Browsing through the newspapers last week, I stumbled upon a title that caught my attention: Don’t take business online without a road map – My Biggest Mistake” and of course it caught my eye. As I read, my enjoyment and level of excitement grew as rarely do I see articles in a news paper about the importance of a web strategy.
Your website is only as strong as the strategy behind it. Whether you plan on using it for sales, marketing, branding, for fun or to sell something; it is mission critical in having a strategy that takes into account some of the following areas:
- How do we align our website with our organizations objectives
- How do we spend our resources
- Who are we building this strategy for
- What is the measurement for ROI
- Where do we start / prioritize
- Where do we want to go
Thanks from Web Strategy by JeremiahWith so much out there today, making sure you are using the right tools for your campaigns are important. Even more so, staying consistent among them all is just as important as remembering your login information for facebook or linkedin. Check out the article and let us know how you think your strategy is coming along and whether or not Rose could have been as successful without a strategy.
Don’t take business online without road map — My Biggest MistakeMonday, June 02, 2008 By Rose Corrick, as told to Plain Dealer reporter Marcia Pledger When you’re a small-business owner, it’s difficult to stay in front of all the challenges in marketing a business. At Art of Cloth, we sell clothing primarily through wholesalers. It’s labor intensive creating hand-dyed ponchos, jackets, shirts and T-shirts. We make patterns with dyes, using all sorts of items in the process, including potato chip clips, poles and circles cut into plastic scraps. In my case, Art of Cloth is really two businesses because we’re making material and clothes. Both need to be profitable while fitting price points. Our designs are artistic. I was eager to sell them all over the country. My biggest mistake was investing in an e-commerce Web site before I had a clearly defined strategy for selling online. It didn’t take long for our wholesale customers to have a real problem with the company selling items online. After four years in business, 95 percent of my sales come from wholesalers. About 200 boutiques nationwide sell my line. I think I would have grown faster if I had a clear, effective strategy that drove wholesalers to my Web site as well as individuals wanting to know where to buy the products. Unfortunately, that wasn’t my initial strategy. I’ve had three Web sites since I started the business. The first one was designed to establish a presence. It was beautiful and informational. The second one was an e-commerce site that was set up for the public. Both of them were costly. I sought advice before I set up the e-commerce site, but I was encouraged to expand my market by selling clothing online. I didn’t spend enough time thinking about the role the Web site would play with my business plan, which included eventually focusing on the wholesale market. In two years, I sold only a few items online. Meanwhile, I concentrated on building the wholesale business. I never worked at driving people to my Web site. It wasn’t a priority. I was too busy designing new lines, experimenting with colors and fabrics. I was also trying to figure out my market. At first I was making custom, high-end silk clothing for a very limited market. Lifestyle trends indicated that I needed to change directions with more casual and affordable clothing. I introduced a hand-dyed T-shirt line about 18 months ago and built on that with casual knit jersey separates. Sales increased dramatically, but not online. A few months ago, I ended my contract with the e-commerce company and redesigned the site. Now, the focus is on driving the public and wholesalers to a Web site with more specific information about clothing lines, my contact information and the closest retailer to the customer. This time I hired a contract employee with experience in managing Web sites. It takes time to figure things out. I spent 25 years working in another field, as a commercial interior designer. But my degree is in textile design. I’ve always loved fabrics. My target market is women, 35 to 65, interested in expressing themselves in a creative, unique way. Since the business started, production has increased tremendously. I have several contract employees who make about 600 garments a month. I feel good about the direction of my business. We recently launched a second Web site, myartofcloth.com, to sell sale items, samples and old inventory. The site does not compete with wholesalers. Don’t spend your money on online marketing until you have clear objectives for your business. Seek help. Get advice and weigh your options. But remember, in the end, you have to be true to yourself. It’s your business and only you can figure out the direction. For More Biggest Mistake pieces, go to: cleveland.com/biggestmistake
Tags: eMarketing, Internet marketing, small business emarketing, small business internet marketing, Web Strategy
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