Marketing in Malta

What with the current economic crisis and the emerging evidence that traditional forms of advertising are is failing to convert largely due to the fact that we are bombarded with so much information it’s now a better time than ever to streamline and focus more on the core business that drives revenue through our doors.

For most of us that own or manage a website the focus has shifted from how do we get people onto our website into how do we make them convert? This as many of you are starting to realize is a process that needs to be managed from the very beginning.

The traditional approach

Open your web browser search around and its easy to find a number of free services allowing you to build a website. The process is getting so easy all you need to do is drag and drop, press save and hey presto you have a website. For the large percentage of us that take our business and online marking campaigns seriously we want the backing of something a little more professional then this approach but few of us fully realize how challenging it can be to make a website truly successful.

When shopping around for new media agency quotes it’s not unusual for clients to ask for design concepts before committing, from a clients perspective this appears to be a good idea. After all, it not only allows you to see the quality of the design work but you get a clear idea of how well the designer has understood your brief visually. This approach, and I’ll explain why is damaging to the client.

Why this approach is wrong

Usually during the pitching stage, new media agencies are expected to work for free especially when as we see in Malta, pitching for government tenders. Most if not all clearly specify that all work carried out on the tender is produced without payment, many of these tenders and business clients ask for a large amount of speculative work that if rejected is wasted and binned. If you the client is looking for the WOW factor then the agencies primary concern at this stage is looking to impress and win the deal along with the added pressure to meet a tight deadline for submission and keep the budget as low as possable. Usually at the risk of cutting time spent on understanding the clients objectives or in many cases not discussing requirements with the client at all. The likelihood is that if this design is adopted for your site you end up with a solution that fails to meet your website users requirements costing you quite a lot more in the long run. So the question should at this stage should shift from “I want a website, how much?” into “How well do I understand my clientele in order to produce a website that will maximize my return on investment?”

At the beginning of a project it’s unlikely that no matter how well you structure the brief you are still not going to be able to cover everything. A good designer and client relationship is about encouraging interaction between the team, challenging your preconceptions and evaluating ways to meet your business aims. Conducting tests know in the industry as usability, A/B and multivariate testing along the way and after the launch, monitoring responses and query analysis taking the necessary action to help the user convert is all part of the process that needs to be examined in order to deliver a much more rounded user-centered experience. Unlike other forms of adverting you now have a tool that can evolve around your individual customers wants and needs and introduce a firm base for customer loyalty. As you can imagine, his naturally leads to a better project all-round.

The key thing to remember is you never want to lose the user focus of your website.

So how do you go about selecting your chosen agency or designer?

It’s simple, look through the portfolio or past works, talk to the individual responsible for your project as opposed to the sales rep to get a feel on how the person thinks and see how well the process is explained to you. Has the agency got a sound understanding of search engine optimization? Will you be offered advice in what makes effective web copy? Will your online marketing be in sync with your offline marketing?
Reading or asking for case studies is another excellent way to see how well the agency tackled and learnt from the experience.

Producing a site that works for your target users is a marriage between the designers expertise and your knowledge of your business, make time for this process, you will certainly save a large amount of expense in the long run and maximise your return on investment.