Get the M2M ICP Discovery Worksheet
Know who your website should speak to and what to say.
The best client relationships don't start with a pitch. They start with an honest answer to a single question: are we actually the right team for this business, at this stage, with this goal?
Most agencies won't tell you when they're the wrong fit. We will. This page exists so you can self-qualify in about two minutes, save yourself a sales call that wasn't going to go anywhere, and — if we are a fit — walk into our first conversation with real alignment already in place.
Here's who CL Creative is built to serve, and who we're honestly not the right choice for.
Who CL Creative is built for?
We do our best work with growth-stage businesses that have outgrown their original website and know it's starting to cost them. If most of the following describes you, we're probably a strong fit.
You're between $500K and $10M in annual revenue
This is the range where a website stops being a brochure and starts being a revenue engine.
Below $500K, most businesses are better served by a template, a beginning freelancer, or a Squarespace build they can manage in-house.
Above $10M, you typically need a larger agency with dedicated strategy, brand, and engineering pods, and we'll tell you so.
You have a small team (2 to 25 people) without an in-house design or marketing department
Our clients usually have a founder or marketing lead wearing multiple hats, not a full creative team. That's exactly who benefits most from a strategy-first partner who can handle messaging, design, and Webflow development under one roof without a dozen handoffs.
Your current site is 2+ years old or was built before you knew your ICP
Most of the sites we rebuild were launched when the business was trying to appeal to everyone. Now you know who you actually serve, what they care about, and what you're actually selling — and your site hasn't caught up. That gap is where we do our best work.
You can name a specific business problem your website should be solving
"We need a new site" isn't a problem. "We're generating traffic, but our demo requests dropped 40% after our last redesign" is.
"Our sales team keeps getting unqualified leads because the site doesn't filter" is.
If you can point to a specific conversion, positioning, or messaging problem, we have something real to solve.
You want a partner, not a vendor
Our M2M Framework is collaborative by design. We ask a lot of questions about your market, your customers, and your offer before we write a line of copy or design a single section.
If you're looking for someone to take a Figma file and just build it, we could be a good choice for that, but you might be leaving the M2M strategy we bring to the table. But don’t count us out. We have strong development chops and can handle many Webflow Builds.
Even then, we work best with other branding and design agencies who have put in the effort and asked similar questions to what we would ask our clients if we are starting from ground zero with them.
You're building on Webflow, or you're open to moving to it
Webflow is our platform of choice because it gives growth-stage businesses the design flexibility of a custom build with the day-to-day ease of a CMS your team can actually update.
If you're committed to WordPress, Shopify, or a custom React stack, we can point you to teams who specialize there.
Who we're not the right fit for
Being honest about this matters more than being inclusive. Here's when you should look elsewhere.
You need a site launched in under three weeks
Our typical Web Design engagement runs 6 to 10 weeks because strategy and messaging come first. If you have a hard launch deadline inside three weeks, a template customization or a different agency with a rapid-build process will serve you better.
You want the cheapest option
Our Web Design projects start at $5,000 and scale based on scope. If budget is the primary filter, you'll find builders on Fiverr or Upwork for a fraction of that. We're not trying to compete on price, and we won't pretend we can.
You're pre-revenue or still validating your first offer
If you haven't yet proven that people will pay you for what you do, a strategy-led website isn't the leverage point. Go get 10 paying customers first, learn from them, then come back. We'll still be here.
You already know exactly what you want and just need hands on a keyboard
If you have a finalized Figma file, locked-in copy, and a detailed spec, you don't need our strategy layer. You need a Webflow developer, and that's a different engagement shape.
We do specialize in build-only work, but again, we aren’t the cheapest option. So if you are looking for a cheap option to turn your Figma into a working website, we probably aren’t the right fit. If you are looking for someone who knows development and Webflow specifically, and you have the budget to pay for the experience, we might be a good fit for your project.
You're an enterprise with procurement, legal review, and multi-stakeholder sign-off at every stage
We're a boutique studio. Our roster model intentionally caps us at 3 to 5 active clients per month, so every project gets senior attention. That structure doesn't mesh well with enterprise procurement cycles, and you'll be happier with an agency sized for that process.
You need ongoing paid media, brand identity from scratch, or full-funnel marketing
We do web design, Webflow development, and SEO/AEO. We don't run ads, design logos from scratch, or manage social media. If you need those, you need a different partner — or a mix of specialists.
We do have people we partner with in these areas that we can introduce you to and bring in to work on the project. But that scope is different and will most likely cost more. Working with experts always does. But again, you get what you pay for. If this is you, we are happy to make those introductions. Just let us know.
Why we're this selective
We take on 3 to 5 new clients per month on purpose. That cap means every project gets hands-on work from Casey, not a junior handoff, and every strategy call is with the person actually building your site. The tradeoff is that we can't be the right fit for everyone, and trying to be would defeat the point.
How to tell which camp you're in
If you read the "built for" section and nodded through most of it, the next step is a 30-minute fit call. We'll ask about your business, your current site, and the problem you're trying to solve — and we'll tell you honestly whether we're the right team, or whether someone else would serve you better.
If you read the "not the right fit" section and recognized yourself, we appreciate you reading this far, and we're glad we could save you a call that wasn't going to go anywhere. When the situation changes, we'll be here.
Think we might be a fit? Book a 30-minute fit call →
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Questions You Might Be Asking
We ask about your business, your current site, and the specific problem you're trying to solve. The goal is alignment, not a sales pitch. By the end of the call, either we both agree we're a strong fit and start talking scope, or we point you to a team better suited to your situation.
Web Design projects start at $5,000 and scale based on scope — page count, whether copy is part of the build, CMS architecture, and any integrations. We'll give you an exact quote after the fit call, once we understand the shape of the project.
Most Web Design engagements run 6 to 10 weeks from kickoff to launch. That timeline includes strategy, messaging, design, development, and QA. If you have a hard deadline inside three weeks, we'll flag that on the fit call and recommend a different route.
Yes — we offer build-only Webflow Development as a separate engagement. Just note that we aren't the cheapest option for that work. If you want a developer who knows Webflow deeply and has the design and strategy context to flag issues before they ship, we're a strong fit. If price is the deciding factor, a freelancer will serve you better.
Often. We partner regularly with brand studios, paid media teams, and content specialists. If you already have a branding agency or need ads running alongside the site, we'll collaborate with them directly — and if there's a gap, we can introduce trusted people we've worked with before.
