Is your web tail wagging your marketing dog?

“Garbage in, garbage out”.

When I first heard this term at a project team meeting some years ago I thought some disparaging remarks were being made about the new head of department.

Until a kind soul explained to me that no matter how good the software we were working on was, unless the data going into it was sound, it would still produce poor results.

In other words, the best book-keeping software in the world won’t change a disastrous balance sheet.

Of course, the same theory applies for websites.

Mutton dressed as lamb
No matter how sexy the site looks, how well it up-sells and cross-sells your product and how good the photography is, unless the business itself and the goods or services it provides are sound, your world-class website won’t convert to a sale.

And if it does it may be returned faster than a Roger Federer smash.

Unfortunately, all the (often genuine) hyperbole about the capabilities of websites and their accompanying eMarketing tactics has led to the belief that they are a panacea for struggling businesses.

And often we poor web professionals are blamed for what amounts to fundamental business flaws.

To the point where some web professionals have been known to knock back valuable new business because they know that no matter how perfect their handiwork is, it wont be able to hide the client’s poor service, culture, policies, pricing and overall quality.

Its like a modern day ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’. Despite what the website is telling us, really the business has no visible means of providing value.

And customers are wary enough to see through such a charade.

Top down planning = bottom line results
In order for a website and its eMarketing to work, it’s plain to see that its overarching Business Plan and subsequent Marketing Plan need also to be sound.

One should feed neatly into the other like a good architect’s plans drive the building’s construction (see diagram above).

Otherwise, all that will result is “trial and error” website and eMarketing tactics that have little hope of succeeding.

Right website, wrong market
By way of illustration, I have one long-standing client whose website is now a critical component of their sales and marketing armoury.

Regular reports point clearly to healthy traffic emanating from a range of both online and offline promotional tactics. And their customer surveys prove that both the website and the eMarketing tactics we’ve employed play a key role in moving them from suspect to customer.

But I feel that much of this constructive effort is going to waste because the client has neither a well-developed Business nor Marketing Plan, which in turn is affecting the results I can provide them.

While my eMarketing recommendations are based on considerable qualifications and experience in the industry, decisions are essentially made “in the dark” because there is no Marketing Plan to guide it.

For example, most sales are made to low quantity, low repeat business “Mum and Dad” customers, when the products in question can easily be sold at high volume to high repeat custom “specifiers” to the building and hospitality industries.

The average sale to the former might amount to a $400 sale every five years, while the average sale to the latter might amount to $10,000 every year. And don’t forget that the low repeat business “needle in the haystack” consumer is far more expensive to promote to than the easy to target specifier client.

So I’m of the belief that the business could well be fundamentally targetting the wrong customers. Which of course, means that the subsequent website and its eMarketing are doing the same.

But while I have some background in Marketing, I am not an expert in this specialised field and who am I as the web professional to be driving this anyway?

For my online work to succeed it needs to be driven by a sound business plan and subsequent marketing plan – even if it is in bullet points rather than fully fleshed out.

Right website, wrong positioning
Another client has subscribed to the “get rich quick” ramblings of what I call “trash eMarketers”. These so called “gurus” prescribe to attracting website visitors at all costs, forgoing quality presentation and content for “born a minute” sucker tactics. (Read more about these here).

Same client also has ugly handmade ‘Special offer’ signs on their storefront windows and is essentially asking for the online equivalent on their websites.

Of course, they are committing marketing sacrilege because they are turning away the quality-seeking high net-worth, repeat business individuals who are prepared to pay for quality and who of course cost a fraction to promote to once they are in the door (interestingly a recurring theme in Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares).

When I asked them who their best client was, it indeed was someone who visited regularly and spent a small fortune on their products. But this was exactly the kind of person they were turning away by using cheap and nasty promotional tactics.

Again, a case of online tactics driving the marketing plan when investment in the planning side would quickly identify the danger of such an approach.

Don’t let your tail wag your dog
So to ensure you get the best bang for your online buck, it’s a great idea to ensure that the business you want to represent online has all its business and marketing eggs lined up before you consider putting it online.

This will in turn realise the best possible return on your online investment.

There are now plenty of professionals who can guide you with this important “high-level” planning and the investment will save you bucket loads of misdirected web and marketing expenditure – even if it means delaying the web work many of us are keen to assist you with.

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Craig Reardon is a leading eBusiness educator and founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which provide the gamut of ‘pre-built’ website solutions, technologies and services to SMEs in Melbourne and beyond.  www.theeteam.com.au