When TFG began redesigning our own website (this here one), everyone at the table had an equal vote: web designers, web development team, sales/marketing folks and the gang from management. We approached the project like most businesses would.

We polished. We added/ subtracted stuff. Then we polished some more.

Unfortunately, little by little we’d polished and sanded the rough, risk-taking edges right off – until we were left with something boring, watered down and with almost nothing of our new site’s original vision, charm and ballsy-ness.

Our new website’s copy was crap and the design was, well, not anything you’d want to show at the rodeo. All because we’d tried to placate everyone at the office and didn’t want to isolate (or potentially put off) potential prospects. We played it safe. But who the heck cares about safe? We wanna be digital daredevils when (and if) we grow up!

How we (TFG) got our website redesign back on track.

We had to step back from the whole thing (forgetting about the total number of hours we’d already sunk into the project) and admit it was doomed. In all honesty, it would’ve been much easier to keep heading down the path we were on and just launch the website as designed (the path that would’ve driven us straight into an embarrassing ditch).

Much more difficult was having conversations with our web designers – and the rest of the web development team – about scrapping everything we’d done and starting over with laser-sharp, tunnel-vision focus.

This focus also included designating one person as our copywriting standard-bearer and another one person who reviews all the edited copy. Not only has this eliminated the “pile on” mentality of the typical copywriting-by-committee process, it means all the copy on our website (no matter which Fowlerite may have originally written it) now speaks to our brand with only one voice.

While we obviously wish we’d gotten it right the first time, TFG’s really happy (and proud) we had the guts to call an audible and start over. And since we launched our website redesign, the results have been nothing short of amazing.

Smart move you need to make

Before doing anything else, admit there are more ditches in the center (where consensus is sought) than along the fringes where innovation, discovery and true change happen.

Playing it safe by making sure everyone is “happy” is the fast track to mediocrity; if everyone is okay with the direction you’re headed, not enough risk is being taken.

~ Shawn

Solicit opinions of anybody around the office that could possibly have something at stake (and give ’em an equal amount of say-so). Of course it’s important to consider how the project will impact customer service, your IT department, manufacturing team and sales force. But not everyone’s feedback deserves equal weight – especially when ten people will give you twelve different opinions. LESSON #1: There’s a place for democracy and projects aren’t it.

Bad move #2

Ask unqualified people “what they think.” Few things can guarantee complete project chaos (and inevitable failure) quite like running ideas by your plumber. Or the kid’s babysitter. And don’t forget to find out what your brother-in-law thinks! LESSON #2: Seeking “man on the street” opinions will quickly steer you off the street and right into the ditch.

Bad move #3

Be unwilling to assume responsibility or make decisions. Don’t set the project’s vision or be willing to accept any risk. Decide nothing, and make sure you never venture outside the100% safe zone (or even think of coloring outside the lines). LESSON #3: Playing it safe – and making sure everyone is “happy”– is your express ticket to Mediocre-ville.

Really bad move #4

Refuse to learn from others’ mistakes. There’s nothing quite like kicking off a big project when you really don’t know which end is up. You should “throw a bunch of stuff at the wall all at once to see what sticks,” since that’s a time-tested recipe for certain failure, guaranteed to drain resources and waste precious time. Make sure you never admit you don’t know everything about project management and be unwilling to do any research into how good project management is done (by folks who actually DO it). LESSON #4: Nobody’s perfect and there’s a lot to be learned from failure (yours, others and even ours).

Stay tuned to learn how – and why – TFG failed. And how we pulled ourselves from the brink of that ditch onto the right track.

~ Shawn

Each certainly has its place. Unfortunately, most people – and companies – place way too much emphasis on events and not nearly enough on their processes.

What’s the difference between an event and a process?

Basically, events are more of a one-off, “wham bam” approach. Stuff like:
• Purchasing something
• Hiring someone
• Hosting (or attending) an event
• Splashy marketing campaign(s)

On the other hand, processes are strategic, thoughtful and well-planned actions executed over the long haul. Think of:
• Systems that can be quantified, examined, reproduced and improved
• Continual follow-up items (outbound marketing, regular sales letters, email newsletters or direct mail)
• Creating quality – and regularly updated – content for your website
• Optimizing your content for search engines (creating backlinks)
• Networking (on and offline)

Take a good look at what drives your teams.

Is your marketing and sales team event or process driven?

