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Everything Is Advertising – Including Your Website
| Image: Shorpy.com | Published: July 09, 2010
In a world where everything is advertising,
are you eating lunch alone?
Does perceived value build brand equity online?
When I was 18 and working in a mailroom, a senior partner told me, "Don't brown bag your lunch." What he meant was that if I wanted to climb the ladder, I needed to start by putting myself out there and appearing successful. In other words, I needed to advertise myself.
As I've come to learn, everything you do to grow your business, and grow yourself, is advertising, and we're all doing it constantly. Some people are just better at it than others, as this clever blog post points out.
One of the reasons I love web design is because I get to tell a story about a company and influence the perceived value of that company. To many people, your website is your company. So it goes without saying that it's something worth investing in.
Like it or not, perception influences buying behaviour. As the ad executive Rory Sutherland points out in his excellent TED talk, perceived value can be just as important as real value, if not more so. And it can be just as big of a factor in a purchasing decision. While this may be a shallow concept, there's no denying it either.
Stlll, perceived value only goes so far. You have to have a compelling story to back it up. What makes you different? What makes you better? Why should people work with you?
Fortunately, the web is a great medium for storytelling as well as advertising. But telling that story over lunch at Hy's Steakhouse doesn't hurt either.
Tommy Humphreys is the president of PACWEBCO, a Vancouver web design and Internet marketing agency. Follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Should an article of this
Comment by Anonymous, July 28, 2010 at 10:57Should an article of this quality really be associated with BC Business? Perceived value and storytelling at Hys....does that create solid companies and add real value to anything?
Spinning a web of
Comment by Yves, July 15, 2010 at 09:22Spinning a web of promotional half-truths rather than focusing on the "real story" about a business is the PR equivalent of keeping a second set of books to evade taxes: dishonest activity that is a waste of time & if discovered ... very expensive to fix.
The real story behind many companies, which include the bad times, are all fascinating as long as clarity is the tool of choice, as opposed to obfuscation or fabrication.
There is a thin line between perceived perception and deception ... which means the people creating the message run the risk of moving from "communication specialists" to "lying weasels" unless extreme care is exercised. Harsh but many people react harshly when they discover that they have been sold on something that does not really exist, in reality.
True, you can hide behind artistic license and smile. People who discover they have been deceived are rarely smiling ... and guess what, they not only don't buy but also talk to other potential customers about their brush with your fiction.
It is a question of degree. In the buying process as long a perception is a very minor supporting element, it is forgiven as part of the sales process. That said, reality and honesty go a lot further in sales.
Perception is not reality.
Comment by Anonymous, July 12, 2010 at 10:09Perception is not reality. Perception is an excuse people use to justify decisions they make in haste or because they refuse to perform the due diligence required to make an informed decision.
I agree very strongly about your statement, "To many people, your website is your company." and about the importance of investing in a solid online foundation.
Our industry, the Web design, development, social media and online marketing industry however, is filled with snake-oil salesmen and 'professionals' selling bags of magic beans to clients who are looking for competency. In many cases these 'professionals' simply leverage the ignorance and gullibility of their clients by only ever presenting and offering the perception of a comprehensive solution.
Digital hucksters abound and most believe their own marketing hype and honestly think that they are delivering value for their clients. Digital brochure sites and non-critical business solutions may be able to get away with superficial perceived value but most businesses with an online footprint buying into Perception simply costs them time, money and untold amounts of opportunity.
The majority of client referrals and meeting requests that I get at E-Cubed are from prospects who have woken up to the facts that the Perception they bought from their previous vendor is NOT the reality of what was received. Their "New and Improved" $20k, $50k or $90k investment 18 -24 months ago is reminiscent of the prospectus they were given for Enron.
When a prospect approaches E-Cubed we hear these 'Reality Complaints' often:
Previous vendor provided poor after launch service and support
Previous vendor had a limited understanding of our business need and process
Previous vendor provided poor project management with no risk mitigation
CMS selected had features/plug-ins that were expensive to implement, maintain or create
CMS system selected did NOT provide a user-friendly solution for non technical people
CMS upgrades were expensive, slow to implement and problematic
CMS could not scale for multi-site deployment or for large content/IA changes
CMS did not separate content, business logic and design: new pages had to be developed for new purposes; doubling or tripling the work required to maintain content
CMS Software provides no dedicated support so we must rely on the limited experience of the developer or the 'community' for patches and solutions to bugs and security vulnerabilities.
In general the complaints are all about the Perception of what they were buying into.
Ignorance is NOT bliss and Perception is NOT reality. All developers are NOT created equal and all CMS platforms do not make maintaining a site easier or more cost effective.
Marketing and Advertising are not TRUTH. Do NOT drink the Kool-Aid that they offer regardless of how thirsty you may be without digging deeper and looking further so that you know what you are truly investing in.
Keep up the good work Tommy you are one of the good guys out there.
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