One of the things I ask clients and prospects alike is what they want from their web site or Internet marketing strategy. Some have exact answers and some don't have a clue. Some tell me they are not sure, but they are being told by people that they have to have a web site. Now don't get me wrong I love marketing and helping people but if I was alive 60 years ago and someone came to me and said their was this great new thing called TV and I should be advertising on it for my business I think I would want to know how that is going to benefit my business. I think I would want to know the exact effect it would have on my company's bottomline. Unfortunately not enough business owners ask those questions and for the small business person that can really create a hard ship as they toss money out that could be better spent somewhere else.
Now somebody reading this right now might be scratching their head wondering why I would be willing to turn down business from someone that couldn't answer this. I would tell them I don't do it often, but I have turned people away because I tell them I don't think I can help them and in those cases I won't take their money. To most people I simply need to coach them through the thought process and we can come up with a strategy that will work and a way they can benefit.
One of those strategies is the direct response web site. This is where the site literally guides the user into a certain course of action just like a piece of direct mail would do. I work with the client to figure out what the "thing" the person is supposed to do is and then we plan the strategy around it. This strategy is a combination of traffic generation, site architecture, copy, and offer.
This last element the offer is really a key piece. People are not going to call you or give up their email for no reason. They are going to have to find something on your site that is so interesting and so valuable that they give you their contact information so they can have this item in your offer. It could be free subscription to your newsletter, it might be a tip sheet, software trial or might be a white paper or even e-book. Whatever "it" man, that sounds like eBay, is what is going to cause them to say they trust you enough to give up some information to get this information from you.
It helps to get this information if you also have a rock solid privacy policy that basically says you won't spam the crap out of them or sell their name to every email list on earth. In otherwords that you and you alone will use this information to communicate with them.
In direct response marketing this is known as the "bait piece" and is so named because it gets an otherwise nameless prospect to talk to you and thus allow you to "catch" them. However you must then show respect to the trust they gave you by respecting their privacy and giving them the information or thing you promised. If you execute this step well then moving the person to the next phase will be easier. If you blow it at step 1 by sending them a bunch of crap or the thing you promised never arrives or is a blatant marketing piece your chances of moving to step 2 have probably dropped to zero or worse!
The information that you offer should do two key things. First it should set the standard for what you are selling and in the process show why you or your company meets that standard. Second, it should give solid easy to digest information that is going to help them today. If all you do is mail or send them one of your 3 panel brochures you have just thrown a great opportunity away.
Other things the bait piece should do is demonstrate that you or your company is the expert or the premier company to deal with on whatever it is you are selling. This will be done through the quality of the information you present in your bait piece and from quoting or referencing other credible sources to back up your statements and position so people can see you actually do know what you are talking about.
This strategy needs to be carefully thought out and executed to work well. I help people all the time to develop these marketing pieces and place them on an effective web site that will actually accomplish something besides sucking up server space on the Internet. However too many individuals don't think this through and then can't figure out why they don't get any leads or help from their web site.
A direct response web site includes all the same elements as any direct response media, get attention, get them interested, get them to desire what you have, present a great offer, and fufill your promises. Do these and you will be amazed at the responses you get from your web site. If you want more information on this type of stuff please check out the articles section of my web site to learn more or sign up for my awesome e-newsletter.
Michael Temple
Monday, May 22, 2006
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Copy is King
I seem to have a theme here about coming down hard on all the fancy "jee-wiz" technology someone can incorporate on a web site. Now don't get me wrong, I use and believe that technology is necessary for your web site, but that shouldn't be the only thing that makes your site "great". People come to a web site for information and unfortunately when you have flashing ads, fancy Flash intros, and scrolling ads etc. you don't give them this information.
The best way to give them this information is through copy on the site. This copy is typically delivered through text on the page, but could also be delivered through a video or audio file on your site as well. Your copy needs to get the visitors attention right away and pull them into the body copy. As the person reads you need to build interest in your business, service, or product. In addition, you need to convert this interest in desire to have what you are selling. Finally, all the desire in the world is no good without action. Get the person to take action!
