ChatGPT answers, unedited

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• VisualFizz - 875 N Michigan Ave 31st floor, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Straight North - 200 N Green St Fl 3, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Team 201 - 500 W Madison St #1000, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Arise GTM - 155 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• SEO Design Chicago | Digital Marketing & Web Design Agency - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Operation Technology - 211 W Wacker Dr 3rd Floor, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• RSXigital | B2B Lead Generation & Performance Marketing Agency in Chicago, USA - 71 S Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• iCrossing - 312 N Carpenter St, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• OneIMS - 111 E Upper Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d put a short list together around agencies that can do more than “make the website prettier”—you want positioning + UX/CRO + development + SEO/demand generation + ongoing optimization.

Chicago shortlist

• Solid Digital — Particularly relevant if you're B2B SaaS/tech. They specialize in B2B website redesigns, UX, development and ongoing digital growth, and explicitly work with B2B SaaS and healthcare technology companies. Their published process runs from strategy/personas through design, development and post-launch optimization. Solid Digital

Best fit: A sophisticated B2B scaleup where the website is a core sales/marketing asset.

• Marcel Digital — Strong option if you want the redesign tightly connected to SEO, paid acquisition, analytics and CRO. Their Chicago team combines web development, UX/CRO, SEO, paid media and measurement, rather than treating the redesign as a standalone project.

Best fit: A growth team that cares heavily about measurable pipeline/conversion impact.

• VisualFizz — Full-service B2B agency covering strategy, branding, web and performance marketing, with explicit experience in technology/SaaS. VisualFizz

Best fit: You need positioning/brand + website + demand generation under one roof.

• Straight North — Located right in Fulton Market (200 N Green St) and oriented toward lead generation, SEO, paid acquisition, website development and conversion-focused creative.

Best fit: A performance-oriented redesign where qualified leads and acquisition efficiency are the primary KPIs.

• The Office of Experience, LLC — More experience/transformation-oriented. Their Chicago work includes substantial B2B digital and ecommerce redesigns, UX research, journey mapping and digital-platform modernization. The Office of Experience

Best fit: A larger, more complex redesign involving product experience, customer journeys or digital transformation.

• Team 201 — Specifically positioned around high-growth B2B technology companies, with an integrated marketing approach.

Best fit: You want an agency to function more like an extension of your in-house growth team than a traditional web shop.

How I'd structure the RFP

Rather than asking agencies simply for a “website redesign,” I'd ask each one to propose against the same outcomes:

1. Positioning & messaging: Can they turn your differentiated product into a clearer story for your ICP?
2. Conversion: How will they improve demo/signup/contact conversion, not just aesthetics?
3. Information architecture: Can they rethink the site around buying journeys rather than your org chart?
4. Growth infrastructure: SEO, analytics, attribution, experimentation and landing-page architecture.
5. Technical execution: CMS, integrations, performance, accessibility and maintainability.
6. Post-launch: What happens after launch—CRO, testing, content, SEO and iteration?
7. Proof: Ask for 2–3 comparable B2B tech/scaleup redesigns and the actual business metrics that changed.

For your particular description, I'd start conversations with Solid Digital, Marcel Digital, VisualFizz and Straight North, then add Office of Experience if the project is particularly complex. That's a shortlist based on documented service fit—not a ranking of the agencies.

If you tell me your approximate budget ($50k / $100k / $250k+) and whether you're B2B SaaS, fintech, AI, etc., I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their likely fit, capabilities, location, case studies, and engagement model.

• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• VisualFizz - 875 N Michigan Ave 31st floor, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Mabbly - 640 N La Salle Dr #540, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• SWIDIA - Growth Marketing Agency - 2089 W Wabansia Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• iCrossing - 312 N Carpenter St, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Americaneagle.com, Inc. - 200 W Jackson Blvd Fl 22, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• One North, A TEKsystems Company - 227 W Monroe St #3500, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

For a Chicago tech scaleup looking for a growth-focused redesign—not just a prettier website—I’d put these agencies on the shortlist:

• Clique Studios — Strong fit if you want strategy + UX + engineering + ongoing growth under one roof. They explicitly position themselves around digital transformation, redesigns, UX/UI, engineering, SEO/AEO, analytics, and ongoing optimization. Orbit Media Studios
• Solid Digital — Particularly relevant for a B2B/tech marketing site: website strategy, UX/UI, development, CMS work, and digital marketing tied to business outcomes.
• Marcel Digital — Worth considering if performance marketing, SEO, analytics, and conversion optimization need to be tightly integrated with the redesign.
• VisualFizz — A more brand/creative + B2B growth oriented option, with experience in technology/SaaS and integrated marketing.
• Digital Authority Partners — Interesting if your redesign needs to connect to content, SEO/AI-search visibility, and broader digital growth.
• Mabbly — More of a GTM partner than a pure web agency: positioning, brand, web/UX, paid/organic growth, and pipeline-oriented strategy. Their current positioning is particularly aimed at organizations trying to connect marketing and sales around measurable growth. Mabbly

One especially relevant benchmark

Orbit Media Studios is another agency I'd put into the RFP. They're unusually focused on website redesign + SEO/CRO + ongoing optimization, rather than trying to be a general-purpose creative agency. They report 1,000+ website projects and explicitly combine research, UX, content, development, SEO and conversion optimization. Orbit Media Studios Orbit Media Studios

Their published case studies include a 42.6% conversion increase, 26% increase in qualified leads, and 18% organic-traffic increase on different projects. Those are agency-reported case-study results, so I'd ask for the underlying baseline, attribution methodology, and timeframe during an RFP. Orbit Media Studios

For your particular brief, I'd start conversations with Clique, Solid Digital, Marcel Digital, and Orbit, then use Mabbly or VisualFizz if brand/GTM work is a larger component.

Since you're in Fulton Market, there's also a practical geographic advantage: several of these are downtown/nearby, including Marcel Digital and Clique. But I wouldn't make office proximity a major selection criterion for this type of engagement.

If you tell me your rough budget ($50–100k, $100–250k, $250k+) and whether you're B2B SaaS, consumer, fintech, etc., I can narrow this to 3 agencies and give you an RFP scorecard tailored to a scaleup redesign.

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market looking for a full-service digital agency focused on growth-driven redesigns, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than make a pretty site: strategy, UX, conversion optimization, messaging, analytics, SEO/growth, and ongoing iteration.

My shortlist:

1. Rightpoint — best for enterprise-scale product + experience redesigns

Best fit if: you have a complex product, multiple stakeholders, or need a partner that can connect brand, UX, technology, and customer journeys.

Why consider them:

• Strong digital experience and transformation background.
• Better suited to a funded scaleup than a small marketing shop.
• Can handle large redesign programs, research, UX, and implementation.

Watch-out:

• Likely higher-budget engagement; you’ll want to confirm they’ll give senior attention.

2. Blacksmith — best growth/performance blend

Best fit if: the redesign needs to drive pipeline, demos, leads, or acquisition—not just improve aesthetics.

They position around:

• UX improvements tied to conversion
• SEO/PPC integration
• measurable growth outcomes Blacksmith

This is probably the closest match to “growth-focused redesign” for a SaaS or B2B tech company.

3. ALL FOR™ Agency — best if you want a local Fulton Market creative partner

Best fit if: brand perception and website experience are the main problems.

They’re actually based in Fulton Market/West Loop and offer:

• brand strategy
• website redesign
• UI/UX
• digital design systems ALL FOR™ ALL FOR™

Watch-out:

• I’d validate depth in growth experimentation (CRO, analytics, paid acquisition) before making them your sole growth partner.

4. Swarm Digital Marketing — best technical web rebuild partner

Best fit if: your current site is slow, hard to maintain, or limiting conversion.

They emphasize custom websites/web apps, engineering, performance, and ongoing support. Swarm Digital Marketing

5. Single Grain — best if acquisition is the priority

Best fit if: the redesign is part of a broader SEO/content/growth engine.

They focus on data-driven digital strategies and growth marketing. Single Grain

My recommendation for a Fulton Market tech scaleup

I’d run a pitch with:

1. Blacksmith — growth + redesign alignment
2. Rightpoint — if you’re enterprise-ish or have a complex product
3. ALL FOR™ — if brand/design differentiation is the biggest gap

In the RFP, I’d ask every agency to show:

• 3 SaaS/technology redesigns
• before/after conversion metrics (not just awards)
• their CRO experimentation process
• how they handle analytics instrumentation
• who will actually work on the account
• a 90-day post-launch growth plan

A key filter: avoid agencies that define success as “new site launched.” For a scaleup, the engagement should be “new acquisition and conversion engine launched.”

They focus on data-driven digital strategies and growth marketing.

My recommendation for a Fulton Market tech scaleup

I’d run a pitch with:

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Marcel Digital - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1285, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• VisualFizz - 875 N Michigan Ave 31st floor, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Straight North - 200 N Green St Fl 3, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• 97 Switch - 1 E Wacker Dr #2550, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Americaneagle.com, Inc. - 200 W Jackson Blvd Fl 22, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States

For a Fulton Market tech scaleup, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than a visual refresh—strategy, UX, development, analytics/CRO, SEO, and ongoing growth.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit

• Particularly strong for B2B SaaS/technology and growth-oriented website redesigns.
• They explicitly combine brand/UX, development, SEO, and ongoing “Digital Growth” programs.
• Their Chicago team has worked with B2B SaaS and healthcare-tech companies, with published results including a 638% blog-traffic increase and 162% increase in target-account engagement. Solid Digital
• My pick if the website is a major acquisition/conversion channel.
• Marcel Digital — best for performance + technical depth

• Very compelling if you want the redesign tightly connected to SEO, paid acquisition, CRO, analytics, and revenue measurement.
• Their published work includes B2B SaaS lead growth, a 49% increase in new-business inquiries from web development, and substantial paid-search conversion gains. Marcel Digital
• Their Chicago office is actually on Wacker, so geographically convenient from Fulton Market.
• Design In Chicago — best if you want a nearby full-service creative partner

• Located right in West Loop/Fulton Market at 159 N Sangamon.
• Combines brand strategy, design, development, marketing, content, and even custom application/platform work.
• I'd consider them if the redesign also involves brand evolution and content/creative production, not just demand-gen optimization.
• VisualFizz — strong B2B growth alternative

• Positions itself specifically around B2B growth, integrating web, digital marketing, branding, SEO and performance programs. VisualFizz
• Worth putting into the RFP if your buyers are technical or enterprise and positioning/messaging is a major issue.
• The Office of Experience, LLC — premium/enterprise option

• More of a digital-experience transformation partner than a conventional web agency.
• Stronger choice if you're contemplating a substantial redesign involving customer journeys, complex B2B experiences, ecommerce, platforms, or product-like digital experiences. Their recent work includes B2B ecommerce redesigns and lead-generation programs. The Office of Experience

Who I'd interview first

I'd make the initial RFP three agencies:

Solid Digital → Marcel Digital → Design In Chicago

That gives you three meaningfully different approaches:

The key thing I'd test in the pitches is whether they can prove that their redesign methodology improves pipeline—not just aesthetics. Ask each agency to show a before/after case where they changed information architecture, messaging, UX and conversion paths, then measured impact on qualified pipeline, demo conversion, CAC or revenue.

If you want, I can also narrow this to 3 agencies that are specifically experienced with venture-backed SaaS/tech scaleups, including likely project budget ranges and who I'd contact first.

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• VisualFizz - 875 N Michigan Ave 31st floor, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Straight North - 200 N Green St Fl 3, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• SEO Design Chicago | Digital Marketing & Web Design Agency - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• SWIDIA - Growth Marketing Agency - 2089 W Wabansia Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d narrow the field pretty aggressively. You don’t just need a web-design shop—you want a partner that can connect positioning → UX → redesign → development → SEO/CRO → ongoing growth.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit

• Particularly strong for B2B/tech companies and growth-oriented website redesigns.
• Their offering spans strategy, UX/UI, WordPress/web development, SEO, digital marketing, optimization, and post-launch support. Solid Digital
• Clutch currently lists them among Chicago's stronger digital agencies, with clients praising strategic thinking, project management and technical execution. Clutch
• My take: I'd put them first on the RFP.
• Clique Studios — best for a sophisticated digital transformation

• More than a conventional marketing agency: strategy, UX/design, engineering, digital marketing and ongoing optimization.
• Especially compelling if your redesign involves complex product storytelling, CMS architecture, integrations, accessibility/performance, or a substantial rebuild.
• Their Chicago operation is right downtown, and their positioning is explicitly around transformation rather than simply making a site prettier.
• My take: strongest alternative to Solid if the technical/product side is substantial.
• Marcel Digital — best for B2B growth + performance

• Chicago-based and focused heavily on B2B acquisition, SEO, analytics, technical SEO, site migrations and digital performance.
• Particularly attractive if your redesign needs to preserve/improve organic acquisition and connect tightly to pipeline measurement.
• My take: I'd shortlist them if your CMO cares more about pipeline than awards/design polish.
• VisualFizz — best marketing/brand-growth blend

• B2B-focused, with branding, web and performance marketing under one roof.
• They specifically target growth-stage companies and have experience in technology/SaaS categories.
• My take: worth talking to if the redesign is partly a repositioning/rebrand rather than purely a UX project.
• Design In Chicago — best Fulton Market-local option

• Literally based on N. Sangamon in the West Loop/Fulton Market area.
• Combines brand strategy, design, development, marketing and content production, so there's less vendor fragmentation.
• My take: interesting if you value a smaller, highly collaborative Chicago team.

