Digital Strategist vs. Design & Build Shop

February 18, 2020

Rahul Wahi

Just building a website versus strategizing for it

The difference between a web development shop and digital strategist as an agency are often times an easily overlooked aspect of a company’s hunt for executing on a new digital project. For some, the difference doesn’t really matter, but for others it can be the reason between achieving success and failing. 

One isn’t always a better answer then the other, which is why in our conversation below we get a bit more in-depth about how and when you might need a web development or design agency versus a digital strategist.

Tony: So, we build a lot of websites for clients. 

Rahul: Yeah.

Tony: Talk to me about why we’re really and what a digital strategist is, versus a design and build shop for websites, web development, and stuff like that.

Rahul: Absolutely. You know, there’s many, many great web development shops. Web dev shops all over this city and state and country, right? And you’re going to get exactly that. You’re going to get a website, and that is definitely going to satisfy the initial request, right? What you’re going to miss out on is, you’re going to miss out on the “Why.” Or the “How.” Or, “Where do we need to go, after this?” And “Where have we been?” And understanding that story, a lot of the times when we’re asked initially to be a web dev shop, that’s an area where we really take a step back. You know, we always tell our clients that we’re not looking for a vendorship. We’re looking for a partnership. We want to be integrated. We want to understand what their value proposition is. Where have they been? Where are they today? Where are they looking to go? Let’s learn from our mistakes and really pioneer the industry to really be at the front of that line, instead of just another person in line. Right? A lot of the questions that we get asked are, “What makes you so different?” Well, what makes us so different is, we ask questions. We learn. We integrate into your brand. To us, when we’re building something for, you know, a multi-million dollar company, you want somebody that has equity. Ownership of that creative. Somebody that has absolutely harvested everything that you’ve done from the journey that you’ve taken, and is able to take that and build a more optimized route for moving forward. So you know, I believe that our team just asks a lot more questions, understands where they’ve been, and really road-maps a great strategy, digitally, online, as well as offline, you know, such as, you know, their messaging and their marketing collateral. What does that piece going to look like from the first experience that someone touches their site or talks to somebody, and then internally, what is that all going to look like? And then just kind of building that brand cohesion, and understanding, from where they’ve been. 

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