We like to think there are a lot of little things that make Parkway Digital different. Last year, we spent a lot of time figuring out how to communicate all of those little things to prospective clients. After a lot of brainstorming, feedback and revisions, it came down to this: we value our team, our partners, our approach and our evolution. This is what makes Parkway special; it’s why we’ve grown since Chris started the business half a decade ago.
When we finally put into words what makes us stand out, it gave us a better idea of what we’re working toward every day. And then everything changed. Over the last year, we learned a lot about adapting our unique approach to communicate with our team and meet our clients’ changing needs—without meeting face to face.
Team
Parkway is, first and foremost, a team of people who are creative in wildly different ways. We’ve always worked best without account managers. Instead, you’ll get timeline updates from a project manager, design updates from a designer, and technical updates from a developer. This allows us to get better work done faster. It also helped us transition to remote work. When we don’t see each other very often, every note needs to be a Slack message, an email or a phone call. While that’s not a huge deal, it can slow down the process and makes it easier to lose track of an update.
Partners
Collaboration is a big part of Parkway’s approach to marketing. We want our clients to feel like we’re an extension of their internal teams. Sharing kickoff meetings, strategy sessions and website launches with clients is one of the best parts of the job.
The milestones we share with our clients are a little different right now, as we continue to work from the safety of our dining rooms, basements and guest bedrooms. In 2020, we became video chatting experts, with Slack for internal calls, and client conversations over Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom. We also rely on Google Drive, monday.com, and calls forwarded from the office to stay connected.
Approach
One of the best parts of being a small team is the ability to completely customize the work we do to fit our clients’ needs. Our goal is to create digital strategies that inspire meaningful connections between our clients and their customers. When everything we do is already customized, pivoting to meet quickly changing needs is within easy reach.
This year, we helped clients create virtual experiences, educate customers about COVID-19, and transition to takeout meals. Parkway has always approached projects with the understanding that no two businesses are alike. That’s truer than ever as every company is impacted differently by safety measures and changing consumer behavior.
Evolution
Digital marketing is constantly changing. There will always be new plugins, algorithm updates and shifting best practices. In a time when digital presence is more important than ever, it’s essential for us to stay up to date and keep our clients informed as well. Not only are we making updates and changes for the coming days, weeks and months of the pandemic, we’re also focusing on big changes and long-term goals.