Developing a Website: Be Strategic

I just completed the development of a new website for Bond & Company (www.bondandcompany.com) as part of a complete marketing communications project. Bond & Co. is a financial executive recruiter with an unconventional approach to recruiting, which results in better hires after fewer interviews. In building the site, Company owner Rich Bond and I took a completely strategic approach, applying one of Rich’s principles: to think of what the customer (or the person doing the hiring) wants. Rich says all people listen to their favorite radio station, WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?”). That idea guided us. We worked together to develop a new USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and then the content and navigation for the site. As part of the process, we asked: 

• Who is the target audience?
• What is the pain they experience when hiring?
• How does Bond & Company alleviate that pain and solve the target's problem?
• What big idea do we want them to get right away?
• What else do we want them to learn about Bond & Company?
• What actions do we want them to take?

Armed with the answers to these and other questions, we created the content. We also crafted informational materials that will help any manager do better hiring and will help candidates present themselves better.

Rich brought in a wonderful graphic and website designer, Liz Dobrinska, owner of Innovative Images, LLC, to give the site a fresh new look that would brand the company visually, make it easy to navigate and incorporate the latest approaches to website design (including video).

A project like this is immensely rewarding to work on because all parties are working toward a common goal and are willing to listen to each others’ ideas and try new approaches. By taking a strategic approach, applying the best principles of marketing, and tapping Rich’s deep knowledge of the recruiting business, we wound up with what I believe is a site that clearly communicates what Bond & Company's unique value truly is. 

What does your website communicate? How well? Is your site achieving its goal?