In an exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Andreas Deligeorge, founder of Omnivision Design, shares his journey of building a thriving digital marketing business from the ground up. Since 2005, Andreas has been at the forefront of Montreal’s digital marketing industry, specializing in web design, SEO, and Google Ads. With nearly two decades of experience, he combines creative vision and technical expertise to help businesses enhance their online presence and drive measurable growth.
Andreas opens up about the challenges he faced transitioning from part-time to full-time entrepreneurship, the innovative use of AI in lead generation and content creation, and the importance of 24/7 live chat in delivering exceptional customer experiences. He also provides candid advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on navigating the realities of starting a business, emphasizing resilience, passion, and adaptability.
Looking ahead, Andreas reveals exciting growth plans for Omnivision Design, including multilingual live chat solutions and AI-powered LinkedIn B2B lead generation services, positioning the company as a leader in customer-focused digital solutions.
Andreas Deligeorge, a prominent figure in Montreal’s digital marketing scene, has been revolutionizing the industry since 2005. As the driving force behind Omnivision Design, Andreas specializes in Web Design, SEO, and Google Ads, combining technical expertise with creative vision to deliver impactful digital solutions. With nearly two decades of experience, he is committed to helping businesses enhance their online presence and achieve measurable growth in a competitive marketplace. His dedication to innovation and strategic thinking positions him as a trusted leader in the field of digital marketing.
How did your entrepreneurial journey begin, and what inspired you to start a business in the competitive digital marketing space?
When I started off, the digital marketing landscape was a lot less competitive; in fact, the term “digital marketing” didn’t even exist. There were very few companies that had wrapped themselves around Google’s search algorithm and really knew how to leverage it to bring in more traffic and sales. There was less demand for such forms of marketing back then, as well as fewer service providers. In contrast with today – if you’re not online, you don’t exist.
What are the biggest challenges you faced when building and growing your business, and how did you overcome them?
Going from tiptoeing around it part-time, and going all-in full-time. It’s the scariest yet most exhilarating thing you can imagine. Other challenges included making my first hire, and managing staff and adapting to major technological changes and market shifts, throughout the past 2 decades. Largely doing anything and everything for the first time was challenging. But once you’ve done something 1000 times, it becomes much easier.
With your recent integration of AI and multilingual live chat, how do you see these innovations impacting the future of customer service and lead generation?
To be clear, we do not fully support the use of AI in livechat. The best part about our service is the LIVE part – it’s powered primarily by humans. A user can ask their specific question and get a live response. We are able to handle 80% of inquiries that come in. Our business is all about increasing sales for businesses, mostly specializing in B2B. We focus primarily on user experience, which is largely factored into Google’s algorithm as well. And so, for the majority of businesses, live, human-powered chat is the best way to go, considering our price point that starts at $200CAD ($150USD), and considering the cost to setup a fully custom chatbot, which also costs a business money in the form of lost customers – often losing them due to the lack of proper live service 24/7. We have noticed that 50% of chat inquiries come in outside a business’ opening hours, and are able to service clients in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic. To be clear, I do believe that some companies are big enough and have business models where roboticized chat has its place, but for the majority of businesses and users, livechat makes much more sense and is far more affordable to implement.
We currently use AI to automate lead generation, to create both text and image content for our clients. In fact, the profile picture I shared with you was AI-Generated.
Also, imagine that everyday, your client is solicited by 10 other people who do exactly what you do. Then, figure out how to stand out, do it better, and build loyalty and trust. It’s easy 🙂
What essential advice would you give aspiring entrepreneurs about the realities of starting and sustaining a business?
Starting a business is a sprint. Sustaining a business is a marathon. To get to the finish line, you need to run a sprint for the duration of a marathon. So love what you do. You need to REALLY want it. Here’s why: Take your sleep, mental health, all your hobbies and time with friends and family, and chuck it out the window for about 5 years. That’s what starting a business is like.
As Elon Musk put it, starting a business is like eating glass and staring into the abyss due to both the pain and the uncertainty. Simply put, it sucks but is exciting. Picture yourself going up against a world class boxer. Every round you lose is a lesson. But you will come back wiser and more beaten down each time.
Expectations: Expect your life to suck hard forever, so it will suck slightly less. It will only suck for 3-5 years. Then it will only sort of suck sporadically following that time.
When you’re running a business, it’s like having a brand new baby. It requires 100% of your attention. It requires your 110% effort. You will likely endure sleepless nights and have thoughts that prevent you from sleeping for days, weeks, and even months. Eventually, you will be able to prioritize your own health and needs. Until then, you’re number two, and baby is number one.
In today’s marketplace, if it aligns with your passion, I would try to identify an underserved micro-niche with as little competition as possible.
I also recommend having a quick customer feedback loop, and getting as many testimonials and customer referrals as possible at the outset to get the snowball rolling. Before you know it, you’ll be on top of Mount Olympus.
Looking forward, what exciting developments or expansions are in store for your business, and how do you envision future growth?
Future Growth Drivers for my business, Omnivision Design, include 24/7 Livechat (there is a huge need for instant human service that is more often than not hidden behind a series of annoying automated questions and autoresponders). Keeping this part of our business creates a huge competitive advantage. If you talk to ten people who have interacted with robotic chat recently, you won’t be able to find a single one that received a good customer experience, and this dilutes your conversion rate (lowering sales). In addition to LIVEchat 24/7 available in multiple languages, we have a new AI-powered Linkedin B2B lead generation service, allowing businesses to target very specific businesses and professionals of their choice, resulting in hundreds of connections and potential customers on Linkedin, for a fraction of the price of a traditional pay-per-click campaign.