How much emphasis is placed on buying ads, hosting events (like an open house), attending tradeshows, etc. – rather than long-range, steady and repeatable steps like cold calling, networking, sending follow-up materials, measuring and keeping meticulous records?

Is your web development team event or process driven?

How much emphasis is placed on purchasing new software and hardware or hiring another developer – instead of adopting consistent programming methodologies and adhering to standards?

Hiring people or adding more programmers to a project is easy, and so is buying new hardware and/or software. It just takes a purchase order. Improving how work gets done, however, is a whole different ball game.

Is your project management team event or process driven?

How much emphasis is placed on adding people to the team and scheduling yet another meeting or conference call – rather than holding each other accountable and improving how you actually do things?

Why do so many companies choose events over processes?

For starters, events are easy. They stir up a lot of hoopla. You can rally the troops around a time, place and date. Truth be told, it’s kinda sexy.

On the other hand, processes sound about as exciting as carving an ice sculpture with a plastic spork. They’re hard work and rarely result in a huge “hot diggity!” response around the office.

It’s not that events are bad, but they’re way too easy to rely upon as short-term substitutes for strategic processes that should always come first.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Never forget that marketing is not an emergency. It’s a planned, thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn’t end until you’re done. (Tip of the cap to Seth Godin)

~ Shawn

Sometimes we get so busy in our workshop crafting our crafty designs that we get a little, well, punchy. Or maybe cracking open a window for some fresh air might not be a bad idea.

Anyhoo, either our noggins or lack of oxygen – or both – often lead us straight down the path to Silly Town. Today’s Fowler Funny™ comes from the (usually Fuzzy’s Taco Shop-fueled) mind of Jason:

“Don’t chest bump your sister, man. That’s grosser than eating bugs!”

Most of my clients could tell you about phases of our relationship that weren’t all that comfortable for them. While everyone has “the” idea of how their company should be perceived, everyone inevitably (cliché alert) misses the forest for the trees.

And until you relinquish that philosophical grip around the throat of your business – and admit that you don’t know everything – you won’t make it onto the porch to play with the big dogs.

Never underestimate the power of objectivity.

Ever wonder why the world’s most recognizable brands all hire agencies? It’s not because a brilliant agency strategist or super-creative art director can grasp your brand better than people committing 3,000 hours prostrating to that Pantone and trademark.

It’s because management folks are usually too bunched up in their own underwear to see what the issues are and, more importantly, how to address them. Or even admit there are issues in the first place.

Get over yourself already.

In a CMO Strategy column for AdAge.com, Jonathan Salem Baskin criticizes elite marketers for not having the cajones to challenge their own marketing ideas by simply talking with people outside their circle. (Does the term “yes men” ring a bell?)

Now if seasoned CMOs are guilty of this, are you sure you’re not afflicted with the same myopia?

It’s time to step up and be better at your job.

With 2012 looming, you should be having conversations that not only challenge your status-quo but drive your messaging closer to the actual beating heart of your business.

And you need to be having these conversations with someone who is smart and objective – and a damn good business coach (even without wearing a whistle).

~ Dacia

Unless this website is for flatulent folks frolicking in teeny-tiny swimsuits, Speedofart.com is just an unbelievably bad domain name. And wouldn’t you think these IT guys would know better: http://itscrap.com/?

Before building a marketing campaign (or your entire business for that matter) around your new domain, sleep awhile on your oh-so-brilliant naming idea. Then sleep on it some more.

Domain names for dummies.

Don’t take this personally, but you really need to remember some seemingly very basic, common-sense ideas when picking out a domain name:

• Now’s not the time to be overly clever: pillowpalletzzzz.com (with four Zs, no less). Yup, this was a real business (note emphasis on the past tense).
• Avoid weird spellings, hard to remember, overly complex, long and/or hyphenated silliness. Trust me, having to tell someone what your web address is – and having to spell it for the umpteenth time – gets really old really fast. Not to mention that it’s horrible for radio spots, etc.
• Is your business name often misspelled? Then consider also buying the common “close but no cigar” spellings, just like these guys did: Gogle.com and Gooogle.com.
• Resist the urge to “be the first name that comes up.” The internet isn’t the yellow pages, so aaaaaaaaaaaashoelacetips.com won’t actually do anything (except make sure that no one can remember what the heck your site’s name actually is).

It might take multiple names to get the job done.

If you’re planning to advertise your domain on a billboard (and have a long or difficult to spell/read business name), you really should buy another domain specifically for that purpose. Something memorable, short and simple to read while zooming down the road.

