A Different Digital Marketing Agency

Kristin has applied her marketing and sales turnaround experiences to create a unique digital marketing agency.

As a revenue coach, Kristin Zhivago specialized in turning around marketing and sales departments. When she was done (and she helped recruit and train her successor), each department was operating efficiently, everyone in the department was doing what they were best at (and loved to do), and the department was generating a solid return on the company’s marketing investment.

She founded Zhivago Partners in 2017 because she observed that many mid-sized companies had done a great job of building and running their companies but were struggling to get their digital marketing to deliver on the promise of bringing qualified leads into the business.

Given that she had spent years in the tech industry, and focused on marketing tech as part of that, she knew she could bring value to clients.

Her first hire at Zhivago Partners was an “infrastructure manager,” because her revenue coaching work had taught her the importance of building strong systems. This person also served as the company’s “app whisperer,” because Kristin knew the entire company would run on cloud-based systems.

She then built the core infrastructure team, consisting of Client Success Managers and those who help run the business. This is the inner circle.

The next circle consists of the campaign managers. These are channel or method specialists providing digital advertising, email marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, buyer journey mapping, customer and market research, and quality assurance.

And the largest circle comprises the creative specialists, including developers, designers, and writers.

This structure enables us to adapt easily to fluctuations in activity, and to give each client access to the top-tier specialists in each area. Too many agencies “sell” the client on the “top managers” and then hire intern-level staff to carry out the work. With our approach, each client has a full range of experienced and talented professionals available.

Our company culture is based on Kristin’s dedication to making Zhivago Partners “a safe place for nice people to do their best work.” She has written many articles about effective leadership and she practices what she preaches (including “find it, face it, fix it”). We don’t suffer from the high turnover rates many agencies experience; longevity is the norm.

Those who have worked at other agencies tell us that the main focus was on “making money for the agency,” rather than what we do. Our main focus is on increasing the revenue stream of our clients.

What you can expect and why.

Clients come to us after they have been disappointed. “We tried social; it didn’t work,” they’ll say. “Getting a response from our agency was like pulling teeth.” “I never saw any proof of the campaigns working, and I barely knew what they were doing most of the time.”

Here are the common issues with agencies, and how we have structured Zhivago Partners to deliver delight instead of disappointment:

Transparency: You will know what is going on at all times. Our Client Success Managers manage all of the projects and keep you in the loop at every step. We are totally open about our strategies, status, processes, and pricing.

Communication: Want a quick answer? You’ll get one—from anyone on the team, including Kristin. She’s a bit of a workaholic (she thinks of it as loving what she does so much that she wants to spend as much time as she can doing it) who is available via Slack, text, phone, or email during business hours and beyond. Each person on the team has that “I want to respond immediately” gene.

Expectations: Every task has its own estimate and straightforward description. We work hard to make sure we come within the estimate; if unforeseen issues arise, we tell you immediately so we can discuss and decide the best course of action. We are also realistic in our predictions of the results of any campaign or new site, although the numbers on whatever we do tend to trend upwards—and if that pattern changes, we figure out how to fix it and set to work.

Results: This is what you hire us for, and we take our responsibility very seriously. We set up a stats portal for each client that tracks impressions, clicks, opens, sessions, session time, engagement, and more. We work with you to track from start to sale, and beyond. Matching a campaign to individual sales can be complex, especially in today’s multi-touch, multi-channel marketing environments. But we will keep working on it with you, your team, and our respective systems until we are as close as is humanly possible.

Costs: We are not the least expensive option, given the quality of our people, systems, and the work we produce. But we’re not outrageously priced, either. You will find our prices to be logical and reasonable, given the type of work being done and the effectiveness of that work. No work is done without your prior approval. Our overall goal is to be worth every dollar you spend because the results of our work generate revenue for your business. We are definitely less expensive than what it would cost to build a department staffed with all of these specialists. And it is rare for all of these specialists to be working so smoothly as a team.

Customization: All of the work we do for you is, as the British like to say, “bespoke.” We take no cookie-cutter shortcuts. Your company, customers, marketplace, competitors, people, policies, processes, products, and services are all unique to you. Your marketing should be, also.

Staff Longevity: Every single person assigned to your account is there for the long haul. Turnover at Zhivago Partners is extremely low. Those who work here appreciate the culture of helpfulness, the lack of politics, and the support they get from Kristin.

Expertise: As we have mentioned, all of your work will be done by experienced professionals. Every person in every position loves what they do and strives to be the best they can be. All of the interactions you will have with our team members will be pleasant, professional, and effective.

Progress: All of us move along at a smart pace every day. We never rush at the expense of a successful outcome, but we also keep everything moving forward. We meet frequently to review all projects in progress, and we work on fixing anything that is stuck. A truism here is that clients are seldom waiting for us; given that our clients are very busy professionals themselves, it is more common that we are the ones waiting. We don’t mind; we understand. But we will do anything we can to make it easier for clients to do their part.

Creativity: Kristin has said, “Marketing used to be 80% creativity and 20% logistics; now it is just the opposite.” That’s true, but that doesn’t mean that creativity is any less important. We love to brainstorm with our clients, coming up with new solutions to sticky issues and finding new ways to reach your goals. All of the ideas we bring to the table will make sense both for your buyers and for you. Nothing should stand in the way of your customers understanding exactly what you’re selling and how it can help them. In spite of the necessity of campaign logistics, inspiration still rules.