How can small business/startup benefit from branding?
Posted by: Suhel khan on: June 29, 2009
This post is in continuation of my previous post on “What is the difference between brand development, brand strategy and branding?”
I started writing this article keeping in mind the big boys but later on thought it would be good to write with small business & startups as the focus piece. So i zukishh the paper took aim and threw it in the basket, sorry big boys next time.
You are a small business going to be a big business, fella’s you are at the right stage for creating a “long lasting brand”. You can lay a very strong foundation right now and see your brand grow later or you ignore it now and regret later, choice is of course yours!
How can branding benefit you as a small business, and why should you place any emphasis on developing a brand in the early stages of your business? There are numerous reasons, but perhaps a few of the most important are:
1-I know you so I like you- Creating a distinct identity helps your customer remember you and your product/service offerings. By branding you help them do away with the fear of unknown. You actually provide them a psychological assurance that it’s beneficial to choose your service over your competitors.
2- Sound professional in every sense of it- Branding helps you create an impression of professionalism, commitment and confident. It will make you look bigger than you are, and this is not a false promise but a way of showing confidence in your work.
3- We are not running away:- A business with shoddy image is always perceived as a fly by night operator. Prospective customers feel that you are here to make a quick buck. But if you project yourself as someone adding value to their life/business they will happily accept you.
4- Grey hair matter a lot: With the passage of time, as you grow into a much bigger and better business, if branded properly(earlier) you will be perceived as somebody with experience and which translates into Trust-our most important goal in building a brand.
5- Diversity demands consistency at times: You may be a business with multiple line of products, some of them are popular and some are still looking for their place in the market. If executed rightly then branding can help you drive benefits for your not so popular products from the one that are popular.
With this blog post I leave you with a workbook/checklist kind of a thing especially for senior management guys to keep it handy when they are working out a strategy on branding or MarCom. You can download it here. If you feel like catching up with me you can do so at following places :-
My next post will be on “What is online branding? Tips and tricks.” with a complete how to guide. Till then cya!
This article is also featured on “Brands & Branding Community“, The Encyclopaedia of Brands & Branding in South Africa, the country’s leading brand knowledge publication for the past 15 years and is published annually by Affinity Publishing. Thanks to the guys out there!
What is the difference between brand development, brand strategy and branding?
Posted by: Suhel khan on: May 16, 2009
This article is part of the series of article on branding. The previous post was “what is branding?”
Brand Development: It is the methodical evaluation, construction and continued monitoring of brand. The progress is usually measured with the “Brand Development Index” i.e Percentage of a brand’s sales in an area in relation to the population in that area as compared to the sales throughout the entire region in relation to the total Population of that region. Well practically brand development is a process of creating an engaging brand which is agile in nature and reacts according to the business demand created by internal & external environment.
Brand Strategy: This is a challenge most company faces in there marketing plan. Some end up strategizing it according to the current business requirement and some end up being too futuristic. Both of them are wrong approaches, the idea is to have a perfect cocktail of both so that the strategy can be relevant irrespective of the business time frame.
Branding: Branding is the process of creating an association between a symbol, object, emotion, perception and a product/company with the goal of driving loyalty and creating differentiation.Usually the word BRANDING conjures up images of branding cattle. At times I feel branding has a branding problem.
The next post will be on “How can small business/startup benefit from branding?” with a focus on startups.
What is branding?
Posted by: Suhel khan on: February 28, 2009
This post is a part of series of article on branding. The previous post was
“Branding is the most oversold but least understood expertise” . Breaking the myths and discovering the facts.
You won’t believe one gentleman really mailed me the recipe for a unique sushi dish. And this enthusiastic lad was so serious about the whole thing that he also sent me a list of good restaurants in Delhi where I can go and have it. I nicknamed him “sushi peddler” (What say? J). Well now let’s get back to the job of defining brand and branding.
Definition of Brand (Bookish):
Brand: Distinguishing name or symbol (logo) designed to identify the origins of a product or service, differentiate the product or service from the competition, and protect the consumer and producer from competitors who would attempt to provide similar products. A BRAND is designed to:
· Identify the origins of a good or service
· Differentiate those goods or services from those of the competition
· Protect the consumer and producer from competitors.
I know that’s pretty boring way of explaining things but apart from being poker face these bookish definitions does great job in keeping the confusion away. Let’s take an example and explain it further, Starbucks coffee through product packaging and advertising, has created an association between many different objects and its brands. The unique customer experience, the shape of the cup, the green and white colors, and the remarkable consistency of using it together make Starbucks distinctive from competitors in such a competitive segment. Here are some examples of its branding efforts:-
Now going on to branding let’s have a bookish definition for branding first.
