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Chicago agency closerlook is a relationship marketing firm specializing in healthcare (pharmaceutical, health insurance, and health information technology). They have an excellent agency website that builds upon tight positioning with a significant content strategy. So let’s break it down:
When I perform my crits of advertising agency websites the first aspect I evaluate is positioning. Positioning is a foundational element for an effective web strategy.
Positioning is defined as “what you do,” “who you do it for,” and “what the benefit is to them.” For example the positioning for AgencyCritique would be broken down like this. What do I do? I advise about web strategy. Who do I do it for? Advertising agencies. What is the benefit? I help them transform their websites into powerful new business engines.
Defining a sharp position statement is critical for an effective and sustainable web strategy. That’s because web strategy is primarily expressed through a content strategy. And developing compelling content on a regular and sustained basis is hard work. But hard work is always made easier when you have the right tools. A good sharp axe makes the task of chopping wood easier–you can exert less force with fewer blows.
Think of your positioning as the edge of your axe. If your firm’s positioning is sharp (focused, narrow, and clearly defined) the effort needed in content creation will be much less than if the positioning is dull (over-reaching, broad, and generalized).
Not only is content creation easier with sharp positioning, it’s also more compelling and effective. Conversely, an out of dull-edged content strategy is hard to sustain and its results are ineffective. Most agency sites I’ve seen that have made a stab at devising a content strategy (such as blogging) they usually do okay for a few months. They’ll start out with a few posts per month, but soon the fatigue sets in. Ideas run dry, and the posts don’t bear much fruit. It’s not surprising that such posts are ineffective. Their subject matter tends to be about typography, design awards, new projects–stuff that’s only marginally interesting–and that only to other designers. This is the kind of content that flows from an undefined content strategy which results from generalized positioning.
But blogs from specialized, narrowly positioned firms are far more interesting–especially to clients and prospects who are interested in content that relates to their industries. Let’s try this on. Imagine for a moment that your firm had a super sharp positioning, something like “trade show marketing for technology startups–we help you make the most of your trade show events.” This is perhaps an extreme example, but just imagine for a moment that this was your focus and expertise. Can you come up with half a dozen subjects that you could write about, if that was your expertise? Even without having the expertise I bet you could come up with a decent list. And for specialized firms compelling content ideas are easy to come by. And when a prospect discovers them, the sales process is near to closing even before your phone rings or your email comment form gets filled out.
Web strategy is like an axe, the blade is a content strategy, and its sharpness is defined by your positioning. So sharpen your axe, and you won’t have to exert as much effort in your marketing.
In the recent HOW magazine article, Rock Your Website, Chicago-based Remedy was one of the featured website examples. Remedy is a good example of an agency website, but I’m not quite ready to push it into the great column. It’s on the edge though, and with a few adjustments I think it could become one of the great examples of an agency website.
Positioning: Remedy has already done the hard part. They’ve taken the step of defining a narrow positioning in the healthcare market. And they’ve identified their approach to healthcare marketing–they move healthcare brands toward expressions that overcome our consumer aversions and negative pre-dispositions of hospitals and healthcare services in general.
The only positioning weakness (as it’s represented in their website) I see is on their services list. It contains a few too many categories, and uses the word “Brand” a bit too much.
I also see “public relations” listed at the end of the list. Whenever I see this it makes me immediately think that the list is just trying to cover too much ground. I may be completely wrong about this criticism as it applies to Remedy (for all I know they may have significant public relations expertise) but I see it so often, and usually at the end of the list–that it casts doubt. I’m always is favor of shorter, more defined service lists that relate more closely to expertise.
Content: The content strategy is framed-up and heading in the right direction. But this is where the site needs a bit of work. Their portfolio content is excellent. They’ve provided written details covering several facets of each project’s strategy and process.
In addition, they just stared a quarterly newsletter–so there is only one issue so far. In my opinion quarterly publication is the absolute minimum schedule for an agency newsletter, bi-monthly would be better. Hopefully, they’re working on the 4th quarter newsletter. For some reason, the link to the newsletter (and come of the other areas of the site) launch new browser windows. I’m not sure why they’d do this, it feels awkward to me.
