1. We believe in being strategic in everything we do.
OK, we’re starting with a big one. We admit that it’s a tall order to be strategic in everything we do, but that’s the goal. Always. Strategy starts with understanding the audience and objectives, but it also includes fine-turning the messaging and the user experience. Strategy is conceived during project planning, but it’s born when we start brainstorming, wireframing, designing and writing. From thinking through the user experience on mobile, tablet and desktop to perfectly placing the CTA to ensuring the click-through from a Google ad to the landing page is seamless and effective, strategy comes first every step of the way.
2. We believe in delivering beautiful work that compels people to action.
Great design is more than eye candy – it moves people to actually do something, whether that’s picking up the phone, completing a form, reading more content or taking the next step on any number of other initiatives. As much as we love a good story and a stellar layout, we also love conversion paths and compelling calls-to-action – something that piques people’s interest and pulls them through the sales funnel. The good news, of course, is that you don’t have to choose between beautiful creative work and smart marketing – you just have to hire the right agency.
3. We believe in achieving results and providing clarity to our clients.
Clarity leads to growth. Confusion leads to stagnation. Our goal is always to provide our clients with greater clarity and empower them to make smarter decisions with their marketing dollars. You’d be surprised just how frequently we work with organizations that don’t have a handle on their website’s traffic and trends. That’s not a knock – it’s a reflection of the fact that people are busy with other responsibilities like running their business or leading their teams. Sometimes we deliver clarity simply by setting up recurring Google Analytics reports to be sent weekly or monthly. Other times, it requires a deeper dive, where we need to analyze piles of data and explain their target audience’s search intent. Whatever the case, it’s our responsibility to provide these insights as clearly as possible.
4. We believe in caring for our clients (even when they don’t know it).
Caring for our clients means many different things. For starters, it means treating them the way we want to be treated, but it also means being a good steward of their resources (both their time and money). It means dotting every i and crossing every t, even when they’ll never know it. It means advocating for what we think is best for our clients, even when they disagree. Full disclosure: we’re always going to advocate for what we believe – we were hired for our expertise, after all – but we’re going to listen and respect our clients’ opinions as well. Our clients do, in fact, know the ins and outs of their business better than we do, but we also know a thing or two about website design and marketing. In our experience, the best work is created when there’s a healthy amount of collaboration between both of us.
5. We believe in being responsive and doing what we say.
This one is pretty self-explanatory. If we say we’re going to do it, we do it. We all get busy and distracted – SQUIRREL! – but, when we start working on a new account, we make a commitment to ourselves and to our clients to be responsive, dependable and trustworthy. We’re operating at our best when our team holds each other accountable – in all the best ways – to encourage timely follow through and close the loop on outstanding action items. Because here’s one thing we’ve noticed over the years: technologies and trends may come and go, but good customer service never goes out of style. We’ve had more than one client tell us that the thing they like best about working with us – besides the work that we do – is how we do it.
6. We believe in partnering with clients for the long run.
Put simply, we value forming long-term relationships over making short-term transactions. This doesn’t mean that we ask our clients to marry us after the first date, but it does mean that we can have the most impact when we understand the big picture and work together on a collaborative and ongoing basis. It makes sense, right? We can add the most value when we know the most about a business. Understanding the nuances of complex businesses doesn’t typically happen overnight. We have been working with some of our clients for more than a decade now. As much as we’d like take credit for that track record, the truth is that we’ve been extremely blessed with good clients who have chosen to trust us through various economic cycles and internal changes. And we’d like to think that the work itself is better for it.
7. We believe in having fun and not taking ourselves too seriously.
There’s no question we enjoy what we do. We should, after all, because we spend a lot of time doing it. However, we’re also real people with families and friends navigating real-life circumstances. Each and every day we’re going to give it everything we’ve got, but we’re also going to take care of ourselves, make some memories and have a few laughs along the way. A sustainable, rewarding work-life balance is not only good for us – it’s the way we stay energetic, productive and focused on creating our very best work.
That’s it. Thanks for reading. Now let’s do something amazing together.