This principle is called AIDA which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. This is one of the many models that copywriters and advertisers have used in developing marketing pieces for years. There are many other models, but they are just others ways of saying the same thing.
Now the question probably arises is how do you accomplish this task? Write about the benefits of your service or product not the features. What is the difference, well my smart ass answer is higher sales. Features are the facts about your product or service such as it has a 80 GB hard drive and 3.2 Ghz chip etc. Benefits by contrast is what someone will get out of doing business with you. For example, a computer that is faster allows you to access files faster, complete work more quickly and hence makes you more efficient and more profitable.
If you don't remember anything else I wrote here remember this...
People buy benefits not features!
If the copywriting on your web site or in your marketing materials follows AIDA and is benefit based writing and not just features you will find your web site more productive and not just an alter to the gods of fancy but useless technology. Copy is truly King, those that know this sell more and those that don't give jobs to the rest of us by keeping useless web sites on the web and mailing out tons of worthless marketing materials. Hmm, come to think of it, maybe you should just continue doing all the web sites and marketing the old way so I will always have a job!
Michael Temple
The best way to give them this information is through copy on the site. This copy is typically delivered through text on the page, but could also be delivered through a video or audio file on your site as well. Your copy needs to get the visitors attention right away and pull them into the body copy. As the person reads you need to build interest in your business, service, or product. In addition, you need to convert this interest in desire to have what you are selling. Finally, all the desire in the world is no good without action. Get the person to take action!
This principle is called AIDA which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. This is one of the many models that copywriters and advertisers have used in developing marketing pieces for years. There are many other models, but they are just others ways of saying the same thing.
Now the question probably arises is how do you accomplish this task? Write about the benefits of your service or product not the features. What is the difference, well my smart ass answer is higher sales. Features are the facts about your product or service such as it has a 80 GB hard drive and 3.2 Ghz chip etc. Benefits by contrast is what someone will get out of doing business with you. For example, a computer that is faster allows you to access files faster, complete work more quickly and hence makes you more efficient and more profitable.
If you don't remember anything else I wrote here remember this...
People buy benefits not features!
If the copywriting on your web site or in your marketing materials follows AIDA and is benefit based writing and not just features you will find your web site more productive and not just an alter to the gods of fancy but useless technology. Copy is truly King, those that know this sell more and those that don't give jobs to the rest of us by keeping useless web sites on the web and mailing out tons of worthless marketing materials. Hmm, come to think of it, maybe you should just continue doing all the web sites and marketing the old way so I will always have a job!
Michael Temple
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Added Web Site Value
No matter what size your company is or how big your web site the question of creating added value with your web site for your prospects and clients is a critical one. All too many companies decide that the web site is about them and their company, but it is not, at least not in the way most companies think.
Ask yourself what can you do to your site that will get people to come back and visit if they are not a customer? Is it articles, free resources such as software, eBooks or bulletin boards that add value to the user's life and create a positive experience for them. Creating a community of some type around your site is a way of building a base of visitors that come and visit; even if they don't buy something or call right now, if they keep coming and learning about you eventually they will want to do business with you.
I know a web site that I visit regularly because the owner posts an MP3 of his talk radio show he does each week. Plus he puts articles and other great resources up there. Over time I have really come to appreciate his philosophy on life and business. His offering is seminars that he teaches, which are pretty expensive.
Had this guy emailed me, sent direct mail, advertised on TV or radio or heck even called me I probably wouldn't have been interested. Instead I found his site on the Internet while searching for something because he did the right things to give exposure in the search engines. Once I was on the site I started looking around and it wasn't long at all before I could see all the value this guy was offering.
The more I listen and read his "free" stuff the more intrigued I become with him. I am sure eventually he and I will meet and I will be forking over the hefty sum of cash for his seminar because I already have a good idea what I am going to get from it and I want more. He has taken the time to build a relationship with me through the offering of his resources and ultimately that is what every owner of a site that hopes to sell something, anything has to do.
