Dec 14 2009
I recently learned of someone (who is also a web developer) that is expanding his services to include marketing. What specific area of marketing, I don't know for sure, but I'm assuming online / Internet marketing (which is broad too). Good for him, I (would) say. Except there's one little thing that makes me question his credibility.
He doesn't believe in branding or design.
Getting back to basics
Merriam-Webster defines marketing as:
the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service
Wikipedia goes a bit further:
Marketing is the process associated with promoting for sale goods or services. It is considered a "social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and values with others." It is an integrated process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.
Both definitions refer to a process. While I'm sure the process differs from medium to medium and company to company, there are at least two key components of marketing that will make it truly effective: Design and branding. Ignoring either and the potential for results quickly diminishes.
The role of (good) design in marketing
If marketing is primarily a visual medium (think print ads, billboards, emails, websites, tv), not believing in design as a force for effective marketing (i.e., engagement, persuasion and conversion) seems to not only be contradictory, but well, dumb.1 This is a classic symptom of the plague too many small business owners suffer from: designaseyecandyitis.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, probably until the day I die: Good design is a whole lot more than mere eye candy or decoration.
Good design communicates in order to meet specific goals which are often related to converting would-be customers into paying customers. That's a huge component to marketing. So to try and sell marketing services while believing that design is nothing more than a necessary evil plays a number on credibility. That's not to mention what the effects of marketing without design would have on ROI.
Studies and dissertations have have demonstrated that people do in fact respond to things that are designed versus things that are not designed (or poorly designed)2. Trust begins to be established when something looks credible through its visual elements. (Trust, by the way, is also a key component to successful branding and marketing.) Beyond that, of course, you need to nourish and build upon that initial trust because it's quite fragile. The adage of not judging a book by its cover just doesn't (always) apply to marketing.
Marketing without a brand?
Similar to design, branding is a powerful force within the realm of marketing and business in general. Truth is though, I actually believe that branding is a tier above marketing. Without a brand what do you have to market? Products or services? Sure, but those have brands attached to them too, whether via the name of the company (like Apple and Macs) that's selling them, or their own (think Kleenex or Band-Aid). But in much the same way design is more than just trends and eye candy, branding is much more than a logo or tagline, something that people confuse all the time (even designers!). In essence, branding starts with the heart of the company (or product) and trickles on through to the identity (i.e., the logo and taglines), and all the way through to not only how your staff perceives the brand, but how your customers perceive it as well.
Perhaps that's what makes branding a bit difficult to understand for so many - many components of it are beyond our control. But that is actually a good thing. If we pay attention to the gems of information and opinions that people have of our brands we will actually be better off. Sure, there will be the never-satisfied type that we can most likely safely ignore. But there are consumers in your audience that can really provide you with critical information that will actually help your business grow by leaps and bounds. How about an example?
There's a decades-old restaurant here in Portland that closed for supposed renovations a few years ago. What really happened (or so my sources assume) is that the owner became wealthy due to this restaurant's success and just didn't want or feel the need to continue. He sold the restaurant and this fall it reopened under new ownership. The new owners are doing things a bit differently while keeping much the same, which quite frankly, is to be expected (it's called ownership for a reason). The problem is that the people who used to go the restaurant before its closure came to love it for what it was. Many of those same people who have returned after the restaurant's 3-4 year hiatus (which is a powerful example of brand loyalty by the way, especially considering just how many independent restaurants there are in the city of Portland alone) have left disappointed. Online reviews have shown this time and again.
You can argue that with new ownership changes should be expected. And I would agree. But these owners have opted to keep more the same rather than completely changing it. That means that expectations will be pretty high as they relate to the restaurant that people used to love. However, that's not the point. The point is that the owners are ignoring the reviews, many of which are absolutely reasonable. By ignoring these nuggets of information they're letting a once loved brand slowly become tarnished and damaged. Now explain to me how that can be good for business?
Build the Empire
So while I do wish this web developer well in his expansion of his service offerings, I can't help but think that he will be leading many of his clients astray. Sure, there will be those that will see some success with his methods, but I would wager that we'll never hear of them beyond their small community. If the Coca-Colas, Starbucks, Apples and Nikes of the world have taught us anything it's that strong, effective marketing can't deliver empire-building results without just as strong brand strategy and design.
Footnotes & Reference
1Even audio-based marketing (such as radio) has an element of design to it. Not the visual kind of course, but the kind that reinforces a brand and uses professional copywriters to communicate the message.
2This article on A List Apart references two such studies: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/indefenseofeyecandy