It’s been quite a year at Northnet Media! Since we strongly believe in celebrating as a team, we’ve taken time to reflect on the achievements, learnings, and team development that has taken place. As we wrap up another successful year, we can’t help but feel a sense of pride in the remarkable journey we’ve embarked on together. From welcoming new talent to our growing family, to pushing the boundaries of innovation, and making our mark in the digital landscape, it’s been a year filled with milestones and moments worth cherishing. Join us in this year-end review as we share the highlights and experiences that have shaped Northnet Media’s story in 2023.
Team Transformation
Our team evolved in more than one way this past year!
Ashley – who joined us in 2022 in a part-time role as the Office Administrator and Content Author/Editor – transitioned into a new full-time role. Having taken the reigns on our SEO services early on, she extended her hours starting in February so that she could cover the demand for SEO along with our new Digital Marketing services. It turned into a situation where we needed her to devote her time to this area instead of Office Administration tasks. So this past summer, she was officially given the title of Digital Marketing Specialist.
Nick – who was our full-time UI/UX Designer – peeled back his hours in the Spring upon being offered sponsorships for his growing YouTube channel. It was sad to see him go at the beginning of the summer, but we wish him all the best as his hands are now full with creating his YouTube content.
So then enter Brandon – the son of CEO Fraser, and a recent Computer Programming graduate. This started as a “testing and learning” opportunity considering the fact of bringing a family member on board. But he enlisted Brandon’s help as he had just moved back from college as Nick left – and he filled the gap that was Nick’s role. Brandon is a fast learner who quickly became a great asset to the team; primarily doing web design while learning the ropes of SEO and graphic design. We cannot wait to see what his future holds here.
Client Chronicles
We’ve developed a lot of websites this year – whether they were for new businesses or existing ones that were ready for a digital transformation. But we didn’t stop there! We’ve developed a lot of added features and functions for existing client sites this year as well.
But our noteworthy project of 2023 was one that we started in the Fall of 2022. So much went into the website – that required “all hands on deck” when it came to our team – that we were busy with it well into 2023…
That project was the City of Brockville’s new website!
Not only was this the largest website we’ve ever created… but with all the extra special features involved, it was a ‘first’ for us in terms of the creation of certain custom plugins. If you haven’t needed to check out this website, you should have a look so you can see what we’re capable of.
Service Standouts
Just as we were gearing up for the growing interest in SEO Services at the beginning of 2023, we were testing the waters with our Digital Marketing services. We set a simple goal to enroll a handful of clients for any Digital Marketing package this year.
The results were more progressive than we expected. We now have 9 clients on these plans, with 4 of these clients who have been on a plan non-stop for 6+ months.
Considering that we’ve long since been known as a Web Design company, and yet Digital Marketing services accounted for nearly 50% of our billing this past year, it’s a noteworthy milestone!
We’re preparing to launch more progressive long-term Digital Marketing projects for 3 new clients starting at the beginning of 2024. We cannot wait to see how our Marketing team will need to expand over the next year, and we look forward to discussing the launch of more client projects.
Growing Together
We are especially proud of the opportunities we take for team development, and it’s something that we don’t talk about much. Being a completely remote company (all of us work from home), we have found that we need to make the time to strengthen the bond that is the “Northnet Family”.
When we aren’t swimming in urgent deadlines, our team does Zoom coffee breaks where, on occasion, we’ve played Jackbox games. But we’ve taken this to another level: having started a form of “book club” this year. We’re currently focused on personal & team development books; we meet up in person for a happy hour to discuss the many takeaways and how we can further develop our roles and the team.
Every September, we spend an entire afternoon together in person to reflect on the past year and have some fun. This year, we began this Town Hall meeting with an hour of yoga and ended the day enjoying drinks and pub food at 1000 Islands Brewery.
It’s times like these where we get to simply be ourselves, and it shapes our cohesiveness. We’re especially proud that these opportunities bring us closer together as this bleeds over into how we operate as a team.
Digital Insights
2023 has been an innovative year in the tech world. The introduction of the many AI-generative programs and plugins has been a focal point of many conversations, as well as food for thought.
We feel it’s our duty to stay up-to-date, in addition to improving our processes, by adopting AI-based tools in our day-to-day.
But we also know we have to be realistic about this approach. We quickly learned that it takes a lot of work and fine-tuning to get these AI tools working the way we need them to.
That is one reason why we’re working on an internal project to release a Client Portal in early 2024 – which will include guides on how to set up AI tools to work for your purposes.
Looking Ahead
We aim to make 2024 even bigger and better than 2023! Every member of our team strongly believes in excelling in their area of expertise but then asking “How can I take this one step further?”.
We’re full of ideas that we want to bring to the table. Being the B2B company that we are, these details only come to the forefront when we discuss strategy during the initial consultation calls with clients.
Whatever your initiatives are, we are ready to take them on and present solutions that can help you meet your business goals. Even as we shift from being a “Web Design company” to an “All-in-One Digital Agency”, one fact remains…
And that fact is that we’re all about supporting Canadian Businesses!
Don’t be afraid to reach out to us with any questions you have. Even if you’re not local enough to meet in person, we are more than happy to conduct our meetings on Zoom.