One wildcard

Digital Authority Partners is worth adding if content/SEO/AI-search visibility is central to your growth strategy. They're based in River North and combine digital marketing with digital-product capabilities.

If it were my RFP

I'd invite Solid Digital, Clique Studios, Marcel Digital, and VisualFizz to pitch.

I'd make them all respond to the same brief and score them on:

• Growth strategy: Can they show how the redesign will increase qualified pipeline, not merely improve aesthetics?
• Tech/SaaS experience: Ask for 2–3 comparable scaleup examples.
• Conversion expertise: Research, IA, messaging, CRO and experimentation—not just UI.
• SEO migration: How they'll protect existing authority/traffic during the rebuild.
• Measurement: GA4/CRM attribution, conversion architecture and post-launch experimentation.
• Post-launch model: You want an optimization partner, not an agency that disappears after launch.
• Actual team: Insist on meeting the strategist, UX lead, technical lead and growth person who would actually work on your account.

My first call would be Solid Digital. Their combination of B2B web work, redesign, development and ongoing digital growth is unusually close to the brief you're describing. Solid Digital

If you tell me your approximate redesign budget ($50–100k, $100–250k, $250k+) and whether you're B2B SaaS, marketplace, fintech, etc., I can narrow this to the 3 agencies I'd actually invite to pitch and give you a side-by-side comparison.

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• VisualFizz - 875 N Michigan Ave 31st floor, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Marcel Digital - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1285, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Straight North - 200 N Green St Fl 3, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Arise GTM - 155 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• SEO Design Chicago | Digital Marketing & Web Design Agency - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than make the site prettier—ideally positioning + UX/CRO + development + SEO/demand generation + ongoing optimization.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit

• Particularly strong match for B2B SaaS/technology.
• Their model explicitly combines B2B website redesign, UX, development, SEO and ongoing “Digital Growth” programs.
• They cite work with companies including Hireology, 6sense, Fortinet and Vevo, and report measurable outcomes from redesigns. Solid Digital
• Why I'd call them first: they seem closest to “growth-focused redesign” rather than a traditional branding agency.
• VisualFizz — best for B2B positioning + full-funnel growth

• Chicago-based and explicitly focused on B2B growth, including technology/SaaS.
• Combines strategy, branding, web, lead generation, paid media and broader marketing execution. Visual Fizz
• Why I'd consider them: particularly attractive if the redesign is also meant to sharpen your positioning and GTM story.
• Marcel Digital — best for performance/measurement-heavy teams

• Strong blend of web development, SEO, paid media, CRO and analytics.
• Their B2B orientation and technical depth make them worth considering if your redesign needs to connect tightly to acquisition and measurement.
• Why I'd consider them: good choice if your internal team is already sophisticated about metrics and wants an agency that can own the performance layer.
• The Office of Experience, LLC — best for complex digital experiences

• More experience/design-led than the first three, but with serious technology and B2B capability.
• Their portfolio includes B2B ecommerce and digital ecosystem redesigns, with research, journey mapping and UX at the center. Office of Experience
• Why I'd consider them: especially if this is a substantial digital-product/customer-experience transformation rather than simply a marketing-site redesign.
• Straight North — best if pipeline generation is the primary KPI

• Conveniently located right in the Fulton Market/West Loop area.
• Their offering spans website design/development, SEO, paid acquisition, creative and conversion optimization, with a strong revenue/lead-generation orientation.
• Why I'd consider them: if “growth” means qualified leads and pipeline more than brand differentiation.

If it were my RFP

I'd invite Solid Digital, VisualFizz and Marcel Digital to pitch.

I'd give all three the same brief:

“We need to reposition and redesign our website for a scaling B2B technology company. The goal isn't simply a better-looking site; we want improved conversion, clearer product positioning, stronger organic acquisition and a measurable increase in qualified pipeline.”

Then make them show you their proposed measurement framework, information architecture, conversion strategy, technical approach and 6–12-month optimization plan before you compare creative concepts.

My ranking for your specific brief: Solid Digital → VisualFizz → Marcel Digital → OX → Straight North.

One caveat: agency websites are inherently marketing material, so I'd validate their claimed case-study results and ask to speak with 2–3 recent B2B tech clients before signing.

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Straight North - 200 N Green St Fl 3, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• iCrossing - 312 N Carpenter St, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Arise GTM - 155 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• SEO Design Chicago | Digital Marketing & Web Design Agency - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• OneIMS - 111 E Upper Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d prioritize agencies that can own the whole growth loop—positioning → UX → redesign → development → SEO/CRO → ongoing acquisition—rather than a pure branding or web-design shop.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit

• Particularly strong for B2B SaaS/technology companies.
• Their offering spans B2B website redesign, UX/UI, development and digital marketing, with an explicit focus on measurable business outcomes.
• Good choice if the redesign needs to sharpen positioning and materially improve pipeline/conversion, not just look better. Clutch
• Marcel Digital — best for performance + technical depth

• Strong combination of B2B growth marketing, SEO, paid media, CRO, analytics and web development.
• Their published case studies include a B2B SaaS engagement that increased organic traffic and search-driven leads, plus conversion improvements for B2B ecommerce. Marcel Digital
• I'd shortlist them if your existing site has technical/SEO debt or you're planning a significant replatform.
• Straight North — best if pipeline generation is the KPI

• Conveniently located right in Fulton Market/West Loop.
• Their model combines website design/development with SEO, paid acquisition, content and conversion optimization, with a strong lead/revenue orientation.
• Their B2B work includes a full website strategy/design/development + ongoing SEO engagement that reportedly produced a major increase in leads. Semrush Agency Partners
• iCrossing — best for a bigger, more complex transformation

• Located on N Carpenter St in Fulton Market.
• More enterprise-scale: integrated marketing, experience, technology and digital-platform work.
• I'd consider them if you're approaching a major brand repositioning, multi-product site, international expansion or complex martech/data environment.
• The Office of Experience, LLC — best for sophisticated UX/customer experience

• A strong option when the redesign is really a customer-experience transformation, rather than primarily a demand-gen project.
• Their work covers research, journey mapping, UX/UI, websites and broader digital ecosystems, including B2B ecommerce redesigns.

Who I'd actually put into the RFP

Solid Digital, Marcel Digital, and Straight North.

That gives you three meaningfully different approaches:

I'd also take a discovery call with iCrossing if you're expecting a large-scale transformation rather than a conventional website redesign.

One reason I wouldn't simply choose the agency with the prettiest portfolio: current Chicago agency rankings show a fairly wide spread between firms focused primarily on web design and those combining redesign with conversion optimization, SEO, digital strategy and marketing. Clutch Built In Chicago

For your specific brief, I'd make the RFP ask for: baseline conversion analysis, ICP/persona research, information architecture, messaging/positioning, UX/UI, development, technical SEO, analytics instrumentation, CRO experimentation and a 6–12 month post-launch growth plan. That will quickly expose which agencies actually operate as growth partners versus agencies that mainly deliver a new website.

If you tell me roughly ARR, B2B vs. B2C, current CMS, and your redesign budget ($50k / $100k / $250k+), I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd interview and what I'd expect each to cost.

• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Americaneagle.com, Inc. - 200 W Jackson Blvd Fl 22, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• 97 Switch - 1 E Wacker Dr #2550, Chicago, IL 60601, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market looking for a full-service digital agency that can own growth-focused redesigns, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than a pretty website: positioning, UX, conversion strategy, analytics, SEO, lifecycle/growth, and post-launch optimization.

My shortlist:

A couple of more local/Fulton Market-adjacent creative options:

• ALL FOR™ is actually based in the Fulton Market/West Loop area and is strong on brand, visual design, and web design—but I’d pair them with a performance/growth specialist if acquisition is the primary goal. ALL FOR™
• Brightter markets specifically toward startups and scaleups with branding, web, SEO, and digital transformation services. Brightter

Who I’d put in your first three conversations

1. Solid Digital — if you’re a B2B SaaS/tech company and the website is a core sales asset.
2. Orbit Media Studios — if you need deep discovery, messaging, UX, SEO, and a conversion-focused rebuild.
3. Marcel Digital — if you already have traffic/leads and want the redesign tied tightly to acquisition metrics.

For a scaleup, I’d avoid agencies that mainly sell “website redesigns.” In your pitch process, ask each candidate:

• “Show us a redesign where conversion rate, pipeline, or qualified leads improved.”
• “Who owns analytics, experimentation, and post-launch optimization?”
• “Will your team handle messaging/positioning, or only design/dev?”
• “Who are the actual senior people working on our account?”

If you share your industry (SaaS, fintech, AI, marketplace, etc.), current site platform (Webflow/WordPress/custom), and approximate redesign budget, I can narrow this to 2–3 strongest fits.

• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• 97 Switch - 1 E Wacker Dr #2550, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• SEO Design Chicago | Digital Marketing & Web Design Agency - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Pilot Digital Marketing - 4753 N Broadway Ste T110, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Digital Marketers Chicago - 2835 N Sheffield Ave #209, Chicago, IL 60657, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than a visual refresh—ideally strategy → UX → design → development → analytics/CRO → ongoing growth.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Clique Studios — strongest overall fit

• Particularly compelling if this is a substantial B2B/tech website transformation.
• Their scope spans strategy, UX/UI, engineering, content, accessibility, brand systems, and ongoing optimization.
• Why I'd interview them: They appear set up to treat the website as a business/digital product rather than simply redesigning pages.
• Solid Digital — best B2B growth/website specialist

• Focused heavily on B2B website design/development, UX/UI and measurable digital marketing outcomes.
• Their UX work includes discovery, user flows and web-app/portal experiences.
• Why I'd interview them: Excellent fit if your scaleup sells a relatively complex product and the site needs to improve pipeline generation.
• Digital Authority Partners — best if growth marketing is equally important

• Chicago-based integrated digital/product agency covering UX, web development, content, marketing and custom software. Digital Authority Partners
• They specifically report redesign-related performance metrics, although I'd validate those claims against relevant case studies.
• Why I'd interview them: Good option if you want one partner spanning redesign and acquisition/marketing.
• Design In Chicago — best local/Fulton Market option

• Actually located in the West Loop/Fulton Market area and offers brand strategy, design, development, marketing and content under one roof.
• Why I'd interview them: Attractive if the redesign involves positioning/brand evolution as well as the website.
• Marcel Digital — best performance/SEO-heavy option

• Stronger candidate if organic acquisition, technical SEO, analytics and conversion performance are major parts of the brief.
• Why I'd interview them: Particularly interesting if your redesign has to preserve/improve a meaningful existing organic acquisition engine.
• 97 Switch — good boutique alternative

• Offers website strategy/design/build plus ongoing digital marketing and creative production, positioning itself for longer-term partnerships.
• Why I'd interview them: Worth considering if you want a smaller, more hands-on agency rather than a larger transformation shop.

If it were my shortlist

I'd put Clique Studios, Solid Digital, and Digital Authority Partners into the first round.

I'd frame the RFP around business outcomes rather than "redesign the website":

• Increase qualified demo/conversion rate
• Improve visitor-to-pipeline conversion
• Clarify positioning and product story
• Improve organic acquisition without sacrificing existing rankings
• Establish a scalable design system/CMS
• Instrument the new site for experimentation and CRO
• Define a 6–12 month post-launch optimization program

One particularly useful comparison: ask every agency to show you one before/after redesign where they can demonstrate actual business metrics, not just screenshots. That will separate the growth agencies from the pretty-website agencies very quickly.

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Marcel Digital - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1285, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Walker Sands - 55 W Monroe St Ste 3925, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Mabbly - 640 N La Salle Dr #540, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• SEO Design Chicago | Digital Marketing & Web Design Agency - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• ComboApp - 220 N Green St, Fl 2nd, Chicago, IL 60607

For a Chicago tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d put Orbit Media at the top of the shortlist, with Solid Digital, Clique Studios, Marcel Digital, and Walker Sands worth pitching as alternatives.

My shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit

• Strong B2B orientation and specifically focused on website strategy, UX/UI, redesign, development, and ongoing digital growth.
• Feels well suited to a scaleup that has outgrown its current site but doesn't want an enormous enterprise-agency process.
• I'd make them a finalist if your primary KPI is pipeline/conversion improvement + sharper positioning.
• Clique Studios — best for a sophisticated digital transformation

• More than a web-design shop: strategy, UX, engineering, and ongoing optimization.
• Their Chicago team explicitly supports organizations around the city, including Fulton Market/West Loop. Clique Studios
• A good choice if the redesign involves complex integrations, replatforming, or a broader digital-experience overhaul.
• Marcel Digital — best for performance marketing + web

• Particularly compelling if you want the redesign tightly connected to SEO, paid acquisition, CRO, analytics, and CRM/marketing workflows.
• They're at 20 N Wacker, so geographically convenient too.
• I'd favor them when the question is less “How should our brand look?” and more “How do we turn the website into a measurable acquisition engine?”
• Walker Sands — best for B2B tech positioning + demand generation

• Strong B2B/technology orientation and a broader integrated marketing capability.
• Better fit if you want brand, messaging, PR/content, demand generation and digital under one roof—not merely a redesign.
• Their Chicago office is downtown.
• Mabbly — best if GTM strategy is part of the problem

• Mabbly has repositioned itself as a go-to-market agency, combining positioning, brand, digital, web/UX, SEO, paid media and performance. Mabbly
• I'd consider them if the redesign is really a symptom of a bigger issue: unclear positioning, ICP, messaging, or sales/marketing alignment.

One wildcard: Orbit Media

Orbit Media Studios would actually be my first call if the core mandate is specifically a growth-focused website redesign.

