Why You Need a Carefully Crafted “Big Message” on Your Website
When someone visits your website homepage for the first time, you want it to be immediately obvious what you do and why you’re special. Of course, there are other things that are important to convey (who do you do it for? how do you do it?), but first and foremost, you want to say what you do in an attention-grabbing way.
That’s why one of the first tasks we tackle on every new website is to come up with the “Big Message” that will do just that. This message often goes at the very top of the home page, in the hero image or billboard.
The “Big Message” can be a powerful tool on your website. In addition to conveying what you do and what makes you special in a short and sweet way (key for today’s short attention spans), a big message will:
Be the one thing every visitor will read
If a visitor can take away just one thing about your company, what do you want that to be? If someone does click away from your site quickly, you want to make sure they’ve at least read that key message.
Drive visitors to learn more
If your message is compelling and provides visitors with that initial connection, it should push them to scroll and click further into your site to learn more about your company.
Show your company’s personality
Is your company serious or playful? Bold or quiet? Verbose or to the point? The “Big Message” can convey a lot of those personality traits in a small package.
Help direct the copy throughout your website
If your “Big Message” is written in a way that can be leveraged throughout your website, you’ll really drive home that messaging. Make the message a touchpoint to continually refer back to on other site pages, which will help align your messaging and brand on a larger scale.
When we were redesigning The LiRo Group’s website, one of our first tasks was coming up with the “Big Message” for their homepage hero image.
It needed to be catchy but speak to their industry and expertise. Their old site (which you can see here) had no front-and-center messaging, so it was hard to immediately understand what they did and what made them different.
Now, “We’re Built for This” is the first thing you see:
This “Big Message” plays on the fact that the impressive and beautiful imagery on the homepage showcases projects that LiRo has, in fact, built. A subhead clearly defines the nature of their business: “Award-winning Integrated Construction, Design, and Technology Solutions firm, consistently ranking among the nation’s top companies.” A visitor to their site can easily understand what services they deliver and see evidence of their expertise.
Does your website do the same? Do you need help creating and implementing a “Big Message” to really speak to your website visitors?
If your company’s website isn’t doing what it needs to do for your business, Pomerantz Marketing can help. We’re a B2B marketing firm that specializes in the construction industry.
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss how we can help you come up with a Big Message and take your web presence to the next level. REACH OUT NOW >
Short-Term Marketing Snapshot: IST Leads the Way in the New Normal
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Strategic MarketingOur client Integrated Security Technologies is one the largest independent security integrators in the U.S. They specialize in keeping people, property and data secure for the government, education, healthcare, property management and other markets. When COVID-19 hit, they were heads down helping their customers ensure their remote workforce and operations were secure. Today, they’re guiding their clients in continuing to adapt to the new normal by aligning their existing security investments with new technologies.
Marketing has worked to keep pace with IST in these ever-changing times. We developed a content strategy shaped around IST’s focus on securing People, Property & Data that speaks to the needs of today’s times. We brought this messaging to life on their website, blogs, social media and an email campaign for customers and prospects.
New Normal Landing Page
New Normal Social Media Post
New Normal Marketing Email
Marketing Based on Insight, Not Assumptions
If ever there was a time to be careful about not making assumptions to drive marketing strategy, this would be it. In order to keep our finger on the pulse of what IST’s customers and prospects needs and concerns are today, we developed a survey to obtain insights directly from them. The survey is currently being fielded and we will use the results to create the path forward for IST’s content strategy for the remainder of the year leading into Q1 2021.
New Normal Survey Email
Isn’t it Time to Get Serious about Getting Strategic?
For the month of October 2020, $750 gets your company a short-term marketing plan handcrafted and delivered by the B2B marketing pros at Pom.
Sign up for yours now >
Meet Our Marketing Mom
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Strategic Marketing“If you want to make a marketing program run on schedule, put a Mom in charge of it.”