They also have a “New” section. It’s almost a blog–and that’s the problem. If it’s not a blog it’s purpose is a little confusing. It might be intended as a simple “News and Events” list, in which case I’d simplify the layout and add dates to each item. But if it is supposed to be blog-like, I’d press it further into blog form by including RSS, author, comments, categories, link bait, etc.
Platform: Y’all know what a big fan I am of Flash. While Remedy does use Flash for their homepage, they are commendably restrained its use inside the site. They also provide text links into the main sections outside of the Flash movie. Nevertheless, I always feel that the choice to use Flash for impact on the homepage is a poor one. It’s hard for me to understand why you’d relinquish the powerful opportunity to leverage your site’s content by linking to it from the home page–for the sake of one dynamic graphic. But that is the “creativity barrier” in action.
I can’t detect the use of a CMS. The site is written in PHP, so there may be some site updating tools available. I suspect, though, that it’s hand-coded, especially since I randomly encountered a broken link on the sitemap page (Jessica Daly’s bio). This is usually just a typo in the coding–an automated CMS wouldn’t likely have this kind of error.
And finally, as far as platform goes, the browser titles need optimizing. The home page’s browser title, for example, should contain “healthcare marketing” in it. This is an almost universal oversight so I don’t usually knock too many points off for this.
Design: My design comments relate primarily to information design and usability. Most agency sites are going to look good. The main navigation system is a little weird. When I click one of the main links (Who, What, How, and New) I don’t go anywhere. Yet if I click the same links in the footer navigation they do resolve to overview pages. The final critique on interfaced design is the main navigation for the portfolio. The navigation area allows for scrolling and clicking their list of clients and projects. But the space only allows four items to be viewed at any time. This makes it difficult to browse. A rollover, drop-down that lists all the items would be much more usable–especially since there are only about eight or so in the full list.
I think remedy is on a trajectory toward an excellent agency website. Opening up their platform and pushing the content strategy a bit further may get just them there.
The very first agency website I reviewed for “The Crit” was Currency Marketing. I’m re-writing the post. My original post was far too brief for such an excellent example of agency positioning and such an exceptionally executed content strategy.
Positioning: Tim McAlpine founded his agency in 1990. But it wasn’t until 2003 that he took the bold step to re-position The McAlpine Group (their former name) as Currency Marketing, a specialized Credit Union marketing firm. It’s rare that creative firms overcome their initial terror at the idea of such focused positioning. Fears of opportunities lost or being passed over for other kinds of work (not to mention the fear of boredom from doing “just one thing”) often give agencies pause. It’s sometimes easier for agencies to warm up to the idea of positioning the way Tim did at the time, by maintaining two “brands.” In 2004 Tim created Currency Marketing for credit unions and Passport Marketing presumably for everything else. But three years later the fruits of Currency Marketing’s positioning were so profound he dropped Passport and now enjoys a laser focused specialization, which gives him valuable expertise and a leading position in credit union marketing.
Content: Any agency can (and should) pick a bold and narrow position and build their brand around it. But declaring a position is just the first step, proving it is what ultimately counts. That’s where a robust content strategy can be invaluable. And this is where Currency Marketing shines. I guarantee if you go to the Currency Marketing website and spend ten minutes (or many hours) you’ll be completely convinced that they have a profound degree of expertise and knowledge about credit union marketing. If you were a credit union looking for marketing help you would be sold before ever picking up the phone. The content of the site is focused, broad, and deep.
It’s focused because it always centers on credit union marketing issues. For example, in a recent blog post, instead of merely adding his two cents about the Seinfeld/Gates Microsoft ad (like everyone else) he asked the question, “Are your credit union’s marketing efforts worthy of comment?“
Their content is broad. They have a blog (that’s updated almost everyday), an e-newsletter, a podcast, whitepapers, and speaking seminars viewable as embedded slide shows.
And the content is deep. The blog is extremely robust, the podcast and newsletters are consistently created.
Currency has also created two programs that both extend their focused content and generate new business opportunities. The invented a “Young & Free” licensing program and a cuckoo marketing program for small credit unions. Not only do these two programs extend their offerings, they further demonstrate and prove their expertise and positioning.