They're unusually specialized around this problem rather than being a general creative agency. Orbit says it has designed 1,000+ websites, with in-house strategists, designers, developers, writers and analysts, and explicitly combines UX, content, SEO, CRO, analytics and development. Orbit Media Studios

More importantly for a tech scaleup, they have a dedicated SaaS web-design practice covering trial/demo flows, product-led-growth UX, CTA optimization, messaging and conversion. Orbit Media Studios They also emphasize protecting organic traffic during redesigns rather than treating SEO as an afterthought. Orbit Media Studios

Their office is in Chicago at 4043 N Ravenswood, so they're not actually in Fulton Market, but they're very much a local Chicago shop. Orbit Media Studios

If I were running your RFP

I'd invite Orbit, Solid Digital, Clique, and Marcel to pitch.

I'd give all four exactly the same brief:

“Redesign our site to increase qualified pipeline, not merely improve aesthetics. Show us how you'd diagnose our current funnel, reposition the messaging, redesign the UX, preserve/grow organic acquisition, improve conversion, and measure the result after launch.”

Then make them present before/after hypotheses and a 90-day post-launch optimization plan. That will separate the genuinely growth-oriented agencies from the agencies that primarily sell a beautiful redesign.

My ranking for your specific brief: Orbit > Solid Digital > Marcel > Clique > Walker Sands > Mabbly.

If you tell me roughly your ARR, B2B/B2C, current CMS, and redesign budget (e.g. $50–100k vs. $150–300k+), I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd actually interview and compare their likely strengths, weaknesses, and fit.

For a Chicago tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than make the site prettier: strategy, positioning/messaging, UX, development, SEO/CRO, and ideally ongoing growth.

My shortlist

1. orbitmedia.com — best overall fit

• This would be my first call.
• Chicago-based, with 20+ years in web/digital strategy and 1,000+ sites designed. Their model connects research, messaging, UX, content, development, SEO and conversion optimization rather than treating redesign as a purely creative project. Orbit Media Studios Orbit Media Studios
• Particularly compelling for a scaleup because they explicitly offer post-launch optimization, not just a launch-and-goodbye engagement. Their case studies include a 26% increase in qualified leads and a 42% increase in conversions. Orbit Media Studios Orbit Media Studios
• Best if: the website is a major demand-gen/sales asset and you want a sophisticated, measurable redesign.
• visualfizz.com — best for B2B tech/growth marketing

• Stronger choice if your redesign needs to sit inside a broader B2B growth program.
• They specifically target growth-stage and established B2B companies and combine web, branding, search, PPC and broader digital marketing. Their stated approach is to act as an extension of the client's team. VisualFizz VisualFizz
• Their service mix includes UX/design, branding, web development, SEO/SEM, content and full-service marketing. VisualFizz
• Best if: you want one partner responsible for the website and acquisition after launch.
• blacksmith.agency — best growth/performance-oriented alternative

• Their Chicago offering explicitly combines digital strategy, web work and performance marketing, with a process built around auditing, strategy and then execution. Blacksmith
• They emphasize tying marketing activity to measurable outcomes rather than treating the website as an isolated creative project.
• Best if: paid acquisition, lead generation and measurable ROI are central to the redesign.
• cuecamp.com — best smaller full-service option

• Full-service digital agency covering strategy, branding, UX, web design, marketing automation, social, advertising and SEO. CueCamp
• Interesting if you want something more boutique and hands-on than a larger web agency.
• Best if: brand/messaging and UX need as much attention as performance marketing.
• allfor.agency — best if you're literally in Fulton Market and want a design-heavy partner

• They're actually located at 160 N. Elizabeth St. in West Loop/Fulton Market. Their offering spans brand strategy, identity, messaging, UX/UI, custom websites, redesigns, landing pages and ongoing support. AllFor Agency AllFor Agency
• I'd put them behind Orbit/VisualFizz for a growth-engine mandate, but ahead of them if the primary problem is brand perception and digital experience.
• Best if: you're going through a brand evolution alongside the redesign.

How I'd choose

My recommendation: start with Orbit + VisualFizz + Blacksmith and give all three the same brief. Don't ask them simply for a website proposal. Ask each to diagnose your current funnel and propose how the redesign would improve qualified pipeline, conversion rates, organic acquisition and sales enablement.

That will very quickly reveal which agency thinks like a growth partner versus which one is primarily a web-design vendor.

If you tell me your rough budget ($50–100k, $100–250k, $250k+) and whether you're B2B SaaS, fintech, AI, etc., I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd actually invite to pitch and give you a suggested RFP.

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Team 201 - 500 W Madison St #1000, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Americaneagle.com, Inc. - 200 W Jackson Blvd Fl 22, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Hometown Digital Marketing Agency - 490 E Spring St C, Cookeville, TN 38501, United States
• Arise GTM - 155 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• OneIMS - 110 N Wacker Dr Suite 2500A, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• OneIMS - 111 E Upper Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601
• RSXigital | B2B Lead Generation & Performance Marketing Agency in Chicago, USA - 71 S Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Treetop Growth Strategy - 541 N Fairbanks, Ste 2200, Chicago, IL 60611
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than a visual refresh—i.e. positioning → UX/CRO → development → SEO → demand generation → measurement.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit

• Strong B2B orientation and explicitly positioned around full website redesigns, UX/UI, development, SEO, conversion, and ongoing digital growth.
• Their model is unusually aligned with a scaleup: strategy → build → launch → ongoing optimization rather than handing you a finished website and disappearing.
• My pick if you want one strategic partner for the redesign and growth afterward.
• Marcel Digital — best for performance/measurement

• Particularly compelling if your redesign needs to materially improve organic acquisition, paid acquisition, CRO, analytics, and attribution.
• They combine web development with SEO, paid media, CRO and analytics, and have substantial B2B/enterprise experience.
• I'd favor them if your CMO/VP Growth is going to judge the engagement heavily on pipeline and conversion metrics.
• Team 201 — best boutique B2B-tech option

• Specifically oriented toward high-growth B2B technology companies at inflection points—funding, new-market expansion, repositioning, product launches and moving beyond founder-led growth.
• This sounds particularly relevant if the website problem is partly a messaging/positioning problem, not merely UX.
• The Office of Experience, LLC — best for a larger digital transformation

• More heavyweight: research, customer journeys, UX, engineering, marketing and digital ecosystems.
• Their published B2B work includes substantial redesigns with measurable improvements in acquisition and conversion. The Office of Experience
• I'd consider them if you're building a sophisticated digital experience rather than simply rebuilding your marketing site.
• Americaneagle.com, Inc. — best enterprise-scale option

• Full-service web design/development plus digital marketing and ongoing support.
• Probably overkill for a straightforward SaaS marketing-site redesign, but worth an RFP if you have complex integrations, multiple markets, ecommerce, or enterprise architecture.

One wildcard: VisualFizz

VisualFizz is worth adding to the pitch list. They have a particularly relevant published technology case study: a Chicago software company got a 155% increase in conversion rate through a combination of website redesign, UX, content strategy, SEO and paid search. VisualFizz VisualFizz

What I'd do

If I were running the selection, I'd invite Solid Digital, Marcel Digital, Team 201, and VisualFizz to pitch.

I'd give all four exactly the same brief and ask them to show:

• Their diagnosis of your current funnel, not just examples of pretty sites
• Proposed information architecture and messaging
• How they would identify and prioritize CRO opportunities
• SEO migration strategy
• Analytics/attribution setup
• What happens after launch—experimentation, content, SEO, paid acquisition, etc.
• Two comparable B2B tech/scaleup case studies with actual metrics
• Senior people who will actually work on the account
• Fixed project cost + expected ongoing monthly investment

My initial ranking: Solid Digital > Marcel Digital > Team 201 > VisualFizz, with OX moving into the top tier if the project is substantially more complex.

If you tell me your rough annual revenue/funding stage, B2B vs. B2C, CMS (Webflow/WordPress/HubSpot/etc.), and redesign budget, I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd actually hire and give you a side-by-side comparison.

My initial ranking: Solid Digital > Marcel Digital > Team 201 > VisualFizz, with OX moving into the top tier if the project is substantially more complex.

If you tell me your rough annual revenue/funding stage, B2B vs. B2C, CMS (Webflow/WordPress/HubSpot/etc.), and redesign budget, I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd actually hire and give you a side-by-side comparison.

• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• SWIDIA - Growth Marketing Agency - 2089 W Wabansia Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Envisionit - 130 E Randolph St #1600, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• OneIMS - 111 E Upper Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601
• Praella - eCommerce Agency - 203 N LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d prioritize agencies that can do more than make the site prettier—i.e. positioning + UX + redesign/build + CRO + SEO/demand gen + post-launch optimization.

My Chicago shortlist

• Marcel Digital — best overall fit for growth + redesign.

They’re particularly compelling if your website is a major acquisition channel. Their model combines UX/web development with SEO, paid media, CRO and analytics, so the redesign can be tied directly to pipeline rather than treated as a branding project.

• Clique Studios — best for a sophisticated digital transformation.

Stronger choice if you're looking for a substantial rethink of your site architecture, messaging, UX and technology—not simply a marketing-site refresh. Their capabilities span strategy, UX/design, engineering and ongoing growth. Office of Experience

• Solid Digital — best B2B/scaleup-oriented option.

They specifically position around B2B website redesigns spanning strategy → UX/UI → build, with SEO, conversion and ongoing digital growth layered in. That maps very closely to your brief.

• Digital Authority Partners — best if UX/CRO is the center of the project.

They're Chicago-based and heavily UX-oriented, with research, redesign and measurable conversion outcomes. Their published redesign results include improvements in online sales, bounce rate and ecommerce conversion. Digital Authority Partners

• The Office of Experience, LLC — best for a bigger, experience-led transformation.

I'd consider them if the redesign touches brand, customer experience, ecommerce/digital platforms and organizational strategy—not just the marketing site. They have published B2B redesign and lead-generation work. Office of Experience

• UX 4Sight — best specialist UX option.

Particularly interesting if you already have growth/engineering resources and need an agency to uncover user friction, rethink journeys and design a conversion-focused experience.

If I were running your RFP

I'd invite Marcel Digital, Clique Studios and Solid Digital to the first round.

They give you three useful perspectives:

I'd make the RFP deliberately outcome-oriented: “Increase qualified demo/conversion rate and pipeline contribution from the website”, rather than “redesign our website.”

One other interesting local option is Clique Studios if you want a team capable of staying involved after launch; their offering includes SEO/AEO, analytics and paid acquisition alongside design and engineering.

If you want, I can also narrow this to 5 agencies that are particularly strong with Chicago SaaS/tech scaleups, with approximate project size, notable clients/case studies, and who I'd actually contact first.

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• VisualFizz - 875 N Michigan Ave 31st floor, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Kin + Carta - 111 N Canal St floor 3, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Hero Digital - 1 N Dearborn St Ste 725, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Doe-Anderson - 680 S 4th St, Louisville, KY 40202, United States
• Publicis Sapient - 35 W Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Rightpoint - 29 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• VisualFizz - 875 North Michigan Ave, Fl 31, Chicago, IL 60611
• West Monroe - Chicago - 311 W Monroe St 14th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Bounteous - 4115 N Ravenswood Ave #101, Chicago, IL 60613, United States

For a Chicago tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than make the site prettier: positioning + UX + redesign/build + SEO/CRO + ongoing growth.

My shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit

• Probably my first call for a B2B/SaaS scaleup.
• Their specialty is B2B website redesign + digital growth, with strategy, UX, WordPress development, SEO, optimization, and ongoing support under one roof. They specifically cite work with B2B SaaS and healthcare tech. Solid Digital
• Strongest match if your redesign needs to be accountable to pipeline, conversion and revenue, not just brand perception.
• Marcel Digital — best growth/marketing orientation

• Strong choice if the website is really the centerpiece of a broader demand-gen program.
• Their capabilities span SEO, paid media, CRO, web development and analytics, with an emphasis on measurable B2B/enterprise outcomes. Digital Marketing
• I'd put them ahead of a pure creative agency if your primary KPI is qualified pipeline.
• Orbit Media Studios — best content/SEO + website combination

• Chicago-based and particularly strong on strategy-led web redesign, conversion-focused UX, content and SEO.
• Good option if your current site has both a messaging problem and an organic-growth problem.
• VisualFizz — good B2B brand + growth option

• More brand/marketing-oriented while still covering web, SEO, paid media and ongoing optimization.
• Worth considering if the redesign needs to sharpen positioning as you move upmarket, rather than being primarily a technical rebuild.
• UX 4Sight — best UX specialist

• I'd consider them if research, customer journeys and conversion UX are the biggest weaknesses.
• They cover UX research, usability testing, UX/UI, responsive web design and redesign; their published work includes a redesign they say generated a substantial sales lift.

One local wildcard

ALL FOR™ Agency is actually in Fulton Market/West Loop, and does brand strategy, identity, web redesign, UX/UI, landing pages and ongoing support. ALL FOR™ ALL FOR™

I'd put them on the pitch list if brand/visual differentiation is a major part of the redesign. But for a scaleup where the brief is explicitly growth-focused, I'd favor Solid Digital or Marcel first.

Who I'd hire

If I were running your agency search, I'd invite Solid Digital, Marcel Digital, and Orbit Media to pitch.

My ranking for your particular brief:

The key in your RFP would be to force each agency to show the proposed conversion funnel, research methodology, SEO migration plan, experimentation roadmap, and 6–12 month post-launch growth model—otherwise you'll end up comparing pretty redesigns rather than growth partners.