Pom’s Marketing Mom, Leslie, and her family
When it comes to being consistent with our own short-term marketing program at Pom, we know ourselves well. Our agency’s own marketing initiatives tend to fall by the wayside unless we formalize a schedule and put our Marketing Mom (aka Leslie) in charge. No one wants to let Leslie down by not coming through with their dedicated tasks — including myself, and I happen to own Pomerantz!
Here’s how Leslie, Pom’s Marketing Mom, keeps our agency’s own short-term marketing program on schedule:
She’s the Scheduler in Chief of our Short-Term Program
Leslie develops and manages the master schedule for all of the activities involved in our short-term marketing program. She knows what is supposed to happen, when and by whom. If something is going to change on the schedule, you better ask Leslie.
Like all Moms, She Gives Lots of Reminders
Each week at Pom starts with a Monday Team Meeting, when we review the highlights of our account activities taking place in the upcoming week. Then, Leslie goes over what needs to happen with our own marketing. This is Reminder #1.
At some point in the middle of the week, she does a friendly yet no-nonsense check in with everyone on our team to see how things are going. It’s usually mixed in with other project communications, but it definitely counts as Reminder #2.
Last but not least, on Friday, Leslie sends Reminder #3 to everyone on our team in the form of an update on the schedule indicating what’s still pending and what needs to happen the next week. If you haven’t done what you’re supposed to do yet, it weighs on you all weekend until you do it (this I know from personal experience).
She Gives Positive Reinforcement
Every couple of weeks, we have a team meeting to review the fruits and results of our short-term marketing program. Like all good moms, Leslie makes a point of giving everyone positive feedback on their efforts and ideas. Our agency’s short-term marketing program continues to push forward because it has a dedicated Marketing Mom driving the bus.
Our Marketing Mom Says Start with a Short-Term Plan
For the month of October 2020, $750 gets your company a short-term marketing plan handcrafted and delivered by the B2B marketing pros at Pom. If you need a Marketing Mom to manage the implementation, we can make that happen as well.
Sign up for yours now >
It’s Time to Embrace the Short-Term Plan
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Recruitment, Web Design, Web Strategy“Forget grand and detailed strategic marketing plans. In today’s world, they’re obsolete.”
Want to know the #1 thing our agency has learned about B2B marketing in the time of coronavirus? Here it is: Embrace the Short-Term Plan.
Say goodbye to 6-, 12- or 18-month marketing plans for the foreseeable future and say hello to taking it one quarter at a time. It’s actually pretty refreshing once you relax into the concept. And it’s way easier and more realistic than the lofty marketing plans that are created with the best of intentions (on the part of both agency + client!).
So how do you do it?
Here’s how we came up with a short-term plan for our agency because, to be honest, we basically let the wheels fall off of our own marketing (except paid search!) over the past 6 months. Thankfully, it’s because we’ve been heads down working hard for our clients. But still, a marketing company has gotta market.
Step #1: Define a Vision & Goals
Our vision is to get our marketing engine up and running again with a process, schedule and discipline behind it.
Our goal is to drive new potential new business opportunities by creating short-term marketing plans for ideal prospects at a discounted rate.
Step #2: Define a Realistic Marketing Mix
Here’s What Our Sept-Dec 2020 Marketing Mix Looks Like:
Step #3: Define a Plan with Roles, Responsibilities & a Schedule
We’ve created a schedule with all of the above activities broken down into weekly tasks, noting who is responsible for each. It doesn’t need to be complicated – but breaking a bigger plan down into separate activities makes it much more manageable and likely that you’ll follow your plan.
Step #4: Commit to the Plan
See, we’re doing it! This blog post is proof.
Going forward, we’ll check in with our team weekly to ensure everyone has completed their activities for the week and to regroup if changes need to be made.
Step #5: Monitor, Analyze & Refine
For those activities that we can measure performance, we’re checking in a week or two later. So we’re looking at opens and clicks in our drip emails, as well as page visits and form fills for our blog posts and landing page. If we don’t like what we’re seeing, we discuss how we can improve, and make tweaks to keep things moving in a positive direction.
