Strategies for Growth: Planet Marketing Helps Small Businesses Thrive

In today’s competitive marketplace, having a road map to growth is essential for small businesses looking to thrive. Without this, you may get stuck juggling the many areas of running your business such as operations, inventory, finance, and customer service. Tailored strategies for growth are marketing methods that are specifically designed to meet the unique needs of your business, target market, and industry. If you don’t have the time or knowledge to work on marketing, Planet Marketing can help develop and enact the following tailored strategies for growth for your small business.

Create a Content Marketing Plan

Every business should have a content marketing plan – and an overarching marketing plan and strategy. The content marketing plan includes (where relevant) blogs, social media, email newsletters, website content, downloadable resources, and more. This can be an incredibly effective way to build authority, trust, and brand awareness without relying on expensive advertising.  

Make sure your content is aligned with your customers’ needs and addresses their pain points. It should speak directly to them, build a connection, and encourage them to take action.

Know Your Market and Ideal Customer

To build effective marketing, you need to know your audience well. Consider factors like:

  • Demographics: Age, gender, income level, education, and occupation
  • Psychographics: Interests, values, behaviors, and lifestyle
  • Pain points: What problems does your audience need solving?
  • Buying habits: What motivates them to make a purchase?

Understanding these factors allows you to create personalised messaging and offers that resonate with your ideal customers. Additionally, by knowing where your customers spend time online, you can focus your efforts on the channels that are most likely to drive engagement and sales, whether that’s social media, email marketing, or SEO. Planet Marketing can create customer personas to help with this.

Use Available Data

From website analytics to social media insights, data can reveal valuable information about customer behavior and campaign performance. You may have heard of Google Analytics, ROI, SEO, or click through rates (CTR). If you’re not sure what these mean and simply don’t have the capacity to put your data to work, Planet Marketing can help tailor your marketing spend for the most impact.

Optimise Your Website

For many businesses, your website is a customer’s first interaction and first impression – the online equivalent of your ‘shop front’. Having a nice-looking website is important, but your website also needs to be functional and converting visitors into paying customers.

Some important considerations:

  • Load time – Nobody likes a slow website, and this won’t get people to stick around for purchases.
  • Mobile versions – Make sure your website is user-friendly and responsive on mobile devices, which will likely be the highest source of traffic. Make sure your navigation bar and page tabs are easy to use and find.
  • Clear Calls to Action (CTAs): Every page on your website should have a purpose, with obvious next steps for users to take. Whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, requesting a demo, or completing a purchase, your CTAs should be compelling and easy to find and take action.
  • SEO (Search Engine Optimisation): Use relevant keywords to improve your search engine rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find you online.

A website that’s optimised for conversions is crucial for converting traffic into dollars.

Customer Retention

It’s important to gain customers, but it’s actually cheaper to keep your current customers coming back. Use personalised experiences (for example, birthday emails, offers around important holidays) to keep customers feeling special. Handwritten thank you notes go a long way in our digital world. Loyalty programs may be a good idea if you have the people power and purchase volume to make it worthwhile.

A loyal customer base not only helps you increase sales but also generates word-of-mouth referrals, which is a powerful driver of new business.

Measure and Adjust

Review your metrics regularly to see what’s working and what could use some tweaks. Measure your progress on a continual basis and be open to new methods. Planet Marketing can provide guidance on how to use this information. By continually fine-tuning your approach, you’ll be better positioned to scale your business and achieve sustainable growth.

Conclusion

Tailored growth strategies are all about using data-driven, personalised tactics to reach your ideal customers. Small businesses need personalised, strategic plans that align with their goals and deliver measurable results. If you don’t have the time or knowledge to do something like this, Planet Marketing can create tailored growth strategies that will help your small business thrive.

To get started – book a Free Strategy Session with Melanie.

Planet Marketing provides practical and sustainable marketing advice – helping you determine what marketing suits your business best. 