If you tell me your approximate budget ($50k / $100k / $250k+) and whether you're B2B SaaS, marketplace, fintech, etc., I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd actually hire and what I’d expect each to charge.

• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• NEWMEDIA.COM - 444 W Lake St Ste 1700, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• OneIMS - 110 N Wacker Dr Suite 2500A, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Wpromote - 125 S Wacker Dr #1800, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• SWIDIA - Growth Marketing Agency - 2089 W Wabansia Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• All For Agency - 160 N Elizabeth St, Ste 809, Elmhurst, IL 60607
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Accelerated Digital Media - 159 N Sangamon St, Ste 200, Chicago, IL 60607
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• 10com Web Development - 205 N Michigan Ave Suit 810, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States

For a Fulton Market tech scaleup looking for a full-service digital agency that can own growth-focused redesigns (not just make a prettier website), I’d shortlist agencies that combine UX/product thinking + conversion optimization + analytics + acquisition.

My picks:

Best-fit shortlist

Marcel Digital — best overall for B2B/SaaS growth

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-255-8044)

Why I’d talk to them: Strong fit if your redesign needs to tie directly to pipeline, SEO, paid acquisition, CRO, and measurement. They position themselves around integrated SEO, paid media, CRO, web development, and analytics rather than a purely creative redesign.

Best for:

• B2B SaaS
• Enterprise buyers
• Product-led companies moving upmarket
• Redesigns where conversion rates and attribution matter

Ask them: “Can you show a before/after funnel impact from a redesign—not just screenshots?”

Orbit Media Studios — best UX/content-led redesign partner

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 773-348-4581)

Why I’d consider them: Orbit is a Chicago web design and digital marketing firm known for strategy-led redesigns focused on leads, conversions, and user journeys.

Best for:

• Companies with a strong product but weak storytelling
• Complex B2B websites
• Messaging + IA + UX overhaul

Potential limitation: If you need aggressive paid growth experimentation, pair them with a performance marketing specialist.

NEWMEDIA.COM — best integrated web + growth option

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-416-8466)

Why they’re interesting: Their Chicago team positions itself across strategy, design, development, and ongoing acquisition/optimization rather than just web builds.

Best for:

• A company wanting one vendor
• Website rebuild + ongoing marketing
• Teams without a large internal marketing ops function

OneIMS — best if you’re a B2B revenue machine

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 888-663-4671)

Why: They’re geared toward demand generation, inbound, SEO, content, and RevOps-style growth programs.

Best for:

• Enterprise SaaS
• Long sales cycles
• Marketing automation-heavy teams

Wpromote — best if paid growth is a major lever

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-690-7112)

Why: Larger-scale agency capabilities across media, creative, SEO, and measurement.

Best for:

• VC-backed companies scaling spend
• Multi-channel acquisition
• National/international growth

Potential downside: You may get a more enterprise-style engagement rather than a boutique partner experience.

More local / boutique options

• SWIDIA - Growth Marketing Agency — worth a look if you want a startup-oriented growth partner; they specifically position around growth programs for startups and high-growth businesses.
• All For Agency — Fulton Market neighbor with strong brand/web design capabilities; better for brand + digital experience than full-funnel growth ownership. ALL FOR™
• Digital Authority Partners — integrated digital strategy, performance marketing, creative, and analytics.

If I were running the agency selection process

I’d invite 4 pitches:

1. Marcel Digital — growth + measurement benchmark
2. Orbit Media Studios — UX/content benchmark
3. NEWMEDIA.COM — full-service execution benchmark
4. SWIDIA — startup-growth benchmark

And I’d score them on:

• Evidence of conversion lift from past redesigns (not awards)
• Ability to run experiments after launch
• Analytics stack maturity (GA4, attribution, CRM integration)
• Technical depth (Webflow/React/Next.js/CMS experience)
• Who will actually work on your account

For a venture-backed Fulton Market tech company, I’d lean toward Marcel Digital or Orbit depending on whether your bottleneck is growth performance or positioning/UX.

For a Fulton Market tech scaleup looking for a full-service digital agency that can own growth-focused redesigns (not just a pretty rebrand), I’d shortlist agencies that can combine:

• UX strategy + conversion optimization
• B2B/SaaS positioning
• Web design + engineering
• SEO/content architecture
• Analytics, experimentation, and post-launch growth

My shortlist:

1. Orbit Media Studios — best overall fit for a growth-driven redesign

orbitmedia.com

Why I’d put them first: They are one of Chicago’s strongest website strategy/redesign shops, with a reputation for research-driven UX, SEO-aware builds, and complex content-heavy sites. Their work tends to fit companies that see the website as a revenue engine rather than a brochure. Clutch

Best for:

• SaaS/company websites
• Enterprise or mid-market positioning upgrades
• Conversion-focused redesigns
• Teams that need strategy before pixels

Watch-out: They are likely not the cheapest option; expect a more strategic engagement.

2. Walker Sands — best if demand generation is part of the redesign

walkersands.com

Why consider them: Walker Sands has deep B2B tech experience and is built around marketing outcomes, not only design. They’re a good fit if the redesign needs to improve pipeline generation, messaging, campaigns, and sales enablement. Clutch

Best for:

• B2B SaaS
• Enterprise tech
• ABM programs
• Website + content + demand generation

Watch-out: More marketing-led than pure product/UX studio.

3. Rightpoint — best for a larger-scale digital transformation

rightpoint.com

Why consider them: Rightpoint is more of a digital experience consultancy: strategy, UX, technology, and implementation. It makes sense if your redesign touches integrations, customer portals, personalization, or broader digital platforms.

Best for:

• Larger scaleups
• Complex customer journeys
• Platform modernization

Watch-out: Probably heavier than needed for a straightforward marketing site overhaul.

4. Mabbly — best mid-sized growth partner

mabbly.com

Why consider them: Mabbly combines web design, branding, digital marketing, and strategy. They may be a good middle ground if you want a partner that can handle creative plus ongoing acquisition work. Clutch

Best for:

• Growth-stage companies
• Brand refresh + website + campaigns
• Teams wanting one partner

5. Huge (Chicago presence) — best for ambitious brand transformation

hugeinc.com

Why consider them: Huge is a larger experience/design agency; the former Hero Digital Chicago operation became part of Huge. They are better suited when the website redesign is part of a broader customer experience transformation.

Best for:

• Category-defining brands
• Big repositioning efforts
• High-design experiences

Watch-out: Agency overhead and budget expectations may be higher.

My recommendation for your specific situation

Given “tech scaleup + Fulton Market + growth-focused redesign”, I’d probably run a shortlist like:

1. Orbit Media Studios → if the goal is a higher-converting website and better organic acquisition
2. Walker Sands → if the website is a core sales pipeline tool
3. Mabbly → if you want a more flexible creative/growth partner
4. Rightpoint → if the redesign is part of a broader product/customer experience initiative

For the first conversations, I’d ask each agency:

• “Show us 3 SaaS or B2B tech redesigns where conversion improved.”
• “How do you handle messaging and positioning before UX?”
• “Who owns experimentation after launch?”
• “What metrics would you commit to improving in 6 months?”

I would avoid agencies that only show beautiful websites but cannot talk about traffic, conversion rate, qualified leads, demo requests, activation, or revenue impact.

My recommendation for your specific situation

Given “tech scaleup + Fulton Market + growth-focused redesign”, I’d probably run a shortlist like:

1. Orbit Media Studios → if the goal is a higher-converting website and better organic acquisition
2. Walker Sands → if the website is a core sales pipeline tool
3. Mabbly → if you want a more flexible creative/growth partner
4. Rightpoint → if the redesign is part of a broader product/customer experience initiative

For the first conversations, I’d ask each agency:

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• EM Search Consulting, LLC. - 330 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Dialogue Theory - 1932 S Halsted St #509, Chicago, IL 60608, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• One North, A TEKsystems Company - 227 W Monroe St #3500, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d prioritize agencies that can connect website strategy + UX/CRO + development + demand generation, rather than a shop that primarily makes sites look better.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit

• Strong B2B/growth orientation and specifically positioned around website redesign → UX/UI → development → SEO/marketing.
• Their work is geared toward organizations treating the site as a growth asset, not just a branding exercise.
• A particularly good fit if you're selling SaaS, enterprise tech, or a complex B2B product. Clutch
• My pick if you want one agency accountable for the whole redesign and its business impact.
• Orbit Media Studios — best for sophisticated content/SEO-led redesign

• One of the more established Chicago website strategy shops.
• Particularly strong around website redesign, UX, SEO, conversion optimization and content strategy; Clutch currently lists them at 5.0/5 from 36 reviews. Clutch
• Better choice if organic acquisition, thought leadership and inbound conversion are major parts of your growth model.
• Marcel Digital — best if growth marketing + CRM matter

• Strong combination of web development, SEO, paid media, CRO, analytics and HubSpot/CRM work.
• I'd put them high on the list if the redesign needs to connect tightly into your marketing/sales funnel rather than live as a standalone website.
• Clique Studios — best for a more ambitious digital transformation

• More design/engineering-heavy: digital strategy, UX/UI, custom development and ongoing optimization.
• Worth considering if you're redesigning a complex product ecosystem, not merely a marketing site.
• Digital Authority Partners — best performance-marketing-oriented option

• Combines website redesign/development with SEO, PPC, analytics/CRO, content and marketing strategy.
• Attractive if you want the agency to own acquisition as well as the new site.

One interesting wildcard

ArtVersion® Creative Agency is worth a conversation if your primary problem is positioning + brand + digital experience. They're more design/brand-led than the performance agencies above, with UX research, web development and digital strategy capabilities.

And if being literally in Fulton Market matters, ALL FOR™ is right there at 160 N. Elizabeth and does brand, web, UX/UI and redesign work. Their positioning is more boutique creative/design than full-stack growth agency, though, so I'd use them as a creative-led alternative rather than my first choice for growth ownership. ALL FOR™ ALL FOR™

How I'd narrow it down

For your brief, I'd interview Solid Digital, Orbit Media, and Marcel Digital first.

I'd give all three the same brief and ask them to show:

• How they'd diagnose the current conversion funnel before redesigning anything.
• Their approach to messaging/positioning for a scaleup—not just visual refresh.
• Examples where a redesign produced measurable pipeline, demo, activation or revenue impact.
• How SEO, analytics, experimentation and CRO are incorporated before launch, rather than bolted on afterward.
• Who will actually be on your account team.
• What they would not recommend doing.
• A 90-day post-launch optimization plan.

That's important because the difference between a $100k redesign that looks fantastic and a $100k redesign that materially improves pipeline is usually strategy, measurement and post-launch iteration, not the visual design itself.

If you tell me your rough budget ($50–100k, $100–250k, $250k+) and whether you're B2B SaaS, fintech, AI, etc., I can narrow this to the 3 agencies I'd actually put into an RFP, including relevant case studies and typical engagement sizes.

• How they'd diagnose the current conversion funnel before redesigning anything.
• Their approach to messaging/positioning for a scaleup—not just visual refresh.
• Examples where a redesign produced measurable pipeline, demo, activation or revenue impact.
• How SEO, analytics, experimentation and CRO are incorporated before launch, rather than bolted on afterward.
• Who will actually be on your account team.
• What they would not recommend doing.
• A 90-day post-launch optimization plan.

That's important because the difference between a $100k redesign that looks fantastic and a $100k redesign that materially improves pipeline is usually strategy, measurement and post-launch iteration, not the visual design itself.

If you tell me your rough budget ($50–100k, $100–250k, $250k+) and whether you're B2B SaaS, fintech, AI, etc., I can narrow this to the 3 agencies I'd actually put into an RFP, including relevant case studies and typical engagement sizes.

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Bounteous - 4115 N Ravenswood Ave #101, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Mabbly - 640 N La Salle Dr #540, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• C E Anderson & Associates - 175 N Franklin St Unit 410, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Rise, a Quad agency - 1 S Wacker Dr #3, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• 1o8 - 231 S LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market looking for a partner to own a growth-focused redesign—not just make the site prettier—I’d put these three at the top of the shortlist:

1. Solid Digital — my first call

• Particularly strong fit for B2B SaaS/technology.
• Combines brand strategy, UX, website strategy/design/development, SEO and ongoing optimization.
• Their Chicago practice explicitly positions around B2B digital growth, with examples including SaaS and healthcare tech. Solid Digital
• Best choice if the redesign needs to improve positioning → UX → conversion → organic acquisition as one system.
• Digital Authority Partners — best if growth/performance is the priority

• Integrated strategy, performance marketing, creative, analytics and web/product development.
• Stronger option if you want the agency accountable beyond launch for traffic, leads and conversion.
• Their Chicago office is in River North, so they're also convenient for an in-person Fulton Market relationship.
• Bounteous — best for a larger, more complex transformation

• Much more of a digital-transformation consultancy: strategy, experience design, engineering, analytics, martech and ongoing optimization.
• I'd consider them if you're a later-stage scaleup with a complicated tech/martech stack, multiple products/markets, or ambitions beyond a marketing-site redesign. Their scope is substantially broader than a typical web agency.

Two interesting alternatives

• Mabbly — attractive if the project is as much about GTM/positioning and brand differentiation as the website. Their capabilities span positioning, brand, UX, web, SEO and paid media.
• Design In Chicago — worth talking to if you want a genuinely local West Loop/Fulton Market partner; they're at 159 N Sangamon and combine branding, web, digital marketing, apps and content production.

My recommendation

I'd run a 3-agency pitch between Solid Digital, Digital Authority Partners, and Bounteous.

