GatorGuard’s Organic Website Traffic is “Off the Charts” Since Partnering with Socius  

A lack of transparency and distrust drove them away from a traditional print advertiser toward a digital agency. They’ve never looked back. 

The Challenge 

With ambitious growth goals, GatorGuard needed a marketing partner that could scale and provide transparency. 

John Chambers had worked with a large newspaper’s advertising network for years to grow his business, LeafGuard, in the Indianapolis area.  

So when John decided to sell LeafGuard and make his other business, GatorGuard, his primary focus, he relied on that same network to help meet his ambitious growth goals.

But with a new business, comes new scrutiny. And the GatorGuard team recognized that a small annoyance with the network had actually become a much bigger problem: They weren’t sharing how they were spending Chambers’ ad and marketing dollars.  

“Our deep and large relationship with [the ad network] was too large,” says Mike Evans, GatorGuard’s Senior Vice President. “And transparency was very, very difficult.”  

Having dealt with a frustrating lack of openness and a downward trend in print ad results, sticking with the network no longer made sense. GatorGuard was officially in the market for a digital marketing partner.  

The Solution

GatorGuard found a “locked-in-arms partner” to grow the business with. 

While attending Accelerate Live, a large home improvement seminar, Evans struck up a conversation with the Socius Marketing team at their booth.  

“We knew the name, but we weren’t looking because we figured we couldn’t afford it,” Evans says. But they struck up a conversation anyway, sharing their frustrations—and their growth plan.  “The next thing you know, we’re thinking twice about it.”  

With a promise of openness and transparency from the Socius team, Evans immediately pulled assets from the print network they had used for so long, and let Socius prove what they could do.  

“They told us we’d have full reporting, that we’d see their invoicing and service fees, and that we’d see where our spend was going. That was enough for us.”

The Results

“I regret zero of the dollars we’ve spent.” 

Living up to the promise of transparency and results, Socius helped GatorGuard scale in several markets. The company—and its trust in Socius—grew quickly. 

To demonstrate just how much Evans believes in Socius, he shares, “We’ve stopped all of our newspaper print spend—500 ads across our markets. That’s scary for me to do. But it’s not as scary anymore because of the trust I have in Socius.” 

GatorGuard’s organic traffic is strong (“off the charts,” in Evans’ words). Digital campaigns are now working together to collectively lift multiple business metrics. And, the ROI on money spent is clearly visible.  

“The proof is in the pudding. And, boy, the pudding tastes good,” says Evans. 

And while the ROI of their efforts speaks to the Socius team’s capabilities, Evans finds success in less measurable metrics: like confidence and care.  

“I’m not interested in understanding things at the level Socius understands these things. I’m interested in a partner I can trust so I can focus on our growth. I have blind faith in my team. That means I can do what I need to do, knowing I have somebody there.”