Now for people that are already a customer for this guy his site continues to add value on topics of information they may not have taken from him. They will learn and grow because of listening to his additional programs and reading the articles. Because they have already had at least one class from him they now have even a better appreciation for his philosophy and I have no doubt over time will be repeat customers over and over again.
If your web site is simply an overview of your company and services/products with a contact page and it only gets updated once a year weather it needs it or not (sarcasm intended) then it is doubtful you will ever win as many customers or get repeat ones from your web strategy.
Remember your site is about the prospect and customer. If you spend time giving them value they will in turn provide your business with value. Help them get something more from your site besides a list of your services and a phone number and you will be surprised how many new customers come from your web site, but you will also be developing stronger loyalty to your existing ones.
Now this strategy can go much deeper with online communities that people sign up for with newsletters and forums as well as web casts and "member only" types of information and account information, but that is only the same strategy I am already talking about taken to a higher and more refined level.
It is all about added value and if you give it you will get it back many times over. If you choose to keep a simple "brochureware" site, save yourself the hosting and development money and mail them a brochure instead it is cheaper and will get about the same pathetic response.
Michael Temple
Ask yourself what can you do to your site that will get people to come back and visit if they are not a customer? Is it articles, free resources such as software, eBooks or bulletin boards that add value to the user's life and create a positive experience for them. Creating a community of some type around your site is a way of building a base of visitors that come and visit; even if they don't buy something or call right now, if they keep coming and learning about you eventually they will want to do business with you.
I know a web site that I visit regularly because the owner posts an MP3 of his talk radio show he does each week. Plus he puts articles and other great resources up there. Over time I have really come to appreciate his philosophy on life and business. His offering is seminars that he teaches, which are pretty expensive.
Had this guy emailed me, sent direct mail, advertised on TV or radio or heck even called me I probably wouldn't have been interested. Instead I found his site on the Internet while searching for something because he did the right things to give exposure in the search engines. Once I was on the site I started looking around and it wasn't long at all before I could see all the value this guy was offering.
The more I listen and read his "free" stuff the more intrigued I become with him. I am sure eventually he and I will meet and I will be forking over the hefty sum of cash for his seminar because I already have a good idea what I am going to get from it and I want more. He has taken the time to build a relationship with me through the offering of his resources and ultimately that is what every owner of a site that hopes to sell something, anything has to do.
Now for people that are already a customer for this guy his site continues to add value on topics of information they may not have taken from him. They will learn and grow because of listening to his additional programs and reading the articles. Because they have already had at least one class from him they now have even a better appreciation for his philosophy and I have no doubt over time will be repeat customers over and over again.
If your web site is simply an overview of your company and services/products with a contact page and it only gets updated once a year weather it needs it or not (sarcasm intended) then it is doubtful you will ever win as many customers or get repeat ones from your web strategy.
Remember your site is about the prospect and customer. If you spend time giving them value they will in turn provide your business with value. Help them get something more from your site besides a list of your services and a phone number and you will be surprised how many new customers come from your web site, but you will also be developing stronger loyalty to your existing ones.
Now this strategy can go much deeper with online communities that people sign up for with newsletters and forums as well as web casts and "member only" types of information and account information, but that is only the same strategy I am already talking about taken to a higher and more refined level.
It is all about added value and if you give it you will get it back many times over. If you choose to keep a simple "brochureware" site, save yourself the hosting and development money and mail them a brochure instead it is cheaper and will get about the same pathetic response.
Michael Temple
Friday, April 21, 2006
The Clean Web Site
The old saying that cleanliness is next to godliness should be applied to many web sites today. There are tons of sites on the Internet that can't decide if they are promoting their company or trying to attract gamblers from Las Vegas with the banners, animation, blinking and flashing ads, scrolling text and other distracting elements. These sites look like a bill board on the Vegas strip! Unfortunately these companies are trashing their web site with elements that probably have very little to do with the stated purpose of their site (see post below) and as a result all the junk on their site is just a distraction to visitors.
Research has proven over and over again that adding the newest and most "glittery" technology and animation you can find won't increase your conversions of prospects to customers. It may look cool and cost you a bunch of cash as your webmaster tells you how complex it was to create so he/she can keep their job, but at the end of the day it probably won't have any marginal effect on your bottom line.
