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Is your B2B website compelling or like your competitors'?

Most sites are so similar in claims and propositions that it's hard to tell one vendor from another without the logos.

Why not make your company's website into a strong marketing asset? Focusing on customer context will do just that.

For over seven years Marketing Interactions has worked with clients to create compelling, highly differentiated websites. The most common problem we find is that B2B website home pages tend to focus on the organization's achievements, media coverage and products/solutions. More and more of them are including customer-oriented benefit statements, but they fall short in helping the prospect quickly understand how the company's claims will help them solve their problems.

As an example, let's take a common theme that every website claims: Increased productivity.

• What is increased productivity and how does it apply to me and my business?
• Was the company instrumental to the customer in achieving that goal, or did their customer have a brilliant employee who drove their solution to gain that outcome?
• How do your website visitors know that your company has the expertise to deliver more than just the product?
• Let's face it, they can probably buy a similar product from a lot of different companies. Why should they buy it from you?

Your B2B complex-sale website needs to showcase more than airy statements that promise outcomes. It must tell the story of how your customers actually achieve those outcomes. In addition to showcasing your products, your expertise needs to shine through. After all, your expertise and how you use it is what sets your company above your competition.

Ask yourself the following:

• Are your white papers and articles about your products? Or are they about key industry concepts that help your prospects understand why they need to change and why they should?
• Are your features and benefits lists self-serving or really insightful? From whose persepective? (It should be your customers'.)
• Do you share your expertise before the sale or only with existing customers?
• How useful is your website to longer-term leads that may not yet be sales-ready? Is your website a nurturing, engaging experience or a brochure that touts your company's achievements?
• How much do you learn from your website visitors? What are you doing with that information?

Websites should be an integrated tool in the marketing process. They should effectively garner mindshare from prospects who have the potential to become customers by keeping them interested through engaging and informative communications. To gain mindshare, your website should offer new content at least monthly.

With a strategic communications strategy, website content should work in concert with email stories, themed newsletters, solution microsites and marketing events. Consistency is the rule. The experience your prospects and customers have with every interaction should build their relationship with your company.

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