You love your brand. You remember every drop of the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into making it what it is today, whether you’re a recent start-up or an established company.
Guess what? We don’t love your brand. That’s right – we don’t. While it’s true that we would probably fall in love with it eventually, right now we are cold. Don’t get me wrong, we’re bloody lovely people, and we put our heart and soul into the work we do with every single client. Our long-term relationships with some of the world’s best known brand names are testament to that. However, with familiarity, comes bias – your brand is your baby, and you won’t see its flaws, or poor design in the way it represents itself online, and the dis-jointed customer journey through the website. We do – or rather, we will.
What is happening time and again are companies re-designing, re-launching or re-platforming their websites, without really implementing a coherent digital strategy. A good example is favouring beauty over design – this is a sure fire sign that a company is starting to pander to the brand, instead of really listening to the user or the audience. Never forget that if you reach the right design (for anything), the beauty will be a by-product. Don’t work backwards – you’ll end up with a website that misses business goals and is more difficult to put right later on.
If you are looking at creating a new website, re-launching an existing one or starting from scratch, it’s crucial you take the opportunity to be smart about it. You’re in a good position to benefit from a Smart Digital Strategy. A Smart Digital Strategy centres on several core steps: