A metro Denver insurance agency, in business about 12 years, has developed an impressive personal lines book on the strength of the owner-partners and its aggressive sales team. With a producer force of nearly 50 agents, three locations, and several awards under its belt, the agency wants to redirect a significant part of its efforts to expanding its commercial lines presence. So, instead of creating a Web site that reflects the agency's present personal lines volume (i.e., where the agency is today), it wants the site to focus on its commercial lines capability, which is the part of the agency business it wants to grow.
A small producer of specialty baked goods has an established wholesale business among caterers and restaurants. But the bakery wants to test the retail market with a line of cookies that has an interesting story behind it. The baker has limited resources for enabling the sales department to handle both wholesale and retail accounts. To free a key sales rep from the wholesale division, the baker decided to create an online ordering system for existing wholesale customers, and is also developing a separate retail Web site for selling its brand of cookies online.
Neither of these businesses has had a Web site before, but they've thought about it. In both cases, the owners just weren't convinced they had a sufficient business reason to develop a site. Both were aware that many other businesses had Web sites, but also knew that most sites weren't really "doing anything." In working with these business owners, a key element in challenging their thinking was helping them discover a legitimate reason and purpose for building a Web presence. Once that "light bulb" of recognition flashed in their heads, it wasn't difficult for them to answer crucial questions that were essential for developing their Web strategy.
But developing a Web strategy doesn't just apply to new Web sites. Existing Web sites that are undergoing redevelopment usually need to rethink or adjust their strategy as well. For example, a vendor of insurance-related products and services has a content rich, but confusing, Web site exceeding 450 pages. Due to limited resources for hiring additional sales staff, the vendor decided to refocus its Web site and more proactively "take his message to its customers." Fortunately, the vendor has a high quality list of customers and prospects who have e-mail addresses. Regular mass e-mail campaigns have been developed to bring customers to redesigned sections of the Web site where visitors immediately receive useful information, resulting in new sales leads.
In all three cases, Web strategy is based on the idea of using a Web site to resolve a particular business need or objective. While the general goal is ultimately that of increased revenue, each strategy is based on the unique and specialized interests of the business. Thus, a Web strategy is an outgrowth of a particular business context.
For as serious an issue as developing a Web strategy is, you'd think there would be plenty of information available on the subject. Unfortunately, there isn't. What is available mostly focuses on developing a strategy for e-commerce and online sales. You almost get the impression that the fundamentals of developing an effective Web strategy are a "no-brainer" or common knowledge.
What is a Web strategy?
The question sounds simple enough. Define the word "strategy," connect it with building a Web site, and presto! - you have a Web strategy. If only it were that easy. The countless multitude of under-achieving and ineffective Web sites attests to the contrary. As one writer on the subject puts it, "…so many Web sites still underwhelm, not because of a lack of good intentions or commitment, but due to a lack of disciplined forethought."
"Disciplined forethought" is the basis for defining and developing a purposeful and meaningful Web strategy. As we've said before, the visible part of the Web site that visitors see is, like the proverbial tip of an iceberg, only a small part of the entire Web effort. Beneath the visible Web site should be a solid reason and purpose for why you want a Web site in the first place. Discovering the reason and purpose is the first step in developing a strategy. Out of that reason and purpose emerge the disciplined forethought and a planning process that leads to the development of a Web strategy.
So, a useful definition of a Web strategy would be, "The purposeful development of a rationale and plan, the outworking of which is directed toward fulfilling goals using the Internet."
You might think that insurance agencies pretty much all have (or need) a similar Web strategy, such as, "for marketing purposes to let customers know about our products and services." That's too vague and nebulous to be of much help because most any business that has a Web site could say the same thing. Lack of a clear purpose leads to an underdeveloped Web strategy and ultimately to a mediocre Web presence.
Questions, questions, questions
So, what is this "disciplined forethought" that goes into developing a Web strategy? Simply put, it's a series of thought-provoking questions that clarify why you want a Web site. Consider these seven questions:
The more precisely you answer these questions, the better the focus, planning, development, and execution of your Web strategy. Let's look more closely at these questions.
Questions 1-3 generally relate to the reason and purpose behind building a Web site. It would be pointless to build one without a reason or purpose, but many agency sites nevertheless seem to be devoid of a clearly defined purpose or reason. Instead, many sites appear to be built for the generalized purpose of "enhancing our marketing." To develop an effective Web strategy, the purpose needs to be more narrowly defined. For example, marketing generally encompasses three broad activities - prospecting, sales, and service, each of which is quite distinct from the others. If enhanced marketing is a purpose, it would be better to more narrowly define the purpose in more specific terms by saying, for example, "The purpose of our Web site is to attract more prospects," or "The purpose of our Web site is to offer multiple customer service opportunities."
Of course, there are many potential purposes for a Web site and a variety of reasons for building one. Furthermore, a Web site can have more than one purpose and might even have primary and secondary purposes. Regardless, the point is to narrowly define them.
Note, too, that in addition to having a purpose and reason, you should also determine what you want the site to do. To varying degrees, this will depend on the purpose. For example, if your site's purpose is to attract prospects, you would likely want the site to inform, generate interest, and provide opportunities for response. If, on the other hand, your site's purpose is to support customer service, you would likely want your site to feature options and explanations that would help customers interact with the Web site.
