Connected Marketing Systems
I build websites, search presence, CRM, and paid advertising into one system that captures leads and closes jobs. Five services, one person accountable for the whole chain.
Book a Strategy CallWebsites
Design, rebuilds, hosting, ongoing management, and custom web apps. The site that has to do the selling when you are on a job.
SEO, GEO, and AEO
Getting found on Google, on the local map, and inside the AI answers your customers now ask instead of typing.
CRM & Automation
GoHighLevel built around how you work. Speed to lead, missed-call text back, review generation, pipelines, booking, and payments.
Digital Advertising
Google Search, Local Services Ads, and Meta, managed against booked jobs instead of clicks.
Brand & Copy
Logos, brand identity, and rebrands, plus the words. Site copy, blogs, and proposals written to sound like you.
Five services. One chain.
I am Samuel McKinney. I run McKinney Creative Ventures out of Woodbury, and I work with service businesses across the Twin Cities East Metro, the St. Croix Valley, and western Wisconsin. There are five things I do. They are not a menu of unrelated products. They are five links in one chain that runs from a stranger searching for what you sell all the way to money in your account. Getting found. Converting. Following up. Getting paid. Miss one link and the others leak. Great ads waste money on a weak site. A beautiful site is invisible without search. Leads die without follow up. Most owners I meet are not missing all four. They are missing one, and it is quietly capping everything else. The advantage of hiring one person is that nobody gets to blame the other guy. I own the whole chain, and you talk to me every time.
Show up before anyone knows your name
Somebody two miles from your shop needs what you sell today. They type it into Google, or they ask an AI assistant and never look at a results page at all. If you are not in that answer, none of the rest of this matters. This is the slowest link to move and the one with the longest tail, which is why I start it early instead of saving it for later.
SEO, GEO, and AEOBuy the top of the page while search catches up
Google Search and Local Services Ads put you in front of people who are ready right now. Ads are the fastest link to switch on and the easiest one to burn money with. I manage them against booked jobs, not clicks, and I do not turn up the budget until the page those clicks land on is ready to catch them.
Digital AdvertisingThe site sells while you are on a job
Every ranking and every ad dollar lands here. A visitor decides in a few seconds whether you look like the person to call. That means fast pages, real photos of real work, one obvious next step, a phone number that actually dials on a phone, and a form that goes somewhere a human sees. I build on Astro and Cloudflare Pages so the site loads fast and stays up.
WebsitesA lead nobody answers is not a lead
The form gets filled out at 8:40pm while you are under a sink. What happens in the next five minutes decides whether you get that job or your competitor does. GoHighLevel built around how you actually work: speed to lead texts, missed call text back, pipelines you can read at a glance, booking, invoicing, and review requests that fire after the job instead of never.
CRM & AutomationIt has to sound like you at every step
The ad, the page, the follow up text, and the proposal are all the same conversation. When they sound like four different companies, trust leaks at every handoff. Logos, identity, and rebrands, plus the words underneath them. Written to sound like you talking, not like a marketing department.
Brand & CopyNot sure which one you need? Find yourself here.
“Traffic is fine. The phone is quiet.”
At that point the problem is almost never how many people arrive. It is the page they arrive on. Slow load, buried phone number, a form nobody monitors, or copy that could belong to any competitor in your county. Fix the thing everything else points at before you spend another dollar pointing at it.
Websites“You searched your own service plus your own city and did not see yourself. Or you asked an AI who to call and it named a competitor.”
That is a visibility problem, and it is the one that compounds. Google, the local map pack, and the AI answers people now ask instead of typing all pull from the same foundation. It takes months to move and it keeps paying after you stop pushing.
SEO, GEO, and AEO“Leads come in and go cold. You call back the next morning and the job is already booked with someone else.”
You do not have a lead problem. You have a response time problem, and it is the cheapest one on this list to fix. Automated speed to lead, missed call text back, and a pipeline that will not let a name sit untouched for three days.
CRM & Automation“You need jobs on the calendar this month, not next quarter.”
Search is a long game. Paid is the short one. Google Search and Local Services Ads can start producing calls in days. I will still want the site and the follow up handled first, because ads make every existing leak more expensive.
Digital Advertising“Your logo is a decade old, the truck says one thing, the site says another, and you cannot explain what makes you different in one sentence.”
That is not a design preference issue. It is costing you jobs at the moment of decision. Identity, positioning, and the actual words, so the ad, the page, and the follow up all sound like the same company.
Brand & Copy“Honestly, all five are a mess and nobody owns any of it.”
Then do not start by picking a service. Book the call. I will look at what you have, tell you which link is leaking worst, and give you an order of operations. Sometimes the answer is that you need one thing fixed and nothing else for six months.
Start with a strategy callQuestions I Get Before We Start
Can I hire you for just one of these, or is it all or nothing?
What happens first?
What order do you usually build things in?
Who actually does the work?
I already have a website and a CRM. Do you make me start over?
Do you only work with home service businesses?
Do you work outside the East Metro?
Worth Reading Before You Hire Anyone
Including the one about why most local marketing agencies fail their clients.
The 5 Marketing Systems Every Local Service Business Needs Before Scaling
This is the long version of the chain on this page. If you want to see how the five links fit together before you talk to anyone, start here.
Read the article
Why Most Local Marketing Agencies Fail Their Clients (And How to Pick One That Will Not)
Read this before you hire me or anyone else. It is the list of questions I would ask if I were sitting in your chair.
Read the article
Fractional CMO vs In House Marketing: Which Actually Makes Sense for Small Businesses
If you are deciding between hiring a marketing person, hiring an agency, or keeping it all on your own plate, this walks through the real tradeoffs.
Read the article
The State of Local Marketing in the Twin Cities and Western Wisconsin
What is actually happening in this market right now, not national statistics that do not describe Woodbury or Hudson.
Read the articleProudly Serving Local Businesses In
Ready to Build a System That Works?
Book a 30-minute strategy call. I will look at what you have now, tell you which link is leaking worst, and give you an honest order of operations.
Book a Strategy CallOr call/text +1 651-661-3551. Based in Woodbury, MN.