Building Your Website: A Team Sport
Using your marketing budget to pay for your new website may seem like a good idea, but it hardly ever turns out the way you hoped. Every important player in your organization should be involved in the game, determining your website strategy and most importantly, contributing to the budget. However, the marketing team is usually solely responsible for the strategy and the bill, which in turn means website projects suffer from underfunding because they aren’t seen as a company-wide initiative.
Websites touch every aspect of business, so why should marketing foot the bill? Our short answer: marketing shouldn’t pay, everyone should.
(DESIGN) FUNDAMENTALS MATTER
In every industry, each person who is tied to your brand such as prospective and current employees or customers, donors and current and potential clients will use your website. In most cases, your website serves as the front door to your organization rather than your physical location. Yet we’ve seen organizations under-invest in their website because it’s considered just another marketing channel and instead don’t hesitate to spend millions on their physical location. Your website design and user experience matter. You have one web presence and one digital first impression and it should be everyone’s priority.
FROM HR TO SALES, EVERYONE HAS SKIN IN THE GAME
Consider the audiences that will use your website and your goals for each audience. For example, your human resources team considers their primary audience to be job candidates. Their goal is to have as many qualified candidates, who are a culture fit for your company, apply for each job posted. The content on your site needs to speak to your company identity, culture, benefits and appeal to ideal candidates.
Now, consider the role of your sales team on your website. Their primary goal is to sell products, with each lead moving smoothly through the marketing funnel without distraction or interruption. Their goal is clearly different than the goal of the HR team, and their goals are different than those of other functional groups. Everyone should be involved because each group has different goals for their area that may look much different from team to team, which is why communication and collaboration are important.
FINALLY, USE THE SAME PLAYBOOK
Begin by getting all important stakeholders on the same page. Collaborate to identify shared and individual goals and measures for success. Sharing responsibility will increase collaboration and make your website work for everyone, not just one team. Then, work with your developer to think about how you can use your website to reduce friction for all of your audiences, from applicants to customers.
When every functional area of your organization is affected by the performance of your website, your website is everyone’s business. It can affect the number, and quality, of applicants you receive for job postings. It can impact the sales or donations that take place on your site, or the way new employees learn about your products or services. Invest enough to leave a great first impression, collaborate with your team to determine goals and build a site that can effectively reach every audience. Only then will your website be serving the interests of the entire organization.