Web sites should be kept lean and mean, which means minimal outside elements that aren't directly tied to the key purpose of your site. Create logical and intuitive navigation, plenty of white space, clean tasteful graphics that DON'T blink and flash to get attention. If they are designed well they will create a positive image without all the animation. However the most important element on the site is always and will always be the copy (text). People visit a site to learn things and the copy on the site needs to get their attention, be easy to read, and most important get them to take some type of action. Flashing graphics and spinning logos aren't going to do that, but powerful and well written copy will. Creating a site with these elements will always be more effective than the site that has too much junk on them and contains poorly written copy.
In Ayn Rand's famous book The Fountainhead the main character is an architect named Howard Roark. He is practicing his trade at a time when creating ornate buildings was the standard practice. The architects that are his competition believe all buildings need to have ornate carvings, pillars, and other dramatic designs more like a Greek temple than a modern office building. Roark stands alone among the men of his day that believe buildings should be clean and modern without all the excess of classical design. His ideas are attacked, but in the end we see today they are the standard rather than the exception. I know some of my ideas of minimal sites are also not shared by others in the industry. How could they be with all that cool Flash that let's you create the "classical" look to the site, but there are some, and the number is growing, that know the future of the web is well designed, clean, minimal sites with sharp copy.
If your site is one of those that looks like it belongs in Vegas then bust out the Mister Clean and get to work making a site that has a stated purpose and is minimally designed for that purpose with sharp and effective copy. Your business will thank you for it and so will your customers!
Research has proven over and over again that adding the newest and most "glittery" technology and animation you can find won't increase your conversions of prospects to customers. It may look cool and cost you a bunch of cash as your webmaster tells you how complex it was to create so he/she can keep their job, but at the end of the day it probably won't have any marginal effect on your bottom line.
Web sites should be kept lean and mean, which means minimal outside elements that aren't directly tied to the key purpose of your site. Create logical and intuitive navigation, plenty of white space, clean tasteful graphics that DON'T blink and flash to get attention. If they are designed well they will create a positive image without all the animation. However the most important element on the site is always and will always be the copy (text). People visit a site to learn things and the copy on the site needs to get their attention, be easy to read, and most important get them to take some type of action. Flashing graphics and spinning logos aren't going to do that, but powerful and well written copy will. Creating a site with these elements will always be more effective than the site that has too much junk on them and contains poorly written copy.
In Ayn Rand's famous book The Fountainhead the main character is an architect named Howard Roark. He is practicing his trade at a time when creating ornate buildings was the standard practice. The architects that are his competition believe all buildings need to have ornate carvings, pillars, and other dramatic designs more like a Greek temple than a modern office building. Roark stands alone among the men of his day that believe buildings should be clean and modern without all the excess of classical design. His ideas are attacked, but in the end we see today they are the standard rather than the exception. I know some of my ideas of minimal sites are also not shared by others in the industry. How could they be with all that cool Flash that let's you create the "classical" look to the site, but there are some, and the number is growing, that know the future of the web is well designed, clean, minimal sites with sharp copy.
If your site is one of those that looks like it belongs in Vegas then bust out the Mister Clean and get to work making a site that has a stated purpose and is minimally designed for that purpose with sharp and effective copy. Your business will thank you for it and so will your customers!
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Purpose Creates Success
In my consulting practice I often come across many small and even medium sized businesses that can't really answer the question of what the purpose of their web site is, why does it exist? What do they hope to gain from having it? They often give some vague answer that it was created to promote the company. Promotion is a worthy goal for a web site, but it is also an indirect benefit of your web strategy. In other words having a successful Internet marketing strategy will promote your company, but will also accomplish much more if it is designed and executed well.
For example, does your company have an eCommerce site? If yes, is the goal to create a new channel to sell your products or is it to "promote" your company. The obvious answer is it is created to boost sales. That is an easy one, but if you don't have an eCommerce site is the purpose of your site to get people to sign up for your newsletter (building your list), to call your sales department (increase sales through direct response), or is the purpose to provide information to your customers that improves their position and creates loyalty with your company and site?
