Category: Marketing

7 Web Design Tips If Your Website Audience Covers All Age Groups

Whilst it might seem difficult to believe that the Covid-19 pandemic created anything positive, there are a few. It certainly saw the medical community create vaccines in record times, and we are sure the incredible efforts of health care staff is greatly appreciated by all.

Something a bit more curious occurred due to covid-19 and that was the increase in the number of people going online and in particular the number of seniors who used the internet for the first time. More often than not it was to see and speak with their loved ones, but there was also an increase in seniors using the internet for other reasons such as entertainment or shopping.

This brings into focus an issue that may not always have been at the forefront of modern web design, and that is making sure that websites are suitable for users of all ages, including seniors. The myth that those online are mostly aged 16 to 35 has long been busted, with the numbers of those online aged 75 and over doubling over recent years. Today, web designers need to cater for all age groups, so here are 7 web design tips for making your website suitable for all.

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Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing

Nowadays it seems that everyone and their mother has either a Twitter or Facebook account. Social media networks are incorporated into practically every area of our lives, making it easier and more accessible to connect and communicate with others.

Small wonder that the corporate world is looking at ways to utilize the power of social media to its benefit. When designing a marketing campaign for your organisation, there are many social media-friendly strategies that can be employed.

To broaden your reach and make gains in clientele, you must use the mediums your clients are using when they look for your product or service. This will not only ensure you get a great return on investment but also enable you to communicate with the right audience.

In a recent interview, Adam Davies – founder of Show Clicks and a regular speaker on social media – stated that “People these days want up-to-date information and want to connect with each other in a more effective and efficient manner. Social media platforms allow people to stay connected in ways that were not available before.

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Planning For a Successful Integrated Digital Strategy Part Three

Once you have support for the digital strategy and vision, it is time to document it and find the right suppliers to support implementing the component parts of the strategy.

Create & deliver your strategy

Capture the strategy in a document, but be mindful that this is likely to change. Business requirements can change quickly and the digital strategy needs to be able to respond, so plans cannot be set in stone, they may have to adapt throughout the year.

Outline the goals of the strategy and the approach that will be taken. Then get formal signoff as needed, from the various areas of the business who are key to delivering the strategy and whose support will be required to implement, fund and approve the milestones throughout.

Communicating the strategy to the business is an important step, so the business knows what the digital goals are and how they’re going to be delivered. This is also a good time to re-enforce those stakeholder relationships you’ve been working hard to create.

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Planning For a Successful Integrated Digital Strategy

Having worked in digital for 15 years, in a number of different roles and within some large and complex organisations, I recently gave a talk about achieving a successful integrated digital strategy, which contained a lot of tips based on these experiences. Breaking down the content of the talk into a series of articles, I hope that readers will be able to use some of these tips.

When planning your digital strategy, it is important to remember:

It can be a complicated time, the business you work in might be complex, and the digital strategy itself can require an understanding of technical capabilities (or limitations) Add to that the fact that the landscape is constantly moving, and it can be a difficult challenge to define what you want to achieve using digital.
The strategy is not a static item. It is something that needs to be defined and documented, but it is likely to change and may sometimes have to adapt quickly to the business that might be changing around it. Strategic digital marketers need to be prepared for this.

Digital marketers need to understand how digital fits within their organisation, the various stakeholders and touchpoints, in order to shape a digital strategy that truly supports the business and its goals.

Align digital objectives with business objectives
It is important to understand what the business aims to achieve overall and how digital can support these objectives.

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Planning For a Successful Integrated Digital Strategy Part Two

An important part of getting any digital strategy implemented is ensuring that the right support is available – this means getting the right people to support the ambitions and securing enough budget to implement the strategic plan.

Understand your business in a local/global context

Look at your competitors and other businesses to see what they’re doing in areas you want to focus on, such as email marketing, social media, website. Understanding the existing activity in a particular area of digital marketing can provide some insights into what is engaging the audiences of businesses in your industry.

Compare your own activities and identify where you need to improve. This can be done through formal audits and benchmarks, or informally. Even if done at a very basic level, capturing this information creates a baseline to measure against in future. Being able to identify where your competitors excel in the digital space, may also help get buy-in from senior stakeholders.

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Planning For a Successful Integrated Digital Strategy Part Four

When implementing the digital strategy, it is now time to look at tools, processes and the impact that the digital strategy may have on the organisation.

Tools

When choosing which tools to use for implementing your strategy, ensure that the tools are measured for their ability to deliver on the business objectives – consider the strengths of each type of tool and how well they will support the strategy.

Make sure to define the business requirements before looking at tools, as there’s a risk of getting caught up comparing tools and potentially missing a key requirement.

While there are lots of tools that can do multiple things, such as email marketing tools that also manage social media marketing campaigns and include detailed analytics capabilities, these tools might be over-complicated or more expensive than what you really need.

Be clear on what you can afford to compromise on without losing any capability that is strategically important.

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