Don't waste your money!

Increasingly, marketing professionals are learning that the Internet can play a major role within a well planned, integrated media campaign. More and more, the Internet provides the opportunity for potential customers to interact with your brand messages without the committment of direct communication.

But as a passive medium, your business website cannot easly provide the reach of a good press ad. When used in combination with it, however, it can offer something far more powerful - Interactivity.

Push the right buttons

The Internet is interactive in nature and a visitor to your website is often already interested or has a need that led there there - perhaps they've seen an online ad, performed a search on Google or similar search engine, have received word of mouth or received an item of marketing material - they have at least the potential to consider you website relevant to their needs and wants. Interactivity provides a perfect opportunity to deliver exactly what the visitor wants, when they want it. It also provides the opportunity to create two way dialogue, registering for interactive business tools, relevant content, time saving calculators, estimators or even coffee break games - all the time potentially generating customer loyalty and repeat visits and while doing so communicate your brand messages.

However at this point most websites make a big mistake - they try to interactively sell products and services and they talk about one thing... me me me. If all you do is talk about YOU, no one is interested. Websites do it all the time. See for yourself sometime... About Me, History, Products and Services, Company Profile, etc, etc. What everyone really wants to know is - what's in it for them! If you website doesn't answer their question 'What's in it for me? it's a waste of time and money. Yes, you do need to build credability in your organisation, so you do still need an About Us section but it's about how you balance this with communicating the benefit that you deliver.

A Tasty Recipe for a Delicious Website

1) It forms the hub of your integrated marketing communication
2) It provides an appropriate balance between Inspirational, Promotional and most importantly Informational content
3) It communicates your brand messages and values
4) It communicates 'what's in it for me' to your potential clients by solving their problems
5) It generates customer loyalty by providing interactive features that add value and provide benefit

Past it's sell by date?

This is exactly how visitors will look a your website. Ever seen a website displaying latest news from 12 months ago? Yep, all too often - and it's usually because there is a barrier to updating the site. It's too difficult, too expensive or too time consuming. And what happens if you need to change the message you are communicating? What you need is a totally updateable website. And you and your team shouldn't have to learn html or programming to update it. Your website should allow you to update the text and the pictures - even on a laptop with snow chilled fingers fresh from the slopes.

Source ::  © Philip Owen - Sticky New Media

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