Should You Hire a Kelowna Website Design Company or a Marketing Company?

The business problems are common enough:

• sales have dropped off
• the phone doesn't ring enough
• your website looks like it was made in the '80s (and is held up with duct tape and an entire can of hairspray)
• your marketing needs a shot of adrenaline
• you have a sneaky suspicion your business isn't being found on Google
• competition has upped their game and you're losing out

The potential solution is common enough too: "Hmm½ I think we need a new website." WAIT! Before you drop $3000 or $30,000 ask another question: "Do we need a web design company or a Kelowna marketing company?" The answer depends on your needs, but we're going to cut to the chase with the short answer. A website design company is just that: They design websites (whether or not that's the right tool for the job).

With an entire suite of skills and tools, a marketing agency doesn't have to use the same hammer for every job, when what's really needed is a ladder and screwdriver. While a website company in Kelowna may ask about your business goals as they relate to the functionality of your website (ie. a way to process payments or newsletter sign-up buttons for growing loyalty), their services begin and end with the design of your website. Most website shops generally don't get involved with the bigger picture. 

A Kelowna marketing company, on the other hand, starts with a 30,000ft view of your business. What exactly are you trying to achieve? A new website may or may not be the solution to your lacklustre sales. Twin Creek Media has built 100s of websites, and they are created to perform. They are revenue-generating internet machines. BUT, without the proper business planning, strategy, and measurement of goal completions, a website is just a bunch of pretty pictures and words. We won't even talk fonts or colours until we have a clear understanding of your business.

And we might even tell you that you don't need a website; what you might need is marketing services instead. We like to challenge our clients' assumptions when we sit down to start a project. We don't make any money talking someone out of a new website, (or brochure, or video, or rebranding, etc. but sometimes it's the right thing to do. If you're in sales or marketing or management, sometimes you have to save people from themselves--know what I'm saying?!

We're a Kelowna marketing company that helps businesses grow through strategic digital and traditional tactics. High-performance website design is just one tool in our tool belt. There's a full list of marketing services on this page, but here's some insight into how our process works and the solutions we might recommend along the way:

1. The Discovery.

Using our discovery form, we gain valuable insight into your business's strengths, your definition of success, your short and long-term goals, and more.

2. The Roadmap.

Also known as a strategy, we develop a plan for where we want to take you, and how we're going to get there using a marketing matrix--a real cross-section of services. Do you need a website redesign? There's a good chance you might. But for now, let's say we determine you've got an attractive, functional site, but you need more traffic. One of the goals becomes, 'Let's get # people to this site every month.'

Based on your budget, we might combine tools to increase your search rankings organically with search engine optimized blog posts, reputation building, and through paid ads on Google or Facebook. From planning to production to promotion, a marketing agency will have the expertise and resources to recommend and deploy the right tools for your goals and budget.

3. The Journey

Along the way, an agency can measure how your website and digital marketing strategies are working and where you might need to shift your efforts along the way based on what we're seeing. This is important, just as important as having a fantastic-looking site in the first place, and we'll give you an example to explain why. A new client was pleased that his site was getting hundreds of visits every month thanks to an ad on a popular Kelowna news website. Upon further inspection, however, we could see that site visitors were only spending 8 seconds on average on the website, and it was clear they were landing there accidentally. Those site visitors weren't there to spend, and they weren't generating a return on those ads.

So, with the analytics in hand, we shifted away from expensive banner ads, and created a targeted Google ad campaign. With our new digital marketing efforts, Voila! the site was getting what we call 'quality leads'--people who want to buy what you're selling. These visitors were spending minutes on our client's website, not seconds. Customers phoned. They emailed and filled in forms. Sales went up. In fact, $1 invested returned close to $10 in revenue.

A Kelowna marketing agency has the unique ability (and responsibility) to measure digital marketing efforts so clients have a valuable window into both results and ROI. So, the question really becomes, do you think you need a new website? Or do you need a reliable way to increase sales, increase your customer base, and grow your business? Do you want to hire a company that only sells hammers or a company that has a range of tools for different jobs?

Is your business at a crossroads or ready to expand your reach? In addition to the kind of website design Kelowna graphic designers drool over, our marketing agency has the tools and expertise to help you make the most of your website and achieve success.

Get in touch! 250-762-4001 or fill out our discovery form to get started.