The next excerpt is from Karen Tiber Leland’s book The Brand Mapping Strategy. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes
The initial step to learning to be a thought leader is to build up a strong foundation which you can build your brand. It needs defining, articulating, and declaring your brand and translating that into places where people can effectively build relationships your business.
The problem is that I’ve seen too many people haphazardly rush into building buzz because of their brand, and then drive traffic back again to a website and/or social media sites that don’t hit the mark.
Did you ever hear the expression “EASILY had a dollar for each time … ?” Well, here’s my version. EASILY had a dollar for each time a businessperson has complained if you ask me about a variety of hours (and enormous sum of money) they’ve allocated to creating a website that wasn’t quite right, I’d be retired in Hawaii watching the waves, a fruity drink in my own hand.
Creating a website before determining the specifics of your brand message is always a blunder. Your brand is what drives the web site design — not the other way around. If you ask me, many people (especially entrepreneurs and small-business owners) grossly underestimate the impact and need for their websites. I could let you know with absolute certainty that the grade of your site is critical to your visitors, potential customers, and even members of the media. Here’s a tale that illustrates this aspect.
The Disappoin t e d Journalist
Not long ago i had a conversation with a reporter from a significant media outlet who was simply lamenting having less usable sources for stories. “I often get described an expert who I believe will be a good interviewee for a bit I’m writing,” she explained. “However when I head to their website, it’s so badly written, designed, or just unprofessional that I can’t risk with them.
“EASILY quote them as a specialist and a reader would go to their website and sees how poorly executed it really is, that calls into question their credibility and, because of this, reflects badly on me,” she explained. “It appears like I didn’t do my research and discover a top-notch person to interview.”
Personally, I came across that fascinating — however, not surprising. It had been interesting a credible expert can’t be utilized because of the website’s perceived insufficient credibility. I wish I possibly could say this was a unique event in my type of work, however in fact it’s a common occurrence.
The truth is, the quality of your site matters. There are a huge selection of large and small decisions that impact how well a website reflects a business’s brand and marketing orientation. Below is an extremely brief glance at just a couple elements that Personally i think pack the largest punch. And while they could seem obvious, each day I see websites that skip the mark on these basic items.
Specific colors and types of design (fonts, layouts, etc.) go in and out of fashion. What may have been considered modern this past year seems dated today. The quintessential example may be the 1980s top dog of color — mauve. At onetime, it was the brand new black, found on from logos to living room walls. Today, mauve is mainly considered an old-fashioned hue — something your granny might wear.
One infographic from Kissmetrics highlighted various research on the impact of color and design on online branding and purchasing, like the following points:
- Color increases brand recognition by 80 percent.
- 42 percent of shoppers base their opinion of a website on overall design alone.
- 52 percent of shoppers didn’t go back to a website due to overall aesthetics.
- 93 percent of consumers place visual appearance and color above other factors when shopping.
It’s statistics like these that leave me shaking my head in wonder whenever a business owner informs me, “I simply left that stuff up to my web guy.” Even though many web developers have a good feel for what looks good, it’s still crucial for clients to believe through the brand messages that one colors, fonts, layouts, and other design elements evoke.
Let’s face it: Folks have no patience. According to 1 survey by Kissmetrics, websites with only one-second delay in page response time can easily see a 7 percent decrease in conversions. The end result is, these potential customers won’t wade through a website that doesn’t easily and quickly take them to where they would like to go.
If you’ve ever endured to search a niche site for a company’s contact information or social media connections, you understand how irritating it really is. Branding best practice is to put your contact information and social media buttons (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) above the fold (toward the most notable of the page), to allow them to be seen the moment someone lands on your own site without scrolling down.
One of many functions of your site is to encourage people to engage and connect to your company. Exceed the passive “E mail us” and “Friend me on Facebook” to provide people a dynamic and immediate proactive approach with such offers as:
- Join a newsletter
- Have a quiz
- Download an audio or video file
- Complete a poll or survey
- Make a comment
- Pose a question
- Join a webinar or teleclass
- Download an ebook or white paper
- Make a scheduled appointment for a complimentary consultation
One important good thing about a proactive approach is that it captures contact information and can help you build a set of potential customers and interested individuals — at least those that wish to be captured. Some marketers call this an ethical bribe: “I’ll offer you something free of charge (ebook, webinar, audio file, etc.), and in trade, you give me your email and permission to periodically contact you with information and will be offering.”
We reside in an environment of screens — big and small. In line with the Pew Research Center, 64 percent of American adults now own a smartphone of some sort, and one in five conduct the majority of their online browsing on the cell phones.
“Daily, the quantity of devices, platforms, and browsers that require to work with your website grows,” writes Jeffrey Veen, design partner at True Ventures in SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA. “Responsive web site design represents a simple shift in how we’ll build websites for the decade to come.”
That, since it turns out, can be an understatement. In a single survey from Google, 67 percent of users reported these were more likely to produce a purchase from a niche site that’s mobile-friendly, and 52 percent said they’d be less inclined to build relationships a business if the mobile experience wasn’t right.
In the mobile era, designing a well-branded website means making sure your pages also work very well and appeara
