Web Speech – How to say it on the web

Since your web site increasingly becomes a hub for your marketing program, what you say and how you say it is extremely important. One of the original assumptions of New Media Marketing (NMM) is that we still buy from people we know, like, and trust.

Values
At the studio we believe that it is important that your web site convey values that are important to your organization and industry. They go beyond the basic ones of quality, reliability, customer service, professionalism, etc. Ours are: talent, creativity, design, and great stories (t • C • D • G •).

Mission
Mission and Vision statements have been around for a long time. Because of this, we often think that they must not be hip or in vogue. You can not be so far from the truth. Mission tells the world who we are and vision announces where we are going.

Compelling Content - verbal
The main purpose is to address the visitors needs and wants; their stereotypes and emotions. (customerology psychographics – remember focus, targeted audiences).
As a storyteller I will not be able to get through this series of blogs without telling this story (analogy) so we might as well do it here. It is the key to everything we are addressing. I call it my Grass Lawn story.

“Lets say that I manufacture grass seed. Over the years my engineers have the developed the best grass seed ever produced – needs hardly any watering, birds do not like its taste, grows deep roots, not effected by weather, and produces the greenest grass. We have this technological process that no one else can even come close to replicate. Visit are labs and you will see the investment in equipment and knowledge we have put into this product. The problem is as a consumer I really do NOT care. I do not care how you do it just make sure that I have minimal lawn maintenance and yet have the best looking lawn in the neighborhood.”

You see as founders and entrepreneurs we are very proud of our product specifications but the buyer is ONLY interested in benefits. Make sure your site benefits oriented not specifications oriented.

Some other tips:
• When offering solutions and advice opt for conversational writing style.
• Address directly using ‘you” instead of customer, client, patient, etc.
• Modifiers actually tend to dilute and weaken what you are saying
• In all cases remain professional
• Use headlines and sub titles to guide readers
• Again stay focused on your audience with benefits, results, and solutions.

Compelling Content – Nonverbal

Color: If you have read any of the studios’ past ezines, you have heard how important color is. Color is often the most nonverbal element of your site. Put bluntly – we do not care what your favorite color is, we are interested in what color provokes the emotions we want created to cause a response to a call-to-action. Just like specs versus benefits, concern is not about you, it is about the buyer.

Logos and Header: Your site should protect and foster your brand. Your top header is extremely important. Have a professional design a header that incorporates your log, tag line, and appropriate color schema.

Images: The web is 70% visual so make visually appealing. Images can help. Make sure that the image files should be optimized for fast browser loading. They should also be part of telling your story. The wrong image could just as easily make your site look totally unprofessional and “mom-and-pop”

Special Effects and Rich Media: When used properly, they have their place. Some will say for SEO considerations – no flash others will say that as a society we are custom to special effects. As most things in life, the answer lays somewhere in the middle. Pure technicians will only do what can be produced by code and pure graphics designers will over-kill with eye-candy. Find the proper balance. Branching to pages that load electronic presentations, video, etc. should be considered for providing additional information.

Navigation –Extremely important both in extent and placement. In recent years, placement has moved to the upper center and gone from an extended list of buttons to more of a hierarchy of information. A good rule of thumb is a main nav bar with around seven buttons. Latest studies have shown that males use the web to surf and females use the web for research. Too complicated navigation, males will opt out.

Lena Claxton and Alison Woo, in their excellent overview book How to Say it: Marketing with New Media, Prentice Hall provides a good checklist.
• Refine your home page copy – it is the first impression of your company
• Write conversationally – use words to convey the desired emotion
• Choose the right color
• Use the correct pronoun
• Communicate your credibility
• Use language that positions you as an expert
• Focus on benefits and results
• Use a variety of promotional methods to promote your business

And don’ts:
• Don’t use corporate speak
• Don’t use passive language
• Don’t focus on your own gains
• Don’t lose track of the customer
• Don’t use multiple animations on your home page