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“If you build it he will come…” - whispering voice in Field of Dreams

We have been familiar with the statement, “if we build it they will come,” long before Phil Alden Robinson’s 1989 film Field of Dreams. It may have not been said in those exact words, but the thought was the same. “Once we get our new store running...” “If we just add one more neon sign…” “One more huge billboard for ‘South of the border’” (pardon my Carolina reference). “If we offer one more discount… people will buy.” They will come. All of these statements fit the mantra of “if we build it they will come”, but the sad thing is they haven’t stopped there. Nowadays we hear businesses talking about how their redesign, ad campaign, or logo change will bring in all of the long awaited clientele. The cycle remains intact when we continue to build marketing strategies based on the same busted blueprints that have been failing businesses for years. This post is here to tell you to stop building, and start creating. Create value that draws your ideal customers while inspiring advocacy, and turn off the neon sign hanging in your website’s window.

Neon sign. Français : Enseigne au néon. Hrvats... (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Planning Before You Attack

My dad would always tell me to “measure three times and cut once.” In other words, plan, plan plan, before you do something. Plan strategies for how you are going to promote whatever you decide to create for your future advocates. Focus on always asking the “what’s in it for them?” question while you are constructing a project. Building a new website or a redesign without a plan of how you are going to promote it is like having a Lamborghini, but no gas to drive it. You can try to show it off all you want, but without gas it will sit in your garage and only your family or friends will see it. Much like that brand spanking new website that costs a fortune, but does not have a strategic content marketing, social media, and search engine optimization plan. Remember measure or plan three times and cut or build once!

Lamborghini Gallardo Lamborghini Gallardo (Photo credit: denao)

Budgeting. It Saves Lives… of Websites.

One of the biggest aspects of a plan is effective budgeting. Any web designer or project manager will tell you that time and money are the first figures to get blown way out of proportion. The 50 hour $5,000 site redesign, soon becomes a monstrosity of a project costing over $15k with over 150 billable hours invested. I would submit that 9 times out of 10, this is due to the lack of planning and budgeting. Of course we all want the projects that have unlimited budgets (do those even exist?), but the reality is that exercising budget planning will help determine what is most important in each project, and are just cool features that are not mission critical. It’s wise to go the extra mile by planning a low and an absolute high end to your budget. This will help provide the freedom for creative liberties that were “out of the original scope.” Innovation happens during the creation phase in most cases, so you might as well budget for it.

The Starting Out Checklist:

  • 1. Identify Your S.M.A.R.T. Goal
  • 2. Decide on Three Main Buyer Personas
  • 3. Create a Plan of Creation
  • 4. Create a Plan of Promotion of Project (content is king)
  • 5. Establish a High and Low Project Budget Range
  • 6. Create Incentives for Meeting Plan Deadlines (both for vendors and internal team)
  • 7. Form Promotional Materials for Created Project Before its Completion
  • 8. Launch Project
  • 9. Measure and Report on EVERYTHING!

Please Do Not Repeat History

You are now among the informed. Please do not make the same mistakes of not planning, budgeting, and following the steps in the checklist above as many have done. The laziness of not doing proper project preparation will cost your company financial assets, human resources, and potential brand impact.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for advice on how to plan and promote your next project.

What are ways that you have seen other companies repeat these mistakes? How are ways that you have overcome the “if we build it they will come” mentality? I’d really like to hear some of your answers in the comments below.

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