It’s all very exciting starting off on a new web site – at last the company can have a website to be proud of, something that will give you the competitive advantage and the professional look you need. Hey, it might even be responsible for a surge of new business…
But, before you engage a web company to tell them the good news that you’re in the market; first consider is it just a new website you need, or are you infact in need of a brand proposition exercise?
Either way is fine, it’s just beneficial to set expectations early on so that you can make sure you have the right agency on board. All too often, companies leave hugely important branding and messaging decisions in the hands of their web team – and if you’ve engaged a traditional web design agency, this may or may not be their bag.
Web Design agencies come in all different shapes and sizes. Some are creatively focused, meaning their portfolio is a impressive showcase of beautiful web design; other agencies may have a strong technical edge, allowing them to knock out CMSs in their sleep and always be able to execute high quality technical solutions to help your business. Others may have a strong SEO advantage, and claim to get you the right traffic visiting the site. But out of all these strengths, these can easily be fairly redundant unless you can define a strong brand position, clear messaging strategies and clarity around what you, or what your services are. A full service agency, such as nearperfect, is proud be be able to offer all of the above.
However, not all prospects realise when they set out on their web design journey just how important it is to either a) have a very clear and defined brand positioning strategy or b) know if their chosen agency has the experience, and while web agencies worth their salt have had to adapt and add branding, positioning and marketing expertise to their team in order to pitch with any confidence as a full service agency, many haven’t.
Don’t confuse the two briefs
It’s a tall ask to expect an traditional web agency to be able to come up with the correct messaging, tone of voice, or service proposition alongside a standard web design project, it takes time to do correctly and needs to be valued as an important step. This is where most SME websites fail to make any real impact – when they were designed, the wrong people were asked to do the wrong jobs. If a website is poor, it’s more than likely that the brief didn’t explore in any real depth the brand and positioning strategy, or the web agency didn’t have the experience or budget to fill the gap and meet the expectation.
Taking the appropriate time to understand the different elements of brand strategy is key to ensure the success of a web project.
Take a look at the list below, if you have a very clear idea for each, then you’re about to give a dream brief to your agency! If it’s clear that perhaps some more thought needs to be considered, then bear that in mind when looking for, or briefing your web team. It’s important a clear vision is either defined using the help of a full service agency, or thought about prior to thinking about a web project. The biggest mistake is to confuse a humble web design exercise with something of greater importance. Web Brand Strategy Elements
The Company
• What is the current situation with the business?
• What’s the long term vision?
• What’s the nearer-term mission?
• Cultural values?
• Business goals?
The Customer
• Who are the audience groups?
• What are their desires / goals / beliefs and habits?
• What are their needs?
The Market
• What is the marketplace in which you are competing?
• Are there any market trends to consider?
• Who are the traditional and non-traditional competitors?
• What are the industry, category and segments in which you compete?
Category and Position
• What’s your company differentiation?
• What is the single differentiating idea you intend to own in the minds of your customers?
Messaging
• What’s the brand promise?
• What are your key messages and support points?
Experience
• What is the company providing and what are the benefits that customers can expect to enjoy from them?
If you would like to kick off a web project, or positioning exercise, please get in touch and we’ll help you to get your marketing defined and your website generating quality leads.
