So often, I hear “I’ve tried some marketing and it just didn’t work!” My thought: “some marketing” is a lot like “almost” winning the lottery. It might be close, but it just wasn’t what was needed.
Marketing requires planning. It requires having distinct goals, and knowing what you want to say, who you want to say it to, and how you’re going to say it. Buying an ad in the yellow pages or the newspaper or on line might be the right marketing vehicle for your message, but you want to know that BEFORE you make the purchase.
Let’s talk about goals. Pretty much all strategic marketing goals are to increase sales and make money. But let’s break it down a little finer. Overall, I want my marketing to result in increased sales, but I need to ask myself, “What is my goal in talking to my audience at this point in my marketing program?”
Being able to define that goal is important. It will help you craft the proper message, place that message in the proper place and deliver the message to the right audience. Your goal might be to educate an uninformed audience about your product offering. A marketing program might be targeted at increasing your market reach with your current, already informed audience. You might be trying to implement a program of customer retention, assuring your customers that they are making the right purchasing decision and encouraging them to BUY MORE.
An ad that tries to be everything to everybody is almost as good as running no ad at all. Think about what you want your marketing to accomplish. Think about who your audience is. And talk to them.
Marketing dollars wisely spent are marketing dollars that result in increased sales.
In my personal opinion, this is quite the complex question, and I guess the answer really depends on what you are trying to achieve with your website. There are literally loads of great people offering website creation services. All of them have a place in this market, but I think it is important to draw some specific distinctions between those who develop, design and install websites so customers can understand why there is such a wide difference in costs quoted by these providers.
So, there are many different types of providers, and I may not have that all covered here; this is pretty generalized. I will focus on 3 types, often there are companies who are a hybrid of these services.
The three types are:
- Website developer
- Website designer
- Content management system provider
Website Developer
Website developers have the skills to create web-based applications which are very prominent in today’s websites. This often involves designing database structures and writing code for the website to interact with those databases. They are adept at writing code that will allow a website to perform specific tasks as defined by a customer. A website developer is the type of person who could program a CMS (like WordPress), write plugins, or develop an interactive website without a CMS at all. They are often fluent in many of the web technologies and languages. Rarely will you find a developer who also has the skills of a website designer, which I will cover next.
Website Designer
Website designers are the graphically talented folks who can take your vision or help you create a vision that draws interest in your products or services. Using visual imagery and a little psychology, they understand the impact colors, proximity and visual spacing will have on a prospective customer. Many web design folks have some skills with html and content management systems, and fewer may have real development skills.
Content Mangament System Provider (CMS)
Generally, CMS providers are masters of one or more of the well known CMS platforms such as WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal. Some have been known to even resell configuration of things like GoDaddy templates. They have the knowledge to properly install, update and even add plugins (programs which perform certain customer necessary functions) to a website. Though many online templates have “how-to” information freely available, make no mistake… there is a skill in getting this right. The CMS provider is not always gifted with the other web skills, but will install one of the many free or pay templates you can purchase on the internet and add graphics and functionality to a site. These templates allow you to add logos, photos, text, etc.
You can see there are some significant differences of what these various providers have to offer. Choosing the right one will depend on your goals for your website and the budget you have available. Generally, the developer is more costly than the designer, who is, in turn more expensive than the CMS provider. My company, Ikon Marketing Group, offers services in all three catagories which allows for a lot of flexibility in what we provide to our customers, though we are very rarely involved in a straight CMS site.
Remember, regardless of what type of provider you choose, be sure that you emphasize results! Results are conversions. Thats all that matters in the long run, if a company cannot prove results, find one that can.
What are your thoughts? Fire Away!
Isn’t the bottom line of having a website conversions?
Yeah, this sounds pretty simplistic but the truth is this one major fact is often overlooked by business when building a web marketing plan. What you really want to do is create a path for your customer to make a decision.
I believe a conversion is different in web marketing, because your website may not be the location where the final decision is made. If you are selling services, a contact form submission or an email is a conversion created by the site that allows you an opportunity to close the sale on a personal level.
So the website is the vehicle that drives a customer to make a decision, if it is created properly. There is no such thing as an “Informational” website, I believe all websites have a specific purpose and it’s best to embrace this concept to get the most bang for your buck.
Your website may also be your best salesperson. Many consumers do online research (a local Real Estate agent suggested to me that in that market it is 50% or more) before making a purchase decision. Is your website ready to handle that kind of responsibility? Does it provide the right amount of information? Does it present your company and products in the way you want to be represented? An outdated or poorly executed website essentially tells your prospective customer
a) I am not successful enough to have a good website.
b) I don’t see the value in new technologies.
c) I have a friend who does it but I can’t break up.
d) I hate spending money on marketing to grow my business.
Why is this important to you? Because you need a plan!
Your website should be designed with its customer in mind, and that means you, as a business owner, may not be the best judge of that! You need to think about what your customer needs to know to make a decision and make it easy for them to act on it.
So what does your potential customer need to experience when he visits your website?
- A professional looking website that says “We respect our customers.”
- Easy to use navigation that allows visitors to find the information they need.
- Calls to action that help the potential customer make a decision.
- Relevant traffic using search marketing and social networking.
Look for blog articles on these 4 topics in the coming weeks!
Craig Sutton talks about some feedback from a recent Social Media class he held here in Kennewick. Craig holds these sessions every other month; for more details give us a call at 509-783-9558.
So often, I hear “I’ve tried some marketing and it just didn’t work!” My thought: “some marketing” is a lot like “almost” winning the lottery. It might be close, but it just wasn’t what was needed.
