A lot of times we associate a pretty website with a successful business. However, this isn’t always the case. If your marketing message and overall design don’t work well together, your site can be confusing and miss the mark completely. By aligning both you’ll be able to have an effective site that doesn’t just bring in new customers, but it brings in the right customers.
In this article we’re going to cover the reasons your design and marketing might not be aligned and what you can do about it.
You Are Focusing Too Much On Design
Yes, design is important. However, it’s not the most important piece. There are a ton of “ugly” sites that are making millions of dollars a year. For instance, nobody would call eBay or Craigslist unsuccessful, but they sure aren’t winning any design awards.
Instead of making design their number one priority, they’ve focused on serving their customers and perfecting their message towards their target market. If you were to spend your time on this, above all else you’d make more forward progress than constantly tweaking your design.
Make sure your marketing is tight and you message is defined, before you move forward with aesthetics. It doesn’t matter if your website is using all of the latest web technologies, and you’ve payed thousands for your design if you haven’t spend the time defining your market and working on your copywriting.
Your design is the vehicle for your message. No matter how beautiful the design, it can’t carry a business that isn’t clear and confuses customers.
If you’re really having trouble pinpointing the mismatches in your design and marketing it can help to consult with an outside expert. They’ll be able to distinguish what’s working from what isn’t working, and bring everything together in a cohesive manner.
You Are Sending Mixed Signals
You can send mixed signals in a variety of ways, but one of the most common is having colors and typography that don’t match your style of business. You don’t want to have a pink website with flowery typography if you’re a defense lawyer.
This should be obvious, but we’ve seen enough websites to illustrate otherwise. If you’re having a hard time picking a color scheme and font, just go with the simplest option. This may not win any design awards, but it will communicate your message in a clear manner.
At the end of the day, a clear website with effective copy will perform better than a well-designed website with weak messaging. Do yourself a favor and invest some time and money, if necessary, into blending these two elements together.
Too Much Information
If you have a website that has a lot of content, it can be hard to present it all in a clear manner. Make sure you spend some time figuring out a way to present this in a way that will make sense to a new visitor. The last thing you’ll want to do is overwhelm a visitor the first time they get to your site.
Try to view your website through the lens of a fort-time visitor this will allow you to clear up any confusion and smooth out any rough areas. Proper content structuring, i.e., using categories and tags can go a long way.
I hope this article has been helpful and you have a better idea at how to merge your marketing and design to make sure they’re complimenting each other, instead of taking away from their effectiveness.
Written By David Shiffman
David Shiffman is Co-Founder and Brand Elevater at Brandamos. A creative strategist with over 10 years of experience developing marketing strategies and guiding business development. An expert at translating brand objectives into creative strategies. Shiffman has worked with companies such as Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Absolut Vodka and Bed Bath & Beyond.. His internet marketing strategies and execution have resulted in millions of dollars in revenue for clients and his personal experience gives an advantage in elevating brands both offline and online.
