Protect the Mothership: Everything you do in online marketing should orbit around your website.
With the latest Star Trek movie release, it seems appropriate to employ a space motif to illustrate the point of this article. Certainly, social media and other forms of marketing in cyberspace are the new (but probably not final) frontier. As we collectively explore the boundaries of this bold new world, there is one critical factor that must be kept in mind—an organization’s website is truly its mothership on the Internet. And any online marketing initiatives are only as powerful as the mothership around which they orbit.
Today’s consumer is far less likely to passively accept promotional messages from marketers, regardless of whether they are disseminated from traditional mass media or new digital sources including social media. The model below illustrates how that process works.
Potential customers want to evaluate the benefits of connecting with a marketer on their own terms. Typically this involves looking at the organization’s website. What they find when they arrive at the mothership will determine their interest in pursuing a relationship.
Does your website make a bold and appealing statement? Is it graphically attractive? Is the navigation simple and intuitive? Is the content compelling and likely to stimulate interaction and renewed visits?
If you’re not comfortable saying an enthusiastic “yes!” to each of these questions, you may be diminishing the impact of your entire marketing campaign. All too often marketers think of specific media initiatives as an end unto themselves and don’t put these tactics into the context of a total, integrated strategy. Conversely, when all the pieces are working together to drive traffic to a highly effective website, thrusters are full forward and good outcomes can be achieved at warp speed. Powerful new customer relationships can be forged and existing ones strengthened. Search engine impact is significantly enhanced. Results can be measured and monitored. And powerful deflector shields will help thwart attacks from evil competitors.
Your Web site is your mothership – your home in cyberspace. And you always have to protect your “house.”
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