Marketing Agency in Billings, Montana
A brand-led marketing agency in Billings, Montana. Brand strategy first, marketing second. Twenty years of strategic work, delivered locally.
Let’s Canoe is a brand-led marketing agency in Billings, Montana, co-founded by Brian and Anna Murnion. We lead with brand strategy as a discipline (not a deliverable), and we treat marketing as the consequence of strategy work. Twenty years of strategic work run through every engagement we take on. The senior person on your brand work is the senior person on your brand work, start to finish.
Why Billings businesses bring us in
Most Billings businesses already have the surface work. Logos. Websites that got redesigned three years ago. Campaigns that run on schedule. And yet customers describe the company in three different ways. Sales materials don’t quite match the website. A new competitor walked in and took the boutique account that was supposed to be the anchor.
That’s the gap we work in. The work isn’t about colors, fonts, or campaigns. The work is one layer up. What does this brand actually stand for, and what does that mean for the next decision?
We work with mid-sized companies in healthcare, hospitality, financial services, professional services, and nonprofits. Most of them have been in business five years or more, employ 25 to 300 people, and have grown to a point where leadership knows the next phase of growth requires more than marketing tactics. They need strategic clarity. That’s what we deliver.
Brand strategy first, then the marketing
Most agencies sell tactics. The Let’s Canoe Framework is the brand strategy work we run first, before any marketing engagement starts. Five phases that land position, ICP, message, and offer. Without that work, you pay more for ads that could belong to any of your competitors. With it, the marketing has something specific to argue and someone specific to argue it to.
We exist this way on purpose. The handoff from strategy into marketing is what we run better than firms that only sell one side of the equation. If you are already running marketing without a real brand argument behind it, you are the most common starter conversation for us.
What we do for Billings businesses
Brand strategy first. Marketing follows from there.
Strategy & Audit.
Brand strategy, audits, and full engagements.
Senior-led, Framework-based. The work when you need clarity.
See our brand strategy work →
Marketing Services.
When the brand strategy is in place.
SEO, PPC, web design, content, conversion rate optimization, and outsourced marketing team support. Project or retainer based.
See our marketing services →
Studios.
Production, video, and film.
Brand films, commercials, documentaries, and social video. Senior-led from concept to delivery.
See our video production →
Fractional CMO.
Senior marketing leadership.
Marketing leadership on a monthly partnership basis. Mostly remote with quarterly on-site presence in the client’s market.
See our Fractional CMO offering →
Looking for a single Billings service?
Billings SEO Services.
Billings Web Design.
See Billings Web Design Services.
Local clients we’ve worked with
We’ve been fortunate to work with some of the businesses that shape Billings.
See our work for examples.
The Northern Hotel
Downtown Billings’ century-old anchor hotel. Brand strategy, brand storytelling, website design, website security and management, local SEO, digital marketing, PPC, and ongoing marketing campaigns.
Billings Symphony Orchestra
Season identity work and ongoing brand communication for one of Montana’s most established cultural organizations.
Yellowstone Art Museum
60th anniversary brand work, annual art auction video campaigns, brand strategy, website maintenance, conversion rate optimization, and local SEO for the regional art museum.
Kibler & Kirch
Website development, brand storytelling, video production, local SEO, and ongoing website hosting and security.
Altana Federal Credit Union
Brand identity, market research, brand storytelling, SEO, and PPC campaigns for the credit union serving their multi-state region.
The industries we know in Billings
Billings is small enough that the marketing person at one of the local banks went to high school with somebody who runs a department at the hospital. They both know the family that owns the auction yard. The industries don’t run on parallel tracks here. They sit at the same Rotary table and bump into each other at the Western, the Northern, and on Friday afternoon coffee.
Healthcare runs on Billings Clinic and St. Vincent’s (now Intermountain), with the regional clinics filling in around them. Agriculture pulls from the wider Yellowstone region, from the cattle moving through the auction yards to the wheat heading east on the rail. The energy sector lives east of town, refineries and the service businesses that orbit them. Hospitality runs off Yellowstone, the Rims, the Beartooth, and the tourist routes that bring people through every summer. The nonprofits and cultural institutions carry the city’s weight on a donor base small enough that everyone knows everyone.
We work with companies and organizations across all of those sectors. Most are mid-sized, family-owned or member-owned, often in a moment of growth, succession, or repositioning. If your business doesn’t fit one of those neat categories, the strategic work usually translates anyway. Worth a conversation with Brian.
Where we are
Our office is in downtown Billings, Montana. Walking distance to the Northern Hotel, the Babcock Theatre, and the handful of restaurants that get the lunch crowd right.
Billings has been called the Magic City since the 1880s, when the railroad town grew so fast it seemed to appear out of nothing. The nickname has held up. Energy, healthcare, agriculture, and the Yellowstone region all run through the city. The Rimrocks are visible from most of downtown. The Beartooth Highway is a couple hours south. We work in person with Billings clients whenever it makes sense, and we know the difference between Montana Avenue and Montana State.
Local FAQs
Ready to start the conversation?
Free 30-minute fit call with Brian Murnion, our co-founder and Chief Strategist.
He’ll listen, ask questions, and tell you whether we’re a good match. If we’re not, he’ll say so directly.
406-998-7901
team@letscanoe.com
119 N 29th St
Billings, MT 59101
BRAND STRATEGY >
marketing services
Graphic Design
search engine optimization
Paid ads & PPC
CRO & Website Optimization
lC STUDIOS >
ABOUT LET’S CANOE
Our Work
about Us
Contact Us
Marketing Team For Hire
as seen in
Let’s Canoe is a brand-led marketing agency in Billings, Montana. We start with brand strategy and build the marketing around it. The Let’s Canoe Framework™ guides every engagement we run.