Definition of Branding (Bookish):
Branding: Branding is the process of creating an association between a symbol, object, emotion, perception and a product/company with the goal of driving loyalty and creating differentiation.
Usually the word BRANDING conjures up images of branding cattle. At times I feel branding has a branding problem. 
Talking about the biggest benefit of brand is that it should provide to its customer the ability to reduce their decision making, which is only possible by pushing the brand into the subconscious of the consumer with attributes that keep him associated with the brand. And the process of creating these attribute is branding, the art and science behind building brands.
Some quotes by experts on branding:
“A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.” -
Al Reis and Laura Reis
“A product is something made in a factory; a brand is something that is bought by the customer. A product can be copied by a competitor; a brand is unique. A product can be quickly outdated; a successful brand is timeless.”
Stephen King, WPP Group, London
“We don’t have a good language to talk about this kind of thing. In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer… But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation.” Steve Jobs
“Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it’s not going to get the business.
Warren Buffett
I leave with you with this post till i come back with another post on
“What is the difference between brand development, brand strategy and branding?”
cheers!!
PSST: When i was searching for Warrens’ image it was Estella Warren who had more image results then him. Warren buddy time to do some online branding..
“Branding is the most oversold but least understood expertise” . Breaking the myths and discovering the facts.
Posted by: Suhel khan on: February 25, 2009
Overview: The intention of this article and the series of article that will follow is to understand following concepts and ideas:-
2) What is the difference between brand development, brand strategy and branding?
3) How can business benefit from branding?
4) What is online branding? Tips and tricks.
5) A case study and a guest interview.
6) Vox populi (A collection of ideas and views on the subject from various sources)
A business organization usually start making sense out of the benefits of branding when either one of their senior managers discover it while he accidently stumbled upon a book on branding or suddenly they realize that their competition has become “famous overnight”. And the result of this interesting discovery leads them to the doorsteps of a so called “brand guru” , who talks about a prophecy that there business is doomed and he is a godsend savior to bring them out of the oblivion. The enlightenment begins here and then with couple of meetings over sushi, black coffee, heated arguments, ego brushes and some brand experts (by products of the exercise) later a brand is born. The result of this exhilarating & arduous exercise somewhat looks like this:-
1) Hiring of a design agency
2) Suddenly a new logo is created
3) The corporate identity looks like a riot of colors
4) A meticulous exercise of revamping the marketing collaterals and online presence
5) A press meets with dark suited business journalists (who are more interested in “what’s on the menu?” then “what’s in the meeting?”)
6) A beautiful mailer sent across to the customers, employees and other stakeholders (with the new logo and color family of course)
7) High expectations (should result into benefits overnight)
A hole in the balance sheet (sushi and black coffee bills included)
With some heart burns and blame games later our “brand” is forgotten and people return back to their work with a feeling that “whatever it was but it has certainly added a nice idea to my retirement plan-becoming a brand guru someday”. Pass on the caviar and some champagne too.
I understand your concern, but I am not the byproduct of some similar exercise, I am but a curious spectator of this game called “branding”. And here through my blog I want to discover and unravel the mystery behind it, so that someday I and you can help create a brand which lives up to everybody’s expectation and performs like any other asset of the organization in creating a real, tangible value for the business or just to create a sound bite “A brand that really works.”
I hope I have set the tone for taking the case forward and if you have gone through something similar or you have an interesting sushi recipe, then I request you to share your experiences by leaving a comment.
Note: My next post will be on what is branding?
Till then I leave you with an interesting article on the concept of branding by Jeff Cohn, CEO and Chief Brand Strategist of Cohn Marketing. Click here to download your pdf copy. And for this I thank Jeff for replying so quickly and allowing me to share this whitepaper with you all.
The best answer on the aspects of corporate website design.
Posted by: Suhel khan on: February 25, 2009
I apologies for the delay in writing this post.The question “ What according to you is the most important aspects one should keep in mind while designing a corporate website?” that i asked my fellow networkers on linkedin, facebook and toostep received a tremendous response.
The best answer according me and some of my friends was of Tori Press. Tori is the Founder and Principal Designer of Red Queen Design Studio based in Atlanta, Georgia. You can read Toris’ answer on this post.
Through this post i would also like to thank rest of the participants to allow me to use there comments on my blog.
