BUSINESSES DILUTING THEIR OWN MARKETING EFFORTS, WARNS EXPERT
Wednesday, November 3, 2010 at 4:11PM PRESS RELEASE
Release immediate
October 18, 2010
BUSINESSES DILUTING THEIR OWN MARKETING EFFORTS, WARNS EXPERT
Many businesses are letting down their own advertising and marketing efforts by having poor or ineffective websites, warns a Midlands-based marketing expert.
Businesses are spending thousands on press and media advertising, without stopping to think what will happen after the ad appears. When potential customers follow up the ad by looking for a non-existent or poor website they go away, and the advertising spend is wasted, said Clare McKee, managing director of new marketing agency Malvern Marketing.
She said many businesses’s advertising strategy didn’t go much further than “wait and see.”
“Understanding the customer journey is critical to advertising success and improved return on investment. Gone are the days when someone sees your ad and jumps into the car to visit you. Now they simply see your ad and jump on the computer to check you out and find out more. But what if your offering is let down by a poor website, or worse still, no website at all?” she said.
Clare McKee added, “What will the customer do once on the computer harbouring an interest in your product or service but faced with your uninspiring website? Quite simply, they’ll look at competitors’ sites for a similar product or service. So you’ve created and paid for awareness for someone else to pick up sales!”
She said press and media advertising were important for building and maintaining awareness, but that should be in tandem with a strong web presence.
“While advertising in the press creates awareness and interest it’s impossible to know if the time is right for your target market. Your website can elaborate on your offering and be there whenever the customer is ready to buy,” she said.
“And that doesn’t mean a website thrown together for the sake of being there. A good website doesn’t begin with design. It begins with a coherent marketing strategy. The most attractive website won’t work unless you’ve worked through objectives, usability and conversion tactics,” she added.
“It’s no longer about pushing information out randomly. It’s about customer empowerment. Many businesses I have spoken to admit that their first port of call when actively seeking a product or service is the web, yet they haven’t got round to sorting out their own web presence,” she said.
Malvern Marketing was set up in the summer by Clare McKee to give businesses in the three counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire a personal bespoke marketing service tailored to grow or protect their organisations.
Malvern Marketing has already won a number of website management contracts for companies in Worcester and Hereford.
Businesses can find out more about Malvern Marketing by visiting www.malvernmarketing.co.uk.
Clare Mckee, who has an MA in Creative Media Practice, runs two successful online internet marketing consultancies and the Best Marketing Quotes lead generation service. Her background is in marketing, sales, customer relationships and advertising for a number of major companies.
Further information: Clare Mckee, Malvern Marketing, tel 01684 541 910, Email clare@malvernmarketing.co.uk
Further information; Ian Strachan Communications Ltd., tel 01543 490932 or 07949 202596.
