Kim Walker,
Co-Owner at Shop Marketing Pros

The Client

First established in 2011 by Brian and Kim Walker, Shop Marketing Pros was built on a foundation of hands-on experience in the automotive industry. Before launching their marketing agency, Brian and Kim ran a North Carolina-based automotive shop for 12 years, learning the business ropes and sharpening their marketing skills in the process.

After an unforeseen business closure, they made a pivotal decision to move back to Louisiana and start 5 Stones Media–a marketing agency that initially provided website services to a wide range of clients. As their business took off, one thing became exceedingly clear: their passion for serving the automotive industry. 

To hone in on this niche-specific interest and get back to their roots, they created a separate agency division–now known as Shop Marketing Pros–to provide “Marketing for the auto shop professional.” 

Since then, they’ve used their accumulated experience to build a current agency roster of 75+ automotive clients and a solid team of 23 experts. This full-service agency provides tailor-made solutions, including social media marketing, video strategies, search engine marketing services, and website design.

The Challenge

Shop Marketing Pros’ budding success was promising, but it also came with a higher probability of inefficiencies if the right measures weren’t put in place.

To streamline operations and ensure sustainable growth, Shop Marketing Pros began rolling out the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)–an industrial framework focused on streamlining six key components (vision, people, data, issues, processes, and traction).

This exercise resulted in an in-depth analysis of its existing agency processes, which included client reporting. Once Shop Marketing Pros did a deep dive and realized it was spending up to 270 monthly billable hours on reporting, the agency knew a comprehensive, time-efficient solution was necessary.

To top it off, its manual-intensive approach didn’t seamlessly consolidate data across marketing platforms, which was a much-needed capability for the agency’s growing clientele and reporting demands.

The Solution

Shop Marketing Pros’ Customer Success Manager, Danni Marks, began an extensive search for a Google Data Studio alternative (which was their go-to reporting platform at one point). 

She soon discovered AgencyAnalytics, which made it much easier to maintain data transparency, seamlessly integrate with various marketing platforms, and create professional reports that clients could easily understand. 

Today, Shop Marketing Pros uses AgencyAnalytics to complement its personalized marketing approach by including report findings in agency-client meetings and providing further context on the results.

The Result

Since using AgencyAnalytics, Shop Marketing Pros has saved almost 200 billable hours each month, which allows the agency to allocate more resources towards growth and building stronger agency-client relationships. 

The team is now able to produce custom reporting that complements their personalized business approach, resulting in happier and more informed clients. 

Shop Marketing Pros attributes its business success to “leadership, over communication, infusing our core values into day-to-day operations, and an intentional focus on our people.” The agency’s emphasis on solid processes, such as streamlining client reporting, has also amplified its effectiveness and fortified overall operations.