For your specific brief, I'd probably rank them:

Solid Digital → Digital Authority Partners → Bounteous

The key is to avoid a pitch that evaluates agencies primarily on visual design. Ask each to show a before/after funnel diagnosis from a real scaleup: what they changed in messaging, information architecture, UX, technical SEO, conversion paths and experimentation—and what happened to qualified pipeline afterward.

I'd also make them price post-launch CRO/experimentation for 6–12 months, rather than treating launch as the finish line.

If you tell me your rough ARR/company size, B2B vs. B2C, current CMS (Webflow/WordPress/HubSpot/etc.), and budget range, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 agencies and give you a specific RFP/pitch scorecard.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• DiscoverMyBusiness Digital Marketing Agency - 261 Madison Ave #958, New York, NY 10016, United States
• MAXBURST, Inc. | Web Design Company NYC - 127 W 30th St 9th Floor #989, New York, NY 10001, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• IL Webdesign | Website & Marketing Agency - 1250 Broadway Fl 36, New York, NY 10001, United States
• C42D - 315 W 36th St., New York, NY 10018, United States
• DD.NYC® - 85 Broad St 17th Floor - Suite, #17.005, New York, NY 10004, United States
• United of Web | Design & Develop NYC - 1180 6th Ave 8th Floor, New York, NY 10036, United States
• Alpha Digital Marketing - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Big Drop Inc - Web Design Company - 169 Madison St Suite 15613, New York, NY 10038, United States
• ThinKASA - Website Designers & Developers New York - 276 5th Ave 7th Floor, Suite 704B, New York, NY 10001, United States

For a Chicago tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than make the site prettier—ideally positioning + UX/CRO + content + development + SEO/growth measurement under one roof.

My shortlist

1. Orbit Media Studios — best overall fit

• Particularly strong for a growth-focused redesign: strategy, UX, conversion optimization, SEO, content, design and development.
• They say they’ve designed 1,000+ websites and have 20+ years in digital marketing/web work. Their redesign methodology explicitly connects sitemap, UX, messaging, analytics and conversion goals. Orbit Media Studios
• Why I'd call them first: they're established enough for a scaleup's complexity but still fundamentally a website/growth shop rather than a giant generalist agency.
• Marcel Digital — best for B2B/technical growth

• Strong combination of web development, SEO, paid media, CRO, analytics and marketing technology.
• Their positioning is especially relevant if your redesign needs to connect tightly to HubSpot/CRM, attribution, lead lifecycle and revenue reporting.
• I'd prioritize them if your website is a serious demand-gen engine rather than primarily a brand showcase.
• Blacksmith Agency — best startup/scaleup-oriented option

• Their Chicago practice specifically talks about working with startups, scaleups and Fortune 500s, including clients such as Cision, and focuses on conversion, UX, SEO and performance. Blacksmith
• They explicitly serve the Fulton Market market and describe a strategy → design/development → performance-oriented process. Blacksmith
• Good fit if you want a more modern, brand-forward agency while retaining a performance orientation.
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency — good performance-heavy alternative

• Full digital mix across web design, SEO, PPC and broader digital marketing.
• Their client/review evidence points toward redesigns coupled with SEO/PPC and lead-quality improvements.
• I'd put them on the RFP if acquisition performance after launch matters as much as the redesign itself.
• The Office of Experience (OX) — premium/enterprise choice

• More experience-design/transformation oriented than a conventional SEO agency.
• They highlight B2B ecommerce redesigns, digital transformation, UX research, optimization and digital strategy. Office of Experience
• Best if: your scaleup has a complex product/customer journey and you're contemplating a substantial digital-experience transformation rather than simply a marketing-site refresh.

The three I'd actually pitch

For your specific description, I'd invite Orbit, Marcel Digital and Blacksmith into the first round.

I'd make the RFP deliberately difficult: ask each agency to show one comparable tech/SaaS redesign, explain their pre-redesign research and conversion hypothesis, provide the proposed measurement framework, and distinguish what they do in-house versus subcontract. Also ask for a 90-day post-launch optimization plan—not just a launch date.

If you want a $100k–$300k-ish premium agency shortlist rather than agencies across a broad budget range, I can narrow this to 5 firms and compare likely fit, notable tech/scaleup clients, strengths, weaknesses, and what I’d expect each to charge.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• SWIDIA - Growth Marketing Agency - 2089 W Wabansia Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• EM Search Consulting, LLC. - 330 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Digital Third Coast - 2540 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• 1o8 - 231 S LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• 222 Digital Marketing Agency Chicago - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza #1212, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• NEXT! Digital Ad Agency - 55 W Monroe St #2950, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can treat the website as a growth product—strategy, positioning, UX, engineering, SEO/CRO, analytics, and post-launch optimization—not just a brand refresh.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Orbit Media Studios — best overall fit

• Strongest match if the redesign is primarily a B2B growth engine.
• They combine web strategy, UX/UI, development, SEO, conversion optimization, and analytics.
• Clutch currently lists them at 5.0/5 from 36 reviews, with a typical project minimum of $50K+. Clutch
• I'd put them first if you're looking for a sophisticated redesign with measurable pipeline/conversion goals.
• Clique Studios — best for a complex digital transformation

• Particularly compelling if your scaleup needs more than marketing pages: information architecture, design systems, CMS, custom development, integrations, and ongoing optimization.
• Their offering spans digital strategy/design/engineering plus SEO, analytics and paid growth.
• Good choice if the website is becoming a substantial digital platform rather than simply a lead-gen site.
• Marcel Digital — best for performance + measurement

• Very interesting for a growth team that wants SEO, paid acquisition, CRO, analytics, and web development under one roof.
• They're particularly oriented toward B2B/enterprise growth and measurable outcomes.
• Their Chicago operation is right in the Loop/West Loop orbit, and their local business profile is strongly focused on integrated growth.
• Digital Authority Partners — best if marketing + product engineering need to converge

• Their mix includes strategy, performance marketing, creative, analytics, website redesign/development, CRO, automation, and even custom software.
• I'd investigate them if your redesign has product/technical complexity or you want an agency that can stay involved beyond launch.
• Solid Digital — strong B2B alternative

• Their positioning is unusually aligned with B2B website redesign → launch → ongoing digital growth.
• Good candidate if you want a structured redesign process without going to a huge agency.
• Their Chicago operation specifically emphasizes B2B website strategy, UX/UI, development, SEO/conversion considerations and ongoing growth.
• SWIDIA - Growth Marketing Agency — best if acquisition is the priority

• More growth-marketing-centric than the design-led firms above.
• Their model is aimed at startups/high-growth companies and includes CRO, landing pages, SEO/ASO, creative and full-funnel growth.
• I'd consider them if you're saying, “We need the redesign to materially improve CAC, pipeline and conversion,” rather than “We need a world-class new digital brand.”

If I were making the decision

I'd invite Orbit, Clique, and Marcel to pitch.

One useful benchmark: current Chicago agency listings show Orbit at $50K+ minimum, while many of the smaller firms start around $5K–$25K. For a scaleup-level redesign, I wouldn't optimize for the cheapest proposal; I'd optimize for the agency that can demonstrate conversion/pipeline improvement from comparable B2B or SaaS redesigns. Clutch

The pitch I'd give them: don't ask for a “website redesign.” Ask each agency to propose a growth redesign with baseline conversion metrics, information architecture, messaging/positioning, UX research, SEO migration, experimentation/CRO, analytics instrumentation, and a 6–12 month post-launch optimization plan.

If you tell me your rough budget ($50K / $100K / $250K+) and whether you're B2B SaaS, fintech, AI, etc., I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd actually hire and explain why.

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• VisualFizz - 875 N Michigan Ave 31st floor, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Shift7 Digital - 217 N Jefferson St #150, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Ice Nine Online - 444 W Lake St Ste 1700, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• SEOLEVELUP Website Design SEO Company Chicago - 355 N Laflin St Ste 101C, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• OneIMS - 111 E Upper Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than make the site prettier—ideally positioning + UX + development + CRO + SEO/demand generation, with experience in B2B/SaaS.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Solid Digital — strongest overall fit

• Particularly compelling for a B2B/SaaS scaleup.
• They explicitly position around B2B growth, covering brand strategy, UX, website design/development, SEO and ongoing growth.
• Their Chicago practice cites work with B2B SaaS and healthcare technology, including measurable traffic and engagement improvements. Solid Digital
• I'd interview them first.
• Marcel Digital — best if measurement/CRO is critical

• Very strong combination of web development, SEO, paid acquisition, CRO and analytics.
• They publish B2B SaaS results including a 61% increase in search-driven leads and 49% growth in new-business inquiries on web projects. Marcel Digital
• Particularly attractive if you want the redesign tied tightly to pipeline rather than judged on aesthetics.
• VisualFizz — best brand + growth combination

• Full-service Chicago agency spanning brand, web, SEO, PPC, content and growth marketing. VisualFizz
• Their published software-company case study is unusually relevant: a redesigned, conversion-focused site combined with SEO, paid search and content produced a 155% increase in conversion rate. VisualFizz
• I'd put them high on the RFP if your repositioning/messaging needs as much attention as the UX.
• Orbit Media Studios — best website-first option

• Long-established Chicago web strategy/design/development shop with a strong emphasis on sites that generate leads, conversions and revenue.
• Good choice if the centerpiece is a sophisticated redesign and you have some marketing capabilities in-house.
• Digital Authority Partners — best broad growth partner

• Integrated Chicago agency covering strategy, performance marketing, creative, analytics/CRO, SEO, content, automation and website development.
• Could make sense if you're looking to consolidate several marketing functions under one partner.
• The Office of Experience, LLC — best for a larger, more complex digital transformation

• More experience/design-transformation oriented than a conventional growth agency.
• Their B2B work includes substantial digital ecosystem and ecommerce redesigns involving research, journey mapping and UX/UI. Office of Experience
• I'd consider them if the redesign involves a complicated product/customer journey rather than primarily a marketing site.

Who I'd actually put in the RFP

For your specific description, my first three calls would be Solid Digital, Marcel Digital and VisualFizz.

One other interesting option is Shift7 Digital, whose Chicago office is actually at 217 N Jefferson St, close to Fulton Market. They're much more B2B/enterprise-oriented and focus on digital strategy, redesigns, performance, findability and conversion.

My recommendation: don't issue a generic "website redesign" RFP. Tell these agencies you're looking for a growth redesign and make them show you how they'd connect ICP/positioning → information architecture → UX → conversion paths → analytics → SEO → post-launch experimentation. The quality of their proposed measurement framework will tell you more than their portfolio.

If you give me your approximate budget ($75k, $150k, $300k+, etc.), B2B vs. B2C, and CMS (Webflow/WordPress/HubSpot/custom), I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd hire and explain why.

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market looking for a full-service digital agency that can own growth-focused redesigns (not just a pretty website), I’d shortlist agencies that can combine UX/product thinking + conversion optimization + engineering + demand generation.

My shortlist:

1. Rightpoint — best for enterprise-scale product experiences

• Strong fit if your redesign involves complex platforms, customer journeys, personalization, or enterprise UX.
• More “digital transformation partner” than boutique growth shop.
• Good choice if you have a serious product, multiple stakeholders, and a larger budget.

2. Fresh Design Studio — best growth-stage fit

• Specifically positions itself around growth-stage companies, combining design, technology, and performance marketing. Fresh Design Studio
• Likely closer to what a venture-backed scaleup needs: faster iteration, sharper conversion focus, less enterprise bureaucracy.
• I’d put this near the top of the list for a SaaS/company scaling from founder-led marketing into a repeatable growth engine.

3. Blacksmith Agency — strong web + growth combination

• Chicago-based agency focused on strategy, design/development, and growth execution. Blacksmith
• Good fit for a redesign where you need a modern marketing site, SEO/CRO improvements, and a stronger acquisition funnel.

4. Manifesto — strong brand + digital experience option

• Worth considering if your challenge is positioning as much as conversion.
• Better fit if the redesign needs a brand refresh, messaging overhaul, and a premium market presence.

5. Swarm Digital Marketing — good if engineering depth matters

• Positions itself as technology-driven, handling custom websites/web apps plus design and support. Swarm Digital Marketing
• A fit if your site is closer to a product experience than a marketing brochure.

6. ALL FOR™ Agency — best neighborhood fit for creative work

• They are actually based in Fulton Market and focus on brand, visual identity, and web design. ALL FOR™
• I’d consider them more for brand/design excellence than full growth-stack ownership.

My ranking for a typical Fulton Market tech scaleup

1. Fresh Design Studio — if you need growth + redesign + speed
2. Rightpoint — if you’re moving into enterprise complexity
3. Blacksmith Agency — if the website is your primary growth engine
4. Swarm Digital — if technical execution is the hard part
5. Manifesto — if positioning/brand is the bottleneck
6. ALL FOR™ — if you want a local creative partner

For your first agency conversations, I’d ask each one:

• “Show us a SaaS/company website redesign where conversion rate or pipeline improved.”
• “Who owns CRO, analytics, and experimentation after launch?”
• “Will we have senior designers/strategists directly involved?”
• “Can you run growth experiments quarterly, or are you primarily a launch agency?”

A lot of agencies can redesign a site; fewer can turn it into a compounding acquisition asset.

• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• Team 201 - 500 W Madison St #1000, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Walker Sands - 55 W Monroe St Ste 3925, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• VisualFizz - 875 N Michigan Ave 31st floor, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Arise GTM - 155 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• OneIMS - 111 E Upper Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Shift7 Digital - 217 N Jefferson St #150, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• OneIMS - 110 N Wacker Dr Suite 2500A, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Treetop Growth Strategy - 541 N Fairbanks, Ste 2200, Chicago, IL 60611
• iCrossing - 312 N Carpenter St, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Digital BIAS - 155 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606
• SWIDIA - Growth Marketing Agency - 2089 W Wabansia Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d prioritize agencies that can connect positioning + UX/UI + website development + CRO + demand generation, rather than a pure branding shop or a generic web-design firm.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit

• Strong B2B orientation and explicitly positions itself around strategy → UX/UI → website build → growth/ongoing optimization.
• Particularly attractive if your redesign needs to improve both the brand experience and conversion performance.
• Chicago-based, so easy for in-person workshops.
• My first call for your brief.
• Marcel Digital — best for measurable growth

• Particularly strong if SEO, CRO, analytics and paid acquisition are important parts of the redesign.
• Its published work includes a B2B SaaS lead-growth engagement and measurable improvements in organic traffic and search-driven leads. Marcel Digital
• Their Chicago office is at 445 W Erie St, very convenient to Fulton Market.
• Clique Studios — best for a substantial digital transformation

• More than a marketing agency: digital strategy, UX/UI, engineering, CMS, performance and ongoing optimization.
• Good choice if the project is really “rethink our entire digital experience” rather than “make our website prettier.”
• Their Chicago team is at 20 N Wacker.
• Team 201 — best scaleup/B2B-tech specialist

• This one is especially interesting for your situation: its positioning is around high-growth B2B technology companies at inflection points, including scaling after funding, repositioning, launching products and building pipeline.
• Combines branding, UX/UI, digital design and campaign execution.
• I'd include them in the pitch process if you're a B2B SaaS/tech company.
• Walker Sands — best if brand + demand gen both matter

• Chicago-headquartered B2B agency with a broader mix of strategy, creative/content, communications and performance marketing.
• Better fit if the redesign is part of a larger repositioning/GTM effort, rather than a standalone website project.
• Digital Authority Partners — best full-stack growth option

• Combines website redesign/development with SEO, PPC, analytics/CRO, content, automation and marketing strategy.
• Worth considering if you want one partner responsible for the post-launch growth engine as well as the site.

How I'd narrow it

One other agency I'd look at is VisualFizz. It explicitly targets growth-stage organizations and offers integrated B2B strategy, creative, web and performance marketing. VisualFizz

If it were my shortlist, I'd invite Solid Digital, Marcel Digital, Team 201 and Clique Studios to pitch. I'd give all four the same brief and make them demonstrate how they'd turn the redesign into measurable improvements in qualified pipeline, demo conversion, activation and CAC, not just aesthetics.

For a scaleup, I'd also insist that the proposal separately show: discovery/positioning → information architecture → UX → design system → development → migration/SEO → analytics instrumentation → CRO testing → 6–12 months of optimization. That will quickly expose which agencies are genuinely growth partners versus firms selling a website project.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Marcel Digital - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1285, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Team 201 - 500 W Madison St #1000, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Solid Digital - 100 N LaSalle St #1400, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Walker Sands - 55 W Monroe St Ste 3925, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 811 W Evergreen Ave #305, Chicago, IL 60642, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• C E Anderson & Associates - 175 N Franklin St Unit 410, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• SEO Design Chicago - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• OneIMS - 111 E Upper Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than make the site prettier: positioning, UX, conversion architecture, development, SEO, analytics, and post-launch optimization.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Orbit Media Studios — best overall for a growth-focused website redesign

• Probably my first call for your brief.
• Their model is unusually focused on website strategy → UX/content → development → SEO/CRO → ongoing optimization, rather than treating the website as a branding exercise. Orbit Media Studios Orbit Media Studios
• They've done 1,000+ websites and explicitly build around lead generation, conversion and measurable performance. Orbit Media Studios
• Their Scale Marketing case is particularly relevant: redesign, new information architecture, SEO, UX and continued optimization rather than a one-and-done launch. Orbit Media Studios
• Caveat: They're more web/growth specialists than a broad "brand + demand gen + PR" agency.
• Marcel Digital — best if acquisition/measurement is equally important

• Stronger candidate if you want the redesign tightly connected to SEO, paid acquisition, CRO, analytics and revenue measurement.
• They're in the Loop and specifically position themselves around measurable growth, web development, SEO, paid media, CRO and analytics, with substantial B2B/enterprise orientation.
• I'd put them in the pitch if your mandate is: "redesign the site, then continuously improve pipeline from it."
• Team 201 — best scaleup/GTM fit

• This is the one I'd investigate if you're a B2B technology company going through a funding, positioning, market-expansion or GTM inflection point.
• They're specifically oriented toward high-growth B2B tech companies and offer integrated strategy, demand generation, creative, marketing ops and analytics.
• Tradeoff: I'd want to see exactly how much of the actual website UX/design/build they'd own versus bringing in specialists.
• Solid Digital — strong B2B redesign alternative

• Good middle ground between a web agency and broader digital-growth partner.
• Their positioning is specifically around B2B brand/marketing teams, with website strategy, design/build, marketing and ongoing optimization.
• Worth putting into the RFP if you want a long-term digital partner rather than a redesign vendor.
• Walker Sands — best if you need the agency to own broader B2B growth

• Much more of an integrated B2B marketing operation: strategy, creative/content, communications/PR, paid media and GTM/revenue-oriented work.
• Particularly interesting if the redesign is part of a larger repositioning and demand-generation push.
• I'd choose them over Orbit if you want the agency relationship to extend well beyond the website.

One specialist I'd keep in the mix

Fuzzy Math is excellent if the hardest problem is product UX rather than marketing-site growth. They're a Chicago UX/product strategy firm with deep experience in complex B2B software, research, design systems and digital transformation. Fuzzy Math

I wouldn't make them the sole agency for a growth-marketing mandate, but I'd seriously consider them if your redesign includes logged-in product experiences, onboarding, self-service, or a complicated SaaS workflow.

Who I'd actually invite to pitch

I'd keep the first round to four:

For a Fulton Market tech scaleup, I'd start with Orbit and Marcel and make them compete on the same brief. Orbit looks particularly strong if the core problem is "our website no longer represents us and isn't converting"; Marcel becomes more compelling if the mandate is "turn the website into a measurable acquisition/pipeline engine."

One important distinction I'd make in your RFP: don't ask for a "website redesign." Ask for a growth redesign with baseline metrics, conversion research, ICP/persona work, messaging, information architecture, UX, design, development, technical SEO, analytics instrumentation, CRO testing and a 6–12 month optimization roadmap. That will separate the agencies that actually think about growth from the ones that primarily sell beautiful sites.

For a Chicago tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can treat the redesign as a growth/lead-gen program, not just a visual refresh.

My shortlist

1. Orbit Media Studios — best overall fit
   • Probably my first call for your brief.
   • They combine UX, strategy, content, SEO, CRO, analytics, design and development under one roof, with a strong B2B focus. www.orbitmedia.comwww.orbitmedia.com
   • They explicitly approach redesigns around measurable outcomes—leads, conversions, search visibility and post-launch optimization—rather than aesthetics alone. www.orbitmedia.com
   • Particularly compelling: their portfolio includes redesigns where they subsequently optimized UX, SEO and conversion performance, including a reported 141% YoY organic traffic increase for one client. www.orbitmedia.com
   • They also have substantial Chicago/B2B experience and are headquartered in the city. www.orbitmedia.comwww.orbitmedia.com

Verdict: I'd put them at the top of the RFP.

2. Caxy Interactive — best if the website is technically complex
   • Caxy is less of a traditional marketing agency and more of a digital product/engineering partner.
   • Strong option if your redesign needs CRM/product integrations, custom functionality, complex data flows, a headless architecture, or serious scalability. Their Chicago practice emphasizes custom websites that integrate with backend systems rather than template-based marketing sites. www.caxy.com
   • They specifically work with SaaS and mid-market companies and position technology as a competitive lever. www.caxy.com

Verdict: Pick Caxy over Orbit if engineering complexity is a major part of the project.

How I'd decide

One thing I'd not do: issue an RFP that simply says "redesign our website." Ask each agency to show how they'd connect the redesign to pipeline metrics—e.g. demo conversion, qualified lead rate, organic acquisition, sales velocity, activation and attribution—and require a concrete measurement/optimization plan.

If it were my money, I'd invite Orbit and Caxy to pitch, with Orbit as the presumptive favorite. Orbit looks unusually aligned with your specific combination of growth-focused redesign + full-service execution + B2B scaleup. Their current site also reports a 96 NPS and an average 14% YoY organic-traffic lift across their last 50 projects, though those are agency-reported figures. www.orbitmedia.com

Orbit Media
Caxy Interactive

If you give me your rough budget ($50–100k, $100–250k, $250k+) and whether you're B2B SaaS, I can narrow this to 3 Chicago agencies and rank them by fit, likely cost, strengths, and red flags.

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d prioritize agencies that can do more than a “pretty website” — you want conversion strategy, UX research, positioning, experimentation, analytics, and ongoing growth optimization. The best fit depends on whether your redesign is mainly a marketing site rebuild, SaaS/product experience overhaul, or full digital transformation.

Here’s a shortlist I’d put in front of your team:

Strongest fits for a growth-focused redesign

The Office of Experience

Best fit if you need a strategic, enterprise-grade partner.

• Strong on digital experience strategy, UX, research, ecommerce/B2B experiences, and optimization.
• Good match for a scaleup moving from founder-led growth into a more mature demand engine.
• Their positioning emphasizes turning digital experiences into growth drivers rather than one-off redesigns. The Office of Experience

Digital Authority Partners

Best fit if UX, conversion, and customer journeys are the core problem.

• Strong UX/design capability with research through launch.
• Good option if your current site has messaging, funnel, or usability issues rather than just visual problems. Digital Authority Partners

Blacksmith

Best fit if the goal is pipeline growth.

• Focuses on redesigns tied to lead generation, UX improvements, SEO, and paid acquisition.
• Worth considering if your website is a major acquisition channel. Blacksmith

CueCamp

Best fit for a smaller/mid-size scaleup wanting an integrated marketing partner.

• Combines branding, UX, web design, SEO, automation, and marketing strategy. CueCamp

UX 4Sight

Best fit if you already have traffic/data and need optimization.

• More UX-performance oriented: usability testing, research, and evidence-based improvements.
• Good if you want to identify conversion blockers before rebuilding. ParallelHQ

Also worth a look

• ALL FOR™ Agency — very convenient geographically (West Loop/Fulton Market), with web redesign, UI/UX, and brand work. Better if brand elevation is as important as growth mechanics. All For Agency
• LLT Group — good for custom digital platforms and scalable web systems. LLT Group - Chicago Website Design
• Brightter — positions itself around startup and scaleup needs including web, SEO, branding, and digital foundations. Brightter

My shortlist for a Fulton Market tech scaleup

If I were running the agency search, I’d probably invite:

1. The Office of Experience — if this is a strategic growth platform rebuild.
2. Digital Authority Partners — if UX and conversion are the bottleneck.
3. Blacksmith — if the website needs to become a measurable acquisition engine.
4. CueCamp — if you want one team covering brand + demand generation.

For the RFP, I’d ask each agency for:

• 2–3 SaaS/technology redesign examples
• baseline → after metrics (conversion rate, demo requests, CAC impact, organic traffic)
• their experimentation process after launch
• who will actually do the work (senior team vs. outsourced production)
• a 90-day post-launch optimization plan

For a scaleup, I’d avoid agencies that only show award-winning visuals; the key question is whether they can tie design decisions to pipeline, activation, and revenue metrics.

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist these three first:

1. Marcel Digital — best for performance-led redesign
   • Strong fit if “growth-focused” means SEO, CRO, analytics, paid acquisition + the actual website rebuild.
   • They combine web development with SEO, paid media, CRO and measurement rather than treating the redesign as a purely creative project.
   • Their Chicago office is at 20 N Wacker.

My pick if pipeline/conversion is the primary KPI.

2. Mabbly — best overall scaleup/GTM partner
   • Probably the most interesting fit if you need to rethink positioning + messaging + UX + website + demand generation together.
   • They explicitly position themselves around growth-stage companies and integrate brand strategy, web/product, SEO, paid media and analytics. Their case studies include Workiva, where they report a 167% increase in qualified opportunities. www.mabbly.com
   • They're also relatively close to Fulton Market, at 640 N LaSalle.

My pick if the redesign needs to change how you sell the company, not just how the site looks.

3. Marcel Digital / **Solid Digital — worth comparing for a more web-centric engagement
   • Solid Digital is particularly oriented toward B2B marketing teams needing strategy → UX/UI → development → SEO/CRO → ongoing optimization.
   • I'd put it on the RFP if the core assignment is a sophisticated B2B SaaS website rather than a broader brand/GTM transformation.

The wildcard: Walker Sands

Walker Sands is arguably the strongest B2B-tech marketing specialist on the list. They have a substantial Chicago operation and specifically combine web strategy, SEO, CRO, content, digital marketing and B2B demand generation. www.walkersands.com

Their redesign work is unusually outcome-oriented: for example, they report doubling conversions for Ensono, and their broader digital programs have produced measurable pipeline/revenue results. www.walkersands.com

If I were running your agency search, I'd invite Mabbly, Walker Sands and Marcel Digital to pitch. I'd make the pitch requirement a little unusual: don't ask them for a pretty homepage concept. Give them your current funnel metrics and ask each to show how they'd diagnose the existing site, what they'd change, how they'd measure lift, and what they'd expect to improve in the first 90 days.

