Marketing Blagger

Question 3

Have you reviewed the websites you like and dislike and listed the reasons why?

The best place to look for inspiration in web design is obviously the internet. There are millions upon millions of sites online, with more added each and every day. If you take the time to look closely you will easily be able to pick out the styles and functionality you like and importantly, what you don’t like. These ideas should form part of the brief you deliver to your design agency.

Which sites should you look at?

Think about your competitors first, then your industry / profession, followed by aspirational websites. Far example, if you’re an architects practice, look at other architects first, then consider design or construction company sites, before a general trawl of the internet.

Try to keep in mind that you’re only looking for ideas and not a template to copy.

Question 2

2) Do your website objectives link to your overall business and marketing plan? i.e. will a website support your business goals?

Any marketing programme needs to be linked to your business goals in order to be worthwhile. This may seem like an obvious point, but it’s surprising how people jump into building a website, without understanding the wider context or opportunities available to the business. If you haven’t written a business plan or marketing plan yet, then I strongly recommend doing this first. Putting your ideas on paper and spelling out how everything will work (from banking, to premises, marketing, insurance and more) will help you to decide how important your website is to your broader business activity.

Try to keep your business objectives SMART - Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time bound. More advice on writing a business plan will be available on www.marketingblagger.com soon.

I attended the Growing Your Own Business show at London’s Olympia today. To be honest the exhibition wasn’t great, unless you want to buy into a franchise, which by the way is an excellent route into business if you’re struggling for ideas.

Part of the show included a presentation theatre where I listened to Jeremy Martin talking about his sports drink business ‘For Goodness Shakes’. To be honest, having never seen or heard of this product or brand, it was a weak case study, although an entertaining presentation.

However, Jeremy did run a great workshop afterwards all about positioning and I want to share his ideas with you.

First of all, what is positioning? Jeremy defined it as “what your customers think your product is”, later elaborated to “what you want your customers to think your product is”. In other words, how you want to be perceived. He used the example of Ryan Air and how its position is being like a flying bus rather than an airline. This is designed to make you more comfortable with the low price and minimal service and sets RyanAir’s place in the market place, relative to its competitors - Easyjet, BMI Baby etc.

So what can you take away from this? To my mind, positioning is an essential ingredient of your brand promise. When you define your brand, what it looks like etc, take the step first of thinking what you want your customers to think your product is. (To be even more effective you really should identify what needs your target market has first, then identify your position). This will then help you to set the guidelines for your brand.

The Ryan Air example is good. Jeremy’s own product is positioned as a sports recovery shake, which works with his target audience. I haven’t tried it yet, but I surely will now - thanks for a good workshop Jeremy. (What a good example of the value of PR).

A website is an essential part of any company marketing tool set. If you want to look credible and established in this day and age, a website is a must have, rather than simply a nice bolt on. But if you’ve ever had to design a website before, you’ll know there’s a confusing array of options and you can easily get this wrong, wasting a stack of cash.

I’ve put together 7 essential questions you must ask your self before you sign up with a web design company. There will be a fresh question posted every other day for the next 14 days, so make sure you come back to read the entire series. This will help you avoid expensive mistakes.

Question 1

1) What specific objectives do you have for your site? Do you want to sell products, generate sales leads, or simply create an online presence for your business and brand?

It is essential that you know exactly what you want to achieve with your site. The difference in functionality, design and cost between a brochure site and an e-commerce site can be enormous. Think carefully about what exactly your objectives are and how you will measure whether your website meets these goals. Your design agency will need your brief to be clear on this.