Professional services firms can no longer rely on the brochure-style websites of the past. Marketing has changed and now leading A/E/C firms are using their website as a platform for thought leadership and a resource for business development and lead generation.
The A/E/C website of today needs to do more than just look better than the competition (that’s a given!); it needs to be planned, designed, written and developed with content marketing and lead generation at the core. But many websites in the A/E/C industry simply weren’t built this way. And whether your website is in need of an overhaul, or recently launched, chances are it could be lacking some critical features that are absolutely essential for marketing your A/E/C firm in the age we live in. So here are 8 key features for you to consider.
1. Unique value proposition
The emphasis here is on unique. Firms in the A/E/C industry typically use the same words and ways to describe their companies. Yes, your website must address the who, what, when, where and how of your business, but don’t forget about the why. What do you stand for? How is your approach to the exact same list of services and offerings as everyone else in your field unique and different? Once you’ve identified and crafted your messaging in a compelling way, it should be front and center on your homepage and sprinkled throughout your website.
2. Thought leadership blog
While blogging is such a crucial content marketing component, there are still many A/E/C firms who either don’t have a blog, or their blog is primarily populated by the wrong kind of content. I specifically titled this key website feature a “thought leadership” blog because that is exactly what the purpose of your blog should be.
Your blog isn’t a place to discuss your latest project win, share philanthropic contributions, spotlight employees or show photos from your latest company event. Your blog should be the place where you publish frequent, educational content that informs your target audience, answers their questions and displays your company’s subject-matter expertise. And be sure to include the ability for readers to subscribe to your blog to receive regular updates and communication from your firm.
3. Customer proof
One of the easiest ways to give your firm instant credibility with visitors and prospects is by showing “customer proof” on your website in the form of client testimonials. But don’t just showcase quotes alone; also add a photo of the client to bring their words to life. Even better, invest in some brief video testimonials from key clients and display them individually or edit them into a longer video.
4. Case studies
Notice I didn’t mention “project profiles.” Nearly every A/E/C firm has project profiles on their website that include details on the scope of a project, services performed, photos and other project-related information. Project profiles are useful to showcase the depth and breadth of your project experience. But case studies go beyond project profiles and tell a compelling story using specific examples, statistics and client testimonials.
Part of the story might be about how your firm solved an unusually difficult challenge, reached an otherwise unattainable deadline, incorporated some groundbreaking technology, saved the client money or provided exceptional customer service in a very specific way. Case studies don’t just showcase your firm’s expertise; they showcase your firm’s differentiators.
5. Visual content
They say that pictures are worth a thousand words and a video is worth a thousand pictures. And that’s because 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. A/E/C firms can benefit greatly from using visual content to tell their story. Imagine taking a written case study and creating a compelling video, complete with client and partner testimonials, on-the-ground commentary from subject-matter experts and persuasive visuals and motion graphics.
There are endless opportunities to use visual content to showcase what you do and why you’re different. As an example, infographics can be used to take a complex process such as BIM or stormwater runoff calculation and turn it into an educational and visually stimulating graphic that represents complex information in a more impactful way.
6. Compelling calls-to-action
A/E/C firms understand the importance of driving traffic to their websites, but once visitors get there what do you want them to do? Your website should contain different types of calls-to-action (CTAs) using links, buttons and banners throughout the website in order to engage your visitors and get them to perform specific actions. Do you want them to learn more about a particular service? Download a whitepaper? Subscribe to your blog? Request more information? Register for a webinar or event? View a case study? An effective use of CTAs will encourage your visitors to take action and will lead to more conversions.
7. Premium content offers and landing pages
Your A/E/C website should feature premium content offers such as eBooks, whitepaper downloads, research reports or webinar registrations. Premium content takes the information you might find on your thought leadership blog to a whole new level, and is worthy of requiring some basic information from a visitor in exchange for the offer. These offers should be promoted with CTAs located in key places throughout your website to drive visitors to unique landing pages for each offer. Landing pages are designed to promote an offer in a compelling way, give more information about the eBook or webinar and prompt visitors to fill out the brief lead capture form located on the landing page.
8. Website visitor tracking
Most A/E/C firms have Google Analytics installed on their website. And while that information is helpful, your business development team would like to go beyond pageviews and unique visitor statistics and get real intelligence they can actually do something with. Everyday there are unknown prospects, potential teaming partners and current clients visiting your website and you aren’t even aware of it. Who are they? What pages are they looking at? How did they get to the website?
Using advanced website visitor tracking and analytics provided by marketing automation software, you can determine the companies visiting your site before they even fill out a lead capture form and target likely prospects at those companies. For identified leads, you can gain a wealth of intelligence on their level of interest and engagement and arm your business development team with critical information that will guide face-to-face interactions.
Marketing in the A/E/C industry is rapidly changing and marketing departments are facing more pressure to contribute to the firm’s bottom line in ways other than proposal writing and interview preparation. One of the primary cornerstones of your overall marketing strategy should be to develop a marketing-focused, lead generating website that serves as a virtual business developer for your firm. These features outlined are just some of the “must-haves” needed to make your website more than just an online brochure.
via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/8-key-features-aec-website-lacking-0693131?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=8-key-features-aec-website-lacking
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