Questions, Questions, Questions ???

Our raison d’etre is to design & build bespoke websites and tailor effective online marketing campaigns in line with our clients business needs.

To meet client expectations we often ask quite a few blunt questions; the overall objective being to give our clients a site or/and a marketing campaign that is tailored to their goals and directly measured by real results.

The questions we ask

Off the top of my head, some of the questions we ask our clients are listed below:

Q: What is the purpose of your site?

Q: How are you going to use your site to overcome your overall business objectives?

Q: Are you developing on your website based on feedback on a usability study? If so how will you measure performance and the ROI of your investment?

Q: Does your website exist to lower your operating costs, if so how will you measure this?

Q: Will your website have a landing page to link into traditional media, if so what is the target market and how will you measure uptake?

Q: Does your website exist to help build your brand image? How will your personality be presented in text, are you talking in your copy on a one to one level?

All in all the above questions indicate measurement is key.

The Web Consultancy Approach

During web consultancy we also invite clients to consider the separate customer stages when designing or enhancing their websites.

Stage’s such as:

• Awareness - How will visitors be aware of your website?
  
• Interest - What will motivate the visitor to choose you over competitors?
  
• Call to Actions - What will encourage the visitor to book with you, buy from you, call you etc?
  
• Retention - Is it likely that customers will re-visit the site? If so is this to use the site; buy upgrades; replenish their products??? etc. How will you retain your customers? Are you separating those who visit versus those who regularly buy?

Online Marketing Campaigns Questions

When considering clients online marketing campaigns, to help our clients brief the Flashlight team and begin to get a clear understanding of what they are trying to achieve we suggest they complete our Campaign Objectives Sheet.

We have linked our campaign objectives worksheet into our Return on Investment Sales Funnel Calculator ; a useful tool to determine the return of your online marketing spend.

If you are considering increasing awareness of your company, thinking of ways in which to make your website more engaging to visitors, eager to understand more about how people use your site and what motivates them (esp: Calls to Actions) please get in touch with our Sales team on 01202 678777 or via our contact us form. So we can share our ideas too.

First step: You may want to help yourself by viewing and completing the Rocktime Campaign Objectives Sheet here.

Alternatively why not bounce the link to the campaign sheet around your team and ask them for their onsite innovations and campaign ideas you may be surprised at the response.

Happy Planning ;)

Author: Sarah Griffiths

More British, More Homely, More cautious

The Generation Recession report from the Social Issues Research centre (commissioned by Friends Provident July 2009) has revealed that the recession has turned us all rather British and homely as we buy local (to help our economic climate) and highlights that 1 out of 3 Brits promote staying at home as the new going out.

As more people are choosing to stay at home, the appeal of social networking from your living room has increased, using sites such as Myspace, Twitter and Facebook. The study also revealed new “saving money” tactics and found that amongst those that are going out, that 21% of them make use of voucher codes to save on funds.

The report reviews (via focus groups and past recession feelings) how consumer’s habits have changed / are changing, how the British public feel about the recession, how we have all economised through nesting behaviour, how we have made cut backs in our spending habits and how our quest for the best bargain or deal has accelerated.

Another interesting point is that the study implies that the younger generation (under 25 reported to be the hardest hit by the crisis) will be moulded by the credit crunch and that formative experiences from their adolescence (9/11 attacks, London 7/7 bombings, 2004 Tsunami) will help shape Britain’s future, as perhaps they may have a greater sense of caution with finances and life in general.

There are some great comments from Poll respondents which will be of interest to a number of companies – take a look at the Generation Recession Report here.

In the meantime we have considered what the findings of this report will mean to website development and web marketing, and would like to share with you our Risdom (Rocktime Wisdom) recommending that you give consideration to the below points when outlining your web strategies:

• Review current online and offline loyalty programmes and rewards
• Social network with consumers in their homes (ie: Facebook)
• Consider using voucher codes, voucher sites for product and service promotions
• Make the younger generation feel valued online
• Make offers clear & transparent and timely online
• For larger purchases online, make it prominently clear that shopping service online is secure

Author: Sarah Griffiths