“Some pundits have claimed that business
to-business sourcing is pretty much 80
per cent decided before they even contact a
supplier. You need to have a good, resourceful
website just to be a consideration,” says Rivét.
Important features of a modern website
include:
• Mobile-friendliness: more than half of all
internet traffic comes from a smartphone
or tablet – if users can’t easily navigate
your site that way, it’s useless
• Contemporary design: tiny font
against a flat background is ’90s
design; your site shouldn’t be a paper
brochure translated for the screen
• High-quality photographs: seeing
is believing; show your prospects
who you are, what you have and
the kind of work you’ve done with
professional photographs
• A call to action: give your visitors
something to do at your site, i.e.
download a free white paper on a
subject they could use, click a “Call
now” button, visit blog content, etc.
• Contact information: an email form for
users to contact you is great, but make
sure you regularly check its functionality
and respond to all inquiries; otherwise
it does more harm than good
Mistake #4:
The “set-it-and-forget-it”
approach to marketing
Tso says he sees it all the time. The business
that puts together a good website – and
then brushes their hands together and considers
marketing finished.
“It’s important to create content on your
website that other people will find interesting
and useful. That might be resources
they can use in their work and it might also
be a very clear picture of what your company
does and how they do it.
“But most importantly, you’ve got to update
your site regularly.”
Tso advises clients to include good-quality
images and information about construction
projects that are in progress.
FEATURE
Invaluable tools
and resources
Website creation
Design your own website with these
easy-to-use templates, featuring
step-by-step instructions:
• MODX (modx.com)
• WordPress (wordpress.com)
• SquareSpace (squarespace.com)
• Wix (wix.com)
Graphic design
You don’t have to have an artist’s
eye to create logos, badges and
other marketing collateral with
these DIY graphic design sites:
• 99Designs (99designs.ca)
• Canva (canva.com)
Email marketing
Be efficient with the way you reach out to
your existing and prospective customers:
• MailChimp (mailchimp.com)
• ConstantContact (constantcontact.com)
Customer relationship management
Keep all your customer data and information
up to date with these easy-to-use systems:
• Insightly (insightly.com)
• GoldMine (goldmine.com)
• Batchbook (batchbook.com)
36 Think BIG | Quarter 1 2016 | saskheavy.ca
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