This also makes it easier for you to track and measure how effective that billboard is at generating traffic to your website. Otherwise, how do you really know if your precious outdoor advertising dollars were well spent? The same thing applies for TV and/or radio spots: either buy a domain just for that specific promotion or create a simple – yet unique – URL (like MyBusiness.com/FM102).

Need some help with the name game?

No, I’m not talking “Shirley Shirley bo birley, banana fana fo firley” here. Instead, try these nifty tools to make finding a great domain name a bit easier: http://www.domainsbot.com/ and http://ajaxwhois.com/.

~ Shawn

Look, I’m basically a sales guy at heart. From head to toe, actually. You meet people, tell your story, bring in new clients, under-promise and over-deliver. You can never have too many prospects, too many new clients or too many fires to put out. There’s 26 hours in a day, so let’s use ’em to grow our business! Keep the pipeline full…over-fill the funnel…turn it on its top (or on its side) but let’s keep pushing, talking and growing this company.

All sounds pretty good, huh?

Not every customer is good for business.

Then there’s the sales management side of the proverbial coin. Are all customers created equal? Treated equal? Do they have the same value to your company? Hell no!

“Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others.” ~ Seth Godin

Take good old “What’s-Their-Name Enterprises:” great sales volume but crummy profit margin. Know what? They need to go.

It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

Whoa! This “kick a client to the curb” stuff’s easy enough to say around the coffee machine, but when the rubber meets the road it’s pretty hard to actually do.

There’s so much stuff to factor in: sales numbers, profit numbers, do they pay on time (or late), are they easy to service (or not), are they high- or low-maintenance, expensive (or not) to entertain…or are they somehow related to someone at your place? Whew! When did this get so complicated?

So who’s really driving your company’s financial bus?

Do you realize that every day, you decide who you want to work with and who you don’t (even if they’re not deliberate choices)? Yup, and your sales team is doing it for you.

“Are you saying that my sales staff is charting our company’s future success?” You bet they are (when you blindly agree to take on whoever they drag in through the front door).

In the words of President Harry Truman: “The Buck Stops Here!” Literally. And unless you seriously assess which clients make (vs. cost) money, your company’s flow of profitable bucks could grind to a screeching halt.

So who gets the old heave-ho?

Here’s the deal. Print out a list of all your clients, brutally evaluate (and rank) each one based on which benchmarks are important to you – and then determine who should stay and who should go.

Strategically deciding who your “best” clients/customers are is taking that all-important first step toward standing out in today’s white paper/black ink world.

~ Chip

When was the last time you asked for seconds of boring, bland food?

Okay, so that extra scoop of Mom’s really bad mashed potatoes was more of a good deed than a desired second helping. But Mom’s taters aside, why on earth would you re-visit any site whose content is as interesting as a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread?

Think of your website visitors as folks shopping at Costco.

There’s the customers, wandering around, pushing ginormous carts filled with paper towels and enough AA batteries to outlast that dang bunny…all the while sampling the free food.

There’s always a longer line for tasty new tidbits than boring old rice cakes.

Take a good look at how people “graze” at Costco. Sidney Shopper (not his real name) strolls by one of the cheerful sample-giving ladies and accepts the offered Baloney Roll-Up. Having never seen (or tasted) a Baloney Roll-Up before, Sidney’s pleasantly surprised at how yummy it is. So yummy, in fact, that he comes back a few minutes later to get a second one…and then a third. (Sidney would’ve come back a fourth time, but that sample lady was giving him a little bit of stink-eye.)

Then, notice how many shoppers put bags of Baloney Roll-Ups in their cart!

Mission accomplished! In its infinite (inbound) marketing wisdom, Costco puts out enticing samples of something people haven’t tasted before and, in doing so, scores a bunch of new Baloney Roll-Up customers.

Is your website serving Baloney Roll-Ups or rice cakes?

How long have those same articles been posted there? When was the last time you updated your company blog (if you even have one)?

Do you regularly make an effort to re-energize your site with new content? Or are you willing to settle for stale, ho-hum ideas because that’s the easiest way to go?

It’s time to admit that your same-old same-old hasn’t changed a damn thing.

Need some new recipes for beefing up your website? Want a better understanding of the bottom-line benefits of relevant – and fresh – content? Our marketing master chefs are eager to help you spice things up, so give ’em a call. There’s no reservation (or jacket) required.

Lenni Lee | word wrangler

You’ll remember that last time, we told you how TFG (that’s us) decided to redesign our website – and why we decided to do it.

