Things We Believe

1) Visuals are important. People judge a book by its cover. Even you.   2) It’s not about you, your structure, or what you think you need. It’s about your audience.   3) An organizational website that drives no action is a wasted opportunity.   4) Small details can make big differences.   5) Search and social marketing are powerful, but much more so when part of an integrated content strategy.   6) Outcomes matter. The journey matters too.   7)... Read More

Do You Have a Great Web Designer?

Many people can design beautiful web pages, but there are very few great web designers. A great web designer must be able to create beautiful web pages. But what if they’re not consistent with the brand? So… a great web designer must also understand brand design. But what if the pages look great and are “on brand,” but don’t drive any action? So… a great web designer must also understand the desired actions for any given page. But how can... Read More

The Four Customer Habits That Destroyed Advertising

Regular readers of this blog know that we’re big advocates of inbound marketing. But why? What are the overall trends that have led to the erosion of traditional marketing’s effectiveness and the rise of inbound marketing’s success? Here are four ways the game has changed. Read More  Read More

Are Small Agencies Really More Creative and Agile?

Previously, we asserted that one key reason to choose to work with a smaller marketing agency is personal attention and access to the top people. In contrast, large agencies, by definition, have lots of people working and billing. But we all know it’s hard to find top talent. A single agency can only hold on to so many great, creative people for so long. Many who remain are inevitably mediocre. Why do you see so many new boutique agencies starting? It’s because, often,... Read More

Best-of-Breed vs. All-in-One Software

You are going to create a new website for your organization. You want to have some pretty great functionality – a wiki, forums, an internal search engine, a blog. Maybe some e-commerce too. You want a CMS so you can update content yourself. But you also want different people to manage different sections, and editors should be limited in what they can edit. And, obviously, the website’s design should be consistent throughout. You get proposals from two different agencies. Agency... Read More

How Important Is Vertical Industry Experience?

The short answer is, “It depends”. When you are being pitched by a marketing agency, they may be able to show that, as an agency, they have worked with five other clients in your industry. That doesn’t necessarily mean that anybody assigned to your account team has that industry experience. Large agencies in particular have their own list of incentives about how they staff your project that are not always in your best interest. Read More  Read More

8 Great Questions To Answer Before Starting a Web Design Project

Without question, a new website is a big investment in effort and money. If you want to kick the project off in the best way, here are eight questions you should already be able to answer at the initial meeting with your web designer. Read More  Read More

Tell Me Your Budget Or You Get a Camry

I want a new car.  An automatic. I want leather seats, a moonroof, and a built-in GPS. I want it to drive comfortably and last a long time. So… what’ll that cost me? What? You want to know my budget? Why? Read More  Read More

Getting the Most Out of Your Online Marketing

Welcome! We’re so glad you’re here. In the eleven years we’ve been in the online marketing business, similar questions keep coming up from clients and prospects all throughout the arc of our relationship. In the early going, when companies are in their “online dating” phase, many of them are unsure how to even go about finding the right agency to work with. How should agencies best be evaluated? What are the right questions to ask? What are the pros... Read More

Fixed Price or Hourly: Is There a Better Way?

Previously we discussed the pros and cons of fixed price vs. hourly contracts. We followed up with a discussion about the difficulty of estimation, the importance of setting a “least acceptable outcome”, and budgeting well above that point. To recap: Fixed price contracts provide clients with the illusion of budget clarity, but at the cost of inflexibility. Hourly arrangements seem ideal… for the agency. After all, the longer the project takes, the more... Read More