Web Site Content—It's All About the Why

Every week I'm asked to look at business Web sites and tell the owners why they're not getting the results they want.

Some of these sites are straightforward brochures, others are e-commerce catalogs, and some are those direct-mail-style pitches reminiscent of old mail-order magazine subscription schemes. Some have incorporated do-it-yourself audio and video, and some even have such media professionally produced... but, still, the results stink. Why?

'The Close' Is Always Found in 'The Why'

Certainly part of the problem stems from a very narrow definition of what a Web site is: by casting your site in terms of a brochure, catalog, e-commerce-site, blog, or portal, you are falling into the trap of concentrating on "The What" rather than "The Why."

This focus on "The What" is exacerbated by some search engine optimization techniques intended to drive traffic rather than to brand product, sell services, or convert traffic into customers. Traffic is important, but converting that traffic into paying customers is more important. Even the best and brightest search engine optimizers will tell you that their job is to deliver traffic, not orders—closing the deal is your job, and anybody who tells you that closing can be done by means of some automatic never-touched-by-human-hands method is just plain nuts.

What you want to be careful of is search-engine tactics and second-rate media that actually get in the way of effectively delivering your marketing message—of telling your business story, creating a memorable brand image, and above all generating profitable business clients.

Web Video Is a Presentation-Marketing Strategy

If you pay any attention to what's going on, you must be aware of the shift in Web thinking and the acceptance of Web video as a fundamental Web-marketing tool. But like most things, there is a right way and a whole bunch of wrong ways to do it.

Web video is a presentation-marketing strategy, and its strength and power come from its ability to overcome the Web's natural sterile, isolationist environment by incorporating verbal and non-verbal human elements that effectively deliver bold, well-crafted memorable messages.

Can a Web-video campaign cure everything that's wrong with your company, or even your sales department's deficiencies? Of course not. But the right message based on "The Why" using appropriate, cost-effective presentation techniques can position your business, brand your product, and generate sales leads.

Don't fool yourself: You and your sales staff have to close the sale. Do not expect to sit back and count your profits while your Web site runs your business by default. Automatic pilot may work for sites that sell commodity items and nationally branded merchandise backed by millions of dollars of advertising, but unless you fall into that category, it's time to get real.

A New Web Paradigm

Here's a new way of looking at your Web site; and if you "get it," you will be able to refashion your site and reinvent your business in a way that gets you remembered and initiates action by your target market:

Start thinking of your Web site as a stage and all the content on it as players you direct in order to deliver your message and tell your story in a memorable manner to a relevant audience.

So let's break down this Web-presentation model and analyze how it meets your marketing needs.

Your Web site is a stage

Businesses that want to use their Web sites as a marketing vehicle have to get past thinking of them in terms of merely digital print media.

Just as damaging is the overreliance on search optimization or IT technical solutions that have little or no relationship to marketing's primary goal of delivering a memorable message that initiates action on the part of the audience.

Knowing the age, sex, and hat size of the last ten thousand visitors to your site may impress some, but having reams of statistical information on your visitors doesn't necessarily mean you know what that data means or how to use it effectively. In the same vein, tons of traffic generated by the latest SEO manipulation doesn't necessarily translate into business.

Start thinking of your Web site as a stage—a presentation and performance platform that allows your company to present your message to your audience in an entertaining, informative, and memorable manner.

Tell your story in a memorable manner

There are many ways to present what you do and why your audience should care, but the most effective way is to deliver that information in a story format. When people come to your Web site, they are putting you on trial and judging everything that you present, in order to see whether it is relevant and convincing, and whether it resonates with their needs.

In their article "Evidence Evaluation in Complex Decision Making" (in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology), Pennington and Hastie explain that when prosecutors tell their version of events to a jury in story format, they are able to achieve a 78% conviction rate, whereas those who do not use a story format have only a 31% conviction rate.

When visitors come to your Web site, they are putting you on trial for your Web-business life.

Memorable communication is all about the performance

Effective communication begins with the campaign concept. If you don't have a well-defined, focused concept that deals with the "why anybody should care factor," your communication will be muddy and irrelevant. Far too many marketing campaigns try to do too much, and in an effort to get your money's worth say everything and anything that comes to mind. Unfortunately, all you're really doing is confusing people—and your core message never gets heard, let alone understood or remembered.

You need professional presenters who know how to use both verbal and non-verbal performance to get your message across, and of course you've got to give the presenters a script that is well written, entertaining, and informative.

Professional actors and voiceover talent bring infinite subtlety, nuance, and meaning to cleverly written scripts. Add sound effects, signature music, and a few post-production enhancements... and you have a memorable presentation.

What you don't need is complicated sets, props, and locations that increase the cost of production. The Web is not television, and there is no need to absorb inflated expenses based on ad agency cost-plus-pricing fees that bear little relation to effectiveness.

Expensive movie-style productions are just not necessary and lose their impact when delivered in relatively small, Web-friendly formats that need to be easily integrated with additional collateral material that can be used to present more details and to answer frequently asked questions.