Your purpose could be one of these or it could be all of them in different degrees of importance. It could be another reason like pre-qualifying customers, or creating online customer or vendor service channels to reduce costs. No matter what the primary goal of a web site is you need to know that purpose and have all of your online marketing goals prioritized.
If you don't know what your primary goals are how do you expect your customers that visit the site to know them? Once you know what your all your goals are for your web site then you can start the process of ranking them and organizing your site, navigation, information architecture, copy, and other elements of your site to channel or "push" your customers to that purpose.
However if you don't know what those goals are and have made no effort to channel your visitors to meeting that goal or purpose then your web strategy is most likely missing the mark. If you are one of the countless sites out that has an about us page, our services, and a few other "canned" elements that may entice a visitor one time to look at them, but give them no reason to stick around or come back you have what is known in the industry as a "brochureware" site. These sites will always fail to accomplish much accept take up server space.
To have a successful Internet marketing strategy know what the purpose of your site is and what all your goals in order of importance are. Work with your marketing and web departments to organize your site around these goals and give your customers a reason to spend some time on your site and come back.
I have a new article on my site on this very topic and I invite you to take a moment to visit my site and download/read the article. Pass it along to your friends in business and hopefully you will gain something from it. To access the article click on this link:
http://www.michaeltemple.com/Articles/Purpose.pdf
P.S. I also have other articles that you may find interesting and have an awesome free eNewsletter that you can sign up for.
For example, does your company have an eCommerce site? If yes, is the goal to create a new channel to sell your products or is it to "promote" your company. The obvious answer is it is created to boost sales. That is an easy one, but if you don't have an eCommerce site is the purpose of your site to get people to sign up for your newsletter (building your list), to call your sales department (increase sales through direct response), or is the purpose to provide information to your customers that improves their position and creates loyalty with your company and site?
Your purpose could be one of these or it could be all of them in different degrees of importance. It could be another reason like pre-qualifying customers, or creating online customer or vendor service channels to reduce costs. No matter what the primary goal of a web site is you need to know that purpose and have all of your online marketing goals prioritized.
If you don't know what your primary goals are how do you expect your customers that visit the site to know them? Once you know what your all your goals are for your web site then you can start the process of ranking them and organizing your site, navigation, information architecture, copy, and other elements of your site to channel or "push" your customers to that purpose.
However if you don't know what those goals are and have made no effort to channel your visitors to meeting that goal or purpose then your web strategy is most likely missing the mark. If you are one of the countless sites out that has an about us page, our services, and a few other "canned" elements that may entice a visitor one time to look at them, but give them no reason to stick around or come back you have what is known in the industry as a "brochureware" site. These sites will always fail to accomplish much accept take up server space.
To have a successful Internet marketing strategy know what the purpose of your site is and what all your goals in order of importance are. Work with your marketing and web departments to organize your site around these goals and give your customers a reason to spend some time on your site and come back.
I have a new article on my site on this very topic and I invite you to take a moment to visit my site and download/read the article. Pass it along to your friends in business and hopefully you will gain something from it. To access the article click on this link:
http://www.michaeltemple.com/Articles/Purpose.pdf
P.S. I also have other articles that you may find interesting and have an awesome free eNewsletter that you can sign up for.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Spinning Straw Into Gold
I have been asked many times why I continue to use the brand "spinning the web into gold". This tag line appears on my web site and in my articles. I have decided to end the mystery with my first post.
The Original
The Grimm Brothers published a story almost 200 years ago called Rumpelstiltskin. If you have read this story you know that a Miller who wanted to improve his station in life lied to the King and said that his daughter could spin ordinary straw into gold. The greedy King immediately takes the daughter and locks her in a tower with a bunch of straw and an ordinary spinning wheel. She is given the command to spin all of the straw into gold by morning or she will be executed.
