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If you’ve been in the market for a website design or digital marketing services you’ve sure to have run across a company called American Eagle. If you’re not familiar, American Eagle is a professional web development company located in Des Plaines, Illinois. They are a family owned and privately held company, however they are a huge monster of an agency in the web design and development space. American Eagle does lots of advertising on radio, television and in various places on the internet. On their website they mention that they have over 300+ employees and have been in business since 1995. 

Since Severity Design and American Eagle are both in the same industry, I get asked all the time about the difference between what Severity Design offers versus what a company like American Eagle might be able to do for a small business. While both companies provide beautiful, web design services and marketing solutions, here are a few things that set what Severity Design does apart:

Service: Severity Design is customer service focused, bigger companies like American Eagle tend to let things fall through the cracks. 
Don’t take our word for it, there is a whole website dedicated to poor reviews of American Eagle’s service here. Our article isn’t meant to bash the company by any means. There are plenty of positive reviews to choose from as well. I’ve even had good friends that have worked for American Eagle and they enjoy it as a place to work and feel good about the services they provide. That being said, Severity Design is a small business so we understand the challenges and needs small businesses have directly. It’s hard to claim you support small businesses, but run yourself like a corporation. 

Price: Severity Design provides affordable web design and marketing services, larger companies like American Eagle could potentially be more expensive. 
Because Severity Design is a small design studio, we pass on the savings to our clients. We don’t have 300+ employees to pay, nor do we have 80,000 square feet to maintain. We keep things streamlined and simple in order to offer the most cost effective web design solutions to our clients. Not every business needs a fully custom e-commerce solution. We had a client come to us that was a new consulting business. They needed a simple 4 page website to advertise their services online. There were no extraneous features on the scope. They came to us and showed us the American Eagle proposal. It was a 10k website padded with lots of things the client didn’t need nor wanted. Thankfully we were able to get them signed up for our basic starter package with a website that suited their needs without breaking their budget. 

Local Focus: Severity Design is locally based and focuses on personal interaction, national companies like American Eagle typically don’t do face to face interaction.
One of the things that we love doing is meeting our clients face to face. We like to do business with a hand shake so you can feel comfortable working with us. Could we utilize Skype, webinars and video conferencing tools to expand our reach? Sure, but we would loose the value of a face to face interaction. When you are choosing to spend a few thousand dollars on marketing for your business, you want to know you’re in good hands and not just another number speaking to a random person. With Severity Design you’ll get a dedicated account manager you can work with directly on your account. They will not just speak to you by phone, but you can meet with them face to face to address your needs. Larger companies like American Eagle have a huge customer service and sales department. They can only go so far to give you attention.

Severity Design is a small digital marketing studio with enough partnerships to be able to take on projects large or small. We can handle e-commerce, membership websites, dynamic mobile sites and standard basic web pages. Essentially, we can do anything that American Eagle does for their customers for a fraction of the cost. While you are doing your research, make sure you shop around for the best option that fits your needs and also your budget. 

If you, or your business has more questions about how social media marketing might fit within your business marketing strategy, please reach out to us! We love helping small businesses grow their exposure and their bottom lines.