Key Highlights
- Different business priorities require different strategies. The featured and recognized projects span AI adoption, market repositioning, lead generation, pipeline visibility, customer acquisition, and digital transformation.
- The business objective should determine the marketing mix. Websites, SEO, paid media, automation, AI, and CRM technology only earn their place when they support a defined business outcome.
- Execution improves when channels and teams work toward the same objective. Coordinated programs connected digital marketing with buyer intent, operational priorities, and sales processes.
- Measure business outcomes, not just marketing performance. Hours saved, qualified inquiries, conversion rates, pipeline growth, enrollment, and attributed revenue show how marketing supports business performance.
- Successful AI adoption depends as much on people as technology. Forward Bank's progress came from governance, training, use-case identification, internal champions, and ongoing guidance.
- Long-term partnerships help marketing evolve as the business changes. Across the featured winners and runners-up, the strongest results came from reassessing priorities, refining execution, and investing where the greatest opportunities emerged.
A refreshed website, a new ad campaign, or a stronger search strategy can all play a role in growth. Their value depends on whether they solve the business problem at hand.
A capable marketing partner first needs to understand where the business is headed, what stands in the way, and how progress will be measured. Only then should the conversation turn to channels and tactics.
WSI's People's Choice Awards recognize client work grounded in that same discipline. The recognition is meaningful, but the real value lies in the work itself: the challenge, the strategic response, and the results created for the client.
This year’s winning client stories span banking, construction, and luxury retail. Their challenges range from responsible AI adoption to entering a new market and reaching higher-value buyers. Each required a different response.
Forward Bank: Responsible AI Adoption in a Regulated Industry
Forward Bank is a customer-owned community bank offering personal, business, and agricultural banking, along with insurance and investment services.
The Challenge: Create capacity without compromising control
The team was ready to explore AI, but day-to-day capacity was the constraint. Research, analysis, content development, and operational tasks still required significant manual effort, slowing progress on ideas the bank already wanted to pursue.
Any new tool also had to fit the realities of financial services, where privacy, cybersecurity, and compliance are fundamental requirements.
The Approach: Move from AI interest to responsible adoption
WSI Consultant Eric Cook and WSI’s AI Strategy team turned Forward Bank’s interest in AI into a structured adoption program. Eric’s 15-year background in community banking brought firsthand industry knowledge to the engagement.
The work included:
- Governance and policy guidance to support responsible use
- Hands-on employee training to build usable AI skills
- Departmental Quick Win analyses to identify high-value use cases
- Monthly innovation sessions with Forward Bank’s internal AI champions
Through these sessions, the bank identified where AI could reduce manual effort, improve decision-making, and free employees to focus on higher-value tasks. The process also built internal confidence and helped teams apply AI within their day-to-day work.
The Result: Measurable time savings across the business
Forward Bank began documenting AI’s contribution across several departments:
- Roughly 276 hours saved from 4,677 recorded Copilot actions in one documented reporting period
- An estimated 400 to 1,300 hours in potential annual compliance savings if the identified enhancements are fully implemented
- About 140 hours saved annually in marketing research and analysis
- About 144 hours saved annually in content brainstorming, creation, and refinement
- Approximately 100 hours of project time saved during a website redesign
Alongside the time savings, Forward Bank built greater internal confidence in using AI across the business. Teams also began developing their own agents and using AI to support analysis, brainstorming, and strategic planning.
“What we have built together is a true thought partnership.”
— Sheri Dick, COO, Forward Bank
Holly Construction: Repositioning for a New Growth Opportunity
Holly Construction has served Sonoma and Marin Counties for more than 35 years, building luxury custom homes, whole-house remodels, and commercial projects. In 2025, after nine years as a WSI client, the company shifted its project mix away from winery and tasting room work and toward education and government contracts.
The Challenge: Align the digital presence with a changing market
The company's digital presence still reflected its previous market priorities. Service pages, keyword targets, blog content, and social media all needed to support the new direction.
The revised digital program had to attract education and government buyers while continuing to support residential and commercial opportunities.
The Approach: Realign the strategy around a new market
WSI Consultant Ryan Kelly realigned Holly's digital strategy across its core marketing channels.
The work included:
- A dedicated education and government services page to support the new market focus
- Updated internal linking and new FAQs across the website
- Twice-monthly Google Business Profile optimization to strengthen local visibility
- Thirty-six blog posts across Holly's service categories, with greater emphasis on institutional work
- Social content highlighting active projects, employees, and industry partnerships to give prospective clients a clearer picture of Holly's evolving capabilities
Through these coordinated updates, every major digital channel began supporting the company's new business direction rather than its previous market focus.
The Result: Stronger demand and a record year
Performance improved across Holly's highest-value channels:
- Tracked phone calls increased 77%, from 583 to 1,033
- First-time callers more than doubled
- Organic sessions grew 76%, reaching 34,027
- Form submissions increased 45%
- Social-driven visits to the contact page increased 900%
During the same period, Holly recorded the strongest revenue year in its 35-year history.
“With WSI we have been able to measure and track results, which is huge for me.”