Finally, note that questions 2 and 3, while appearing similar, actually are quite different. For example, you might want your site to inform, generate interest, and provide response opportunities for prospects (what the site does), but what you want to accomplish is generate more leads and collect e-mail addresses, which ultimately enhance prospecting potential. Making the distinction between what you want the site to do versus what you want to accomplish are important determinants in developing your Web strategy.
Questions 4 and 5 deal with expectations and results. Using our same example, you might expect that your site will generate 25 new prospects per week after three months, but unless you have some means of tracking results, you may not know whether or not your expectations are being met. In short, you must plan to track Web site performance. If you don't, you might indeed get 25 new leads after three months, but you wouldn't necessarily know whether those leads came from your Web site or not. If you don't track Web site performance, you won't know if your Web strategy is working. And without that knowledge, you won't know what adjustments might be needed to maintain performance expectations.
Question 6 and 7 focus on your Web site's audience. If you've diligently answered questions 1 through 5, you will come to the realization that your audience is much smaller than the generalized audience of "anybody who needs insurance." Most agencies simply cannot appeal to such a wide market, and it would be foolish to try. The more narrowly you can define your audience or target market, the more effectively you can direct your Web strategy. In the case of the insurance agency mentioned earlier, the shift of emphasis from personal to commercial lines translated into a design shift from a personal lines audience to a commercial lines one. Color scheme, graphics, and text content will take on a different tone as a result.
In focusing on the audience of your Web site, you also need to consider how they will benefit from it. A Web site is a tool to serve a business purpose, not a toy for ego gratification. Visitors can quickly separate fact from fluff and determine whether or not a site offers enough value to warrant spending time looking at it.
How to develop a Web strategy
If you're serious about developing a credible and useful Web presence that does more than simply reside passively in cyberspace, you will need to take time to develop a workable Web strategy. And if you've given the idea of a Web site disciplined forethought and considered the seven questions described above, you might realize that developing a Web strategy will take time and could benefit from a committee effort. The input that results from careful thinking and multiple ideas and viewpoints can be helpful. But regardless of how you approach the development process…
Start with your business plan. If you take the approach that a Web site is a tool that serves business purposes, the logical place to begin is with a review of your agency's business plan. Presumably your business plan includes more than several spreadsheets of financial projections, but is a comprehensive statement of mission, goals, long- and short-range objectives, market analysis, marketing strategy, etc.
Review your business plan within an Internet context. Ask, "How can our Web site help us fulfill business goals?" That means you must figure out how your Web strategy can facilitate what you want your business to do. If, for example, your business plan includes acquisition of 150 new commercial accounts over a three-year period, consider how a Web site might enhance your agency's ability to reach that goal.
Study the competition. You likely regard several other agencies as your primary competition. Learn what you can about their goals, strategies, marketing methods, and Web presence. Analyze their sites to see what works, what doesn't, and how your site could improve upon theirs. If possible, consider "picking their brains" and find out why they did what they did with their Web sites. The more you know about your competitors' Web strategies, the better you can differentiate yourself from them.
Think of your site as a marketing communications tool. You agency communicates with prospects and customers in various ways and on a number of levels. Considering its interactive and versatile nature, your Web site is potentially the farthest-reaching communication tool at your agency's disposal. And because a Web site is a marketing communications tool, it should be incorporated into the marketing plan section of the business plan. For best results, the site strategy needs to be perceived and conceived as an ongoing and dynamic communications effort, not a once-and-done event.
Digress and consider the implications of not having a Web presence. Admittedly, it's easy for Sounding Line to evangelize the benefits of a Web site. But as long as you're thinking about expectations, potential benefits, and results of creating a Web presence, also consider what could be lost by not developing one. For example, an increasing number of Internet-savvy customers expect their business service providers to have a Web site. The better you can satisfy their expectations, the more successful your site will be.
Think in terms of worth and value, not cost. Many agents seem hesitant to pay for a Web site whose return on investment is vague or cannot be determined. Static, passive Web sites that are the product of little planning or forethought do indeed yield very few fruits. But that's mostly the result of undeveloped potential and the nature of a passive site. As should be evident by now, the more disciplined forethought you put into the strategy development phase, the more control you can have over the variables that influence site performance and outcome. Viewed in this light, return on investment and worth and value issues could easily outdistance the initial cost of development.
Plan for ongoing effort. If you spend significant effort in developing a credible Web strategy and presence, you should also consider the long-term implications of having a site. It makes little sense to spend lots of time and effort in developing a realistic Web strategy and creating a top-notch Web site only to let it evaporate from neglect. That means planning for such issues as ongoing maintenance, content updates, site improvement, site promotion, site traffic monitoring, and visitor usage analysis. Knowing how well your site is performing is essential for maintaining a productive Web site.
Finally, plan for frequent review. While your business plan may only need to be updated annually, an effective Web presence requires much more regular and frequent attention. Someone in the agency should be charged with the routine responsibility of periodic review, analysis, and adjustment. As we've said before, what you get out of a Web site is directly proportional to the effort you put into it.
© Copyright 2002 by Sound Internet Strategy. All rights reserved