Sign up for yours now >
Why You Should Up Your Recruitment Game Online
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Recruitment, Web Design, Web StrategyMake Recruitment Marketing a Priority on Your Website
When we first meet with a new client about their marketing needs, many of them mention the need to up their game when it comes to recruiting new employees. The LiRo Group, one of the top Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) companies in the U.S., was no exception. They turned to Pomerantz Marketing to upgrade and modernize their website, which included the need for a more robust Careers section that really spoke to prospective employees.
Finding and retaining the best talent is a challenge in today’s business environment, but there are a number of ways to improve how your company is handling this. The first step is not ignoring recruitment in your marketing — you can (and should!) speak thoughtfully to potential employees online.
A generic Careers page on your website won’t cut it — you want to bring your company to life online, painting a clear picture of your culture and benefits and connecting with prospective employees on an emotional level. For LiRo, we built out a multi-page Careers section that included:
The key to a successful Careers page or section is to address the many questions a potential employee may ask before applying for a job with your company. If you back this up with an active social media presence that shows your employees at work and play, you’ll be in great recruitment marketing shape.
Looking to up your game when it comes to recruitment marketing? Pomerantz Marketing can help.
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss how we can take your online recruitment presence to the next level. REACH OUT NOW >
How to Market a Business Within Your Business
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Web Design, Web StrategyBring a Special Division With Unique Capabilities to Life
When The LiRo Group, one of the top Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) companies in the U.S., turned to Pomerantz Marketing to upgrade and modernize their website, one of the many missions for their website was to effectively market a new business division within their organization. This was tricky because this new business division, Applied Technologies, overlaps with other established business units yet is focused on bringing an entirely new technology approach to the market. If it sounds confusing, that’s because it was — but our job was to make it clear.
We determined that if the goal was to aggressively grow LiRo’s Applied Technologies’ division, one service page on their website wasn’t going to cut it — we needed to really bring this division to life. So how do you approach a special division, service or business feature on a website, without giving it more weight and importance than other areas?
Ultimately, our team developed a microsite within the greater LiRo website — allowing the Applied Technologies division to live in the website navigation equal with other services while also providing space and flexibility to fully explain and expand on all of their capabilities:
This microsite includes further services breakdowns, a project page featuring only the Applied Technologies projects, and a special contact page and form that goes directly to their team. Since the rest of LiRo’s business approaches marketing and sales differently from this division, it made sense for the Applied Technologies’ microsite to work in a way that met their unique needs.
Check out The LiRo Group’s Applied Technologies microsite in action >
A microsite built into a larger site can provide space for additional functionality and content, all while making sure it’s obvious how this business area fits in with the company as a whole. It’s a unique solution to a challenging problem, and one that can work for a variety of other situations.
If your company has faced a similar challenge, or if you’re stumped by how to handle a unique website problem, Pomerantz Marketing can help. We’re a B2B marketing firm that specializes in problem solving.
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss how we can take your web presence to the next level. REACH OUT NOW >
How a Project Portfolio on Your Company’s Website Can Prove Your Expertise
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Web Design, Web StrategyHighlight Your Company’s Work with a Robust Project Portfolio
For AEC and construction companies (and for those in many other industries, too!) one of the most powerful ways to convey your company’s expertise is by showing the work you’ve done. Images of your work will show the depth and breadth of what you do. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words!
This is why a project portfolio should be a priority on your website. A portfolio should visually highlight the projects your company has completed, include valuable information about the project and have functionality that makes it easy to navigate.
When we redesigned The LiRo Group’s website, the project portfolio was a main focus. Some of the main features that we included are:
The result is a robust project portfolio that makes LiRo’s expertise and exceptional work stand out:
View LiRo’s Project Portfolio >
Another benefit of a robust project portfolio? It’s a good way to keep visitors on your website longer. The longer someone stays on your site, the more they learn about you, making it more and more likely they’ll become a real lead or customer. Plus, the more time people stay on your site and the more pages they visit, the happier Google will be. And we’re always trying to keep Google happy, aren’t we!?
