Beware of Web Designers bearing gifts!
Thinking about hiring a web designer?
Well sit back and listen to this one!
A client recently retained us after hiring a web designer who had told them that he was going to change the course of history and make their site the envy of the Fortune 500.
Flash, Flash, and only Flash was the web designer's prescription for their sales and marketing efforts.
You know- the type, of guy with messiah or anointed in his URL, who did not know the first thing about designing a web site with Marketing in MindSM, he was seldom correct and never in doubt!
The client was at first excited by this engaging individual and his plan to redesign the universe -- a bad sign. This love-fest however was short lived when it became apparent, that after four months of design work, their web site was met with a modicum of accolades and success by visitors who dared go where no one had gone before!
You ask, where did this greatest commercial artist since Andy Warhol go wrong? Well to put it simply. He didn't design his client's website with Marketing in Mind!
First the site was created for the wrong target market, twenty some-things who were not decision makers or purchasers of the client's product line.
Second, the site was hard to navigate which discouraged visitors.
Third, the site's design elements which the "young guru" thought were brilliant were so subtle that the client "just didn't get it!"
Finally, and most grievous he created the web site in one large "Flash" file which made "landing pages" impossible even for the sophisticated -- the young, hip, intelligent marketing professionals who wanted to use the site as a sales tool. To me it's simple; Web design must always have Marketing in Mind.
What is the moral of this passion play!
Web sites must always appeal to the target market and always have the ability to be used by your marketing department in order to generate sales for your company.
And please, before calling a web designer, please for me be sure to let them know one thing -- design your web site with Marketing in Mind.
This is Dr. John Tantillo, the marketing doctor thanking you for stopping by and inviting you to make marketing your business priority.
To have Dr. John Tantillo speak at your next meeting, feel free to contact him @ 212 679 5700 (ext 11).
Dr. John Tantillo is a behaviorally trained applied research psychologist who is internationally recognized for his expertise at diagnosing the real factors that impact target markets. His basic principles of using psychology as a catalyst to effective marketing-find out what people want and deliver it to them.