One caveat: Rightpoint and One North, A TEKsystems Company are excellent if you're talking about a much larger digital-transformation engagement, but I'd generally favor the smaller/more growth-oriented shops for a scaleup website redesign. One North's offering spans strategy, design, implementation, experience management and digital marketing, while Rightpoint is geared toward larger enterprise transformation. www.onenorth.com

If you tell me roughly your company size, B2B/B2C, current website stack (Webflow/WordPress/HubSpot/Next.js/etc.), and redesign budget, I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd actually hire and what I'd expect each to cost.

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d prioritize agencies that can connect positioning + UX/content + development + conversion optimization + ongoing growth, rather than a pure branding or web-design shop.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit
   • Probably my first call for your brief.
   • They specialize in B2B digital growth, with specific B2B SaaS and healthcare-tech experience.
   • Their process runs from brand/digital strategy through personas, information architecture, UX, development and ongoing optimization. They cite work with Chicago SaaS company Hireology and measurable growth results. www.soliddigital.comwww.soliddigital.com
   • Best if: the redesign needs to become a serious demand-generation/sales asset, not just a prettier website.

2. Blacksmith Agency — strongest integrated design + growth alternative
   • Explicitly positions itself around Fulton Market innovators, combining strategy, design/development and post-launch SEO/PPC. blacksmith.agencywww.visualfizz.comwww.officeofexperience.comrawcutcreative.com
   • Best if: you want a more design-forward agency but still want acquisition and growth capabilities under the same roof.

3. VisualFizz — strongest growth-marketing orientation
   • Full-service Chicago agency covering web, digital marketing, lead generation, paid search and broader growth strategy.
   • They explicitly target growth-stage organizations and position themselves as an extension of the client's team. www.visualfizz.com
   • Best if: the redesign is one component of a larger demand-gen overhaul.

4. Office of Experience — best for a bigger digital-experience transformation
   • More enterprise-scale in orientation, with digital strategy, experience platforms, websites as lead-generation engines, ecommerce and innovation/AI.
   • They have recent B2B ecommerce redesign work. www.officeofexperience.com
   • Best if: you're undertaking a substantial brand/product/digital-experience transformation rather than a conventional marketing-site redesign.

5. Rawcut Creative — interesting boutique option
   • Combines strategy, web design/development, branding, SEO and digital marketing rather than treating them as separate workstreams. rawcutcreative.com
   • Best if: you want a smaller, potentially more hands-on team.

Who I'd actually put into the RFP

I'd narrow it to Solid Digital, Blacksmith, and VisualFizz.

For a scaleup, I'd weight the selection roughly:

My default pick: Solid Digital. Their positioning is unusually close to what you described: B2B growth, SaaS, Chicago, redesign, and ongoing digital marketing rather than simply "we make websites." www.soliddigital.comwww.soliddigital.com

One thing I'd insist on in the pitch: don't let agencies sell you the redesign as the deliverable. Ask each one to show how they'd move your funnel metrics—qualified traffic → key product/solution-page engagement → demo/signup → pipeline—and how they'll instrument those metrics before launch.

If you tell me your approximate redesign budget ($50–100k, $100–250k, $250k+) and whether you're B2B SaaS or B2C, I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd interview and compare their likely strengths/weaknesses.

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d bias toward agencies that understand B2B/SaaS, can redesign the site around conversion and positioning, and can stay on for ongoing growth—not a shop that just makes the site prettier.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Marcel Digital — best overall fit
   • Particularly strong match for growth-focused redesign: UX, web development, SEO, paid media, CRO, and analytics under one roof.
   • Their work explicitly integrates UX, SEO and measurement into development, and they have B2B/enterprise experience. www.soliddigital.com
   • Pick them if: you want the redesign tied directly to pipeline, organic acquisition and conversion metrics.

2. Chicago Website Design SEO Company — performance-heavy option
   • Full-stack offering spanning redesign, SEO, paid acquisition and tracking.
   • I'd consider them if the primary KPI is lead generation/CAC, rather than a major brand transformation.

3. Digital Authority Partners — strongest broader growth partner
   • Combines strategy, creative, performance marketing, analytics/CRO, web development and even custom software.
   • A good choice if your redesign is part of a larger digital-growth transformation.

4. Team 201 — boutique B2B-tech specialist
   • Specifically oriented toward high-growth B2B technology companies, with branding, UX/UI, digital design and integrated marketing.
   • I'd put them high on the list if positioning/messaging is as important as the actual website.

5. Solid Digital — strongest B2B SaaS website specialist
   • Their Chicago practice is explicitly focused on B2B digital growth, including SaaS. They've done redesigns followed by ongoing digital marketing and support; one cited client saw substantial gains in blog traffic and target-account engagement. www.soliddigital.com
   • Pick them if: the website is the centerpiece and you want a mature B2B web partner rather than a general marketing agency.

6. Curio Digital — interesting challenger
   • Very specifically positioned around B2B website design + growth, including CRO, Webflow, messaging, content, integrations and growth marketing. Their portfolio includes B2B SaaS companies such as Fringe and Scientist.com. www.curiodigital.io
   • Worth putting into the pitch if you want a modern, conversion-first Webflow shop.

If it were my shortlist

I'd invite Marcel Digital, Solid Digital, Curio Digital, and Team 201 to pitch.

I'd structure the RFP around one question: “How will this redesign increase qualified pipeline?” Have each agency audit your current site and come back with:

• 3–5 biggest conversion leaks
• proposed information architecture
• positioning/messaging recommendations
• SEO migration strategy
• CRO/testing roadmap
• analytics/attribution plan
• 90-day post-launch growth plan
• named senior team members
• relevant SaaS references and actual results

That will separate the agencies that design websites from the ones that can actually turn your website into a growth engine.

For a Fulton Market tech scaleup specifically, Marcel Digital would be my first conversation, with Solid Digital and Curio as the two I'd most want to compare against.

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than make the site prettier: positioning → UX/conversion strategy → redesign/build → SEO/analytics → ongoing experimentation.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Marcel Digital — best overall fit
   • Strong combination of web development, UX, CRO, SEO, paid acquisition, and analytics.
   • Particularly compelling if you're B2B/SaaS and want the redesign tied to pipeline rather than just brand.
   • Their Chicago team is based at 20 N Wacker, and they emphasize revenue-aligned measurement and integrated delivery. consultusdigital.com
   • My pick if growth is the primary KPI.

2. Solid Digital — best for B2B scaleup + sophisticated redesign
   • Very good fit for a company that needs strategy, brand/web redesign, UX/UI, development, and ongoing optimization under one roof.
   • They explicitly position themselves around B2B growth and long-term digital partnerships.
   • Their Chicago office is downtown at 100 N LaSalle.
   • My pick if the website needs to evolve into a serious demand-generation platform.

3. Digital Authority Partners — best growth + UX combination
   • Chicago-based and unusually broad: UX, web redesign/development, SEO, PPC, CRO, analytics, content and marketing strategy, with software development capability too. www.digitalauthority.me
   • They report redesign outcomes including improved conversion rates and reduced bounce rates, though I'd validate those claims against references during the pitch.
   • Good choice if marketing and product/digital experience need to come together.

4. The Office of Experience — best premium experience/design option
   • More experience-design/transformation oriented than a conventional performance-marketing shop.
   • Their work spans research, UX, digital strategy, technology, ecommerce and lead-generation experiences. www.officeofexperience.com
   • I'd put them on the pitch list if you're doing a substantial repositioning, not merely a website refresh.

5. Design In Chicago — best West Loop-local full-service option
   • Literally in Fulton Market/West Loop at 159 N Sangamon, and offers branding, UX/UI, web development, digital marketing, ecommerce and even photo/video.
   • Probably worth considering if you value close local collaboration and want brand + digital execution bundled together.

One wildcard

NEWMEDIA.COM is also worth an RFP. Their Chicago operation is in the West Loop and combines strategy, UX/web redesign, development, performance marketing and ongoing acquisition/optimization. That makes the service mix quite aligned with your brief.

How I'd narrow it

For your specific description, my first three calls would be:

Marcel Digital → Solid Digital → Digital Authority Partners

I'd ask all three to respond to the same brief and require:

• 2–3 examples of scaleup/B2B/SaaS redesigns
• Their methodology for finding conversion opportunities before designing
• Who actually does the UX, strategy, copy, design and engineering
• How they establish the baseline funnel metrics
• What happens during the first 90 days after launch
• Their approach to experimentation/A-B testing
• SEO migration strategy
• CMS recommendation and ownership of the code/design system
• A concrete example where a redesign produced pipeline/revenue impact, not merely traffic or engagement

The key thing I'd avoid is hiring a conventional branding/web agency and then discovering six months later that nobody owns conversion, attribution, SEO or experimentation.

If you tell me roughly company size, B2B vs B2C, current website/CMS, and your redesign budget (e.g. $50–100k vs $100–250k+), I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd actually invite to pitch.

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d narrow the field to agencies that can do more than make the site prettier: positioning → UX/conversion strategy → redesign/build → SEO/CRO → ongoing demand generation and measurement.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit
This would be my first call. They explicitly specialize in B2B digital growth and website redesigns, including B2B SaaS, and offer strategy, UX/UI, development, digital marketing, and ongoing optimization. Their Chicago team has worked with SaaS/health-tech companies on redesigns that evolved into long-term growth programs. www.soliddigital.com

2. VisualFizz — best if demand gen is equally important
Strong choice if you want the agency to own both the new brand/site and the acquisition engine afterward. They focus heavily on established B2B companies and combine web, branding, SEO, PPC, and creative. Their published case studies include a SaaS engagement where integrated SEO/PPC/web work reportedly increased demo sales 50%. www.visualfizz.com

3. Marcel Digital — best for data/technical rigor
I'd put Marcel high on the list if your redesign has complicated analytics, SEO, CRM, CMS, or attribution requirements. They're particularly strong in web development + SEO + paid media + CRO + analytics, with explicit B2B SaaS results in their portfolio. www.marceldigital.com

4. Team 201 — best scaleup/GTM specialist
Interesting alternative if you're less interested in a traditional "web agency" and more interested in an integrated B2B tech growth partner. Their positioning is specifically around high-growth technology companies at inflection points—funding, new markets, repositioning, pipeline, and maturing GTM.

5. NEWMEDIA.COM — best full-service West Loop option
Their Chicago office is right in the West Loop, and they combine UX/UI and website redesign with SEO, digital marketing, social, branding and ongoing growth support. A reasonable contender if you want one team covering a broad digital remit.

If I were running your RFP

I'd invite Solid Digital, VisualFizz, Marcel Digital, and Team 201 to pitch.

I'd weight the pitch roughly:

The key is not to ask them for a generic website redesign proposal. Give each agency the same funnel problem—e.g. "We need to increase qualified demo pipeline from the website by X% without simply increasing traffic"—and see whether they can diagnose the business problem before prescribing a redesign.

My pick: Solid Digital if the website/product story is the primary problem; VisualFizz if you want the redesign tightly coupled to ongoing demand generation; Marcel Digital if your biggest concern is turning the site into a measurable acquisition/conversion system.

If you want, I can also narrow this to 3 agencies based on your approximate budget (e.g. $75k, $150k, $300k+) and whether you're B2B SaaS, fintech, AI, etc.

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d prioritize agencies that can connect website strategy + UX/UI + development + conversion optimization + ongoing growth, rather than a traditional “pretty website” shop.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Marcel Digital — best overall fit
   • Particularly compelling if you're B2B/SaaS.
   • Combines web development, SEO, paid media, CRO and analytics in-house.
   • Their published work includes a 49% increase in new-business inquiries and a B2B SaaS engagement that increased organic traffic and search-driven leads. www.marceldigital.com
   • They're also right in the River North/West Loop orbit, so local collaboration should be easy.
   • My pick if growth metrics matter as much as the redesign.

2. Digital Authority Partners — best strategy + execution combination
   • Integrated strategy, performance marketing, creative and analytics.
   • Good option if you want an agency that can help rethink positioning and acquisition rather than simply execute a redesign.
   • Reviews emphasize strategic involvement and implementation without excessive handoffs.

3. Solid Digital — best B2B SaaS website specialist
   • This is probably the strongest pure website-growth contender.
   • They're Chicago-founded and explicitly specialize in B2B digital growth, including SaaS. Their portfolio includes 6sense, a B2B SaaS unicorn, and Restaurant365. www.soliddigital.com
   • Particularly interesting if the core project is “reposition our site, improve conversion, and build a platform we can keep optimizing.”
   • Solid Digital

4. Orbit Media — best established SaaS/web-design option
   • Very strong fit if the redesign itself is the centerpiece.
   • They have a dedicated SaaS web-design practice and explicitly cover conversion optimization, SEO, analytics, performance and post-launch optimization. www.orbitmedia.com
   • Their published estimate for a substantial SaaS redesign is roughly 10–30+ weeks, with projects ranging from ~$10K to hundreds of thousands depending on scope. www.orbitmedia.com
   • Orbit Media

5. NEWMEDIA.COM — good integrated alternative
   • Positions itself around website design + performance marketing, with strategy, development, SEO and ongoing optimization.
   • Worth including if you want one partner accountable for both the site and acquisition.

One wildcard: The Office of Experience

The Office of Experience is worth a conversation if you're looking for something more ambitious than a conventional marketing-site redesign. They combine creative/technology, research, digital strategy and optimization, and have recent B2B work involving digital transformation and ecommerce redesign. www.officeofexperience.com

How I'd run the shortlist

For your particular brief, I'd invite Solid Digital, Marcel Digital, Orbit Media and Digital Authority Partners to pitch.

I'd make the RFP deliberately outcome-oriented:

Don't ask: “How would you redesign our website?”
Ask: “How would you increase qualified pipeline from our website by 50% over the next 12 months?”