As i mentioned about the ebooks i will personally mail them to all of you. Because some request of redistribution is still pending with the authors, so once that is done you will have your copy.
Cheers ! Don’t forget to check out my new series of article on Branding.
What according to you is the most important aspects one should keep in mind while designing a corporate website?
Posted by: Suhel khan on: February 17, 2009
“I believe that the art and science of designing corporate website is different from our normal web design approach. For a simple fact that the target audience of our corporate website is different. I want your help in identifying the most important aspect an organization should keep in mind in designing a corporate website. “
This was the question and the background which i requested my fellow networkers at Linkedin to answer. I would like to thank all of you who have taken out time to help me figure out the answer. Through this post i thought of sharing your views with other people who might be haunted by the same question. This post is the culmination of the series of question which i started on this blog, for your reference the questions were:-
2) What is online branding and how can corporate websites become an
effective brand touch point?
3) Ten corporate website design tips you shouldn’t miss
The response of the question was overwhelming, 23 people in total responded on Linkedin and some 43 people on other social media networks.
If you want me to remove your entry/link or you like the articles or you have something to add, then please do remember to leave a comment. It’s a great motivator for a blogger.
Colin T
Owner, Scot Wed Photos
The most successful on-line company in the world is probably Microsoft.
Look at their website and learn
David M
Legal consultant
Before you can even begin to think of a design, you have to decide how the website fits into the general marketing effort for the corporation. You have to be able to say precisely who you expect to use the internet to find information about your organization. Why should they be looking for you on the internet rather than through more conventional trade directories and other longer-established systems? Only when you know who might be looking for you and what they would need to know to convert interest into action can you begin to design.
Ryck M
Director Business Development
Like any other marketing tool, you must first decide what your objective is for the web site. Is it an e-commerce site, is it a lead generation vehicle, is a customer support portal, is it to create corporate or product awareness? Let your goals for the web site direct you to what you need to include and which should be featured prominently on it.
Sourabh H
Partner, Startsmart Consulting
The objective. Which in turn is driven through the business model – a website must fit into the company/organization’s business model.
He had an interesting article to share with us on the role of website design in estrategy. Click here to read the article.
Consultant, Webmaster @ Midlands Minerals Corporation
Keep in mind your audience and what they want to get out of the website. For example, if your company is public and has or wants to attract investors or analysts, the area of your site that’s dedicated to investors should contain the key information that these visitors will be seeking on your company, and this should be easy to locate and access. If you are a consultancy, you might want to have a prominent link to your case studies and white papers, so potential clients can see how you work. If you are selling different product lines, you want to present them in a sensible way that isn’t confusing to people searching for information and prices.
Important information that your visitors will come to the site for should be easily accessible from the home page. This could be through links to other pages, for core information, or through direct links to things like news releases and annual reports, to keep your home page looking fresh, and show people that your company is active in the market. People get bored very easily, and if they have to click more than 2 or 3 times to get what they want, or if they layout of your site is confusing, they will leave and go somewhere else.
Websites affect first impressions in a big way. You can be the greatest company in the world, but if the person who visits your site doesn’t know anything about your company and has a poor user experience, they will often judge your company’s capabilities based on that.
Owner & CEO at dataccess.net
The most important aspect in the “design” of a corporate website is to insure that the design accomplishes your goal. Are you trying to inform the user about what your company does? Are you trying to promote your company or its products? Are you trying to sell products?
The design has to fit your goal. Good design will guide the user to where you want them to go on your website.
CEO, Traction | Adams Blog
Quality graphic design is a minimum standard. So, ensure you have a design team that can provide that.
Bit the definition of design is “problem-solving” so you must be strategic.
Strategically, you must ask:
Who is your audience?
What are their objectives in coming to your site?
What are your objectives for your site?
Once you’ve answered those last two you can establish a hierarchy of navigation and content that bridges the final two and makes the user experience an intuitive path that mutually fulfills both sets of objectives.
Manager-Key Accounts Vitage Technologies Pvt Ltd
1. Corporate website shall be in sync with Corporate Brand Strategy
Colors used shall be in sync with Logo and corporate colors .
Brand colors should emphasize the philosophy and strategy of the
corporation and shall be as per brand Objectives laid down by the company.
2. Accessibility:
Should not be browser specific
Key words should be keyed in meta tags making it acceptable for registering in all major search engines
Shall be updated on regular basis and easy updation functionality be made available .
