| It's not WEB Marketing! |
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Written by Michael Linehan October 31, 2006 It's not Web Marketing, it's Marketing on the WebAdam has written an interesting call for new threads. As a start, the material he has republished about the Cluetrain Manifesto is very useful --- there are many comments about personal connection, marketing principles and so on. This reminds me that in all our important discussions of various Web oriented tactics some critical factors are often under-addressed. I'd like to bring up a couple of those factors.A great number of businesses I talk to find they are just not getting the return from their website that they expected. I believe the reason is revealed by what people say to each other about websites, "Who designed your site?", "Do you know a good web designer?", "I like this design." and (maybe), "What shopping cart do you use?" In other words, most companies, most of the time, are focussing on design and technology. Rarely does anyone say, "Who helped you plan your website promotion?", "Who wrote your site copy?", or "Who helped integrate your site as part of your overall strategic marketing plan?" Attractive, professional design and appropriate technology are certainly important in making a business website successful --- but not to the extent of investing 95-100 percent of the thought, time and money in only these two aspects of the website's construction and use! Let's consider the critical tasks a website needs to accomplish -- bring people to the site, make the sale and develop relationships with prospective and current clients. When thought of in these terms, it is clear that design and technology do not actually do any of these things. Yes, absolutely they can ENHANCE AND SUPPORT, but they don't actually DO. What accomplishes these three critical tasks are the information, products and services offered, how well the language of the site captures people's attention and make the sale, and the actions that promote the site and bring people there. Every factor can be made enormously more powerful by the focussing effect of truly strategic planning. It's critical to have a clear, simple and actually effective model of strategy. Marketing every day is not, in and of itself strategic. Nor is having the latest cool and sexy or extensive or expensive collection of tactics. The power of strategy is like the difference between a handful of flashlights and a laser, or between someone who has learnt a pile of techniques in some martial art and someone who understands, feels and embodies the fundamental thread that connects all those tactics. Strategy means connecting your marketing and all your activities into one coherent, business building force that will take you to another level. I like to summarize this by saying, "It's not WEB Marketing; it's MARKETING on the Web." From that perspective, I state a simple model of the five factors necessary for a successful business website: Strategic Planning, Content, Design, Technology and Promotion. If that is a valid model, perhaps we should be discussing all five factors in LED. Comments (2)
Rae Deisler
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| This is a great post. I agree w/ the overall sentiment - strategic planning should be the net that holds all the little pieces of business together. But I do have a couple problems here-- Let's consider the critical tasks a website needs to accomplish -- bring people to the site, make the sale and develop relationships with prospective and current clients. ...and increase your mindshare in the target audience. Increase your credibility, authority, etc - important overall strategy if you ask me. What accomplishes these three critical tasks are the information, products and services offered, how well the language of the site captures people's attention and make the sale, and the actions that promote the site and bring people there. Okay, but isn't info, products/ services offered, isn't this good design and usability? We're back to technology. How well the language of the site - copywriting is critical - and that's marketing, I agree. Strategic Planning, Content, Design, Technology and Promotion The technology must come before content and design, but yes these are good first principles. How about this: Strategy > Technology > Design > Content > Marketing ...I really am feeling nitpicky today! |
Al Toman
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| A good suppliment to Mr. Linehan's post is the interactive business planner provided by the People of Canada located at http://www.cbsc.org/ibp/ Strategic Planning: Firstly, the client has to have some idea what s/he wants the web site to do (objectives, goal) to achieve their ultimate goal. The ultimate goal may be to suppliment the sales of his/her existing shoppe of which the web site goal may be 1) increase the marketing radius, customer base, 2) expedite sales electronically (versus taking orders over the phone), 3) provide an extended linecard for his/her on-road sales personnel. In each case, the "design" of the web site is different. The ultimate goal may be to provide information (where to get your flu shots this year; vote for me; how to quit smoking; etc) of which the sales of goods is secondary (sponsored links) if at all. This requires a totally different web site "design". Strategy is dynamic. What the client first thinks, may not be what the reality is until the homework is completed. Strategy changes or flexes throughout the process, beyond the final and published "designed" web site. Depending on these objectives and goals, the client needs to think about who makes up their targeted audience. Then, where are these targets (on the W.W.W.). What is their demographics? How do they search? Where do they search? How do they (like to) interact with web pages? Once the client has mapped a route, the client should secure a domain, a web host, and immediately publish a single page web site to gain longevity, become indexed, establish their major keywords, and generate an interested party email "subscribe" base. Content: Before any work can be accomplished, the tools and materials need to be gathered. In this case, the materials is the content and the tools include but are not inclusive of 1) the people and 2) the scripts. First, we all know that content has to be placed on the blank web pages. It all needs to be organized and keyword tested. The client knows their business best. The web designer, if outsourced, needs to learn the client's business. This is achieved through content and discussion. Content consists of the organization's name, logo, slogans, colors, personality, location, products, and services, to name a few. Some of the content will stick, some will be excluded. The tools may include cameras, video cameras, audio recorders, graphic design artists, html, xhtml, xml, rss, php, MySQL, rdf, java, javascript, swf flash, and the like. Some tools will be used, others not. Design: Once all of the above is laid out and digested, the design pretty much falls into place. This includes the client's personal querks (that often cause web designers to cringe). Technology: I choose not to categorize technology as does Mr. Linehan. It, in my opinion, comes with the desgin, the web designer, the web design team. However, it is included above as tools. This is because the technology plays in the back of one's mind whilst speaking with the client, "Okay, we'll need to throw some flash in here, we'll need the web site to be viewed in cell phones, we'll need a secure data base, etc, etc". Promotion: Though listed lastly, promotion begins in the planning stages (who are my viewers, how do I get them to view my web site, where are these viewers now on the W.W.W., etc) which leads to researching and making lists of directories, online publications, industry related ezines, forums, and link partners. The rest of promotion is out of my expertise and I leave that up to Mr. Linehan. However, it appears to me, today, that promotion is where the client should intend to budget/spend their money. This is unfortunate but real and costs us as consumers. Management: This has been left out of Mr. Linehan's 5-point list, the best that I can tell. It is often stated as "maintenance". Once the web site is design-built and published, the fun begins. That is, if the web site is at all dynamic (not just a line card with a non-working phone number and email address). |
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