As someone whose company is constantly engaged in developing new websites for residential service contractors – those who offer plumbing, HVAC, and related services – I spend many long hours surveying the landscape for fresh ideas, new and prevailing trends, and generally to get a better sense of what it will take to set our clients apart.
While there’s a lot of good work being created within the contractor arena, I have noticed a few disturbing trends:
- A tendency to promote glitz over substance
- Obscuring core messages in the process
- Overly stuffed home pages
- A sometimes extreme overuse of animation
- Lack of visual relevance to client locale or unique selling proposition
In many cases, “big and bold” has become an objective in its own right, and that should never be. Take home page animation, for example, the purpose of which is to draw added attention to one or two items of special interest. But does it become counter-productive when virtually every section on a home page is animated? I think so, and that’s just one of many examples of how home page web design can and often does overshadow content and core messaging.
What’s a Contractor to Do?
Before launching into a re-design of your company website, it’s important to first establish objectives and an overall strategy. That’s still the best way to avoid settling for a “me too” website or one that tries too hard to impress the world with your ability to excite the senses. And since when did exciting the senses become an objective for a company that specializes in making sure you don’t run out of hot water or cool air?
These, on the other hand, should be among the chief objectives not only of your new website, but company marketing in general:
- Relate to customer needs and wants
- Be true to your brand
- Recognize that the American population is aging and have your marketing reflect the demographic and psychographic repercussions of that trend
- Make it easy for people to navigate your site
- Make it easy for people to do business with you
- Instill trust and confidence, remembering that the “bigger and bolder” brand of website design can be highly counter-productive
Taking Our Own Advice
To demonstrate how to break free of the “me too” trend in website design and production, allow me to demonstrate two recent site completions of our own, each of which is based on a central theme.
Let’s start with our own newish website, one that continues to reflect our slogan and core marketing message:
IMS Advertising
“…to get to the other side.”
Yes, it’s a takeoff of the classic “Why did the chicken cross the road?” joke, which we used primarily for instant recognition and familiarity. And yet we continue to spin it with a clear and fundamental message: we have everything it takes to help you get to the other side of your marketing objectives, thus resulting in your ongoing marketing success.”
We think that’s a pretty potent message in and of itself, but one that becomes more impactful with the right visual representation. So instead of using an animated chicken as we did on our previous website, we chose hot air balloons for the visual part of our story. More than that, we carefully chose the home page photos to show that hot air ballooning, like marketing, won’t be the one smooth ride you hope for without proper preparation and implementation.
Click here to view our website home page so you can judge for yourself.
And then there’s this new website for Excel Electrical Technologies in the Chicago area. I’ll keep the moral of this story short and sweet: if you have a company mascot, be sure to use it to full advantage, since that’s a great way to give people one more way to remember you.
For a thoughtful and carefully planned approach to your next company website, contact IMS Advertising today. We’d love to hear from you.