Typographically clean and readable text -Font type,color
Social Media and SEO Consultant
I am going to make this nice and easy for you… Only 15% of people buy from corporate websites. that’s What i think
Principal Designer at Red Queen Design Studio
Great design is great because it identifies and accomplishes a purpose. There are engaging, gorgeous, eye-popping websites all over the web that fall flat at boosting sales, drawing in new clients, or accomplishing other goals because those goals were never defined in the first place. The first thing to do is identify in as much clarity as you can what the purpose of your website is and let the design flow from there.
The most important questions to ask yourself when defining this purpose:
–Who do you want to visit your corporate website? How old are they? What do they do, for work and for fun? What’s their income level? What products appeal to them?
–What are they coming your website? What do they want to do there? What information are they trying to find? How can you make it as easy as possible for them to accomplish the goal they came for?
–What do YOU want them to do? Maybe they came to your site for basic information, like contact information, but you want to draw them in so they’ll explore your company’s mission and philosophy, or maybe make a purchase from you.
Form follows function. If you spend time at the beginning of your project thoroughly identifying the users you want to target and the experience you want their website to have, your design should follow from there.
President/Creative Director, Newton Associates
This applies to both content and design. Think of all the types of visitors who will come to the corporate site — prospects, customers, investors, vendors, news editors, etc. — then, be sure that the home page features clear navigation choices for each audience, then apply them globally throughout the site.
Social Media Marketing Evangelist,Managing Partner for dotndot.com
Below are the most important points.
1. Content
2. Simple design
3. Privacy policy
4. Easy Navigation
5. SEO Friendly
6. Sitemap
7. Clear information about service or a product.
8. Flexible contact options
SEO/SEM Expert, Web 2.0 Marketing, SEO, SEM, PPC, Social Media Marketing at Galaxy Web Links Ltd.
You first do keyword research for that website and give image name as SEO friendly like web-development.gif, jpb or .png etc, Pleas you h1, h2 tag in headings, proper navigation, SEO friendly page name etc are the main factor.
Please make site for users not for Search engines.
Kimmo L ( Kimmo’s blog )
Copywriter, Transcreator, Marcomm Consultant
As always, most of the important things have already been said, but I think one important aspect is missing: the back-end.
In other words, what will happen when a visitor to the site wants more information or wants to make a purchase?
However good the site design or content, it will not produce the desired results unless the contact interface is easy and any query is answered promptly.
Also, if the site gives contact telephone numbers, they should be ones where human beings answer directly. Nothing is more irritating than wading through a maze of voice menus (if you want this, dial 1, if you want that, dial 2 etc) only to end up talking to an answering machine.
I understand these points may be hard to accomplish if you’re hired just to “make a good website”, but nevertheless, it is important.
Freelance web content services
I will assume that by ‘corporate website’, you are referring to the site (or that section of a site) that a company’s stakeholders go to for information such as financial results, business overview (‘about us’), employment opportunities, press information and so on.
The most important consideration in all effective communications is the target audience(s). For a corporate site, this would generally include (at least) shareholders (private and institutional), media, current employees, potential employees and suppliers. Ensure you do thorough research to identify what these groups would like to receive from your website.
If you’re referring to the most important aspects of a website’s design, you need to strike a balance between design and content (they go hand in hand). Both are equally important for creating a pleasant user experience and enabling visitors to find the information they want. Follow up your audience research with some usability testing.
Remember, however, that without good content, a website cannot survive on good design alone. Well-written copy creates a professional, credible impression of a website and the organization behind it.
Good content ensures that your website is accessible to both human visitors and search engines. The key is relevant, easy-to-use copy, supported by effective headings, alt tags, meta data, other alternative text and so on.
Shilpi Gupta
Executive-HRThanks for giving an opportunity to share my views on the subject matter. As the theoretical aspects has already been touched by the maverick people in their comments mentioned in LinkedIn. The most important (the least taken care of) thing when go on deciding about the corporate website is the
1) Target audience as you rightly mentioned in the question. Corporate have to broaden there approach when they go on deciding about the target audience, it could be potential clients, potential employees, current employees, TPO of the institutes, Students pursuing academics, Shareholders, Stakeholders, Vendors ,etc.
2) Emulating the existing websites or doing R & D on the existing ones will only stop the creative juices to pour out. So kindly don’t do any R& D before you start the business on the designing part.
3) Break the rules & the monotony: As I proceed with my assignment of hiring a designer I got to see ample artworks & online creations they all seems to be emulation of the others (almost all have the same layouts). Breaking the monotony & coming up with some unique design would definitely multiply the finger tapping frequency on the website.