Of course she can't do this and gives up all hope. Eventually Rumpelstilskin arrives and agrees to spin the straw into gold for her necklace. She readily agrees, but this doesn't satisfy the greedy king. Again on the second night she is given the same command and again Rumplestilskin comes to her aid. On the third night she has nothing left to offer and Rumpelstilskin agrees to do it if she will give up her first born child to him. In despair for her situation she agrees.
The King thinking he has a great thing going here marries the Miller's daughter. She eventually has a child and Rumpelstilskin comes for his payment. He agrees to let her out of the bargain if she can guess his name. Through some stupid actions on his part the daughter hears him by the fire one night shouting out his name. When he returns to claim the child she guesses his name and the deal is foiled.
By now many of you are saying I need to put down the fairy tales and tell you why I developed the tag line. I couldn't help but see as I read this story to my kids the modern translation it had, so let me tell you another version of the story...a modern version.
A Fairy Tale For Modern Times
Once upon a time there was a CEO of a company who was perplexed about how to raise profits for his company. Try as he might he couldn't come up with a way to boost sales. The board of directors was about to throw his sorry butt out of his job when in a desparate attempt to boost his credibility with the board he promised that the Internet would be the gold the company was seeking.
He could turn their ordinary web site into gold. The board of directors being shrewd managers took him up on his offer and locked him away with the ordinary web site and orders to spin this site into gold. Naturally he doesn't know how to do this and despair quickly sets in.
Then our hero arrives. He a is dashing and handsome non dwarfish Internet consultant (hey, this is my story, I will tell it my way). He agrees to spin this ordinary site into gold for a fee to which our CEO agrees.
Our skilled consultant quickly spins this ordinary site into gold for the company. The board rejoices, but being greedy they demand more. The CEO eventually pays up and our consultant again spins more straw (our ordinary boring web strategy) into yet more gold.
Unfortunately for our CEO his budget runs out and he is forced to face the fact that he must admit to the board he can't really spin straw into gold unless he can find something else to pay with.
Our dashing and handsome consultant has two children and is not interested in taking the CEO's kids and besides his name is on the contract so it really wouldn't be fair to ask the CEO to guess it.
To give our story a happy ending the CEO finds more money in his budget because he pays for actual results and realizing he is getting them pays our dashing and handsome consultant to continue doing what he does best, spinning the ordinary straw of the Internet (badly outdated and poor Internet strategy) into gold for its owners. The CEO and company live happily ever after.
The Actual Point of All This
Ok, I know many of you think I need to get out more, so let me explain in plain terms. Many companies and investors were sold a bill of goods back in the 90s that the Internet would totally change the way we did business. In many ways it has. However the problem as with most business problems is that it still relies on solid business principles to work and requires good old fashion work and innovation to realize the true gains.
Looking around the technology landscape one can see all the "straw" that abounds. Straw fills up a lot of space and is expensive to keep and grow, but unless your a horse it doesn't have much value. Many web sites and Internet strategies of today are not unlike this. They are poorly conceived and executed. They become expensive to keep and in the end don't produce much value.
Along comes the army of fake consultants who promise to turn this straw into gold, but alas all they do is make it shiny with lots of fancy flash, floating graphics, little movies, poor copy and charge piles of money to do this. At the end of the day the strategy is still poor and fails to produce true value.
I figured out what was missing. It is not always the technology stupid. It is the strategy behind the technology that creates the value. It is the tactics and techniques of marketing, management, sales, and business that creates the value. I founded my company on this principle.
Like the original Rumpelstiltskin I come along and use this "magic" to transform the straw into real gold. In short I create value using the things that has been producing value since the beginning of time. Giving customers what they need to make their lives and jobs easier. Producing value where there was only straw before. It only seemed fitting to use such a tag line.
Before you hire the next consultant who starts talking about how cool this new technology or technique is start asking yourself the simple questions...
Michael Temple
The Original
The Grimm Brothers published a story almost 200 years ago called Rumpelstiltskin. If you have read this story you know that a Miller who wanted to improve his station in life lied to the King and said that his daughter could spin ordinary straw into gold. The greedy King immediately takes the daughter and locks her in a tower with a bunch of straw and an ordinary spinning wheel. She is given the command to spin all of the straw into gold by morning or she will be executed.