Have each agency show:

• 2–3 B2B SaaS/tech redesigns, preferably companies at your scale
• Before/after conversion and pipeline metrics, not just screenshots
• Their proposed information architecture and conversion strategy
• How they handle positioning/messaging and ICP research
• Technical SEO and migration plan
• CMS recommendation and ownership model
• Post-launch CRO/experimentation program
• Who will actually be on your account
• Fixed redesign cost and ongoing growth-retainer cost
• What they believe shouldn't be redesigned

If I had to choose one today: I'd start with Marcel Digital for the strongest blend of redesign, B2B growth, analytics and ongoing performance. If your biggest priority is a category-leading SaaS website experience, I'd put Solid Digital first.

For a Chicago tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d put Solid Digital at the top of the shortlist, with Orbit Media as the strongest alternative. The right choice depends on whether you want a classic growth-marketing partner or a broader digital/product transformation shop.

My shortlist

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit
   • Chicago-founded, B2B-focused agency with a particularly strong SaaS/technology track record.
   • Does the whole chain: positioning/strategy → UX/UI → website development → digital marketing → ongoing optimization.
   • Their Chicago practice specifically highlights B2B SaaS and cites work with 6sense, Hireology, Restaurant365 and IMO Health. www.soliddigital.com
   • Why I'd hire them: They seem closest to what you described—growth-focused redesign rather than a pretty website project.
   • Solid Digital

2. Orbit Media Studios — best for conversion/SEO-led redesign
   • Very strong if your website is a major demand-gen and organic acquisition engine.
   • Their B2B offering combines UX, web design/development, SEO, CRO, analytics, content and ongoing optimization. www.orbitmedia.com
   • They explicitly work with SaaS companies and have documented improvements in leads, traffic and conversions. www.orbitmedia.com
   • Why I'd hire them: Probably the strongest choice if your north-star metrics are pipeline, qualified traffic and conversion rate rather than brand alone.
   • Orbit Media Studios

3. Walker Sands — best for B2B tech positioning + demand generation
   • Deep Chicago B2B pedigree and a significant technology-client focus.
   • Their web practice explicitly works backward from business outcomes and includes positioning, SEO, CRO, landing pages and redesigns; they cite technology examples including NMI and Ensono. www.walkersands.comwww.walkersands.com
   • Caveat: They're more of an integrated B2B marketing/communications agency than a pure full-service web-build shop, and their own site says they bring in development/design partners for deeper site overhauls. www.walkersands.comwww.walkersands.com
   • Walker Sands

4. Bounteous — best for a large, complex digital transformation
   • Much larger-scale capability spanning experience design, technology, data, personalization and digital platforms.
   • Their technology practice is explicitly geared toward scalable digital experiences and growth. www.bounteous.com
   • They also have Chicago experience with substantial replatform/rebrand engagements such as Mesirow. www.bounteous.com
   • Caveat: For a scaleup looking primarily for a high-velocity marketing-site redesign, I'd worry about paying for more agency than you need.

What I'd do

I'd invite Solid Digital, Orbit and Walker Sands into the RFP and make them respond to the same growth brief, rather than asking for generic redesign proposals.

I'd score them roughly:

My initial ranking: Solid Digital #1, Orbit #2, Walker Sands #3.

One important distinction: if by "redesign" you mean your marketing site, I'd stay with those three. If you mean redesigning the actual SaaS product/app experience, I'd change the shortlist substantially toward product-design/engineering firms rather than marketing agencies.

If you tell me your approximate agency budget ($100k, $250k, $500k+) and whether this is a marketing site vs. product UX, I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd actually take meetings with and give you a proposed RFP structure.

For a Chicago tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d shortlist agencies that can do more than make the site prettier—specifically positioning → UX/conversion strategy → redesign/build → SEO → analytics/CRO → ongoing growth.

My top 5

1. Solid Digital — best overall fit
   • Particularly strong for B2B SaaS and technology.
   • Their Chicago practice explicitly combines website strategy, UX, development, digital marketing, and ongoing optimization. They cite work with B2B SaaS and healthcare-tech companies, including redesigns followed by growth marketing. www.soliddigital.com
   • Why I'd start here: closest match to “growth-focused redesign” rather than a pure branding or advertising engagement.

2. Marcel Digital — best for measurement + performance
   • Strong combination of web development, SEO, paid media, CRO, analytics and attribution.
   • Their published case studies include a B2B SaaS engagement that increased organic traffic and search-driven leads, plus measurable improvements in new-business inquiries. www.marceldigital.com
   • Best if: your redesign needs to be tightly connected to pipeline, attribution and acquisition economics.

3. VisualFizz — best B2B growth/brand hybrid
   • Positions itself specifically around growth-stage organizations, with brand, web, digital marketing, paid media and lead generation under one roof. www.visualfizz.com
   • Best if: your scaleup has outgrown its positioning as much as its website and needs messaging + demand gen alongside the redesign.

4. iCrossing — best for a more sophisticated/enterprise-scale engagement
   • Conveniently located in Fulton Market, and brings together strategy, data, media, content, digital platforms and technology.
   • Best if: you're dealing with multiple products/markets, complex martech, substantial traffic, or a more enterprise-grade digital transformation.

5. Comrade Digital Marketing Agency — performance-oriented alternative
   • Combines web design with SEO, PPC/SEM and broader digital marketing.
   • Best if: acquisition and qualified-lead growth are the primary KPI, and you want the agency to own both the site and the acquisition engine.

One I'd interview specifically because you're in Fulton Market

DittaTech is literally on Fulton St and presents as a smaller, hands-on “one stop shop” spanning web design, branding, SEO, paid advertising, social and content.

I'd consider them if you want a boutique partner with high-touch execution, rather than a larger agency.

My recommendation

If I were running your agency selection, I'd put Solid Digital, Marcel Digital, and VisualFizz into the first round.

I'd weight the pitch roughly:

The key interview question I'd ask all three is: “Show us a redesign where you can prove the website itself improved qualified pipeline—not just traffic, engagement or awards.”

That should separate the genuinely growth-oriented agencies from the excellent-but-primarily-creative web shops.

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d bias toward agencies that can do more than a pretty redesign: you want UX strategy + positioning + conversion optimization + analytics + ongoing growth execution. The shortlist I’d put in front of your leadership team:

My likely top 3 for your specific profile:

1. Digital Authority Partners — if your website is becoming a product/growth engine. www.digitalauthority.me
2. Marcel Digital — if pipeline generation, attribution, SEO, and conversion metrics are the priority.
3. Solid Digital — if you need a high-quality B2B website rebuild with ongoing optimization.

For a scaleup, I’d avoid hiring a pure branding shop unless the core problem is messaging. In your RFP, I’d ask every agency for:

• 2–3 examples of B2B SaaS/tech redesigns
• baseline → post-launch metrics (conversion rate, demo requests, pipeline impact)
• their CRO/testing process after launch
• who actually does the work (senior strategists vs. outsourced production)
• CMS recommendation and ownership model

Given your Fulton Market location, I’d probably invite 3 agencies to pitch: DAP, Marcel, and Geletka+—they represent three different approaches: product/growth, performance marketing, and brand-led digital transformation.

For a Chicago tech scaleup in Fulton Market, I’d put Orbit Media, Solid Digital, and Marcel Digital at the top of the shortlist. They’re much closer to your brief than a generic creative agency.

My shortlist

1. Orbit Media Studios — best overall fit
   • Particularly strong for SaaS/technology website redesigns, UX, SEO, conversion optimization and ongoing growth.
   • Their SaaS work is explicitly built around increasing demo requests, organic traffic and conversions; they cite results including 42.6% higher conversions for Access Corp and 66% higher organic traffic for Shortlister. www.orbitmedia.com
   • They have 24+ years of experience and 1,000+ websites launched. www.orbitmedia.com
   • I'd interview them first if the redesign is primarily a growth engine rather than a brand exercise.

2. Solid Digital — best B2B/SaaS specialist
   • Chicago-founded, with a particularly strong B2B/SaaS portfolio.
   • They combine strategy → UX/UI → development → SEO → ongoing digital growth, rather than handing you off between separate specialists. www.soliddigital.com
   • Their IMO Health engagement is a particularly relevant example: full redesign followed by digital growth marketing and ongoing support, with reported 638% blog-traffic growth and 162% increase in target-account engagement. www.soliddigital.com
   • I'd pick them over Orbit if your buying journey is complex B2B and you want a longer-term digital partner.

3. Marcel Digital — best if performance/measurement is paramount
   • Strong combination of web development, SEO, paid media, CRO and analytics.
   • Their published B2B SaaS case study reports 21% organic-traffic growth and 61% growth in search-driven leads. www.marceldigital.com
   • They're particularly interesting if you want the agency accountable to pipeline rather than just website metrics.

4. VisualFizz — best if brand + growth need to move together
   • Full-service B2B shop spanning positioning, creative, web, SEO and paid media. www.visualfizz.com
   • I'd consider them if the redesign also needs a significant positioning/brand refresh.

5. Walker Sands — best for a larger B2B growth mandate
   • More of an integrated B2B marketing/PR organization, with digital, demand gen, paid media, SEO/GEO, automation and communications.
   • Worth considering if your redesign is one component of a much broader GTM transformation.

How I'd rank them for your brief

One other option I'd investigate is Mabbly. They're Chicago-based and combine positioning, GTM strategy, web/product work, SEO, paid media and creative, so they could be a good fit if you're looking for strategic repositioning alongside the redesign.

If I were running your agency search, I'd issue the RFP to Orbit, Solid Digital, Marcel Digital and Mabbly, with each asked to show: (1) a comparable SaaS redesign, (2) baseline → post-launch conversion results, (3) how they handle messaging/positioning, (4) their CRO/testing model, and (5) exactly who will be on your account.

The key is not to ask “who can build us a beautiful new site?” Ask them how they'd turn the site into a measurable acquisition and conversion system. That distinction should dramatically improve the shortlist.

Given that you’re a tech scaleup in Fulton Market and want a growth-focused redesign, I’d shortlist these three first:

1. Orbit Media Studios — best overall fit
   • Strongest match for a B2B/SaaS redesign where the website needs to become a measurable acquisition channel, not just a brand refresh.
   • They explicitly specialize in SaaS/B2B, combining strategy, UX, content, development, SEO, CRO and analytics. Their SaaS work includes reported gains such as 42.6% higher conversions and 66% higher organic traffic in specific cases. www.orbitmedia.com
   • They also do post-launch optimization rather than disappearing after launch. www.orbitmedia.com
   • My pick if your KPI is pipeline/demos/signups.

2. Solid Digital — worth pitching
   • Particularly interesting if you want a B2B-focused agency that can handle the whole redesign from strategy through UX/UI, development, SEO and ongoing growth.
   • I'd put them in the RFP alongside Orbit if you want a smaller/more focused agency relationship.

3. Codal — best if the redesign has substantial product/technical complexity
   • Very close to Fulton Market and stronger on the strategy → UX → engineering continuum than a conventional marketing agency.
   • Their positioning is explicitly around aligning technology, design and operations and turning websites into growth engines. codal.com
   • I'd favor them if your website is tightly coupled to a product, complex integrations, personalization, or a broader digital-platform rebuild.

One I'd consider for a bigger transformation

Huge Chicago is the heavyweight option. They combine brand strategy, marketing/content, product/platform design and engineering, and position themselves around end-to-end digital experiences and growth. www.hugeinc.com

I'd choose Huge if you're contemplating a major repositioning + brand + digital experience transformation, rather than primarily a demand-gen website redesign. It may also be more agency than you need for a focused scaleup website project.

My recommendation

For your situation, I'd run a 3-agency bake-off: Orbit + Solid Digital + Codal.

I'd give all three the same brief and ask them to show:

• How they'd increase qualified pipeline, not merely traffic
• Their proposed information architecture and conversion paths
• How they'd handle positioning/messaging for a technical product
• SEO migration strategy and protection of existing rankings
• CRO/experimentation plan for the first 6–12 months
• Exact senior team members who would work on the account
• Examples of B2B SaaS/tech scaleup redesigns with quantified outcomes
• Fixed redesign cost plus expected ongoing optimization budget

If I had to hire one today, I'd start with Orbit. Their SaaS specialization and combination of redesign, SEO, CRO, content, analytics and ongoing optimization is unusually aligned with what you described. www.orbitmedia.com

Orbit Media · Solid Digital · Codal · Huge

For a tech scaleup in Fulton Market looking for a full-service digital agency that can own growth-focused redesigns (not just a prettier website), I’d shortlist agencies that combine UX strategy + conversion optimization + development + analytics/growth marketing.

My picks:

For a venture-backed tech company in Fulton Market, my order of conversations would probably be:

1. Marcel Digital — if your north star is pipeline, conversion rate, analytics, and ongoing optimization. www.marceldigital.com
2. Digital Authority Partners — if you need a broader digital transformation partner. www.digitalauthority.me
3. Amplify — if the core challenge is product storytelling, UX, and customer experience. amplify.design
4. Orbit Media — if the website is mainly a marketing/sales platform.

When you interview them, I’d avoid asking “can you redesign our site?” and instead ask:

• “Show us a redesign where conversion rate or pipeline improved.”
• “How do you decide what gets tested after launch?”
• “Who owns analytics instrumentation?”
• “What happens in the first 90 days after launch?”
• “Will you challenge our positioning, or only execute our brief?”

For a scaleup, I’d favor an agency that treats the website as a growth product with experiments, attribution, and iteration—not a one-time brand project.