Naturally Better Marketing… 

Easy Tips for a Greener Office

Let’s face it, spending eight hours under fluorescent lights surrounded by beige walls isn’t exactly inspiring for either your creativity or the planet. Transforming your office into a verdant paradise doesn’t require a complete overhaul (or a hefty investment). Here are some simple, actionable tips for a greener office.  

Lighten Up

Ditch the harsh fluorescents and use natural light whenever possible. Open blinds, push back curtains, and let the sunshine in. Natural light not only reduces your reliance on electricity but also boosts mood and productivity.

When artificial light is necessary, make the switch to LED bulbs. They use significantly less energy and last way longer than traditional incandescent bulbs. If you don’t like the bright look, make sure you install warm tone LEDs.

Conserve Energy

There are a few easy ways you can conserve energy at the office:

  • Power down: It’s amazing how many electronics lurk in standby mode, silently sucking up energy. Get into the habit of powering down computers, monitors, modems, and printers at the end of the day. Consider upgrading any appliances like your kitchen fridge to a more energy-efficient model.
  • Think before you print: In this digital age, do you really need a paper copy of that report? Encourage double-sided printing when necessary and explore cloud-based document storage solutions to minimise paper usage.
  • Consider solar: If you’re renting a space, ask the landlord if they would consider adding solar panels. Or if you own your space, look into it yourself! It could save a lot of money in the long run and save on fossil fuel usage.

Recycle and Repurpose

Make it easy for everyone in the office to place paper, plastic, and cans in the right bin – so they can easily be recycled. Clearly labelled recycling bins are key. If there’s confusion, there are many useful printouts online that can be laminated and posted above the bins. Check with your local council for resources.

Get creative with used office supplies! Old folders can be transformed into notepads, and empty coffee containers can find new life as desk organisers.

Save batteries from landfill – keep used batteries in a container and take to a battery recycling depot when convenient. Do not put batteries in the bin.

If you have an office coffee machine, ditch the single-use pod (unless they are made from compostable paper) style machine and get a filter one instead – using paper coffee filters that are compostable. And place the used coffee grains on the garden beds – they make good fertiliser. Alternatively buy an eco-friendly coffee machine.

Embrace the Greenery

Studies show that greenery in the office can improve air quality, reduce stress, and even boost creativity. Add a splash of life with low-maintenance plants like snake plants, succulents and cactus, or spider lilies. Consider an herb garden if your office kitchen has a space for one. If you’d like an extra boost of green, vertical gardens are a space-saving way to incorporate foliage.

Get the Whole Team Involved

Organise a green office challenge, where staff or teams compete to reduce paper usage or invent the most creatively repurposed office supply.  A little friendly competition can go a long way in boosting engagement and eco-conscious behaviour. Measure results to see what a difference you can make!

Going Green at Work

By implementing these simple tips, you can create a more sustainable and inspiring work environment for yourself and your team. Remember, every small step counts!

Sustainability and living responsibly are a key focus and value for the Planet Marketing team, both within our business and at home. We care about our planet (hence our business name), cultures and communities, and do as much as we can to help protect them. It is an important part of who we are, and this philosophy extends to our business and how we work with clients.

Sustainable practices have been implemented in our business, and although Planet Marketing is a small business, we take corporate responsibility and protecting our environment seriously.  This translates into how we approach projects, from recommending eco-friendly marketing materials to suggesting ways to reduce your company’s carbon footprint.

Contact us today about how we can help you turn your workplace green – and your marketing strategy even greener!

Planet Marketing provides practical and sustainable marketing advice – helping you determine what marketing suits your business best.

Naturally Better Marketing…

Top 5 Tips for Marketing Your Business on LinkedIn

With more than 12 million users in Australia, it’s no surprise that LinkedIn has become an effective and hugely popular platform for building professional networks. It can also be a great tool for brand awareness, pitching for business, and recruiting and engaging with employees. If your business page isn’t achieving the results you want, follow our top 5 tips for marketing your business on LinkedIn.

