Is your website sending out the wrong brand message?
Unless you have a famous brand, if you want visitors to your website then you need to promote it. If you want those visitors to engage with your business when they arrive then you need great content.
Unless you have a famous brand, if you want visitors to your website then you need to promote it. If you want those visitors to engage with your business when they arrive then you need great content.
I have heard many times over the years from owners of small businesses that they are reluctant to invest in their website believing they have never sold anything on the back of it. That would make perfect sense of course if true, as we should always demand a reasonable return on marketing spending.
However, with the exception of e-commerce websites where you can easily track sales, how many businesses actually know what influence their website has on promoting their brand? It is tricky of course to measure unless you ask your customers, but even then our customers may not even know themselves what lead to that sale. It could simply be seeing a call to action, or a credible trustworthy brand message, from multiple sources, that combined over time get them to bang on your door.
I take a simplistic view of these things. Websites are in the public domain and are therefore your brand ambassador to the world. It is vital therefore they tell your brand message well and show that you are credible, reliable, trustworthy and know your stuff. Arguably a poor website says that the firm can’t be bothered, isn’t interested or proud in their brand and that this is a reflection of their approach to business generally.
Perhaps you may feel that this is too harsh a view. However, ask yourself honestly what you would think if you saw a run down shop, flaky paint, faded and jaded signage and you couldn’t work out if it was open for business? What assumptions would you reach if you saw a battered firm’s van, bold tyres, rusty, unwashed and the inside of the cab looked like an unmade bed?
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating that we should invest as much as Harrods in our shop window or Eddie Stobart in our fleet of vehicles! Instead, we should invest an amount that is appropriate and affordable for our business.
However, that is the great thing about your website. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune to build, maintain or remain on brand message or take up huge amounts of your time. Just like your garden, keeping the grass cut, a bit of regular weeding and pruning and popping a few new plants each year, is enough to keep it looking fresh, cared for and loved!
If you would like to find out how Bix can help you freshen up your website or train you or your team to manage this process yourself, then drop us an email to [email protected] or call us on 01524 489850.
