In the 1990′s, many businesses built their first website. It included details of what their business did, why they were great and how to contact them. In other words it was a copy of their corporate brochure. As the web grew, business owners and marketing managers were left wondering why their sites weren’t generating any business.
The problem was that most of these sites were aimed at all the key target audiences – clients, potential clients, potential employees, potential investors, suppliers etc. A company would have several different brochures aimed at each target market and different literature for employees and suppliers. It makes sense to target each audience differently as they have different needs and so the messages are specific for each one.
So how do you target your website at all your different audiences? Put simply, you don’t. A website isn’t a brochure, it’s a website and people use websites differently from a brochure. The majority of people online will visit social networking sites, like Facebook, or read news sites. These are sites that are useful to them, they will return to these sites many times in a day, have them favourited and easy to access, possibly have them on their mobiles as well.
So businesses need to consider why someone would visit their site repeatedly, especially if they are not selling anything online. They need to create a site that is a hub of industry focussed information, which in turn will reflect their knowledge and expertise. It will also build up their online presence, adding value to their brand. It will open up communications with their core audiences, building trust.
A website should not replace a brochure, a brochure can still be an important selling tool. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in a printed format, it can be sent as an email newsletter, but it is still the most effective way of targeting a specific audience with a targeted message.