1. Review and optimise your Company page

Completing all the information on your LinkedIn Company page can on average increase your page views by around 30%, so the first and simplest step to boosting your visibility is to go back and review your Company page setup.

In your Admin view, click on edit page and select the options below:

Page info tab

    • Ensure your logo is current and upload a new logo if needed
    • Check your company name and customise your LinkedIn public URL. When you create your Company page you create a public URL that is displayed to members and can be used on your other marketing channels to drive traffic to your page. Your page URL and name must align. You can change your URL but if your preferred URL is unavailable, then choose something similar to your business name, for example an abbreviation that you use elsewhere that is recognised by your network.
    • Review your company tagline – Create an engaging, descriptive headline using keywords to describe what your business does, the services you offer or the solution you deliver. You have 120 characters maximum so make them count! We’ll cover more about keywords below.

    Buttons

    Ensure you have a custom ‘Call to Action’ button activated on your page. This will appear in your profile header. Select the button name from the dropdown list and add the appropriate URL link for that action. For example, ‘Visit website’ will link to your website home page, ‘Sign-up’ might connect to your newsletter sign-up page, and ‘Contact us’ to your contact page or form. Remember to measure the traffic coming to your website from LinkedIn to assess your strategy and see what is working for you.

    About section

    • Description – this information appears in your profile or ‘About’ section and is essential for telling potential customers, employees, partners and other stakeholders what your business does, your vision and mission and the benefits of your services or products. Your description should include links and lots of SEO or Search Engine Optimisation keywords to gain a better ranking position in online searches. You can search for keywords for your industry through Google Ads or companies like Semrush or simply think about the common keywords people enter into Google search to find the products or services you offer. For example, ‘coffee shops in Ashgrove’; ‘pet friendly hotels Sunshine Coast’; ‘mortgage refinancing’; ‘places to visit in Longreach’. You can include links to website pages where appropriate. There’s a 2,000- character limit so draft and edit to make sure every word counts!      
    • Select your industry – type in and select an option that best describes your business activities
    • Enter your company size, type and location and the year your business was founded
    • Add your specialties – You can add up to 20 of your business specialties. The more you add the more chance you have of getting noticed! Specialties, like hashtags, help other users to find you when they are searching for businesses, products and services. For example, as a Marketing business we’d use: #marketingstrategy #socialmediamanagement and #marketingplans as some of our choices.

    Locations

    Make sure you add your central and other locations if applicable. People often look for products and services by location so this is another way to ensure your business appears in user searches.

    Community

    You can add up to three community hashtags to your profile that are relevant to your industry, products or services. Community hashtags enable people to find topics they are interested in or want to follow. For example, a health food business might select their name plus #healthandwellbeing and #healthyeating.

    Now review and edit other parts of your page:

    Background image

    To add or change a background header click the edit button and edit or upload a new one. Your company page background image should be 1128 x 191px. Remember when designing the image that your logo image will sit to the front and left of it as shown below.

    You can change the background image as often as you like, for example to highlight special offers or major campaigns you are running. Include these ‘banner promotions’ in your content plan to align your marketing activities throughout the year.

    Click the Products tab to add your product information

    LinkedIn allows you to add product pages if your business operates within the following sectors:

    • B2B software
    • Computer Hardware
    • Financial Services
    • Insurance
    • Education
    • Healthcare
    • Pharmaceuticals

    LinkedIn recommends starting with two to five products to start with. Follow the prompts to add product descriptions, select the roles that reflect your key target markets, add supporting media (images, videos, product specs), hashtags and link to featured customers if you have their permission. And don’t forget to add a Call to Action!

    2. Grow your Company page community through your employees, personal network and website

    There are several easy ways to grow your Company LinkedIn following or ‘community’:

    • Ask your employees to link to your Company page by ensuring their current job role links to the business page, ask them to follow it and encourage them to share your posts by tagging them or give them permission to link their own work-related content
    • Send an invite to your personal LinkedIn network to follow the page – use the LinkedIn function to do this
    • Use the LinkedIn function to invite contacts to review your products or services
    • Add the LinkedIn icon and link to your company page on your business website header and footer, and on your contact page. Include your profile URL on business cards and other company documents and brochures.