Vijay Bhaskar
Business Excellence Analyst, Unisys
Demographics -
Get data on the existing website (if there is one) on the users who access, types of browsers, resolutions, top entry and exit pages etc. Remember that in many companies, the usage of tools, OS etc are controlled by their IT department – based on the cost and management of the need of the company.
In case it is a new site, get to meet the potential users and create the various personas (the details of these can be obtained by a simple google search – click here to see an example). Once this is done, you would know what and how you need to design.Purpose -
Generic Site – for the entire world – IF the site is to be designed for the rest of the world to see (you would get the details when you create the personas), then you would have to hear the voice of the customer and plan accordingly – remember that demographics are very crucial in deciding where you need to place what content etc.
If it is an Intranet – for the use of its employees – this would present you with a whole lot of new challenges. Please note that the main purpose of any Intranet is to make the life of the employees easy by providing them information and as a means to complete their actual job. So if an employee spends a lot of time searching for information on the intranet, he/she is wasting their time. For example, if it takes 10 mins to search for an information, and if there are 1000 users in the company, then the website would be hogging on 1000*10 mins = 10000 mins = 166.6 hours = 20.8 man hours per day is spent on searching for information on the intranet. which is approximately 416.6 man hours per month (a month with 20 working days). This would be a sheer waste of time for the employees and the company. So the intranet is to be very efficient. IF the time on the intranet can be reduced to 3 mins per user per day (from 10 mins per day), there would be a huge saving for the company.The demographics does help and that should be the main tool for anyone who is designing any kind of a website should use. In case there are no demographics available, personas are the most crucial step and ensure that the new site that you would create (intranet or otherwise) has the required addins to track and provide user demographics.
Hope this helps. All the very best.
Media planner at Initiative Media
Hi Suhel,
First do a paradigm shift look at it from a user’s point of view. WIIFT?
What’s In It for Them? are you giving them what they want and how user friendly is the site in terms of navigation, look, feel, text style etc
Editor (acting) at utalkmarketing.com
Usability
Appearance
Convergence
Engagement
Alexandra West
3D Media Marketing and Online Lead Generation | Alex’s Blog
These are the things I see in the best Corp Websites:
1. Easy to Find the Info you are looking for
2. Easy to Connect (Live Chat, full-staffed 800#, etc…)
3. Easy to understand How to Do Business with the company
4. Social Interactivity (links to Forums/Facebook Groups/etc…)
Sr. Internet Marketing Professional
Dear Suhel,
It’s a valuable question you have put across. I agree that science of designing corporate website is completely a different approach. Corporate website must have following significance:
a) It should be a replica or more of that whatever it is in actually. Many corporates fail to deliver what they are when it comes to their web presence.
b) The design should entertain the user in its class.
c) Case Study, brouchers and white papers should be placed clear enough.
d) The graphics color option should match the corporate color family and must use variety of its shade.
e) Website should completely accessible to its user. So, many times website navigation path fails to take user to the goal point.
f) We must have web2.0 support to get user reviews and user generated content.
g) The design prospect will complete only if we have exact user profile in mind and then only we can use graphics, rich media and web 2.0 elements to entertain and engage the user. And I am sure that this enhanced combination can lead a visitor to be a prospect.
In last line I must summarize my statement that a Site which can entertain and engage the customer with it’s pleasing graphics, clear navigation, short goal paths and interactive instruction will be a real corporate website which will lead you towards online brand building or to say an “IDENTITY”.
Nerissa M
Brand Management professional
First you must determine the objective of the website. Is it to inform, strengthen the brand, generate sales, obtain investors, etc.
Second, based on the objective, determine the target audience(s). Then design the website that will engage the intended audience. For each web section, keep the intended target in mind and build the site so that it will be appealing and useful to the ultimate user.
Joseph Franklyn M
Owner, Corporate Performance Artists
Corporate sites exist to answer questions, so good navigation and highly efficient search are the most important aspects.
