2018 is Impact Media’s 15th year in business and this week we’ve also scheduled in our 8000th project. But much has changed in 15 years.
This week we have booked in a website update for a client and the project number that was assigned was 8000. (We started them at zero before you ask) That’s a pretty big milestone in our history and we wanted to share it with the world 🙂
2003 was when our story began and much has changed since then. The web has evolved, technology has evolved, and we’d like to think we have too.
8,000 projects haven’t always been just website builds, in the past we were a full service agency; providing basically anything and everything from marketing to branding. Through our lengthy journey we have gained vital experience in the way we deliver projects, and also our service offering.
As the web has evolved our capabilities have to, but also our staff resources has been deployed on far more technical support, integration and general maintenance tasks, which is only continuing to grow.
After being a full service agency for 14 years we felt our journey had no clear direction and we were being seen the same as every other agency fighting for the same “we can do that” projects.
In 2017 we made the decision that as a company we wanted to have a greater focus and dictate how we wanted to be seen by clients and prospects; so we began dropping many of the services we provided and focused on only 3.
We reviewed what the core of our business was and what as a team we perform the greatest at. That was WordPress development and integration.
Our capabilities were not just template installs, but fully bespoke custom solutions that would have many 3rd party integrations – this is what we do best, and by focusing on this; really sets us apart.
The service offering also lead into its own journey, as the web is always changing; a website is never finished – it is a continuous cycle, and support is at the centre of it.
After creating the foundations for your website, it requires continuous support and ongoing maintenance and improvements. At some stage, usually around 3-5 years it may even need an overhaul. Thus the continuous cycle.
So we began to look at what services didn’t fall into this journey or full our global process.
We began phasing out our digital marketing services. We see it as its own journey and strategy that can work hand in hand with the website, however a majority of the paid search campaigns we provided utilised third party landing page tools – which wasn’t using the website to bring in leads.
Paid search for us also didn’t fall into our day to day process and we felt that if we partnered with other agencies, we could support the website and they could focus on driving traffic.
So we are now partnering with 3 dedicated digital marketing agencies who can assist with PPC and SEO campaigns.
They will help to create marketing strategies and set goals that will work with your website whilst also managing the 3rd party landing page tools for successful lead conversion.
Since our launch we have always assisted in the branding process. Usually in rebranding businesses and helping to create a platform for growth. However branding is an art form and requires dedicated people to craft and plan the process. If the branding project wasn’t including a website, then a large majority of our team were not aware of the client or the project and we had a certain disconnect.
One of our guiding principles is “Wear Their Shoes” we want every team member to understand who the client is and what they are looking to achieve. Allowing anyone to work on a project and instantly get passionate about what they are doing and who they are doing it for.
We discuss clients and ideas it helps us constantly improve how we help them. Branding was becoming a lone wolf so we decided that we would find partners who we could work with once the branding stage was finalised.
Print design services once again provided this level of disconnect. So although we still have print design capabilities, we are focusing only on projects that directly relate to a website or website update, such as PDF downloads or product brochures.
We have partnered with 3 other design agencies who can cater for exhibition graphics, leaflets, print adverts, and general printed collateral.
With the single focus of WordPress Integration, our team can concentrate on how we continue to improve and evolve our service offering.
We have evolved our Support offering over the past couple of years. Including website security and managed WordPress hosting with Unlimited Support – something that as I write this is unrivalled.
We are also building a maintenance ordering system to allow clients to search for updates which will have fixed-fees, for such tasks as plugin installs or certain integrations. We want to make this solution as easy and quick to use for clients as possible, so they can focus on their day to day marketing tasks, not writing briefs and obtaining quotes.
Our website builds and our process is very comprehensive, however vital in the success of establishing a solid and scalable foundation for a website to grow. We understand the that every client is different and their objectives too – why have a website that was designed for any business to use?!
We value the importance of building from the ground up and although this might be a far more expensive process compared to a theme installation, it pays dividends in the long term when you are looking to make improvements.
The core of what we do ultimately surrounds a website. But here’s a few service examples to help paint a clearer picture.
Provide the custom creation of a WordPress website from discovery, wireframes to fully front and back end integration with WordPress. We also browser and device compatibility test and provide training to teams in how to add and manage content.
Whether on an ad hoc basis or via our Support Unlimited plans, we cater for:
Ultimately via our Evolve solutions we aim to provide services that support marketing teams rather than becoming their marketing team.
So with 8,000 projects down, the projects we undertake might be slightly different to the early years but our enthusiasm and attention to detail remains the same.
2018 also marks an incredible 15 year journey. We are proud and truly grateful to our clients who have contributed and continue to contribute to our existence. We hope that the services we provide today remain to support their businesses tomorrow. You can see some of our projects on our case study page.
Here’s to the next 15 years. (Cheers – It is Friday we’re off to the pub)
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