Get found
People searching for what you sell need to land on you, whether they ask Google, Maps or an AI assistant.
- Local SEO
- Google Maps
- Content
- AI visibility
Palm Desert · Coachella Valley since 2011
Your marketing department. Without hiring one.
Marketing, technology and practical AI from one local team. We handle getting you found, looking credible, capturing the lead and following up, so you can stay on the part of the business only you can do.
Your business doesn't need more random marketing. It needs a system.
A new website one year. A social push the next. Somebody's cousin ran ads for a while. Each piece was fine on its own and none of them talked to each other, so nobody could tell you which one brought in a customer. That is where most local businesses sit, and it is not a budget problem. It is a system problem.
The Thinglet Growth Engine
What does a marketing agency actually do every month?
It runs five stages, in order, every month: get found, get trusted, get the lead, get the customer, get them back. Every service we sell maps to one of those five. If a job doesn't move a customer from one stage to the next, we don't recommend it and we don't bill for it.
Get trusted
Being found is worth nothing if the site, the reviews or the photos make a buyer hesitate for even a second.
- Website
- Reviews
- Brand
- Proof
Get the lead
Turning a visitor into a call, a form or a booking, then tracking which channel actually produced it.
- Conversion
- Landing pages
- Offers
- Tracking
Get the customer
Speed closes. The business that answers first usually wins the job, and most local businesses answer hours late.
- Fast response
- Follow-up
- Automation
- Booking
Get them back
The cheapest customer you will ever get is one who already paid you once and liked it.
- Reviews
- Referrals
- Remarketing
Why Thinglet
Why hire a local marketing agency instead of a national one?
Because one team owns the outcome and that team is in the market you sell in. A national shop hands you a channel specialist and a portal. Here the same people build the site, run the server, place the advertising and answer the phone, so nothing falls into the gap between vendors and nobody can point at somebody else when the leads stop.
We're in the valley
A Palm Desert office, not an offshore shop or a self-serve app. We know what season does to a local business here because we live it too.
Marketing, tech and AI
Most agencies stop where the code starts. We build the site, run the server, wire the automation and market the result, so nothing falls into the gap between vendors.
One number to call
No pointing between the web guy, the SEO guy and the ad rep. One team, one plan, one monthly conversation about what actually moved.
We've run businesses too
Patrick Albert has met a payroll, run a restaurant floor and shipped software. The advice here comes from operating, not from a template.
What we do
Organised by what you're trying to fix.
The same work most agencies list as thirty services, grouped by the problem it solves. If you would rather see it by industry, start here.
Nobody can find us
Stages 1 and 2- Local SEO and search visibility
- Google Business Profile and Maps
- AI search visibility
- Content and local authority pages
Our site doesn't sell
Stages 2 and 3- Website design and development
- Conversion and speed work
- Landing pages and offers
- Analytics and call tracking
We need more leads now
Stage 3- Google and Meta advertising
- Streaming TV, radio and billboards
- Social media and short-form video
- Seasonal campaign planning
Leads come in and die
Stages 4 and 5- AI-assisted lead response
- Follow-up sequences and CRM setup
- Review generation and reputation
- Email, retention and referrals
Four levels
Start where you actually are.
Foundation
For businesses that need the fundamentals fixed first.
- Website and technical cleanup
- Google Business Profile
- Local SEO basics
- Analytics and tracking
- Reputation foundation
- Conversion improvements
Growth
For businesses actively trying to increase leads.
- Everything in Foundation
- Ongoing SEO and content
- Social support and email
- Conversion optimisation
- Monthly strategy
- Reporting you can read
Dominate
For businesses that want us running the whole department.
- Everything in Growth
- Paid advertising
- Advanced content and video
- Lead follow-up
- AI and automation
- Priority support
Enterprise
For larger or multi-location organisations.
- Custom scope and reporting
- Multi-location campaigns
- System integrations
- Dedicated planning cycle
Practical AI
How can a small business actually use AI in marketing?