Brad T
Software Entrepreneur
Information quality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_quality
From Wikipedia:
The generally accepted list of elements used in assessing subjective Information Quality are those put forth in Wang & Strong (1996).:
Intrinsic IQ: Accuracy, Objectivity, Believability, Reputation
Contextual IQ: Relevancy, Value-Added, Timeliness, Completeness, Amount of information
Representational IQ: Interpretability, Ease of understanding, Concise representation, Consistent representation
Accessibility IQ: Accessibility, Access securityCecilia W
Owner, D’Alessio & Wacholder Soluciones Tecnológicas
I think it’s all been said, so you might start polling results ;o)
Anyway, my standards for corporate web design are:
-Ease of use
-Speed
-Easy maintenance and updating
-Clear content, clear access to content
-Unobtrusive design, thought for service rather than for show
-No intro, please
What is online branding and how can corporate websites become an effective brand touch-point? continued…
Posted by: Suhel khan on: February 15, 2009
Ten corporate website design tips you shouldn’t miss
Its Sunday today and delivering on my promise on the previous post about corporate website design and converting the website into an effective brand touch-point, so the rest of the post is here. Enjoy reading and don’t forget to comment on what you think don’t qualify as a tip or if you have one do share it with me.
1) Goals Goals and Goals
Usually the first point of discussion with the teams responsible for developing the website is DESIGN. The management is too busy and wants the mock-up first. This is the point where the website start taking a shape of a monster which is beyond the control of its master. To start with just answer raise a simple question with your team “What is that we want our website to do ?”. Make list & arrange and align your answers with your organizational goal. Make this as your checklist.
DESIGN SHOULD BE THE LAST THING ON YOUR LIST.
2) Who is your audience
Knowing as to who will be your audience helps you align your business goals well. Spend some time in researching about your target audience in terms of there demography, profession, preferences, age-group etc. This will help you in deciding about you content, design, marketing and other aspects.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE WELL.
3) Don’t confuse your visitor
Do your remember any instance where you had this heady feeling of being lost on a website? Some corporate websites are great in design and content but loose on the navigation front. This leaves the visitor with a bad taste. So a well defined navigation structure is like having a clear direction and a smooth road to reach your destination.A site map can be a good guide to your website, especially if you have lots to say. Someone who quickly finds what he or she is looking for is more likely to return.
Have an easy and simple navigation and provide a site map.
4) Think of the customer experience
Treat your website visitor like the way you will treat them if they walk into your office. Have a clean and aesthetic landing pages for each of your product or service sections. also make sure that you listen to them by providing the query form and phone numbers so if they don’t find anything on the website they know how to contact. Also try and create a separate customer service page. Click here to know how HP has done that.
Create a wonderful customer experience online.
5) Design matters a lot.
Ok now bring out your designers and give them a chance to earn there piece of bread . The corporate website design process should start from creating a style guide to be followed for the entire website. The idea is to keep it simple, clean and using color where it is required. Usability is also an important aspect that should be take care off over here.
Make your design simple and functional.
6) Make it sound good
While developing your corporate website design, devote special care to the copy. Writing for web is different from print. It should have the problem-solution approach and should convey the message quickly and precisely. People don’t have so much time to read all the yada yada. If there’s too much content, it’s a good idea to split it across two pages – no one likes to scroll down too long, and never from side to side!
Keep it short and sweet
7) Browser compatibility
Ensure that your website runs fairly well on at least the popular browsers. So it will be really good to keep three or four popular browser in mind while developing the website. You must keep a good amount of time for testing the website.
Site should work well with at least the popular browsers.
Have an error page (404)
The idea is to have a custom 404 page because it makes to let your user know that they have reached the right site but may not be the right page. Ideally place a query form there and link to the site map, so that they can place a query or go to the desired section. Also place a link to the home page prominently.
Design a custom 404 page
10) Help me with the 10th one
The tenth tip is to ask your stakeholders, existing customers, external consultants to have a ring side view of the proceedings. Believe me it helps a lot.
And i request you to help me as well in finding more tips and refining the existing by answering the questions that i placed on my linkedin profile. You can view what others have to say about this here.
Some good corporate website design example are:-
Summary
I would like to summaries the whole thing in one line
Be relevant, precise, simple and friendly
I am working towards a post which will have views from some of the experts of the field who have answered the same question that i have placed on various social networks.
Thank you all who have been answering those question passionately.
What is online branding and how can corporate websites become an effective brand touchpoint?
Posted by: Suhel khan on: February 11, 2009
What is corporate website…….continued here
In my last post i discussed what is a corporate website & how organization loose there brand value through them . This post is all about regaining the lost ground. After all your website is your important brand touch point which you need to enhance your online experience.
To ease our discussion lets break it into three different sections,i.e
1) What is online Branding ?
2) Ten corporate website design tips
3) Some examples
4) Summary
What is online Branding?
Online Branding is the integration of the entire online buying, browsing and conversion process into one continuous string of communication that is relevant to the consumer. Its an amalgamation of everything from visual appearance to content to web marketing strategy. So if one aspect is overlooked then it directly affects your user experience and in turn your brand value.
