One of the issues I deal with on a daily basis these days is having to defend myself as a creative company. When I set out to create Hotcakes New Media, I made a conscious choice not to label myself as a marketing firm, or an ad agency. I don’t operate a production house, a design studio, or a web firm. I am a creative company, and I am quite clear in the services I provide. Yet somehow, I find myself unable to use “creative” as a label for my business, and I am constantly pigeon-holed into a different category. That makes advertising my services next to impossible.

For example, I’ve been attempting to add Hotcakes New Media to some link directories, to help spread the word about our website. I fill in the URL, and a little bio about what we do, and then I am presented with a drop-down menu to categorize my “type” of business; Marketing? SEO? Design? Video? Which category do I choose? Each of those choices brings with it a certain set of expectations, which could potentially not be met if one was expecting something we are not. The value my company brings is in the creative blend of all these services. Although we do design, we are more than a design company, because we offer creative services that extend beyond just design. Same goes for video. And SEO. And any other pre-defined category I might be forced to label myself with.

Just a few days ago, after providing a quote to a potential client about some creative website improvements I was recommending, the client sent me a predefined “list” of SEO tactics and services SEO companies provide, asking me if my quote included all those services. I had to remind the client that we are a creative company, and although we do take care of 90% of what was on that list, our value was in providing that along with the proposed design services; Our work is about the creative blend of these two elements. It’s all fine and dandy to “follow all the rules” and write perfectly semantic html markup, but if the site looks horrendous in the process, you aren’t retaining the people who visit the site. Likewise, if your site looks fantastic, but has no SEO elements, no one will ever see it. The creative part is finding the right balance between the two.

So I sit here, wondering if there’s a place for creative companies in the current marketplace, and wondering why there are no categories that accurately describe what we do. Surely there must be other creative companies out there. Do other companies face the same problems?

Are you faced with the same problem? Let us know in the comments or on twitter @hotcakesottawa .

Andy Morris – Creative Director
Hotcakes New Media