    3. Write a content plan

    Dive deep into the companies and individuals you want to reach. What are their challenges and what content do they currently engage with?

    A content plan ensures you stay on track with a consistent and regular approach to your social marketing. A well-structured content plan sets out your social media goals and will save you time and take the stress out of worrying about what to write or post each day or week. Your LinkedIn posts should be part of a strategic plan that incorporates all the content you create include website content, blogs, newsletters (EDMs), social media, and other online and traditional marketing activities.

    How often should you post?

    To achieve the best from LinkedIn it’s recommended that you post between two to five times per week. Try not to post more than once a day as this will detract attention from your previous post.  

    Before you get too stressed about this, remember that one well-researched and informative piece of content is better than several mediocre posts.

    What should you post?

    Don’t just promote your products or services. Share valuable, informative, and engaging content that establishes you as an authority in your field.

    When planning your LinkedIn content mix follow the LinkedIn recommended 5:3:2 rule. This means that every ten posts should be mixed as follows:

    • 5 x shared posts from other external sources with your comments added to them
    • 3 x original posts – written by your business
    • 2 x fun posts – this content supports your brand personality and includes employee news, birthdays, promotions; a fun look behind the scenes, or amusing posts that are relevant to your industry.  

    Your plan should include a blend of images, videos, articles and shared posts. Consider using infographics, charts, or images to break up text and enhance understanding. Wherever possible use a post image or a collage as these perform even better! Label the image with your business name and keywords that are relevant to the post topic to boost SEO.

    Note: The recommended length of LinkedIn posts varies from 25 words for short posts and up to 2,000 words for articles. For posts, the ‘read more’ ellipsis kicks in at 140 characters so make them compelling if you want to write a longer post. The optimum length for videos is 30 to 90 seconds.

    4. Post and engage regularly

    Make sure you post regularly using your content plan and respond and engage promptly with people who comment on your posts as engagement helps to raise your page ranking. Remember to like, comment on and share content from your network too.

    Make your posts easier to find and share

    Remember to use topic and company hashtags on your posts to make them easier to find by topic or area of interest. You can also tag another business or LinkedIn user in a post by using the @ and typing their name (no spaces) to facilitate and encourage feedback and sharing.

    Content shortcut

    If you’re struggling to find or create content for your posts hit the ‘Content’ tab on the LinkedIn menu and select ‘Trending articles’ to repost popular articles related to your industry or target audience. Change the search parameters to extend beyond your industry. Hit ‘post’, add your comments and share to your feed. You can also share media content about your business or your employees’ news in the same way.

    5. Review your analytics and tweak your strategy

    Don’t just blindly post content. Use the ‘Analytics’ tab on the menu bar to gain insights and see what resonates with your audience.

    • Track reach and engagement: Monitor how many people see your content and how they interact with it.
    • Click-throughs: Analyze how many people click through to your website or landing pages.
    • Content Performance: Identify which types of content perform best with your audience.

    Use this data to refine your strategy and create content that gets results.

    Want some help?

    By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a LinkedIn legend.  Remember, the key is to be valuable, engaging, and consistent. 

    Need help with your social media strategy or day to day management? Contact us to discover how  Planet Marketing’s social media packages and services can benefit your business.

    If you have any questions, comments, or additional suggestions to add to this list, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you. Check out our Blog for other marketing tips; or Contact us.

    Planet Marketing provides practical and sustainable marketing advice – helping you determine what marketing suits your business best.

    Naturally Better Marketing…

    Easy Ways to Increase Engagement on Social Media

    Increase Social Media Engagement

    Let’s face it, social media can feel like a never-ending game of shouting into the void. You meticulously craft a post, hit publish, and get little or no response. Here are some easy ways to increase engagement on social media, turning those passive scrollers into active fans.

