June 8, 2017. By Ashley Agnew:
In our discussions with clients and professional acquaintances, the topic of website design comes up frequently. Business owners often toggle between revamping their website and starting fresh with a new site, all the while procrastinating any change at all. In the meantime, the number one source of information available to prospective clients is in fact the website of a business, and its proper branding should not be ignored.
Last month we had the pleasure of hosting website designer and branding expert Jeffrey Wotton of Spectrum Marketing Group at our office for a networking breakfast surrounding the topic of branding business websites. With many business owners, clients and colleagues present, the discussion provided a helpful forum for those questioning their own marketing strategies. Here are a couple of key points from Jeff that you might be able to apply to your own website:
Visual Elements + Messaging = Your Identity: The visual elements and key messages on your website and marketing literature are the backbone of your brand. Do these accurately describe your mission? Can your team easily communicate your identity? Can your clients?
Stories Communicate More than Facts: People naturally gravitate to stories and they can share the personality of your business in a way that facts cannot. For example, sharing the story of how you became passionate about the work that you do can help you connect to your viewer more easily than just stating the number or years in the business, or listing your prior work history.
Jeff also acknowledged that the process of rebuilding a website can be strenuous on a team or business owner. If working with a team, he recommends assigning a point person to such a project leaving most interactions to occur between the point person and web designer until final demonstrations are available for viewing. Doing so will maximize time spent on real edits and allow for faster completion of the project. For business owners who are managing the rebuild, he emphasized the importance of clearly defined expectations and timelines between the business owner and the web designer. Both should understand where and when bottlenecks in the process may occur, and be prepared to work through these together.