— Justin Hunter, President, Holly Construction
Carrocel Interiors: Reaching the Right Luxury Buyers
Carrocel Interiors is a Toronto luxury furniture showroom specializing in high-end, vintage, and custom pieces for affluent homeowners and interior designers. The company has operated for more than 40 years, but by early 2025, its website no longer reflected the quality of the showroom or the expectations of its buyers.
The Challenge: Attract buyers who fit the brand
Carrocel's digital presence needed to reach people searching for premium furniture, custom pieces, and design expertise before they entered the showroom.
The goal was to improve visibility with the right audience while creating a digital experience that reflected the company's luxury positioning.
The Approach: Align the website and search strategy with buyer intent
WSI Consultant Peter Jasniewski led a website redesign and brand refresh to better align Carrocel's digital presence with how luxury buyers research and shop.
The work included:
- A clearer website structure and a smoother path through Carrocel's products and services
- SEO focused on high-intent searches for luxury, vintage, and custom furniture
- Paid search and Google Business Profile optimization to reach buyers already showing purchase intent
- Content updates to strengthen search visibility and reinforce the brand's expertise
- Monitoring emerging discovery channels, including referrals from AI search tools
Together, these improvements made it easier for prospective buyers to discover Carrocel, evaluate its expertise, and connect with the showroom.
The Result: Greater visibility with the right buyers
Performance improved across the channels most closely tied to qualified demand:
- Google Search impressions increased 437%, reaching 3.1 million
- Organic clicks grew 171%
- #1 ranking for "art deco furniture"
- Paid conversions increased 299%
- Cost per conversion decreased 40%
- 1,339 inbound calls, including 830 from first-time callers
- 41 custom furniture inquiries
- 942 referral sessions from ChatGPT, an increase of 2,255%
The increase in ChatGPT referrals also gave Carrocel another channel to monitor as AI-assisted search becomes part of how buyers research premium products.
“They always have new ideas to improve our online presence.”
— Cameron Cabral, Carrocel Interiors
More Client Results Recognized by the WSI Network
The three winners weren't the only businesses recognized. Six runners-up demonstrated how focused digital strategies helped organizations across trades, legal services, education, technology, healthcare, and travel solve very different business challenges.
Power Surge Electric: Building a lead engine from the ground up
When Power Surge Electric launched in Ottawa without an established brand, digital presence, or consistent source of leads, the WSI eStrategies team helped build the company's digital foundation and implement an integrated lead generation strategy. Led by WSI Consultant Mark Jamieson, the team developed a coordinated lead generation program that generated 733 tracked conversions within eight months and established a predictable pipeline of new business.
Anderson Boback & Marshall: Turning digital visibility into new business
Working with WSI Consultant Elaine Mikesell, the family law firm rebuilt its digital presence and introduced coordinated search, reputation management, and lead tracking. Internet-sourced revenue increased 327%, while the firm's Google rating improved from 2.8 to 4.7 stars.
International Business University: Connecting marketing to enrollment
Working with WSI Consultant Domenic Ali, the university connected marketing, admissions, and enrollment data to improve attribution and decision-making. Winter 2026 domestic enrollment grew 38%, while enrollment in its Bachelor of Commerce program increased 200%.
Seguridata: Bringing clarity to a complex B2B sales pipeline
With guidance from WSI Consultant Carlos Guzman, Seguridata replaced spreadsheet-based sales management with HubSpot, automated workflows, and clearer pipeline processes. The company now manages more than 1,200 active opportunities with greater visibility and control.
Salud Auditiva: Expanding lead generation beyond a single channel
WSI Consultant Claudio Patino Malo helped Salud Auditiva diversify its digital strategy by strengthening the website, Google Ads, SEO, and performance tracking. Website leads increased eightfold, while Google Ads conversion rates improved from 0.4% to 2.99%.
Costa Rica DMC: Turning the website into a source of new business
To generate more opportunities beyond referrals, Costa Rica DMC worked with WSI Consultant Luis Rodriguez to refine its audience strategy and improve its website, search marketing, automation, and reporting. The new strategy transformed the website into a consistent source of qualified business opportunities, generating an estimated tenfold return on the company's digital marketing investment.
Recognition Beyond the People’s Choice Awards
The People’s Choice Awards recognize strong client work from across the WSI network. That recognition is reinforced by programs such as the WMA WebAwards, where WSI Consultants have also been recognized for website design and development across a range of industries.
The variety of award-winning work reflects the breadth of challenges WSI helps clients solve. Consultants support organizations in strengthening their digital foundations, improving visibility, generating leads, and creating better customer experiences. Because every business starts from a different place, every engagement begins with understanding the challenge before recommending the solution.
What Should a Business Look for in a Marketing Agency?
Forward Bank, Holly Construction, and Carrocel Interiors each faced a different growth challenge. One needed a practical path to AI adoption. Another was repositioning for a new market. The third wanted to reach more high-value buyers.
In every case, the work began with understanding the business objective before selecting the right mix of expertise, technology, and marketing channels.
That gives you a useful standard when choosing a marketing or AI partner. Look for a partner who asks the right questions, adapts as your priorities evolve, and measures success against business outcomes—not marketing activity alone.
Your next step may involve lead generation, AI adoption, a stronger website, or a sharper market position. Start by identifying the challenge that's limiting progress.
When you're ready, connect with a WSI Consultant to discuss your goals, priorities, and the opportunities that can have the greatest business impact.
