So you say you need a “web presence”; OK, but why?
Answers I get from this question vary, but most of my clients say the same thing, “because my (customers, clients, board, family) says I need to be on the web.”
Great, but what do you want?
The next part of the conversation usually revolves around my client telling me what colors they like and what they like/dislike in websites they have seen. They may even drag out pictures they want and ask about different applications they have seen on their website. They then ask if I can get them on Twitter and connect them to Facebook or MySpace.
Great, but what do you want?
I suppose it is understandable in today’s world of social aesthetic overload on the web, that this is the answer I get. But what do you really want? What do you really need?
The media is full of stories that outline the success of somebody somewhere who made millions on their website overnight. I would challenge them to define ‘overnight’. The bottom line is that the web is just one more set of communications tools in your toolbox. It is important to create a communications plan that firmly outlines a detailed list of goals for each of your communications mediums. Some of these goals may be grand, others – not so much. But it is important for you to have goals for two reasons;
First, at some point or another you need to decide if the plan is working. Is it an effective return on your investment. Even if you are only investing time, you need to know if your efforts are worth your time or if the project needs to be adjusted, or even scrapped.
Second, a detailed plan will help to prevent you from getting ’stuck’.
I’ll give you an example:
I have a client that spent all of their time with me telling me what they liked and didn’t like about other websites. I asked them to sit down and talk about a communications plan and they told me they needed to be on Facebook immediately and that they wanted that linked to a Twitter account. Both of which I was to create for them.
Three months later, we were still discussing colors for their web page and marketing announcements were going out on Facebook which was funneling into their Twitter feed. After a solid week of back-and-forth, we had their color pallet. We had the categories and sub categories and sub-sub-sub categories they wanted on their website. We had the graphics completed. We had the perfect fonts.
So here we are, six months later with the perfect website, with the perfect web address, the perfect organization, the perfect graphics…that is perfectly empty. There is nothing on the site.
Because the site was not included in a communications or marketing plan, there was no concrete purpose for the site other than to have a ‘web presence’. Without a firm plan in place, my client got lost in the details and got stuck.
I hate “I told you so” moments. And this is why I do my best to pressure my clients to put together a real communications plan. Knowing what your true desired destination is should guide the journey. Let’s get there together.