benlehman.com » Digital Marketing

Breaking all the rules – website redesign wins 15 awards

BLehman — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:44:56 +0000

I like rules. They beckon success, do this and get that. The thing is the more I learn about marketing, about business I learn there’s only one rule to my surprise: break all the rules. Conventional is out, today’s competitive market rewards rule breakers. We did just that with a corporate website, www.Healthways.com, where typically the collective rules of the organization meld into a giant hairball mess. The user long forgotten and a site pleasing only to the corporate fathers. We took a different approach. On a challenge from our CEO to “make senior leadership uncomfortable” we set out to innovate how we market …and it’s been rewarded! Not by one, or two but three international digital leadership award committees. The redesigned Healthways.com has been granted over fifteen awards in categories such as, B2B Standard of Excellence, Health Care Standard of Excellence, Visual Appeal, Copy and Professional Services. In case you’re thinking, yeah but, let us add that the website was judged in categories with RMHP, American Express, Coca-Cola, Mayo Clinic, Emdeon, Pepsi and AT&T.

How did we do it? The key was excellence in execution on our three main objectives. Here’s how we broke the rules to win awards:

Strategy before make pretty. Prior to picking a single picture or a drafting one word we defined a clear strategy based on a thorough consensus. Explicit goals, specific intended user actions and measurement metrics were forefront.
Never mind the competitors. How easy it is to get wrapped up in what the next guy is doing. Instead we made a disciplined pact to not look at competitors. Instead we looked to a broader influence, what are the experiences of consumers today? What is the common expectation of a website experience? How are consumer websites delivering results? Taking careful consideration of the consumer experiences of sites such as nike.com led us to a solution forward design, which simply means we applied b2c practices to a b2b site – after all even our prospects, CEO’s/CFO’s etc. are consumers.
People not automatons. Content is still king …or queen. Our content queens wrote for people not ambiguous “users.” Have you ever met a “user?” Neither have we, but we do know some humans. The site was written in a consumer voice with clarity and a specific persona in mind. Sometimes less is more, to be concise was the last key while writing. Appropriate brevity is key today to a successful user experience, um I mean personal experience.

Well, I should get back to rethinking the site. But first, how are you taking a different approach?

What is Social Media?

BLehman — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:53:51 +0000

A colleague passed me this link, for those who’ve been wondering what social media is you’ll appreciate this two minute video. The video provides a nice text book definition and highlights 10 reasons today’s brands should not overlook its cultural potency. That makes me think of another point…

As it turns out there is actually a plethora of “social media experts,” fancifully worded agency social media pitches and no shortage of videos evangelizing the importance of social media to corporations. If I could submit one point it would be this: “Social media should be about making brands more accessible to users. Not using fancy words.” (source)

Reach: 1.7million. Cost: free.

BLehman — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:28:11 +0000

I joined Twitter! I’ve been holding out on a personal Twitter account due to the number of company accounts I maintain. I decided to move to Twitter as my primary social network tool for a simple reason, Facebook is cluttered. Yes, I know I could filter my Facebook news but I shouldn’t have to. I fear that flaw might be fatal for Facebook eventually, simplicity is the greatest of all challenges.

I’m taking it one step further, I’m limiting the number of who I follow to 50. I’m finding solace in simplicity these days. I was like many of you, a fat kid in a candy store (don’t take it personal), my network quickly expanded to so many I don’t have a REAL relationship with. This will be an experiment in the proverbial quality of relationship vs. quantity. This is not to say that social media is probably the best tool for networking to new roles, new friends and so on, I’m finding more value in quality connections at this point in life.

I’m not sure I fully understood the social media gospel I’ve been preaching until WholeFoods retweeted one of my first tweets… to 1.7 million of their followers! Here’s the tweet. It was nothing special, just a little wit and honesty about how much I love their product. My message reached a potential audience of 1.7 million, for free. The point is, this changes everything! I get it!

Improving corporate website strategy

BLehman — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:28:12 +0000

I’m still here… I’ve been busy launching the sparkling shiny new www.healthways.com. The site execution and strategy is a huge leap from “here’s some information about us, if you get bored here’s some large .pdf’s you can watch download” to “hi, we’re Healthways let’s chat.” A big adventure into information democratization for a traditional corporation. A digital expedition I’ll share more about later but right now I have some “tweedling” to do. In the meantime, go take a look and let me know your thoughts.

10 web trends to watch in 2010

BLehman — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:56:27 +0000

Seems everything I post recently has been content from others, oh well, at least it’s great content. It also means I’ve been busy, this weekend my big project for 2009 launches, www.healthways.com… so go check it out and let me hear your thoughts (here’s a sneak peek).

I stumbled on this insightful post on CNN by Pete Cashmore (yes, that is indeed his REAL last name), founder and CEO of Mashable.com: 10 Web Trends to Watch in 2010. Enjoy.

User-Created Content Dominates the Brand Message

BLehman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:33:13 +0000

Stumbled on this stat from 360i via Mashable.com today, fascinating. Here’s a snippet from Mashable and the link to read the entire post.

“…360i purports that a majority of social media search listings that appear for brand-related queries are created by individuals not affiliated with the brand. In fact, 77% of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook listings that appeared for brand searches were controlled by a party other than the marketer.“

Social Media in Search: User-Created Content Dominates the Brand Message [Stats]

Where will the web be in 10 years?

BLehman — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:00:11 +0000

Really, when was the last time you even called it “the web.” What a funny name. It’s outdated. Anyway…

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about next year’s digital plan, our strategy, and the next 5 years. Things are really looking different for corporations as we move further down the technology augmented reality trail we’re all (in one way or another) living. What does your digital team, strategy look like next year?

Since I don’t have time to write my own long post, I thought I’d share a few of the most recent items I’ve stumbled on across the “world wide webs” that is influencing my thinking.

Blog post from centre{source}, and the author of whence I stole my blog post title: Where will the web be in 10 years?

What the f*ck is social media

Digital marketing and knowledge networks

If 90% of the U.S. are now “digital natives” what does that make you? A “digital immigrant”? hmmm, food for thought.

And of course this has been on my mind too, as previously posted.

That’s it for now, follow my delicious.com bookmarks to see more interesting bits as I discover them.

What can you do with Twitter?

BLehman — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:31:35 +0000

Many that I talk with often state, “I don’t get it.” I don’t always “get it” either, that’s ok. Is it a fad, is it a phase… time will tell. But what I do know is that these tools, these innovations, are changing the way we connect just like the telephone did.

I stumbled on this, a blog post from a very active Twitterer, he recaps the “top things accomplished with Twitter,” you’ll be surprised at the connections he’s made and opportunities he’s created by simply twittering. I could ramble on about the outcomes I’ve experienced with Twitter as a small biz owner and digital marketer, but his post says it best: http://thecoffeemaverick.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-things-accomplished-using-twitter.html. Twitter works because it enables us to be knowledge hubs vs. knowledge hoards (read this).

Letting go of control, utilizing emerging/digital media in a troubled traditional market

BLehman — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:59:30 +0000

What he said…

To wrap this up, I want to share this quote that keeps popping to mind from Mavericks at Work which is applicable and very relevant: “Our basic argument is as straightforward as it is urgent: when it comes to thriving in a hyper competitive marketplace, ‘playing it safe’ is no longer playing it smart. In an economy defined by overcapacity, oversupply, and utter sensory overload–an economy in which everyone already has more than enough of whatever it is you’re selling–the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for a truly distinctive set of ideas about where your industry should be going. You can’t do big things as a competitor if you’re content with doing things only a little better than the competition.” Are you playing it safe or letting go of control, standing for a truly distinctive set of ideas?