Last but Not Least

We can learn a lot from children, including from their relentless quest for the answer to "The Why" of things. We often forget that this is the central issue in our lives, and it is only after we've been told by parents, teachers, bosses, and numerous other authority figures to shut up and do what we've told that we sublimate this need and replace it with the far less meaningful and convincing "What."

But if we as marketers can put our faith in delivering "The Why" using the most people-friendly techniques of verbal and non-verbal digital communication, then we will have learned how to achieve a convincing and memorable Web-marketing presentation.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Tackling the 'Too Hard to' Pile of Marketing Accountability

If you're like us, you probably have one of those piles on your desk that keeps being moved from one corner to another. You know, that pile you need to get to but avoid because it will take some real effort to tackle? For many marketing professionals, marketing accountability, analytics, and ROI are in this pile.

Not too long ago at a marketing conference where Laura was speaking, the organizers had set up round tables with specific topics for discussion over breakfast. Laura was sitting at the measuring marketing ROI table (of course, where else would I be sitting?), strategically located right next to the buffet line.

While she was sitting there waiting for people to join her, she kept hearing people say, "Oh, measuring marketing, that's just too hard." Hundreds of marketers were attending this conference, and about two dozen tables of 10 were set to accommodate the early risers. Yet only four other brave souls joined her.

We marketers must stop avoiding this topic and tackle the pile.

As Sylvia Reynolds, CMO of Wells Fargo, has said, "Marketing must be a driver of tangible business results...we must start with the goal in mind and a clear way to measure that goal."

ROI is important for accountability—besides being able to justify spending and enable us to run the marketing organization more effectively and efficiently, knowing what is and isn't working helps marketing achieve greater influence and serve in a more strategic role.

Various surveys suggest that over one-third, and as much as 42%, of marketing budgets are not adequate enough to achieve the outcomes and impact expected. Perhaps your organization like many others is in the thick of budget planning. A key part of budget planning is to establish and validate the money you plan to spend. The more aligned Marketing is with the outcomes of the organization and the more the plan includes performance targets and metrics, the more likely you will be allocated the budget you need to achieve the expected results.

So what does it take to tackle this Marketing Accountability pile? Here are six affordable steps that any marketing organization can take to start whittling away at the marketing accountability and measurement pile.

Focus

Nothing of importance miraculously gets done on its own. Effectively tackling the marketing measurement pile will take all of Covey's seven habits—from taking a proactive approach and beginning with the end in mind (that is, the outcomes you are expected to impact), to keeping the effort a priority when other things present themselves as urgencies, to making marketing measurement a win/win for you, your team, and the rest of the organization.

More than likely, you are going to need a cross-functional team to tackle this pile—people from Finance, Sales, IT, Operations, etc.—working collaboratively to define the metrics and hunt down and organize the data.

Plan an attack

You know that age-old question, "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer: "One bite at a time." That approach is valid for the marketing accountability and ROI question.

If this is a new effort for you, you need to break it into manageable pieces. Quantify your objectives, decide how you will measure them, collect the data that you need to meet the objectives, establish a baseline, gain commitment to the measurement plan, and, finally, measure.


Get data

"Data is the new creative," declares Stephan Chase of Marriott Rewards. Establishing metrics, determining effectiveness, understanding efficiencies... all take data. Without data you cannot monitor and measure results.

And don't assume that you have the data that you need to measure your objectives. For example, if you want to measure how many new customers you interest in a new product, you may find that you need first to determine what a "new" customer is. This may require different views of your customer records or new strategies for evaluating.

Analyze

Once you have the data, the challenge is to generate insights that facilitate fact-based decision-making.

One of the most valuable applications of data and analytics is in leveraging your metrics. The metrics are what enable continuous improvement as you strive to achieve and set new performance standards.

Just looking at numbers doesn't tell you as much as evaluating trends or creating statistical models that help you identify an optimized approach to your marketing efforts. Consider looking at your measurements for what isn't immediately obvious, such as what might have happened if that campaign had gone to the three bottom deciles of customers.

Use a systemized process

You may need to set up systems and processes that enable you to capture and track results on an ongoing basis. Many organizations put a substantial amount of energy into initiating these programs and then let them fizzle as other priorities surface. It takes both process and discipline to sustain a measurement effort.

Systems help you automate a process so that the process can become a manageable part of your day-to-day operations. Today, every marketing organization is moving at a breathless pace. Implementing a test-and-control environment can keep you from having a fatal, head-on collision.

Train

Many marketers are unaccustomed to living in a metrics-based environment. You may need to invest in measurement, analytics, as well as data training and skills development.

Start by taking a skills inventory. Find out who in the organization has data management, analytics, and measurement skills. Decide what skills they need to perform at your expected levels. Develop training that fills the skill gaps.

Doing this in-house allows you to tailor to your needs, but consider courses from universities, associations, and external consultants to fill out your requirements.


Moving marketing performance metrics from the "too hard to" pile to the "we can do it" pile can reap rewards for the entire organization.