One of the most common opening lines we hear from business owners is, “I need a website.” In reality, 99% of them need something different than (or additional to) a website, whether it’s strengthening their brand, help communicating with their audience, discovering ways to reach the right people, aligning their internal culture, etc. But even when we do design and develop a website as part of an overall branding and marketing effort, many clients think that the website is going to cure all their problems. The second it launches, everything will run perfectly, and customers will come flocking to their door, right? Wrong.
No matter how good of a designer or agency you hire to build it, your website (or social media, or mobile ads, or any other marketing tactic) is not a silver bullet. Your work is not done the day it goes live. If anything, it’s just starting. After the site launches, there’s testing, debugging, rewriting, design tweaks, additional features, Phase 2, 3, and 4, SEO, marketing, advertising, communicating…you get the point. It’s a constant work in progress. Like many other parts of marketing and branding, your website should be part of a larger puzzle, with lots of pieces fitting together to make a beautiful work of art (or a successful business, in your case). You need a holistic approach and a serious investment of time, money, and effort to make things happen. It’s more risky and difficult than it seems (“It’s a website! How hard can it be?”), but the biggest payoffs usually are.
So, next time you think to yourself, “I need a website” or hear someone else say the same thing, ask, “Why?” Then, ask it again. And again. And again. You’ll probably discover that what you’re trying to accomplish is a whole lot bigger.
Great post, Shaina! And I couldn’t agree more.
All too often my clients’ website needs are just the tip of the iceberg. And the reason they bring up a website is they can’t see below the waterline to the mountain of deeper needs below—usually rooted in a lack of singular vision and sense of identity.
Besides, silver bullets rarely help you solve problems…unless your problem is vampires!
This rings so true. I just finished our website launch and still deal with the silver-bullet expectations of our execs every day. I’m in-house marketing, and I empathize with agencies like Forty when trying to manage all types of client expectations–but I never get to roll off a project. Everything is (viscous) fluid; it’s tough to move forward to launch that next piece of that puzzle. Not an entirely unwelcome challenge, though, and it certainly keeps you sharp. Digress… Thanks for posting!
Good reminder to us all! Beyond other internet-based needs, I think the biggest thing that gets overlooked when creating a new website is the customer interaction that follows. I see so many shiny new websites that look stellar, but when you actually communicate with the company behind them, the interaction falls flat. Good marketing doesn’t end with a pretty front, it needs to be met with a pretty experience.
I modify Jeff Goldblum’s Jurassic Park line, substituting ‘a website’ for ‘dinosaurs’
“You were so busy trying to figure out if you COULD make a website that you didn’t stop to ask if you SHOULD.”
good thoughts.
Thanks, guys! Sounds like we’re not the only ones dealing with these types of expectations, so glad to hear others can relate. And +1 to Krys for a Jurassic Park reference ;-)
After clients say to you “I need a website” and you ask “why? why? why?” — in your experience has that been enough to change their mind to focus on the deeper, more important needs?
Also, I think one of the underlying mindsets that may contribute to the “websites as silver bullet” mentality is that it’s something tangible that clients can see. Things like “strengthening your brand” or “aligning the internal culture” can feel abstract even though those things are laying the foundations for the direction of the whole company.
Besides, everyone knows Twitter is a silver bullet. Duh!
….so kidding : )
That’s a great point, Brian. I totally agree that people latch on to websites because they’re tangible (kind of), and it’s “the thing to do.” Websites are the hub of many companies’ marketing efforts, but that doesn’t make it the go-to solution for everything or mean it’s more important than other tactics. After all, the intangible things in life (happiness, love, etc.) are sometimes better than the things we can hold!
In answer to your question, the conversation about “why” doesn’t necessary completely change their minds. But we’ve found it *does* makes a light bulb go off that their needs may be bigger than just a few pretty pages, and it puts their guard down so we can start delving into those needs.
Thanks for those insights, Shaina. That’s good stuff.