A project portfolio can be a powerful marketing tool for your company, especially if it’s well designed with great functionality.
Do you have a project portfolio on your website? Do you wish it could do more to showcase your company’s work?
If your company’s website isn’t doing what it needs to do for your business, Pomerantz Marketing can help. We’re a B2B marketing firm that specializes in construction.
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss how we can help you come up with a Big Message and take your web presence to the next level. REACH OUT NOW >
Website Messaging is Key to Connecting with Visitors
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Web Design, Web StrategyWhy You Need a Carefully Crafted “Big Message” on Your Website
When someone visits your website homepage for the first time, you want it to be immediately obvious what you do and why you’re special. Of course, there are other things that are important to convey (who do you do it for? how do you do it?), but first and foremost, you want to say what you do in an attention-grabbing way.
That’s why one of the first tasks we tackle on every new website is to come up with the “Big Message” that will do just that. This message often goes at the very top of the home page, in the hero image or billboard.
The “Big Message” can be a powerful tool on your website. In addition to conveying what you do and what makes you special in a short and sweet way (key for today’s short attention spans), a big message will:
Be the one thing every visitor will read
If a visitor can take away just one thing about your company, what do you want that to be? If someone does click away from your site quickly, you want to make sure they’ve at least read that key message.
Drive visitors to learn more
If your message is compelling and provides visitors with that initial connection, it should push them to scroll and click further into your site to learn more about your company.
Show your company’s personality
Is your company serious or playful? Bold or quiet? Verbose or to the point? The “Big Message” can convey a lot of those personality traits in a small package.
Help direct the copy throughout your website
If your “Big Message” is written in a way that can be leveraged throughout your website, you’ll really drive home that messaging. Make the message a touchpoint to continually refer back to on other site pages, which will help align your messaging and brand on a larger scale.
When we were redesigning The LiRo Group’s website, one of our first tasks was coming up with the “Big Message” for their homepage hero image.
It needed to be catchy but speak to their industry and expertise. Their old site (which you can see here) had no front-and-center messaging, so it was hard to immediately understand what they did and what made them different.
Now, “We’re Built for This” is the first thing you see:
This “Big Message” plays on the fact that the impressive and beautiful imagery on the homepage showcases projects that LiRo has, in fact, built. A subhead clearly defines the nature of their business: “Award-winning Integrated Construction, Design, and Technology Solutions firm, consistently ranking among the nation’s top companies.” A visitor to their site can easily understand what services they deliver and see evidence of their expertise.
Does your website do the same? Do you need help creating and implementing a “Big Message” to really speak to your website visitors?
If your company’s website isn’t doing what it needs to do for your business, Pomerantz Marketing can help. We’re a B2B marketing firm that specializes in the construction industry.
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss how we can help you come up with a Big Message and take your web presence to the next level. REACH OUT NOW >
Before and After: Inside Look at a Leading AEC Company’s Website Revamp
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Web Design, Web StrategyA Website Refresh Designed to Fuel Business Growth
This is why we start the new website process by working to understand our clients’ business objectives. Do they want more leads, or are they just looking to better show what they do? Do they want to speak to specific vertical markets, or are they more interested in telling their brand story? Is improving their recruiting efforts critical to their website? Understanding our clients’ real-world business objectives drives our entire web strategy.
When The LiRo Group, one of the top Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) companies in the U.S., turned to us to upgrade and modernize their website, they wanted to make sure their new website showcased all of the great work they do. They also wanted to clearly communicate their offerings, particularly those of a new technology division. While their old website had some of this information, the design was outdated and difficult to navigate, so it wasn’t doing their work and capabilities justice.
Pomerantz performed an extensive audit of LiRo’s top competitors to understand their market positioning. Then, we came up with a big message to differentiate LiRo from its competition, rewrote their web copy, redesigned the entire look and user experience, and added new pages that would help with some of their other business goals (more to come on that in future blog posts!).
