent it back and forth in terms of images, copy and first touch ad. We also reworked it until it was where it needed to be. 

What is the team composition?

Bekah (Director of Accounts) is the senior manager and has worked with us from the beginning. Since January, we also have another manager that works with me on a daily basis. I have spoken to Adam (President & Founder) on the phone, as well. 

How did you come to work with ParaCore?

Our CEO and Adam met through an entrepreneur group they’re both in.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $375,000 in total, roughly $125,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around January 2017, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They are killing it regarding lead generation and follow up. We went from 450 leads in January to 815 in July. I couldn’t ask for more.

How did ParaCore perform from a project management standpoint?

ParaCore keeps us updated very well. We meet twice monthly to discuss numbers. Between meetings, we communicate via phone and email. They’re always available and receptive to any questions or concerns, and they provide thorough answers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team is completely transparent regarding the fees we pay and what those fees cover. They work to ensure our creative is good, and our buy is done to the best of their abilities. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent about what you want and need. They are very transparent, as well. If you’re looking at agencies, you should definitely consider them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing executive for a manufacturer and distributor of health care supplies and health care marketing materials.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ParaCore?

For quite a long time, we managed our paid ads in-house by multiple people. We had turnover, so it became quite a mess. We also didn’t keep up with Google Ads trends.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ParaCore cleaned up our paid ads and got us on track. They focus on Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads. Their team experimented with LinkedIn Ads because we wanted to understand our audience’s engagement with the platform.

Their team leads the way with most of our text ads. We gave them background and value propositions, and then they took it from there. With visual ads, we either provide them with assets or their team create's them. For our larger accounts, ParaCore implements new ads, queries, and content.

What is the team composition?

We communicate with our two main account managers who also connect us with their technical team to test forms and conversions. We’ve also been in contact with their owner.

How did you come to work with ParaCore?

We worked with a lead generation company that referred us to ParaCore.

How much have you invested with them?

At this point, we’ve probably spent between $90,000–$100,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We brought them on board around September 2018, and the engagement’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We track ROI and ROAS (return on ad spend). We want to have a 4:1 ratio for ROAS They’ve been able to maintain that, which is remarkable.

How did ParaCore perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate via e-mail but also have a monthly phone call. Their team provides monthly stats, including graphs and trends. They also recap all of our meetings, so their team’s transparent and organized.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re a complex organization and regularly present them with challenges. ParaCore has offered a wide range of solutions. They try a unique approach to each challenge, which is important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any constructive feedback.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to give them visibility into your long-term direction because it helps them to plan their efforts.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of Mariners Learning System.  We are a Coast Guard-approved online school that teaches people to get their captain’s license. We have over 65,000 graduates and 10,000 students currently taking courses, including some from around the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ParaCore?

Initially, we needed CallRail implemented to track where calls were coming from.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the CallRail project, ParaCore assessed our business goals and made recommendations. They were in charge of the installation, account setup with CallRail, and setting up the dynamic phone numbers on our website. 

They made sure we had the proper interfaces for analytics so we could see how it was all working. The system identifies where calls come from, working through Google Ads. When someone sees an ad, they’re served a unique telephone number, through which they can be tracked. 

To initiate it on our site, they had to change the physical manner in which our website was built out to have dynamic phone numbers rather than static ones.

Since then, the team has shifted into doing SEO, PPC, Google ads, and social media marketing for us on Facebook. They create ads, propose strategies, and take on the full responsibility for all of our ads and ad copy. 

What is the team composition?

I have worked with four teammates, but I have two main points of contact who serve as account managers. Adam (President & Founder) is available anytime I need him, and they have other teammates internally working on my account.

How did you come to work with ParaCore?

I found them online when I was searching for companies who work with CallRail, as it was a new technology. Adam had intricate knowledge, and the team possessed the expertise I required.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $75,000–$100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in September 2018, and our engagement is ongoing. I would be unhappy if that were to change.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Initially, I didn’t want any SEO or PPC work due to prior bad experiences, but ParaCore made a bold guarantee of my satisfaction, saying that I could pay what I felt it was worth at the end of the month. So, I gave it a try. 

After the first month, there was more value than I was spending. There has been an 80% increase in ROI from May 2019 to May 2020. In April 2020, ad spend was $12,000 and ROI was $90,000, which is more than 5 to 1 return. In May 2020, ad spend was $15,578 and ROI was $84,568, more than 4 to 1 return. 

How did ParaCore perform from a project management standpoint?

They have excellent documentation. We have monthly meetings, which are just a formality at this point since they fully know and understand my vision. I don’t have to give much input at all.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take my vision and turn it into reality. They are like an extension of my company, getting excited about the results and success just like I do. In my experience, this is a rarity. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, none that I can think of.