Of course she can't do this and gives up all hope. Eventually Rumpelstilskin arrives and agrees to spin the straw into gold for her necklace. She readily agrees, but this doesn't satisfy the greedy king. Again on the second night she is given the same command and again Rumplestilskin comes to her aid. On the third night she has nothing left to offer and Rumpelstilskin agrees to do it if she will give up her first born child to him. In despair for her situation she agrees.
The King thinking he has a great thing going here marries the Miller's daughter. She eventually has a child and Rumpelstilskin comes for his payment. He agrees to let her out of the bargain if she can guess his name. Through some stupid actions on his part the daughter hears him by the fire one night shouting out his name. When he returns to claim the child she guesses his name and the deal is foiled.
By now many of you are saying I need to put down the fairy tales and tell you why I developed the tag line. I couldn't help but see as I read this story to my kids the modern translation it had, so let me tell you another version of the story...a modern version.
A Fairy Tale For Modern Times
Once upon a time there was a CEO of a company who was perplexed about how to raise profits for his company. Try as he might he couldn't come up with a way to boost sales. The board of directors was about to throw his sorry butt out of his job when in a desparate attempt to boost his credibility with the board he promised that the Internet would be the gold the company was seeking.
He could turn their ordinary web site into gold. The board of directors being shrewd managers took him up on his offer and locked him away with the ordinary web site and orders to spin this site into gold. Naturally he doesn't know how to do this and despair quickly sets in.
Then our hero arrives. He a is dashing and handsome non dwarfish Internet consultant (hey, this is my story, I will tell it my way). He agrees to spin this ordinary site into gold for a fee to which our CEO agrees.
Our skilled consultant quickly spins this ordinary site into gold for the company. The board rejoices, but being greedy they demand more. The CEO eventually pays up and our consultant again spins more straw (our ordinary boring web strategy) into yet more gold.
Unfortunately for our CEO his budget runs out and he is forced to face the fact that he must admit to the board he can't really spin straw into gold unless he can find something else to pay with.
Our dashing and handsome consultant has two children and is not interested in taking the CEO's kids and besides his name is on the contract so it really wouldn't be fair to ask the CEO to guess it.
To give our story a happy ending the CEO finds more money in his budget because he pays for actual results and realizing he is getting them pays our dashing and handsome consultant to continue doing what he does best, spinning the ordinary straw of the Internet (badly outdated and poor Internet strategy) into gold for its owners. The CEO and company live happily ever after.
The Actual Point of All This
Ok, I know many of you think I need to get out more, so let me explain in plain terms. Many companies and investors were sold a bill of goods back in the 90s that the Internet would totally change the way we did business. In many ways it has. However the problem as with most business problems is that it still relies on solid business principles to work and requires good old fashion work and innovation to realize the true gains.
Looking around the technology landscape one can see all the "straw" that abounds. Straw fills up a lot of space and is expensive to keep and grow, but unless your a horse it doesn't have much value. Many web sites and Internet strategies of today are not unlike this. They are poorly conceived and executed. They become expensive to keep and in the end don't produce much value.
Along comes the army of fake consultants who promise to turn this straw into gold, but alas all they do is make it shiny with lots of fancy flash, floating graphics, little movies, poor copy and charge piles of money to do this. At the end of the day the strategy is still poor and fails to produce true value.
I figured out what was missing. It is not always the technology stupid. It is the strategy behind the technology that creates the value. It is the tactics and techniques of marketing, management, sales, and business that creates the value. I founded my company on this principle.
Like the original Rumpelstiltskin I come along and use this "magic" to transform the straw into real gold. In short I create value using the things that has been producing value since the beginning of time. Giving customers what they need to make their lives and jobs easier. Producing value where there was only straw before. It only seemed fitting to use such a tag line.
Before you hire the next consultant who starts talking about how cool this new technology or technique is start asking yourself the simple questions...
- How does it improve the business?
- How does it add value to our customers?
- How much value does it add?
- Will it improve our bottomline and can we track that?
Michael Temple
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