Unlike the traditional media (print, TV etc), on internet the touchy feely brand experience immediately connects with your corporate website. A great online advertising campaign is fruitful if and only if the brand experience that results from the consumer interaction with the website is equally delightful. A great online advertising campaign can crush a brand extremely quickly if the site does not deliver on the perception portrayed by the advertising campaign.
The same is true for search engine marketing campaigns. Many marketers still seem to think search campaigns exist in a vacuum and wonder why they achieve less than expected results from their PPC campaigns. Its commonsense, what the ad copy promises is not usually found on the website. I don’t know why people are mad about just increasing the traffic.
Point: Be relevant, Be precise and don’t mislead the audience.
Rest will be continued in the next post on Sunday 15 Feb…
( I need to prepare for valentine guys..:) )
What role corporate communication should play in Corporate social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives ?
Posted by: Suhel khan on: January 22, 2009
At times we have noticed organization going overboard to highlight their CSR activities, how much or whether its at all necessary for a corporate use (misuse) CSR initiatives as way to do emotional branding. Help me figure it out..Share your thoughts on it..
This was the question i poised to fellow “networkers” on Linkedin. I thank all of them to take out time in answering the question and throw some light on this topic for others to learn. I am just posting the response that i received for it. If you wish to contact and converse these people directly then you can just click on there name to know more about them and if they wish you can also connect with them on Linkedin.
The best answers “tag” goes to Richard A. Whipple of Crow Communications
Mr Khan;
Does the corporate citizenry tie to the business core? (Not all for profit clients have or require an extra social conscience programme component). If it does not, then kill it. It will degrade the corporate message while it reduces resources that could otherwise be allocated (especially during an economic downturn) to the core business. For-profit business may influence the government of the population constituency where it operates but it does not have to operate itself as a government agency to reside as a citizen. If it does, promote it within the corporation as a natural part of the business. Is the corporate citizenry progamme connected to the client philosophy? Then should not this be promoted by public relations through the departments of HR and Finance? (Let marketing communications stick to selling product, which is their core duty.)
Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts to an important business question.
All the best,Richard A. Whipple
PR Consulting in Sustainability, Linking Financial ROI Metrics to PR Management.
www.crowcommunications.com
Suhel,
Probably the biggest challenge to Corporate Social Responsibility is who should take the responsibility?
Once someone in the company takes the responsibility, the next biggest task to understand how the initiative maps to your company’s goals, and to justify the activity.
For instance, in my previous company marketing lead the effort since we took responsibility for things that we controlled like printing on recycled paper, minimizing printing overall, using vegetable-based inks, switching to recycled stock for product packaging and the overall reduction of packing material. Through this seemingly simple effort, we were able to reduce costs by up to 50%. Once we had this track record, we moved on to better recycling and reduced waste management costs, and now the corporate headquarters and US-based data centers are all 100% windmill powered.
With the cost reductions from our "greenification," we were able to fund a foundation that donates money to worthy causes on a quarterly basis.
All of this started in marketing, but there is now a group of people from across the company who are involved and it has become a great source of corporate morale and a part of the culture.
However, all of this information lives in the CSR section of the Website and is woven through the company’s marketing materials, but it isn’t what is used to sell the product. The key here is, social responsibility is something that makes a prospect feel good about doing business with you, and is a requirement in some RFPs, but there is a lot of "greenwashing" happening. So, leading with your CSR message can actually create doubt. It’s better to walk the walk, not talk the walk. If you are doing it right, your company can receive GreenE certification and even be listed on the EPA’s list of green companies.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.
Cheers,Bob Berger
Principal, Enfuego Strategic Communications
Dear Suhel,
I was also going to give you an answer in the line of: "leading with your CSR message can actually create doubt. It’s better to walk the walk, not talk the walk". Nevertheless, in my past experiences as one of the promoters for CSR at my previous employment I would say that I always involved the PR/HR departments to help with the communicational aspects of any CSR. In this regards, we never started with marketing in mind but rather involving them in order to ensure and maximize communication within the stake holding group.
In addition, if a CSR is really strategic, marketing of the products/services will have to be involved as with any other commercial process.
Finally, whenever I thought about the communicational aspects, besides just facilitating communication I have always had in mind promoting positive externalities by letting potential stakeholders know about a CSR initiative.
