I’m a sucker for paradigm shifts that reveal your “X” is really a “Y” situation.
Bob Lalasz at Science + Story wrote an excellent article recently about Your Research Project is Really a Communications Project.
My favorite historical “x is really a y” example is railroad companies in the early 20th century who thought they were in the “railroad” business, but really they were in the transportation business. Not making that shift eventually cost them their business.
For a current example, most casual observers think that the National Football League (NFL) is in the sports-football business, but the NFL knows they are really in the entertainment business. Major university athletic departments have figured this out too, and have turned their student-athletes into massive revenue-generating entertainment factories.
I think the same can be said of most website design and development agencies. They think they are in the website business, but really they are in the digital communications business. Or to take it a step farther, the marketing business.
If you are looking to design/redesign your company’s website, make sure that they and you understand that your website is really a communications and marketing tool first, everything else second. To paraphrase Bob Lalasz, your website project seeking impact is really a communications project seeking dialogue and a marketing project generating leads.