Status 218 is an award-winning web design and digital marketing agency based in York. When they came to Bearhat, they had a strong track record and great client work – but no marketing infrastructure to show it off, no clear picture of who they were talking to, and no strategy to grow. They needed someone to build the foundations and hand them back the tools to run their own marketing.
Services: Marketing Blueprint
The Challenge
Status 218 had recently lost their business development partner, leaving a gap in their go-to-market activity. The business was doing excellent work for clients – but they weren’t clearly positioned in the market, their website messaging didn’t reflect what made them different, and they had no defined target audience to speak to or strategy to guide how they’d grow.
They needed a fresh pair of eyes to take a view across the whole business, and build the marketing foundations properly – not just create content for the sake of it, but ensure every decision was made in the right strategy.
The Approach
Bearhat worked with Status 218 across a seven-month engagement, structured around fortnightly calls and focused on building marketing foundations that would outlast the engagement itself. The goal was was to equip the founder to run his own marketing with confidence, not to create dependancy.
The work included:
- Marketing audit – a full review of the website, messaging, positioning, and digital presence, identifying what was working and what needed to change
- Audience research and target audience definition – the first time Status 218 had clearly defined who they were trying to reach and what those people actually needed to hear
- Website messaging and positioning rebuild – rewriting the website to reflect the agency’s true strengths and speak directly to the right audience
- SEO foundations – keyword mapping with an SEO specialist, sitemap restructure, and page-level optimisation to build long-term organic visibility
- LinkedIn strategy – developing a consistent approach for the founder’s personal profile, including regular content, proactive outreach to the target audience, and email list building
The Results
In six months, Status 218 went from scattered marketing to strategic marketing. The foundations are in place, the messaging is clear, and the founder now has a defined audience, a website that works harder for the business, and a growing organic presence.
But the numbers only tell part of the story. The bigger change was clarity – a founder who now understands his audience, knows what to say and where to say it, and has the tools and confidence to drive his own marketing forward.
As many business owners know, marketing themselves and their business can be a real challenge, and sometimes a fresh set of eyes is the answer.
Ready to build the marketing foundations your agency is missing?
If you’ve lost momentum in your own marketing…this is what building proper foundations looks like.
Bearhat works with a small number of ambitious owner-led businesses at a time, building the strategy and the confidence to grow, without the dependency.
If that sounds like what you’ve been missing, get in touch.
FAQs
How long does it take to see SEO results for a web design agency?
With the right foundations in place, you can expect to see improvements in organic impressions within three to six months. Status 218 grew from 150 to 700 monthly Google impressions in six months.
What should a web design agency focus on first when building a marketing strategy?
Start with understanding your target audience and messaging before anything else. Without knowing who you’re talking to and what they need to hear, no channel – SEO, LinkedIn, or paid -will perform effectively.
Is LinkedIn worth it for web design agency owners?
Yes. A founder’s personal profile consistently outperforms a company page, often generating five times more reach. Consistent, relevant content combined with proactive outreach to target clients builds a pipeline over time.
