In American Beauty the 1999 Oscar winning movie featuring Kevin Spacey, one of the characters had a memorable mantra “In order to be successful, one must portray an image of success at all times”. This is true in almost all aspects of doing business.

A doctor dresses and carries on like a doctor, and so is trusted to treat disease.

 A lawyer dresses and carries on like a lawyer and so is trusted to litigate for their client successfully.

Their image and the way they are perceived therefore give their clients (or patients) the assurance that they are dealing with “the real thing.”

How about a company, when clients first encounter you and your works, what impression do you give?

Business is changing and potential customers are increasingly online.

Their first image of your company is therefore from your website. Your website is the professional’s equivalent of dress and business style. Your online strategy is therefore a critical part of your future growth.

How do you expect to have a chance of convincing customers that you are the best at what you do when your website for example:

1.       Has spelling errors;

2.       Has incomplete sections;

3.       Is not up to date;

4.       Looks like an amateur’s work;

5.       Contains links that do not work; or

6.       Gives no indicator of why a client should choose your firm over millions of other similarly looking, and worded websites? E.g via testimonials, evidence of expertise/capability/success, case studies.

A company that strives to be successful should ensure that their website is at the forefront of their marketing strategy and not just relegated to the nerdy IT guy.

The website should continually communicate what sets the company apart from all others.

Action point

How about allocating a task (say weekly) to someone to ensure that the website is regularly updated and that any important messages/updates are communicated to customers (or the mailing list) via say a regular e-mail newsletter?

Best of luck and of course if you need help, speak to us.

www.inachee.com