A new day has dawned in Fowlerville…

In the first two months after re-launching our website (with its continual new content), traffic has doubled: from 976 visitors in August to 2,048 in October. We’re now averaging twice as many page views from the previous three months, with a 20% lower bounce rate. (In geek-speak, “bounce rate” means how long it takes folks to leave your website and scurry down another virtual rabbit hole, possibly never to return.)

Not only are we seeing twice as many visitors but they’re hanging around twice as long: from 1.5 minutes to 3+ minutes. Like most stats, you can read a lot into all this (with some stuff read between the lines), but this means either:
1)    You guys are actually reading our content, or
2)    We’re more effective than Ambien.

Judging by the increase in qualified sales leads generated by our website redesign, it’s definitely option #1.

“So how many leads?” you ask? We gathered MORE QUALIFIED SALES LEADS in 10 short weeks than in the entire last 18 months. COMBINED.

The moral of our tale is…

While the story of TFG’s redesign is definitely inspiring, this is really all about YOU and how to improve YOUR company’s website.

For starters, you should audit your website for:
• Design: I betcha it’s way too cluttered to be effective (make a list of what MUST be there and what really should go).
• Content: Is your stuff as dry as a rice cake? Would you consume it (let alone come back for seconds and thirds)? You need to feed your audience something that’s both tasty and nutritious for their business.
• Target Audience: I betcha you haven’t narrowed like you think you have (if I’m your  potential customer, I should know it almost instantly and, if not, I should get that I’m at the wrong club).
• Calls to Action: 10 bucks says it’s not as obvious to your visitors as they’d like it to be. Make it clear what next step they should take (and how to take it).

Are you measuring and tracking your site? Take a good look at your pages. Can you definitively say why your buttons look the way they do? Their colors? Or shapes? If you didn’t test this stuff at the outset, you’re essentially flying blind.

Did you ever test buttons vs. hyperlinks? If your answer is “uh, no” then we need to talk. You’d be amazed how these seemingly insignificant (non) decisions can add up to significantly measurable differences in your site’s overall effectiveness. Remember: Measure + Test + Track. You might want to get a tattoo of that.

Do you have a dead shark on your hands?

To borrow from Woody Allen: “A website, I think, is like a shark. If it’s not constantly moving forward it dies.”

If you’re not continually updating and freshening your site, you might as well pack it in. Do you still have the “Come to our 2009 Open House” message somewhere? Are there references (or links) to employees who no longer work there? Is your last blog post from a year ago? No wonder your site isn’t doing much for your business.

Need help putting together a killer website?
Give TFG a call. That’s (part of) what we do…all day, every day. And the occasional weekend. ~ Shawn

Here’s the nitty-gritty story of what happened when a marketing agency (namely The Fowler Group) stopped going barefoot, redesigned our website for OTHERS instead of OURSELVES and committed to consistent content marketing. What changed about our web traffic, sales leads, visitor engagement and prospect activity? Fasten your seatbelt!

Once upon a time…

Okay, back in 2010, TFG’s highest-traffic month was less than 1,000 (at 990). In fact, we’d never had 1,000 visitors in a single month. Ever. Not once.

Then, in 2011, we sporadically added some content but never really focused on it in a serious way. We knew we should but were just too busy cobbling shoes to wash our feet (much less stitch together a pair of home-made Jordans).

The result of our wimpy content boost was that we barely managed to improve 2010’s traffic stats (at just a smidgeon over 1,000 visits each month). It didn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out that what we were doing did diddly to help grow TFG’s business over the long haul.

And then a change came over TFG land…

When we decided to redesign our website, we knew we needed to do things differently. For starters, we shifted our site’s focus on YOU: the person responsible for so many tasks (and wearing so many hats) that your office resembles this place.

We wanted to provide quick answers, address your concerns and just generally help you breathe a bit easier.

A new voice began to be heard…

A vital part of this whole deal is our dedication to delivering original content: sharing our assorted real-world lessons and posting regular stuff relevant to your business. This’ll help save you from our (and some of our clients’) gray hair and painful-lessons-learned-the-hard-way.

Sure we’re marketing while we do it (hey, what sort of half-ass agency would we be if we weren’t?), but it’s content that’s not only tasty to consume but nutritious when applied to your business.

Tune in next time…

…to see what happened when we launched our new website (this here site you’re looking at right now!) Or if you can’t wait, give us a shout and we’ll tell you in person. ~ Shawn