For speed and volume, not for strategy. It is worth knowing how few of your competitors have actually done it: the U.S. Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey found overall business AI use running at 17 to 20 percent between December 2025 and May 2026, and under 20 percent among firms with four or fewer employees, while 37 percent of firms with 250 or more employees were using it. The gap between those two numbers is the opportunity. We build with AI every day and we will tell you plainly where it doesn't help. Here is where it earns its keep for a local business.
Answering in under a minute
A form filled at 9pm gets an intelligent reply immediately instead of a callback two days later, once the customer has already booked someone else.
Sorting the inbox
Real inquiries separated from spam and tire-kickers, tagged by urgency and job type before anyone on your side opens them.
Content at volume
One substantial piece a week turned into an article, a video, three shorts, social posts and a newsletter, then edited by a human before it goes out.
Getting cited by AI
When a customer asks an AI assistant for a recommendation, the businesses with clear, structured, genuinely useful pages are the ones it names. That work sits in local SEO.
Going further with AI
Consulting, training and custom AI systems live under our sister brand, Thinglet A.I., which is where the deeper implementation work happens.
Where we work
The whole valley, city by city.
Marketing a Palm Springs restaurant is not the same job as marketing an Indio contractor. Different customers, different seasons, different search behaviour.
Palm DesertHome office since 2011
Palm SpringsTourism and hospitality
Rancho MirageMedical and professional
Indian WellsResort and events
La QuintaReal estate and home services
IndioTrades, gaming and events
Cathedral CityIndustrial and gaming
CoachellaAgriculture and bilingual market
Desert Hot SpringsCannabis and industrial
Across the valleyMulti-location businesses
Straight answers
Questions owners actually ask us.
What does an outsourced marketing department actually do? +
It takes ownership of the whole growth system rather than one task. The website, search visibility, Google Business Profile, reviews, content, advertising, lead capture and follow-up all sit with one accountable team. You get the capability of an internal department without the payroll, the hiring, the software licences or the management time.
When should a small business hire an agency instead of doing it in house? +
Usually when the owner is the bottleneck. If marketing only happens when the schedule allows, if leads arrive but nobody follows up fast enough, or if you need four different skills and cannot justify four hires, an outside team costs less than what that inconsistency is quietly costing you.
How much should a Palm Desert business spend on marketing? +
The two benchmark surveys land either side of 8 percent. Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey put marketing budgets at 7.8 percent of company revenue, up from 7.7 percent in 2025. The CMO Survey, run by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business with Deloitte and the American Marketing Association, reported 9.0 percent. The gap is not an error: Gartner samples mostly billion-dollar companies while The CMO Survey covers a broader mix including smaller firms, which is why the smaller number belongs to the bigger businesses. For a local business here the bigger factor is seasonality. Budget spent building visibility ahead of season generally does more than budget spent reacting once season has already started.
Can AI replace a marketing team? +
No, but it changes what a small team can cover. AI is genuinely good at speed and volume: answering an inquiry in under a minute, drafting first versions, sorting leads, summarising data. It still needs someone who knows your business to point it at the right problem and check the work before a customer sees it.
What is the Thinglet Growth Score? +
It is a free assessment of the nine areas that decide whether a local business gets found and converts: website and conversion, Google Business Profile and Maps, local SEO, reputation, social and content, advertising, lead capture and follow-up, AI and automation, and competitor opportunities. It runs live technical checks on your website and combines them with what you tell us about how the business actually operates. You get the findings whether you hire us or not.
Do we have to sign a long contract? +
No. Most clients start at one level and move up once they see the leads change. If the work isn't producing, a long contract only protects us, and that isn't a relationship worth having.
Reviewed and updated . Figures cited from the U.S. Census Bureau and Gartner.
Find out what your marketing is costing you.
The Growth Score checks your website live, then looks at your Google presence, reputation, content, advertising and follow-up. Free, no obligation, and you get the findings whether you hire us or not.
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