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McKinney Creative Ventures
McKinney Creative Ventures

Everything between
getting found and getting paid.

Sam McKinney  ·  Woodbury, Minnesota
Lunch & Learn Networking Group
QR code to connect with Sam McKinneyConnect with me
Start with why

Every business I touch is somebody's livelihood.

That is not a slogan. It is the reason I left a corporate job. My wife Ashley and our boys, TJ and Oliver, are why I do this. The drums are how I stay sane. The eight animals genuinely run the house. When you hire me you are betting your livelihood on me, and I am betting mine right back.

Ashley, TJ, Oliver and me
Where I go to shut my brain off
Carmella, our adult Frenchie
TJ and Oliver
Uhtred, who is in charge
Still gigging around the Twin Cities
TJ and Oliver, sparkler duty
Thor and Loki, our chihuahuas
Ashley and me
Starting the next one early
Alaia, our cocker spaniel
Camping season
The kit, lit up
Jinu and Rumi, two of the puppies
Long summer evening
Woodbury, Minnesota Dad Drummer Eight animals Tap any photo to enlarge 🐾 Frenchie puppies Jinu, Rumi & Golden are looking for their furever homes. Ask me!
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First, who am I

I am the whole marketing team, on purpose.

I am Sam McKinney, owner of McKinney Creative Ventures, based right here in Woodbury. I left the corporate world to build something local and hands on.

Today I design, build, and run the websites and marketing for more than twenty local businesses across the East Metro, the St. Croix Valley, and western Wisconsin. One person, accountable for the whole thing.

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What I actually do

Five services. One connected system.

Get found
SEO & Ads
Show up when someone is looking, on Google, the map, and in AI answers.
→
Convert
Website
A fast, modern site built to turn visitors into booked jobs.
→
Follow up
CRM
Automatic response and follow up so no lead slips away.
→
Get paid
Brand & Copy
The look and the words that make people trust and buy.

Most businesses buy these one at a time from four different vendors. I build them to work together.

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Real work, real local businesses

Ten of the sites I have built and still run.

AJ Alberts Plumbing website
AJ Alberts PlumbingPlumbing & water · Woodbury
Bodywerks Auto Body website
Bodywerks Auto BodyCollision repair · Elko New Market
Enhance PT website
Enhance PTPhysical therapy · Stillwater
Chris Marti Window Cleaning website
Chris Marti Window CleaningWindow cleaning · Twin Cities
Andrew the Mortgage Guy website
Andrew the Mortgage GuyMortgage · Hudson
Schneider Genealogy website
Schneider GenealogyResearch · Minneapolis
High Country Portable Toilets website
High Country Portable ToiletsSanitation · SW Montana
Concrete and Foundation Solutions website
Concrete & Foundation SolutionsFoundation repair · Woodbury
Lost Creek Barns website
Lost Creek BarnsWedding venue · Beldenville
Alma Flor Ada Academy website
Alma Flor Ada AcademySpanish immersion · Woodbury
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Getting found · part one

How people find you has completely changed.

Nobody just types "plumber near me" anymore. They ask full questions, and more and more, they ask ChatGPT and Google's own AI: "who is the best plumber near Woodbury with good reviews and fair pricing?"

And those tools do not give back a list of ten.
They give back one answer. There is no page two.
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Getting found · part two

SEO, GEO & AEO: I make you the answer.

  • ✓ Classic Google search and the local map pack
  • ✓ The AI answers: ChatGPT, Google AI, Perplexity
  • ✓ A Google profile and reviews that actually work
  • ✓ Real local content and a clean technical foundation
Search is not a one time fix.

It compounds. The businesses that win are the ones that show up consistently, month after month. This is the work I do on retainer, and it is the closest thing there is to a lead source you own.

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Digital advertising · part one

When you need leads now, not next quarter.

SEO builds over time. Ads turn the tap on today.

GOOGLE SEARCH ADS
Top of the page, on demand.
Be the first result the moment someone searches for exactly what you sell.
LOCAL SERVICES ADS
Google Guaranteed. Pay per lead.
Show up above everyone with the green badge, and pay for real leads, not clicks.
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Digital advertising · part two

Ads only work if everything behind them works.

Sending paid traffic to a weak website is lighting money on fire. I do not just run ads. I run them into a site built to convert, backed by follow up that answers fast.

The ad
Right person, right moment, tracked to the dollar.
→
The site
Built to turn that click into a call or a booking.
→
The follow up
Instant response so the lead never goes cold.
→
The booked job
Managed and reported every month.
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The whole point

Each piece makes the others worth more.

Great ads waste money on a bad site. A beautiful site is invisible without SEO. Leads die without follow up. Hire four vendors for this and they blame each other when it does not work.

I run the entire chain, so it actually works together, and one person owns the result.
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Why one person, on purpose
"A world-class website designed by a world-class one-man band agency."
— Steve Grohn, owner of AJ Alberts Plumbing, on the East Side Enterprise podcast

No handoffs. No account managers. No junior doing the actual work. You call me, and I am the one who built it and runs it.

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Is any of this you

We should probably talk if…

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Let's talk

Free 30-minute call.
No pitch. Just a clear plan.

I will look at what is working, what is leaking, and exactly what I would do about it. Find me right here in the room, or reach out anytime.

🌐  mckinneycv.com
📞  651-661-3551
✉  contact@mckinneycv.com
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