    Embrace Visual Storytelling

    People are bombarded with text overload every day. The key? Capturing attention with engaging visuals.

    Data can be beautiful. Use infographics to present complex information in a visually appealing way.

    A high-quality, finger-stopping image is worth a thousand bland words. Use powerful photos, quirky illustrations, or even hilarious memes (used strategically, of course) to grab attention.

    Short, engaging videos are social media gold. Showcase your product in action, share customer testimonials, or create a funny skit – the possibilities are endless!

    Spice Up Your Captions

    Your captions are your chance to connect with your audience. Here are some tips for crafting great captions:

    • Ask engaging questions: Spark conversation by posing thought-provoking questions that get people commenting and sharing their opinions.
    • Tell a story: Weave a narrative into your captions. People connect with stories, so use them to showcase your brand personality and values.
    • Humour: A sprinkle of humour can go a long way. Make your audience chuckle and they’ll be more likely to remember your post.
    • Hashtags: Hashtags help people discover your content. Use relevant hashtags but avoid going overboard – a few well-chosen ones are better than a spammy paragraph.

    Remember that It’s a Two-Way Street

    Social media isn’t a one-way broadcast system, it’s about building relationships.

    • Respond to comments promptly: Show your audience you care by replying to comments and messages in a timely manner.
    • Run engaging polls and contests: Who doesn’t love a bit of healthy competition or a chance to win something awesome? Run polls and contests to boost engagement and generate excitement.
    • Host live sessions: Live video sessions offer a unique opportunity to connect with your audience in real-time. Answer questions, share behind-the-scenes glimpses, or host a casual Q&A.

    Be Consistent and Patient

    Building a strong social media presence takes time and dedication. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see results overnight. The key is to be consistent with your posting and engagement efforts. If you’re short on time and resources, consider outsourcing to get a content calendar going.

    The Takeaway

    By incorporating these tips into your social media strategy, you’ll be well on your way to boosting engagement and turning those scrollers into loyal fans. Remember, social media is about having fun, being creative, and connecting with your audience. So, embrace the power of visuals and storytelling, and watch your engagement soar!

    That’s where we come in! At Planet Marketing, we’re a team of social media experts who can help you craft a winning social media strategy, create great content, and manage your online presence so you don’t have to.

    So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the ever-changing social media landscape, don’t hesitate to reach out! We’d love to chat about your social media goals and see how we can help you achieve them – contact us today.

    In the meantime, keep an eye on our blog for more tips and tricks for your small business marketing efforts.

    Planet Marketing provides practical and sustainable marketing advice – helping you determine what marketing suits your business best.

    Naturally Better Marketing…

    Top 10 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in Small Business

    marketing mistakes to avoid in a small business

    Small business owners are very busy people. However, being busy is not an excuse for neglecting your marketing, which is a common error we see in small business. Marketing is often at the bottom of the “to do” list, and sometimes never happens at all, leading to some easily remedied marketing mistakes.

    For a small business, marketing doesn’t need to be overly complicated or expensive, but it does need to have a strategy, an action plan, and a budget. The key issue for many clients I work with is that they don’t know where to start with their marketing, so they procrastinate and don’t start at all or they have a very scattered approach to their marketing and don’t get the results they expect. For a small business, a planned approach is very important to avoid wasting the precious time and limited marketing budget you have.

    So, to help you achieve better results from your marketing, here is a list of top marketing mistakes to avoid in a small business.   

    1. Not Investing in Marketing

    Marketing needs to be as important, if not more so, as the other key areas of your business – alongside good governance, finances, and operations. Putting it simply, it doesn’t matter how well your business operates, or how great your product or service is, if people don’t know you exist they won’t buy.