Platform: From what I can tell their site is built on a Cold Fusion platform. I cannot discern the content management system though I assume it’s K1 Techology’s product. They’ve avoided all the main platform gaffes common to many agency sites (splash pages, Flash, overuse of graphics for text, etc.). They certainly have no barriers to getting their content online since the site is updated so consistently. They could stand to improve their page specific title tags and meta descriptions to improve search engine optimization. I also find it a bit strange that their newsletter links open up into a new browser window and have extended, encoded URLs. I assume this is for tracking/measuring purposes (which, if so, is great to see), but the new window seems unnecessary. I do like that they are using Google Analytics to measure their site’s traffic.
Design: I think the visual design of the site is very clean, balanced and easy to read. Navigation is fairly intuitive. I think their sub page navigation gets a little lost and could use a visual boost or get relocated closer to the main navigation bar. The only significant flaw is a problem with their home page call-to-action animation. There are a few different messages in rotation (which I’m not sure is a great strategy to begin with). One of these begins “Hi There…” and ends with a call-to-action link that goes to a quiz, but the quiz is not online yet. If a first time visitor happens to get this version of the animation and goes to the quiz page to find it’s not there, they might abandon the site without learning how powerful the firm really is. Another very minor detail is the e-newsletter list. The oldest is listed first, giving the impression that the newsletter hasn’t been published since February 2007. Since many people scan a site before digging in, it’s important to read a site quickly to find elements that may give an incorrect quick initial impression. Of course these are very minor flaws in an otherwise amazing example of strong agency positioning with a powerful content strategy to match!
The Talstone Group is heading in the right direction with their website. They’ve already done the hard part, choosing a bold and narrow positioning statement (they specialize in healthcare marketing). They also have a site platform that includes a news section and blog so they have the means to employ a solid content strategy. But they seem to stumble in implementation of a content strategy that accords with their clear positioning.
Positioning: As already mentioned Talstone specializes in healthcare marketing. Their portfolio shows many examples of work in the healthcare area. The only criticism I have of their positioning is their list of strategic capabilities. They list 53 distinct areas of service. For a six person shop this is seems like a stretch. Capabilities lists should usually follow the truism that “less is more.” If you have any distinct areas of service that relate specifically to an area of expertise, by all means list that. Otherwise a brief list of overall service categories is sufficient.
Content: Content is where this site falls short of its potential. First, the work section could use descriptive copy for each piece. So much goes into the final product of an agency’s work that there should be plenty to say. They do have an excellent case study under the “case studies” section. A few more would be welcome. They also offer an email newsletter for tips, information and white papers. I’d get this content onto the site. Most people at least want to see some samples before giving up their email address. Besides, it’s this kind of content that empowers a website.
The “News & Notes” section is out of date, the last news item is from November 2007. I’d guess that’s because they started their blog around that time and began paying it more attention than the news section. That’s fine, in fact I’d say agency sites that have integrated blogs could just go with a news category or tag and the separate news section out. In this case I’d just convert the existing news items to back dated news posts in the blog and kill the section.
The Talstone blog looks like it got off to a decent start, but posts have dropped off of late. I’d guess that’s because there wasn’t a strong content strategy behind the blog in the first place. The content of the posts consist of fairly random musings. Which is fine–general interest posts can add real personality to an agency blog. However, general posts ought to be sprinkled in among more regular, meaty, thoughtful, and professional posts. Since Talstone has a clear positioning statement they should be able to devise a corresponding content strategy–one that will demonstrate their expertise.
General content, or design oriented content is a common mistake for agency blogs and newsletters–especially when the agency doesn’t have a focused position. In these cases the time investment for generating regular blog posts becomes too great. It becomes difficult just to come up with subjects. And when the impact of the blog is so low it hardly seems worth it. Chris Butler wrote an excellent newsletter for Newfangled on developing a sustainable content strategy.
Platform: I don’t see any particular problems with the website’s platform. I can’t detect if there is a content management system underneath, but I assume there is since there’s a blog. As with most websites there’s a great opportunity to optimize the content for search by implementing unique, page specific title tags.
Design: I like the visual design, it’s clean, simple, easy to navigate, everything you hope for in a web interface. I get a little thrown off by the window shade navigation. The sections stay open even after clicking a new one–except when they don’t. And when a few sections are open at the same time it gets visually confusing as to which items are the main categories and which are the sub pages. It’s relatively easy to decode, but as Steve Krug insists about web design “Don’t Make Me Think.” Fixing the functionality so that only one sections stays open at a time and perhaps indenting the sub page titles would help. I also find that the diagonal line pattern in the main content area has a bit too much contrast on top for readability. All in all, minor criticisms for an otherwise well designed site.
