Web site audits
Marketing communications plans
Writing
Teaching marketing and web-related seminars
I offer experience with a wide variety of marketing campaigns for the private sector, not-for profit organizations and educational institutions. My services include:
Web site audits. Web sites are almost always team projects. Usually there are several stakeholders with a strong commitment to the site's success. The web audit provides a blueprint for your site based on best practices for usability and marketing. It guides technical development, design and content, helping make sure that everyone is on the same page.
The web audit examines the fundamentals of your site—your architecture and navigation, branding and marketing, content and design—and analyzes how well they measure up against
- your business and marketing goals.
- best practices for user-friendliness, developed and documented by usability experts who have done research and user testing.
- your competitors’ Web sites in messaging, navigation structure and other factors.
The web audit is the basis for a final document that provides a clear blueprint for management, creative and technical teams to follow in executing revisions to your site. It puts everyone on the same page and can greatly reduce confusion, conflict and duplication of effort in creating or redoing your web site.
Marketing communications plans. The marketing communications plan provides the framework for communicating your message to the public using a variety of channels. These include printed brochures and organizational image pieces, print advertising, broadcast, public relations, trade shows, signage and point-of-purchase materials, and new media--your web site, e-mail marketing, search engine optimization, social media and more.
The plan lays out the rationale for use of each medium and the marketing goal it supports, recommends the general focus and messages for each, and provides a timeline for execution.
Writing. Each marketing medium requires an appropriate writing style. Underneath the style, however, the concepts and language must appeal to the specific audience. The message must be easy to grasp. The writing should be tight and to-the-point, free of hype and fluff.
I honed my skills in direct marketing, where the message must be compelling enough to drive the reader to open the envelope, look at the contents, fill out an order form and put it in the mail, or pick up the phone and call. There's no guesswork about how effective the writing is. Reader response and revenues provide immediate data on whether the package worked. It's an art, a science, and a discipline.
The result is that I write copy oriented toward the benefits that your products and services deliver. I build credibility by showing how the features of what you provide deliver those benefits, and include testimonials and other credibility builders.
The result is a body of communication that conveys your brand and your key messages, drives action and builds connection with your audience.
Teaching marketing and web-related seminars. I have taught public workshops and given private seminars on marketing, the creative process, best practices for creating web content, and effective marketing on a web site.
Contact me for a no-cost, no-obligation conversation about your marketing challenges.