As I’ve been hunting for the right job fit, I’ve been able to observe companies from a perspective that often gets overlooked: the customer perspective. I spend on average 30-45 seconds on a business’s website, looking for specific information, like who they are, what they do, and whether I’m interested in them. I don’t read… I scan, picking up text here and there, and in 30-45 seconds I make a black and white decision on whether they fit my needs.
As I AM looking for a marketing job, part of which would entail capturing the attention of customers, it’s shocking to me how many businesses websites are self-absorbed. Now before you start throwing rocks let me explain. This website, for example, is all about me…as self-absorbed as you get, but what I’m referring to is the overall Tone. If you are reading this blog post, you’ve made a sub-conscious decision that this topic interests you, and so you allocate more time to reading it. Even though this website is about me, I’ve worked hard to create a Tone that interests visitors, while asking them to commit more time to learning about me (more about this in my next post). In this way, my website’s Tone is actually about you and your interests, and that’s what many businesses miss in today’s age of digital marketing. Businesses build websites, social media, digital, and online campaigns with the intention of meeting customer expectations, but the execution comes off as Tone Deaf to their customers.
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