Here’s a before shot of LiRo’s homepage:
And here’s what it looks now:
You can visit the live site at liro.com to get the fully upgraded experience.
To see more on LiRo’s before and after, check out the full case study. And check back here on the blog as we share more about how we addressed some of LiRo’s specific goals, with more before and after shots!
If your company’s website isn’t doing what it needs to do for your business, Pomerantz Marketing can help. Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss how we can take your web presence to the next level. REACH OUT NOW >
Make Recruitment Marketing a Key Part of Your Company’s Online Presence
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Recruitment, Web StrategyIf recruiting is important to your business, your website should reflect this— and not just with a single page of content!
Today’s potential recruits expect to see a modern website that paints a clear picture of your company’s culture and benefits. It should be easy for them to see why they would want to work for you. Uninteresting boilerplate content with bulleted lists of benefits isn’t going to capture their attention.
You need to bring your company to life online. A robust Careers page or microsite is a great first step. (What’s a microsite? It’s exactly what it sounds like – a smaller site within a site.) By creating a Careers microsite, you’re showing recruits how important hiring the right people is to your company. Putting effort into content that shows what makes your company special from a recruiting standpoint pays off.
From videos of company events and behind the scenes to full benefits explanations that really show off what you offer to candid employee photos, there are a number of creative ways to convey your culture through your website. If your company uses a third party system for applications and resumes, you can still link to that site, and even add some of your branding to it. But a Careers page shouldn’t just be a list of open positions – it can, and should, be so much more.
And it shouldn’t stop there! Your company should harness the power of social media for recruiting – many people start researching a company on social media before they even hit your website. Make sure you’re sharing photos, stories, events and more that can help convey what life is like at your company.
If you’re ready to take your recruiting marketing from non-existent to game-changing, reach out to Pomerantz now. We love helping companies bring their culture to life online, from Careers microsites to recruitment campaigns to social media. For over 20 years, we’ve served as the outsourced marketing engine for companies that embrace marketing but don’t want to staff up. We have a proven track record of helping to grow businesses from start-up to $100 million+ in revenue.
If want to take your recruiting marketing to the next level, schedule a free 30-minute consultation with Pomerantz. REACH OUT NOW>
How to Start Marketing Your B2B Company to the Private Sector
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced MarketingHave no clue what you’re doing when it comes to your B2B company’s marketing?
Many B2B companies have traditionally relied on getting business via RFPs or based on their reputation in the public sector. However, many of those same B2B companies eventually realize that there is also opportunity to be found in the private sector. Their offerings also have commercial and even specific vertical market appeal, and by ignoring that, they’re leaving money on the table.
To go after private sector work, you need to look and sound like a private sector, commercial company. Unfortunately, chances are that no one in-house knows how to accomplish that.
This is what Pomerantz does. We are B2B marketing experts who have helped a multitude of companies successfully cross the chasm from public to private sector by modernizing their brand, web and marketing presences. We define and implement strategic marketing programs aligned with our clients’ business objectives, including achieving online visibility for their offerings in the geographies they are looking to target.
Want a little head start doing this on your own? We’ve got a number of blog posts that help you get started on your own. And our free e-book, How to Make Your B2B Marketing Not Suck, is a comprehensive tool that walks you through Pomerantz’s proven, step-by-step marketing planning process. Here’s an overview of that process:
For tools and tips to follow through on those steps, download the e-book now.
If you’d rather jump straight to getting to work, schedule a free 30-minute consultation with Pomerantz now. For over 20 years, we’ve served as the outsourced marketing engine for companies that embrace marketing but don’t want to staff up. We have a proven track record of helping to grow businesses from start-up to $100 million+ in revenue.
Schedule your consultation now to get Pomerantz Marketing’s expertise on your side, and learn how we can help you market to the private sector with the best of them. LEARN MORE NOW>