Regards,Gastón Bilder
International Legal Counsel – Community Relationships (gbilder(at)excite.com)
Hi Suhel,
I would like to draw your attention on a major aspect of CSR before i get down to address the question.
I have been watching this distressing trend from quite sometime that the corporate who initiate CSR activities are mostly those who have already done a considerable damage to the society & its resources. And when they go gungho about there social initiatives its mostly because they want to do an image correction. just to show that they "care".
I feel there should be a kind of a check by an autonomous body which looks into these kind of aspect and can draw a line on how to place these kind of information in the public media.And how we can go about it we need a detailed discussion on this.
Let me know when you are up for it.
Regards,Amit Mishra
Sr. Internet Marketing Professional at Yash Technologies Pvt Ltd
Hi Suhel
CSR is an essential evolution in what is is to be a corporate body in this time, in this social and environmental era.
True poorly performing (wealthy) companies have often been at the forefront and claims of greenwash might have some justification. But at least they are laying down markers year on year against which they can be measured against their own performance and that of their competitors.
I do not think many go far enough or take the matter as seriously as they should. As customers, employees, shareholders, investors, regulators, governments and pressure groups all start to see the CSR agenda as more important, then it will only be those non monopoly businesses that excel in the area of CSR who will survive.
Business strategy and the ability to deliver on the strategy will always be the most important predictor of success but CSR will be an integral element of that strategy at the highest level, in marketing and communications.Myles Mayne
Managing Director at Improved Prospects
I would like to thank everybody to take out time to answer this question and sharing your thoughts on this important aspect of corporate communication.
What is a corporate website and How organizations loose there brand value through there corporate websites ?
Posted by: Suhel khan on: January 18, 2009
- In: Branding
- 3 Comments
“We have spent a million dollar in putting that website there” I have read & heard these “intelligent” arguments by some very senior executives of some very popular brands.
I have a humble suggestion to them- DUDE WAKE UP !
If spending money can get you the results then all the so called brand guru’s will start selling candy floss. Before i start making a delicious breakfast for these “corporate saviors’ let me just answer some basic question.
What’s a corporate web site?
It’s the domain they use after every advertisement where you can learn more about a company, ya know it, anycompany.com
Corporate are in love with there content writers and believe that they have hired a Shakespeare to write another masterpiece which will help them create a mark in history (at least content writers think so..). With there glib market speak, stock photos of smart looking dudes or minority women crowded around the computer raving about your product, the positive press release, the happy customer testimonials, the row of executive portraits, the donations your corporate made to disaster relief, the one-sided view never ends. And Yes the designers nevertheless think that the website is the last chance for them to buy a ticket to eternity.
While some of your traffic may be going up on your website, it’s not indicative of how corporate websites are being used. Analytics don’t tell us why people go to your site, and it may not be for the reason you want them to.
The corporate website is an unbelievable collection of hyperbole, artificial branding, and pro-corporate content. As a result, trusted decisions are being made on other locations on the internet.
Why is your corporate website irrelevant?
Marketing has shifted, it’s no longer on two domains
Many web marketers are under the impression that the battles are only fought within Google search results and on the corporate domain. In reality, marketing has spread to many other areas where conversations occur: social networks, rating sites, chat rooms, and even blogs. No corporate should underestimate the value of what social networking has to offer in the current scenario.
Decisions are not made on your corporate website
For this blog post i conversed with some of my fellow designers, e-marketers, senior executives and some informed customers of there services. And the startling fact was that there prospective customers were making decisions much before hitting the sellers corporate website, and at this juncture if the customers expectation do not match with what the website has to offer, it will not be difficult to guess who is at the losing end. Which also plays a spoilsport in bringing down the brand value of the otherwise strong brand.
Not understanding why your customers come to your website
Fact of the matter is that a considerable amount of customers visit a manufacturers website just to pick up the either the pricing details or the features of the product. I have personally done so while i was planning to buy a new mobile phone. I went to this major handset providers website just to gather the feature details, as i already made up mind by hitting blogs, social networks and forums. So the point that i want to drive home is that corporate should be present at these places where the decision are made.
“ I always hate to break the news, but hey, who will? After eight years of evaluating more than 1,000 large corporate Web sites, Forrester found only 3% with passing grades. The vast majority are hard to use, confusing, poorly designed, and cast an unfavorable shadow over the brand.”
by George F. Colony, Forrester Research
The list is quite long but i just wanted to stick to some major issues right now and move onto to tackling the issues. If you feel that there are some other issues you want me to delve in then just send a comment across to me, i will look into it.
Cheers !!