Thanks @itafroma (That’s Mark Trapp for you non-twitter folks) for tagging the Bear Brook site in del.icio.us with my accrit tag.
Positioning: Bear Brook Design’s positioning, clearly declared on the home page, is “experts in entertainment and media marketing.” This expertise is demonstrated front and center with a rotating series of entertainment-oriented work samples. The portfolio further proves their expertise with clients consisting of radio, television, media and arts organizations. Their range of services is refreshingly kept to four: Branding, Environment, Print, and Web/Interactive. True, these categories do cover a lot of ground. But at least they don’t go out of their way to list every possible area of service as though they were afraid to leave any opportunity uncovered.
One of the real strength of Bear Brooks positioning is under utilized. They have an entirely separate website that describes their unique “Brandopoly” solution. This looks like a highly refined offering. It certainly differentiates them and demonstrates expertise. I would make more of this on the website. They do link to it off the homepage, and it is listed under “Services,” but such a powerful tool should have more of a site wide presence, perhaps even it’s own navigation tab.
Content: The site’s content is good, but could be pushed further. I’m happy to see some commentary on all the portfolio detail pages, and the news section is updated regularly. They also have a resources section with a handful of thoughtful articles. I would add article dates, in order to establish an expectation for update frequency. With such a focused position though, establishing a more robust content strategy, perhaps integrating a blog, should be quite attainable.
Platform: Bear Brook is running Drupal as a CMS so I’m sure they’ll have no problems making site updates. The page coding is clean and should give search engines no trouble. The URL structure gets a little long (too many slashes) as you dig down into the content (ex. http://bearbrook.com/about/news/2008/bear-brook-brands-bethel-woods). Since the most robust content pages end up with the longest URL they’ll take a small hit in search results. This is minor issue but could be improved (Note: whenever changing URL structures remember to use 301 redirects for the current page URLs). I love it that they use unique title tags for each page! But they could be more strategic in the choice of phrases.
Design: The visual design is very clean, intuitive and easy to use. It’s sign of web maturity when a design agency shows restraint on the overall visual design in order to promote the work, the thinking and the content. While the website won’t show up in Communication Arts Interactive annual (and I don’t think agency sites should be aiming for this) it is a refreshingly clean site, with an attractive design and no significant interface problems.
Pure Branding is a branding and packaging agency for organic and natural products. The first factor in “The Crit” evaluation is positioning–and it’s first because it’s most important. Without strong positioning their is no way for content (the second most important factor) to be as powerful as it could be. Pure Branding has a strong positioning statement and the site backs it up. Their news items, featured articles, work examples and case studies all prove out their specialization and expertise. The only reason the site didn’t score a five for content is that there just isn’t enough of it. A blog would really help, as would a more steady stream of case studies. I’d also like to see just a bit more writing on the portfolio example pages.
The platform seems fine, there are no structural hindrances to search engines or linking. However, they are not taking advantage of their title tags which would help leverage the content. The design is perfectly acceptable. The site is easily navigable, fast loading, clean, and orderly. I’ll always take strong positioning, compelling content, strong platform and clean layout over visual pizzaz, but to get all that and a distinctive visual presentation would be a bonus.
I usually don’t critique Flash based agency sites (which significantly narrows the field), since they almost always fail on at least three of the four aspects I consider most important. But CCG Metamedia scores very high on positioning. Since positioning so foundational to an effective site I wanted to include CCG in The Crit. CCG Metamedia focuses on digital media for the scientific and medical fields. The site backs up their positioning and they give compelling examples. The visual design (not the UI) is well done, but since the user interface is so “creative” it’s hard to use and so their design score suffers on that account. Content is shallow, again symptomatic of most Flash sites. There’s great hope for the content though since the positioning is clear. Of course being a Flash site, with absolutely no effort made to help out search engines, the platform gets a failing grade, no surprise there.
Oh, and be warned, when you visit the site they run their site’s music upon loading. I really wish agencies would stop doing this.
