Case Study: Evergreen Advisors
Overview:
Evergreen Advisors is a local middle-market investment bank and advisory firm focused on assisting companies in the areas of corporate finance, growth and exit strategies, business valuations and CFO advisory services. The firm has been in the Baltimore / Washington area for more than 15 years and has a substantial reputation, led by three principal partners with vast industry experience.
Challenge:
Evergreen Advisors had been operating without any significant ongoing marketing effort for years prior to working with me. Evergreen was previously doing business as Evergreen Capital, with at least two other firms in the area using the same name and similar identity. Corporate collateral, website and other pieces had been created internally and lacked a consistent brand message and look & feel. There was no outreach into the financial services industry, other than a small number of contacts. The firm had recently upgraded its office space to a class A building and was looking to take its marketing & communications efforts to the next level.
Solution:
I joined Evergreen Advisors as their outsourced Director of Marketing for a two-year engagement. The first step was to establish an overall marketing and communications plan, including a digital marketing strategy to be implemented internally. I comleted a re-branding effort, where the name of the company, corporate logo, website and all collateral pieces were completely overhauled into a more sophisticated and professional package. As part of the corporate website rebuild, video vignettes were produced to bring the principals' personality forward and a photoshoot was held to have consistent and professional headshots of the entire staff.
I introduced the firm to an entry-level CRM solution to facilitate a more streamlined and concerted business development effort and trained all users and stakeholders on its operation and importance. A quarterly newsletter was developed in both digital and print format and we began a series of knowledge-based seminars and events that were very well-received and continue today. Social media marketing was introduced to the firm and after setting up a presence on various outlets (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) the internal resources were trained on continuing efforts needed.
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The services that I provided consisted of:
- Marketing & communications plan development
- Web / Interactive Project Management
- Website Design & Development
- Digital marketing strategy
- Social media strategy & training
- Rebranding of the firm (name, logo, domain, signage, collateral, etc.)
- Professional video & photography production
- Tradeshow material development
- CRM selection and training
- Newsletter (print & online) production
- Events management
- Direct mail campaigns
- E-mail campaign planning & execution
"We initially brought Dave in as a much-needed resource to help our firm with marketing and possibly re-doing our website. Dave jumped right in and helped Evergreen change the way we were presenting ourselves and communicating. Dave and I have worked together on many different initiatives and, as always, he was great to work with and I would recommend him to any firm or organization that is looking to grow."
- Andrew Clark, Former COO, Evergreen Advisors, Inc.