So you’ve decided to have a website built for your well-known business. You want it to look smart, trendy and you want it to reflect the image that your business has already established over the last fifty years. Your business is already widely known for the wonderful products that it produces and the outstanding customer service that you provide to customers.
You’ve looked through the phone book and narrowed the field of potential web designers down to just two and you’ve asked them to come in to discuss the website with you. The first designer arrives dressed in a suit that’s contemporary but conservative. He speaks quietly but with authority and doesn’t need to use slang or profanity. He can answer all your questions clearly and concisely and he takes you through a prepared checklist of points that will help him understand what you want to include in the website.
He has a firm handshake and he looks you in the eye when he speaks to you. He uses a conservative gold pen to fill in the checklist and before he leaves he hands you his card … again, it’s conservative but it’s printed on good quality card and gives all the contact information that you could hope for.
When the second designer arrives he’s sporting a three-day beard; his jeans are grubby and his t-shirt displays a message that makes you want to cringe. His handshake is limp, he can’t look you in they eye and his business card is a inkjet printed on thin paper.
When he speaks he addresses you as ‘bro’ and ‘dude’ and he uses language that is full of jargon and profanities. He has no checklist and doesn’t really seem interested in hearing your thoughts on what the website should include.
Which website designer would you use? The one who projects a professional image or the one who looks like he sleeps under the bridge each night?
When it comes to marketing … whether it’s your product or yourself … image really is everything and first impressions are hard to overcome. In our example the second designer could have been a far better designer than the one who came dressed in a suit but the image doesn’t say that. The scruffy image says ‘LOSER’ in such a loud voice that it’s almost impossible to ignore.
