Woodcraft: Expertly Crafted Windows and Doors in Oxford
Rebrand and website for Woodcraft Windows and Doors
Most weeks I meet someone experiencing frustration with their website. Last week I met a woman in Oxford. She was on the verge of tears. She’d been waiting 10 months for her website to be finished, and found it impossible to trade without it. She was initially told it would take six weeks! Recently another lady told me she’d paid over £10,000 for her website and it didn’t generate any interest or enquiries.
I looked into it for her. It wasn’t well designed and it didn’t show up well in search engines. She couldn’t even update it herself, and had to keep paying the web designer to make changes. She had thrown her money away.
And don’t even get me started on home-made websites and what they do to your brand…
Often web designers are the worst offenders. They’ll say all you need is a good looking website, and people will buy from you. This is simply not true. They’ll tell you a website is the online equivalent of a High Street shop. Rubbish. I really want you to stop spending tens of thousands of pounds on sites that simply don’t work. Of course you need a great-looking website – one that upholds and enhances your brand, but every part of it must earn its keep as part of a clear marketing strategy. Think about what you use the internet for. That’s right – to find information. Your customers are just the same. They research, compare and educate themselves before they make a buying decision.
They are extremely unlikely to go to your website and immediately buy something unless it’s a very low cost item. The risk is simply too high. For most service-based companies, your website is the place to start a relationship, then build on it until people are ready to buy. This is known as permission marketing, and there are many tactics to achieve it. If you mention this to a web designer and they either don’t know what you are talking about, or try to talk you out of it, beware – unless you have money to burn.
The websites we create are the hub of an integrated sales and marketing system and usually pay for themselves in less than 6 months.
Prices start from £3000 – Call us on 01865 204200 to find out more.
Web Design Oxford: a classic example:
John Gibbons contacted us. He told us he was an osteopath looking for web design in Oxford. After taking him through our Brand Clarity Clinic, it was obvious that John was more than just an osteopath. He had huge areas of specialist expertise that he was neither articulating nor delivering. John had a book in publication, as well as articles and training courses that could be sold and promoted. John initially said he couldn’t afford the branding and web design package we proposed, but loved the marketing advice and wanted to use it, but do the web design himself. We wished him well.
Some months later, just as we were wondering how he was getting on, he got back in touch and asked for help. He’d struggled with the web design, but had even more trouble articulating his message. Happily, we rolled up our sleeves. The first task was to re-position him in existing and new markets as the expert – the man other therapists and professionals seek out to learn specialist techniques that transform their own practices. We needed a laudatory and memorable term to convey his vast expertise. Our research convinced us that his methods were unique in his industry, and the John Gibbons Bodymaster Method was born.
We created a brand for John that reflected both his specialism and his authentic values. We built the brand and its values into a web design that enables John’s customers to find, book and pay for his courses and products easily and quickly. This gives John control over demand, streamlines his administration, makes planning easy, and pulls his cash flow forward. A built-in Content Management System allows John to update articles and add new courses easily, without knowledge of web design or programming. This saves him time and money – time to get on with what he is good at, without having to pay external web designers.
We implemented an email marketing system that captures enquirers’ details and allows John to communicate the benefits of his courses and products to both existing and potential customers. When producing other branded deliverables, including pop-up banner stands, leaflets and business cards, we make sure that every piece of marketing consistently communicates his trustworthy, professional and expert values.
In John’s words:
To sum up, John was initially thinking of a website as being the online equivalent of a poster in a shop window. Our Brand Clarity Clinic process really challenged him to up his game. It took him a few months of struggling alone before realising that using Clear & Creative Communications for his branding and deliverables could transform his business model and make it easier for him to make a lot more money. And he was exactly right.
Call us on 01865 204200 to find out how your site can earn its keep.
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