Small on purpose. Not on the way to big.
Sallis Digital is a digital marketing studio in Sydney working with owner-operated businesses — the kind where the person who answers the phone is also the person doing the job. We’re not building towards an agency with a boardroom. Staying small is the product.
Why we exist
Small businesses get sold the wrong thing
A plumber or a physio or a plasterer calls an agency and gets quoted a monthly retainer with a number of “hours” attached to it. Six months later they’ve had four reports, a dashboard login they’ve never used, and no clear answer to the only question they asked: is the phone ringing more than it was?
It usually isn’t anyone’s fault. The agency model needs volume, volume needs account managers, account managers need something to report, and the reporting becomes the product. Meanwhile the website still loads in four seconds and the Google listing still has last year’s hours on it.
We built this the other way round. Fixed prices so you’re not buying hours. No lock-in so we have to be worth keeping. And one number at the centre of everything — what a lead costs you — because it’s the only one that survives contact with your bank account.
How we work
Six things we won’t move on
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01
Fixed price, always
You approve a number before anything starts. If the job turns out bigger, we tell you what the extra costs and you decide. Nobody bills you for hours you can’t verify.
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02
You own everything
Domain, hosting, website, content, code, ad account, analytics. All in your name, all with your logins. If you leave, you take the lot and nothing stops working.
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03
Your money goes to Google
Ad spend is billed straight to your card in your own account. We never mark it up, never hold it, and never make more when you spend more.
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04
No lock-in
Projects end when they’re delivered. Retainers run month to month with 30 days notice. Keeping you should be our job, not your contract’s.
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05
We’ll talk you out of it
If your market is too expensive for your budget, or a service won’t pay for itself yet, you’ll hear that before you spend. Turning down work we can’t justify is cheaper than refunding it.
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06
One number, plainly
Cost per lead, every month, on one page you can read in two minutes. Not a dashboard you’ll never open. If it’s bad news you get that too.
Who you deal with
The person you brief is the person doing the work
There’s no account manager between you and the work. You explain your business once, to the person who’ll be writing your pages and building your campaigns, and that same person is who you call when something needs changing.
Nothing goes offshore. Nothing gets handed to a junior for practice. If a job needs a specialist we don’t have — a photographer, a developer for something unusual, someone to run your social accounts properly — we say so and point you at one, rather than quietly subcontract it and mark it up.
The trade-off is real and worth saying out loud: we’re not a 24-hour operation, we don’t take on thirty clients at once, and when we’re full we’re full. You get a date instead of a yes.
What that means in practice
- You never explain your business twice
- Changes get made by the person who built the thing
- Nothing is lost being passed between people
- If we say we’ll do it, there’s nobody else to blame
- When we’re at capacity you get told, not queued
Test it
Ring the number. No switchboard, no reception, no contact form in between — it goes to the person who’d be writing your pages. That’s the whole claim on this page, and it takes about thirty seconds to check.
Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm AEST
Based in Sydney. Most clients are here, but everything runs over calls, email and shared links, so we work with small businesses anywhere in Australia.
Fit
We’re not right for everyone
Most of the bad outcomes in this industry start with someone taking a job they shouldn’t have. Here’s where we’re useful and where we’re not, so you can work it out before you call.
A good fit if…
- You make money from phone calls, quotes and enquiries
- You’re the owner, or you can make the decision in one conversation
- You want to know what things cost before you commit to them
- You’d rather hear “that won’t work” than be sold something
- You can get us photos, hours and a straight answer about what you do
- You’re willing to give search a few months while ads carry the load
Probably not if…
- You run an online store — ecommerce isn’t what we’re set up for
- You want someone running your social accounts day to day
- You need a brand campaign, a media buying team or TV
- You want guaranteed rankings, or a promise about what ChatGPT will say
- Decisions need to go through three people and a committee
- You want the cheapest quote — we won’t be it
If any of those are you, say so on the first call and we’ll point you somewhere better instead of wasting a month finding out.
About FAQ
Fair enough questions
Service questions are on the services page, money questions on the pricing page, and the general ones on the home page.
Who will I actually be dealing with?
The person who writes your pages and builds your campaigns. There is no account manager in between, which means you never explain something twice and nothing gets lost being passed along.
Do you do the work yourselves or outsource it?
We do it. Nothing is sent offshore and nothing is handed to a junior to practise on. If a job needs a specialist we do not have, we say so and point you at one rather than quietly subcontract it.
How many clients do you take on at once?
Few enough that we know what is happening on each of them without opening a spreadsheet. When we are full we say so and give you a date rather than take the work and do it badly.
Why would I use you instead of a bigger agency?
You would not, if you need a brand campaign, a media buying team or twenty people in a room. For a local business that wants more phone calls, a big agency charges for layers you do not benefit from, and you end up with their most junior person anyway.
Do we have to meet in person?
No. Everything runs over calls, email and shared links, which is how we can work with businesses outside Sydney. If you are local and would rather sit down once at the start, we will.
What if I am not happy with the work?
Every build includes a round of changes, and if something is wrong rather than merely different from what you pictured, we fix it. Tell us early and plainly; the worst outcome for both of us is you sitting on it quietly.
Free audit
See if we’re a fit
The free audit is also how we work out whether we should be working together. We’ll review your website, Google Business Profile and any ads you’re running, and tell you what’s worth fixing first — even if the honest answer is that you don’t need us yet.