Written by Dharminder Biharie
Business Development, Xerox Netherlands
A recent blog by Matthew Parker titled, Why Printing Companies Need to Think Like the Travel Industry When it Comes to Websites, discussed the notion that printing companies need to rethink their web presence in order to best connect with customers and prospects.
Matthew’s point is worth reemphasizing:
Make your website more attractive and focus on what you have to offer. It is critical that your company understand the business pain of your customer or prospect. Consider yourself the aspirin to their communication challenges.
If you understand the concept of his blog, then there is no need to continue reading. However, if you are interested and have a few minutes to spare, I’d like to build on what he wrote.
For fun, go to Google and type in the search bar, “offset printing” or “digital printing”. Check the images. What you likely will find is a lot of technical equipment. Chances are, your customers may find this hard to relate to. Is the challenge many company websites face starting to make a little more sense to you?
As an example, imagine that you are booking a holiday vacation for yourself and your family. A travel agency helps you reserve the complete holiday package – airfare, lodging, transportation, etc.
When booking the vacation, do you make your decision based on:
- The type of aircraft you will be flying in? Is it a Boeing? An Airbus?
- How many engines the aircraft has?
- Does it have an Alloy Body?
- Is the Cockpit equipped with 700 Intel i7 Core chipset?
- How many rooms the resort has?
- Who manufacturers the cooking equipment for the chefs?
Or do you make your decision based on:
- Is there comfortable travel accommodations from the airport to your hotel?
- Will there be an agent standing by in case I have questions or problems?
- Does the beach come equipped with surveillance for your kids, lessening your level of stress?
- Are there special dietary foods available?
- Is there free Wifi on the resort, or even on the beach?
It is important that you focus on what is important to your customer. Understand their journey, which can take place offline or online. Let them know how you can solve their pain and be careful not to overwhelm them with technical information that they don’t care to know.
Remember, it’s all about giving your customer the best trip ever. And if you can deliver that, they might share their holiday pictures (experiences) with their colleagues, peers, friends and others – both online and offline.
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Dharminder Biharie is a Business Development Manager within Xerox Netherlands. To get in touch with Dharminder, feel free to contact him via email.
I am in the process of rebuilding my old and dated website. Do you have any websites in mind that just stand out from the crowd? I would love to get some guidance and ideas in this area.
Cliff
Hello Cliff – thanks for reaching out and its great to hear that you are looking to refresh your website. Here are 3 sites that do a nice job in staying customer-focused, please feel free to share your thoughts!
http://smartpress.com/
http://progressivecommunications.com/
http://www.calagazprinting.com/
Bill (Xerox Employee)
What are your thoughts on having a full list of sales staff on a printing website? Would this be a good idea, or would it be too much information for the customer in your opinion?
Austin – thanks so much for taking the time to write. I believe Matthew and Dharminder will be chiming in, but my personal opinion is that it is okay to include that type of information…just make sure it’s not the first thing the visitor sees.
Perhaps place that information under the ‘About Us’ or ‘Contact Us’ section – as I do think there is value to it. But as Matthew and Dharminder discussed, the emphasis in the messaging your visitors are greeted with should revolve around language that resonates with them, and helps them to understand how you can help solve their challenges.
Bill (Xerox Employee)
Hi Austin,
I think it’s a good idea to include a page about the team. However, it shouldn’t be on your main page – this is an add on section. A few suggestions:
– make sure you include photos
– tell us a bit about the person, not just the job
– give people interesting job titles (unless you are targetting a very corporate market)
I hope this helps?
Matthew
@Cliff. You can also get inspiration from other creative companies outside the printing industrie. It sounds strange but it always good to have a look outside the industry. And make your website capable for future integration with social media. And don’t forget: it is the content that will interest the reader. And an average website visitor is like a monkey. Make sure you have some bananas to trigger the customer. So a CTA (Call To Action) is required.
@Austin. Have a look of an average LinkedIn picture and you will know that most of the people have photo of their dogs, party or look like an episode of angry bird. I made this mistake to…and a friend of my (Professional photographer) was not happy. He offered to make me a real photo instead of a smartphone picture.
And you can recycle the photo by adding compliments card if the business card of the customer is guillotine by one of your employees. If you are trying to make the website feel personal, make sure the rest of the communication and language is too. SO a photo is not a bad idea but make it professional.
Dharminder.