In this day and age, there is really no excuse for a company, no matter what size, to not have a decent website. Websites are now affordable for anyone, they are easy to build, you can even do it yourself, and easy and straight forward to maintain. And by decent I mean a well designed, aesthetically pleasing, well though out site where the user can find the information they are looking for.

If you’re going to have a website, make sure it is working for you. Many companies feel they must have a “web presence” and so they put a website up. Having a “web presence” alone, a space on the net doesn’t mean you are capturing the attention or serving your clients. 

99% of the time users, or potential clients, go to websites in search of products or services and if they don’t like your website you’ll never hear from them. That’s it. You lost them.

You just missed a great opportunity to engage a potential customer. If someone is on your site, chances are they are interested on your product or service. If you’re not giving them the information they are looking for in an easy and fast way, you are loosing potential clients.

With 83% of households in Alberta having access to the internet, and most people searching on the net first, before making a purchase decision, your website is a tool that you can’t and shouldn’t ignore. 

Even if your goal is to have potential customers come to your physical location, you can use your site to drive traffic to your store. If your site is not providing the information users want it may not only be doing little for you, but it may actually be hurting you.

Many companies do take the time, effort and resources to develop their brand. This is a good thing. You need to identify and articulate your brand. A solid brand strategy is the best way to get you to where you want to go with your company. But many companies, even those who do create solid brand strategies, not just a new logo, don’t see the results they should be getting.

Why? You ask. The problem is that many companies go through a brand development but don’t actually create a brand. They end up with a logo, instead of a solid brand platform.  But even those who do create brand platforms end up with a document, a power point presentation or a cheat sheet for staff on their values and their tagline. Having these tools is important but putting them down on paper and distributing them to staff is just the beginning. 

Your staff, will not know how their daily lives at work should change based on these set of values or new tagline. They may put up the cheat sheet up on their cubicles and some of them, few, may even remember what those values are. But that’s where it stops. 

Some companies try to introduce their new brand through a launch party or meeting where they reveal their new logo, values, tagline. But staff is still left wondering how does this impact me? Is there something I need to do different? How is this going to help us as a business? These questions almost never get answered. 

This is where most companies fail. They develop a brand but don’t know how to actually bring it to life. The brand stays in a paper. The new logo and tagline is used and perhaps a new advertising campaign and new marketing materials are produced but that’s where it all ends.

There is no real internal understanding never mind buy in and engagement. Without your staff engagement you’ll never have a brand. Without turning those words into experiences for staff, clients and anyone that is ever in contact with your company; either by buying your product or service, going to your website, calling your customer service or whatever the case may be; your brand are just words that have no meaning or worse, is a broken promise. An expectation that is not met. 

If you are going to invest in developing a brand you need to invest in actually and properly implementing it. If you do, you’ll be in the top 5% of companies who actually get it right and rip the benefits of it.

More than clients, what you want are believers, loyal users who not only appreciate your products or services, but believe on what you stand for.

You want to connect with your audience based not only on the quality and features of your product or service but on what you stand for, on what you believe in.

People seek connections and you as a business have an opportunity to engage with your audience and create bonds that are meaningful and much stronger than your competitors.

These connections are what make brands survive when faced with challenges, being economic downturns or worse. These connections, based on values and beliefs, is what make brands like Livestrong increase market share after Lance Armstrong is accused of doping, is what makes Apple continue to grow even after Mobile Me was a faulty product that caused many users to loose vital information.

Getting attention is not enough. Sales alone is not the goal. The goal is loyalty, is having followers more than clients.  You want fans that will recommend you to their friends and family. You want clients that will stick with you when you make a mistake. You only get fans when you engage with your audience based on values and ideals.

Quality of product and service still needs to be there, but those are basic expectations that you have to meet. The engagement is the unexpected value that will make the difference.

Every company needs good people. The smarter and most efficient employees you can get the better.  After all, these are the people who will design, create, sell or deliver your products or services. 

Trying to get and keep smart people is a very smart move. But you don’t ever want to be in a position where you are hold hostage by your own people. I don’t mean unions.

Many industries are relationship based, specially if you have a high priced commodity to sell. In this case the relationships your sales team have become crucial. This situation can be very difficult for any company but specially for a small business trying to compete with big players. It’s hard to lure strong sales people to a small company. You may not be able to afford them or to even get them in the first place.

In this case, more than ever, a strong marketing strategy becomes even more important.  Your company has to establish itself in the market place. You must create market awareness and product differentiation in order to even be considered as a competitor.

A strong marketing strategy and implementation can position your company and help penetrate the market place resulting in increased market share. 

Don’t give up in getting the best sales team you can, but don’t forget to create a voice and a presence of your own and don’t become solely dependant on the team you have.