With Gusto, Rise Marketing taps talent in the U.S. and around the world to fuel client growth by 125%

When Kahl Orr launched Rise Marketing in 2017, he wanted to offer flexibility to his team to attract top creative and technical talent from a broader pool. As a creative web development agency based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rise Marketing specialises in SEO, paid ads management, web design, and building consumer mobile apps for clients in tech, healthcare, and petcare industries.

The primary challenge was managing payroll and payments for a distributed team. Rise Marketing had seven employees and about a dozen U.S. and international contractors spread across multiple countries including Poland, the U.K., India, Ukraine, Croatia, Mexico, and Canada. In the past, Kahl and his team spent up to 8 hours—or one full workday—per month figuring out how to pay international team members. They had to manage multiple payment methods like international bank wires, PayPal, and Payoneer based on what each contractor preferred. Additionally, they had to navigate fluctuating exchange rates, which created confusion and misalignment with contractors. Contractors were trying to bid in USD but converting their own currencies, and when they received payment, it wouldn't match their initial calculations due to exchange rate changes.

Another challenge was ensuring compliance with state tax regulations when hiring employees across different states. Rise Marketing needed to quickly hire and onboard employees in New Jersey and Delaware whilst maintaining compliance with state tax requirements. The company also needed to handle local compliance requirements, such as Philadelphia's employer registration system changes.

Rise Marketing partnered with Gusto in August 2018 to solve these challenges through multiple integrated features:

1. State Tax Registration: Gusto's state tax registration feature enabled Rise Marketing to quickly hire and onboard employees in New Jersey and Delaware whilst ensuring compliance with state tax regulations. Gusto provided all the information needed to register with state websites and offered support from the Gusto team for state tax registration and filing questions. Gusto also proactively flagged regulatory changes, such as Philadelphia's employer system revamp, and alerted Rise Marketing to compliance deadlines.

2. International Contractor Payments: Through Gusto's international contractor payments feature, Rise Marketing standardised all payments in USD. The system easily integrated hourly contractor time tracking into the regular payroll process, allowing all team members to be paid on time in the right currency regardless of location. This eliminated the need to manage multiple payment methods and exchange rate confusion.

3. Payroll Processing: Gusto's payroll platform made it simple to process payments for all types of workers—employees and contractors alike. The system was intuitive and user-friendly, allowing the team to run payroll in just 25 minutes.

4. Future Growth Tools: Rise Marketing began implementing Gusto's performance management tools, including performance reviews and goal tracking features, to further develop team culture. The company also planned to use Gusto's customisable benefits programme to allow employees to choose which benefits they valued most rather than adhering to a standard plan.

Rise Marketing achieved significant operational improvements and growth metrics:

- Fuelled client growth by 125% since partnering with Gusto
- Saved 8 hours per month on managing international contractor payments (equivalent to one full workday per month)
- Successfully manages payroll for 7 employees plus 12 contractors across multiple countries
- Streamlined payroll processing to just 25 minutes per cycle
- Eliminated exchange rate confusion and payment method management complexity
- Achieved compliance with state tax regulations across multiple states
- Proactively received alerts about regulatory changes and compliance deadlines
- Positioned the company to implement performance management and customisable benefits features for further team development