Don’t just build it, design it!

We recently decided it was time to breathe new life into our tired old website. Actually, it wasn’t that old but things move on so quickly that websites soon look dated and out of touch.

No-one should under-estimate the value of a website. It’s a reference point, a reassurance to the user that yours is a business that offers them a solution that fires up their interest.

Some folk argue that they don’t need a smart, up-to-date and effective site to be able to build a business. They have a site but don’t bother with it. Why then build it in the first place?

After discussion we decided to demolish the old site and build a new one, and, in designers’ parlance, we’re having a complete ‘make over’.

That started a debate. What makes a great website? Each of us has preferences in personal taste but good websites have one outstanding feature and several common features. The outstanding feature is that they have been built for the user rather than meeting any personal aspirations.

Users can be put off straight away by poor visual impact or complex navigation. Most users are impatient and will quickly move on if they have to delve through reams of text or the site is difficult to navigate.

When people visit a website they want something pleasing to the senses. Colours, style, text and image alignment, creative presentation of images and video clips, all contribute.

Research indicates that only around a quarter of text is read on any one page, so fewer words and more visual information is the key. Each page should have a specific focus or theme, aiming to provide an instant snapshot for the user.

And with the increasing use of mobile browsing and tablet devices, it’s also essential that sites can be viewed on a range of display areas.

The website must be search engine friendly. If this is done correctly, it could mean a huge boost in visitor numbers and the chances of improving the business’s visibility are greatly enhanced.

Make sure you stand out in the crowd

There’s a constant feature among the enquiries and applications we receive from students that causes concern.

Time and time again would-be applicants seeking either work experience or full-time employment, simply address their letters and emails ‘Dear Sir/Madam’.

Creative PR and brand management agencies strive to ensure clients ‘stand out in the crowd’. So if students want to work in this environment, it’s simply not enough to send applications this way.

And in the current economic climate there are plenty of highly-skilled, experienced people in the market for a job, so employers are always looking for the stand out candidate.

Those that take the time and trouble to contact the office, introduce themselves and establish to whom they should send their CV are considered. In Encore’s case, during the course of 2011 that would be one or two out of dozens.

Those that aspire to a career in creative sectors must realise that completing a course at a university doesn’t necessarily make them an automatic choice for employers.

So, come on students, strut your stuff and make sure you get noticed. It just takes a few extra minutes to make sure your letter or email makes an impression.

After all, taking a positive and creative approach to presentation is something you’re going to have to do every day in your career.

Hands up, who likes a good gossip?

People hate to think they’re being talked about negatively behind their backs.
It could be gossip about our weight and health, our alleged behaviour, fictitious relationships, or our children’s misbehaviour. Sometimes the negative communications are based on some degree of fact, other times they’re just malicious or based on envy.
Whatever the theme and whatever the reason, it’s hurtful and emotionally damaging. There are those that fight back, either by confronting the gossips or setting positive examples of behaviour. We want to have a good reputation. When it’s damaged, our feelings take a hit and our self-esteem falls.
So why don’t businesses monitor what is being said about their products, services or market sector, either by gossips, the media, competitors or online commentators?
It takes a long time to build a brand but much less time for it to be destroyed. This is a health warning: gossip and negative messages may harm your brand.
A strong brand relies on the values, beliefs, behaviour and experiences that exist in the collective mind of the partners, stakeholders, consumers, customers, competitors, suppliers and even the media.
It’s one of your company’s most important assets and should be prized as such. Modern marketing must therefore take account of the fact that an organisation communicates in a thousand different ways, whether it wants to or not, whether it plans to or not.
Success depends on creating and managing the ‘brand’. A strong brand is achieved through measurable marketing objectives and the most successful organisations and companies have a clear brand, which they manage effectively, never relying on any one else to do it for them.
Building a strong brand value embraces everything that’s said and done by an organisation. It’s also about consistent use of corporate identity, strong advertising messages, and effective media presence.
Therefore, it’s important that someone somewhere manages that brand.
If you don’t, the gossips may just do it for you.

You can’t afford to be anti-social

Churchill famously said there are lies, damned lies and statistics, so it’s always dangerous to start quoting figures.
It’s estimated that around a quarter of all search results for the world’s top 20 brands are links to user-generated contact and around a third of bloggers post opinions about products and brands, so we can begin to understand why some of the big brands put so much time and energy into managing their social media activity.
Interestingly the fastest growing group of Facebook users are women aged 55 to 65, so it’s no longer acceptable to say it’s only the young that do social media and it really goes to show how the phenomenon has spread in a relatively short time – it took radio and TV much longer to catch on and become widely accessible to majority of the population.
More and more, people are basing their buying decisions on what they see and hear using social media – YouTube is one of the world’s largest search engines.
And rather than just promoting CSR and brands, companies now use social media for specific purposes, for example, for recruitment.
So we live in a world where products and brands come searching for us rather than the other way round. But some companies that want PR and brand management support, want to ignore the social media revolution. It can’t be done. Doing nothing is no longer an option.
There are all sorts of reasons why these reluctant people haven’t joined the social media revolution, and the usual ones are trust in the concept or that ‘our customers aren’t the sort that would use it’.
In fact, this is probably based on their own reluctance to get stuck in rather than anyone else’s resistance to their messages, coupled with a complete misunderstanding as to how their business would benefit.

The most quotable man in football?

The recent speculation around the next Leicester City manager led to a discussion about those who have passed before in recent years – which is quite a few – and who might get the job.

Looking good in the dark

One former manager recently received this year’s PR Week ‘Communicator of the Year’ award. Take a bow Ian Holloway, now manager of Championship side Blackpool FC.
By some, Ian’s reckoned to be the most quotable man in football. Anyone who follows the game will know that he’s been fairly outspoken, but very witty, on a range of subjects, from the men who run world football to Ronaldo, from video technology to the length of shorts worn in the modern game.
You can spend a fair chunk of time reading his quotes on the internet, chuckling away to yourself. Don’t do it in the office – colleagues will think you’re going bonkers.
Some of his quotes are gems. For example: “I love Blackpool. We’re very similar. We both look better in the dark.”
But he counters that with affectionate remarks about the club, his team, his staff and the fans. He loves the place, even though it must be hard when the winter wind is blowing off the Irish Sea and frailer visitors to the seaside town are hanging on to lamp-posts in fear of their life, their legs outstretched horizontally in the gale.
Holloway’s skill as a communicator was perhaps best summed up by a national newspaper journalist. After a press conference the journalist remarked: “Ian Holloway wasn’t trying to be especially interesting, he just can’t help it.”
There is a view that there are three broad things you need to be a good communicator. You need good content and you must know it well; you should be confident; and you should have a connection with the audience.
If those are the ground rules Ian Holloway is indeed a good communicator and in an era of carefully constructed ‘sound bites’ and a caution about being blunt and to the point, Holloway just steals the show.