    2. No Marketing Plan

    Having a strategic marketing plan ensures you keep marketing activities on track and on budget; it helps avoid spending time and money of ad hoc items; and importantly sets out target markets, activities, and timing. Even just having a simple plan is better than none.

    Re-visit your plan regularly, and make sure you can measure the success of all marketing activities undertaken to avoid repeating ineffective marketing decisions.

    3. Underperforming Website

    A website is not optional – it is mandatory. It doesn’t need to be big and expensive, but you do need to have one, and it needs to look professional. Don’t just depend on your social media. Remember, you don’t “own” your social media pages, but you do own your website.

    Make sure your website is functioning – if you’re not sure, get a full website audit. The two biggest small business website mistakes are:

    • Hard-to-find contact details
    • No prices

    For further tips please check out our Website Tips for Small Business blog.

    4. Trying to be Everything to Everyone

    With a limited budget and limited resources, work out your priorities and do a few key things well, rather than trying to do everything with a scattered approach which means nothing gets done well. 

    For example, choose two social media channels and do them consistently, rather than taking on four channels and doing them sporadically. Make sure you have a defined target market/s – trying to appeal to everyone doesn’t work. This mistake is avoided by having a strategic marketing plan. 

    5. Expecting Immediate Results

    Evidence and research show that on average a potential customer will see your business at least seven times before they purchase. Just undertaking one ad or email will not achieve sustainable results. Consider different ways for people to be connected with your brand. Social media, newsletter, ads, networking, video, webinar, reading a helpful article you have written – to highlight just a few.

    6. Lack of Brand Consistency

    Some business owners are creative types, and some are not. If you’re not, make sure you get help with establishing a consistent brand. An inconsistent brand means mixed messages, and mixed messages mean that people will be confused about your business. This includes the type of images used, colours, words, and even fonts and layouts.

    A consistent brand looks professional, and people know what to expect. Think of big brands like Nike, Coke, McDonalds, BMW, etc. They all have a very consistent brand. Small businesses need to do the same, but on a smaller scale.

    7. No Personality

    For small businesses it is especially important to create a connection with your customers, and the best way to achieve this is to let them know who you are. Let your personality shine through in everything you do; provide information about yourself on your website and on social media.

    Our biggest pet hate with small business websites is that so many have a bland “off the shelf” sterile look. They have no personality, no information about who they are or their purpose, and no images showing the owners or their staff. First step – get rid of stock library images! Show and tell people who you are and why you want to help them.

    8. Underestimating the importance of Repeat Customers

    Only focusing on new business and neglecting repeat business is a big mistake that small business owners regularly make. Make sure you look after your existing customers and undertake marketing especially for them. Marketing to an existing customer is a lot cheaper than finding new customers; and more importantly, unsatisfied customers will tell all their friends and family. No small business can afford bad word-of-mouth advertising. 

    9. Lack of Response

    It astounds us how often we contact a small business and receive no response at all, or an extremely slow one. There is no excuse for this, especially these days with autoresponders and all the tech tools available. The sooner you respond to a lead or enquiry the better; this includes both online and phone message enquiries.

    A quick response shows you are professional, provides a good first impression, and shows that you are attentive to your clients’ needs. It is generally expected that leads are followed up on the same day; at the very most 24 hours. Potential clients do not wait these days – they will go elsewhere; and there is the added risk of reputation damage as well.

    10. Not Taking Advantage of New Digital Technology

    Make the most of social media and digital technology. Many digital marketing tools are available for free, or for minimal cost. This includes database management, image and document creation tools, newsletters, project management, website analysis and statistics, and of course, social media.

    Don’t try and do it all, but pick the tools that work best for you – or get someone to help you if you don’t feel confident to do it yourself. There are plenty of free online forums, tutorials, and blogs that provide tips and “how to” guides.

    Need A Helping Hand?

    We hope these marketing mistakes to avoid tips have helped you determine how you can improve your marketing and what marketing mistakes you may need to fix in your business.

    Feeling overwhelmed? Contact us if you’d like a free strategy session!

    If you have any questions, comments, or additional suggestions to add to this list, please let us know.

    Planet Marketing provides practical and sustainable marketing advice – helping you determine what marketing suits your business best.

    Naturally Better Marketing…

    How to Write a Website Brief

    How to write a website brief

    Thinking about updating or rebuilding your website? For any upcoming web project, a well-crafted website brief is an important early step in the process. Think of it as the foundation. A clear brief ensures that everyone is aligned on the goals, design preferences, and scope of the project, whether it be a small refresh, a rebuild, or an entirely new website from scratch.

    Very importantly, a brief also ensures you don’t waste time and money on creating a website that is not what you wanted or expected. The following points describe how to write a website brief that paves the way for an efficient and successful web development project.

    We have assisted many clients with recovering or re-building websites that were created without clear briefs – ensuring they ended up with a website which met their needs, and the best customer experience. This extra cost, time, and frustration could have been avoided by having a clear website brief written by a professional marketing person with website development expertise. 

    Project Overview

    Clearly state what you aim to achieve with the new website.

    • Objectives could include increasing sales, improving user engagement or experience, launching a new brand or business.
    • Do your users come looking for an e-commerce shopping experience, or do they regularly read your blog?
    • Does your site need to integrate with other platforms, such as a CRM or mailing list?
    • What extra features does your site have, or are you looking to add any? Consider elements like video tutorials, contact forms, online checkouts, social media integration, or custom tools.

    Be specific about your goals, as they will direct the project’s strategy and design.

    Budget and Timeline

    Setting realistic budget and timeline expectations helps your team plan and prioritise accordingly.

    • Include any fixed deadlines, such as product launches or marketing campaigns, that the project must align with.
    • Do you have content ready? If not, outline your plans for content creation – and ensuring it is very clear who is writing and providing this content.
    • Who will manage updates, security, and ongoing support post-launch? Don’t forget to add internal training for your staff if you’re outsourcing the project but would like to do web updates or maintenance after the site is live.

    Remember to plan long-term.

    Site Map

    A simple sitemap indicating the main pages and subpages helps the development team plan the layout and navigation of your website. If you’ve never built out a site map before, GlooMaps is a good free tool to use.

    Company Overview

    If your website project is being managed externally, you’ll need to provide some starting information for the people who don’t know your business very well. List out your brand’s history, core values, mission statement, and the products or services you offer. This context helps designers, developers, and even project managers understand your business and the purpose of your website.

    Audience

    You’ll also need to include some information about your target audience (demographics, online behaviour, etc.). If you’re building a new website, you may need to do some market research. It’s crucial to create a user experience that meets your audience’s needs and expectations.

    Design Preferences

    Is there a particular website you like the look of? It’s easier to emulate a design than come up with one from scratch. Include your design preferences (styles, colours, fonts, etc.) to give your team a clear understanding of the look you’re going for. This will also provide an opportunity to ensure the final design aligns with your brand identity.

    Accessibility

    Don’t forget to make your website as accessible as possible, even if the old version was not. Consider your website’s compatibility with specific browsers or devices and accessibility standards to ensure everyone has a good experience with using your website.

    Review with your team and test with fresh eyes

    Your team brings expertise and experience. They are likely very familiar with your current website, with what works and what doesn’t work. Review and update the brief together as the project evolves.

    Consider showing your brief to someone entirely new, such as a trusted partner or friend who is unfamiliar with your website. This way any new user experience problems will be pointed out that you or someone familiar with your current setup may miss.

    In conclusion, a detailed and well-thought-out website brief is essential to the successful outcome of your web development project, saving your business valuable time and resources. By clearly communicating your requirements, preferences, and goals, you set the stage for a website that not only looks great but also performs effectively, meeting the needs of your business and your users.

    More information

    Not sure where to start? We can help!

    Planet Marketing provides practical and sustainable marketing advice – helping you determine what marketing suits your business best.

    Naturally Better Marketing…