By Tim Giles
As published in Australian Franchise Review 2006

Web marketing in general suffers from a bolt-on philosophy in many organisations. It is little more than a means of promoting a fait accompli, an afterthought to be brought in at the conclusion of the product cycle to stir up some hype and be bundled it into a neat Powerpoint presentation. As a consequence it often fails to ignite as it should. Successful campaigns trip up on convoluted or slow sales processes. Unsuccessful campaigns get tossed in the branding bucket. Successful web businesses maximise the delivery of customers THROUGH the website not just to it.

For the franchise industry the issues are fundamental. A coherent and consistent web strategy should form part of any marketing plan. The internet allows for centralised management and distribution of communications, branding, resources and leads. Search engines can deliver customers irrespective of geographic boundaries. Appropriate use of digital media can reduce overheads related to printing marketing collateral. Web site support can add value and immediacy to existing media campaigns.

A good example of how this can occur happened with New Water in 2005. Their website was under performing. Rather than allowing for the easier actioning of sales leads it often delivered unqualified referrals and incomplete data requiring time consuming follow up by internal staff and agents. The site was difficult to maintain due to the complexity of its management system and it often stood idle with stale content and was operating as little more than an online brochure. To justify its existence the site needed to start earning it's keep.

The company reacted to this challenge by segmenting the problem into its key marketing components.

Exposure: (Everything that contributed towards getting someone on site)
The goal being to increase the number of qualified visitors to the website. Focus to be on quality not volume.

Interest: (Everything that contributed to keeping someone on site)
The content needed to provide sufficient interest to encourage further exploration within and through the site. The structure needed to streamline the flow of customers to the core site areas. These core areas were identified as being the Product Information page, the Downloads page, the Price page and the Contact page.

Engagement: (Everything that contributed to a web visitor interacting with your business)
As the primary purpose of the website is to generate leads the key metric for measuring engagement is the number of client contacts that can be traced directly back to the website. This includes submissions of enquiry forms, emails and phone calls to the 1900 number that are identified as being web sourced.

Conversion: (Everything that contributed to turning a lead into a sale)
Particular emphasis was on reducing the time lag between a customer submitting an enquiry and speaking to a sales representative.

The trouble with many web sites is that they get built with ill defined goals and without appreciation of the potential of the web as a sales and communication tool. The New Water example shows that once these issues are recognised and catered for the results can be quick and dramatic. Within weeks New Water had reduced its lead generation costs from nearly $60 per lead to approximately $30, the automation of the lead distribution from the site significantly reduced the time commitment of the back office staff in managing leads, and the resultant kick in search engine results brought the company and its products to the attention of parties who have subsequently become the company’s first international distribution partner in New Zealand. With national franchising now on the agenda the developed websites form a key component of the support systems saving the master franchise licensee the cost of having to develop a website and enabling New Water to maintain consistency of branding as well as being an efficient communication tool.

The broad lesson is that increasing the yield of web marketing requires pre planning structured around three broad goals.

· Streamlining existing systems to maximise revenue and reducing the costs of servicing the existing customer base

· Preparing a company for successful growth through implementing best practice methods and appropriate technology

· Ensuring that the company has the necessary tools, knowledge and business processes to be able to react quickly to market changes and cherry pick the best marketing ideas

Above all else you need to get your web marketing roadworthy before you are going to do well in the race. This has particular relevance for franchisors and franchisees alike.