The Blatant Truth Weblog

What’s Wrong With this Picture?

Joanna Meurer, President of ID Concepts (http://www.id-ny.com) is a long-time associate of mine and she and I (almost) always see eye to eye on marketing, branding and sales…..yes, there is a difference:)

We have a potential client that we will work on together and we were discussing the firm’s web presence, or lack thereof.  Joanne picked up the ball and wrote the following blog post (http://idconcepts.wordpress.com/) which I agree with totally and I’ve reprinted it here for all to read.  And just for the record, a fabulous web site and marketing materials are not enough to close the deals. You must also have exquisite sales competencies and service to bring in, retain and grow the business.

Recently I had the opportunity to talk to someone about their website. It was an interesting conversation so I thought I would share. It was clear from the onset that this business had been burned, but even they were not sure how. They knew one thing, they were dissatisfied with the results,  but they could not quite put their finger on WHY.  This is VERY common, so here is my answer to WHY.
When you hire a web company in most cases their only concern is the execution of the mechanics of the site. It is kind of like going straight to a surgeon before you find out from your primary care what exactly is wrong with you. When working with this type of company they simply ask you to provide the material and then ask you where you want it to go, then a wonderful team of technitions will do exactly what you ask. Seems right, but here is the problem. What if you do not KNOW what should be there. What if you are not clear on who you are talking to? Do you even have a clear plan about your marketing objective first, because if you do not have that, then you cannot even expect to have a fully functioning and highly effective web presence.

As I have said time and again, your web site is part of a package that includes everything about you. Your brand, your story, is what makes you different from your competition. Every single business has a value to another, and that message must be captured clearly and concisely in everything you do. Your web site should reflect that both asethetically and in message, no matter your budget.  If you are not working with a company that can provide that, you are wasting a whole lot of money with no results at all.

It is my goal to get people to think about these things when they go out there and create tools for the promotion of their business. Think it through, everything works together, and must be thought of in that way. When you plan it out, the results will be evident, and after all that is what we all want. Effective tools that help us close the deal.