March 18, 2010
And yet, like QSR magazine, the World Wide Web is really not much more than a decade old. My how time and information fly!
Perhaps all new publishing ventures are at first a bit longer on enthusiasm than quality content, a notion that is hardly dispelled by looking back at some of the Web sites launched by major quick-serve corporations in the mid-1990s. Reviewing the earliest versions of the consumer Web sites of McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Jack In The Box, and the like, one gets a testament to the glories of mediocre clip art and arcane corporate accomplishments. Try to picture the Domino’s Pizza home page of today without a tempting pizza photo or a selling proposition. Instead there was a small picture of a cartoon truck driving around a primitively drawn earth, with jokey copy devoted to the revelation that the 1,000th Domino’s was opened in Perth, Australia.
The description resonates with William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association. Back in 1997, reports Rice, the WMA began an influential awards program that annually recognizes Web site achievement. Rice freely admits that the earliest era of Web site development was mostly a celebration of geek ambition, i.e. a techie show-off opportunity devoted to delivering some variation of the message, “Hey, we’re on the Internet.”
Still, it quickly became apparent that a lot of consumers were being drawn online. This led to a period that Rice describes as “the brochure phase.” Text and graphics became more professional and the information better managed and more inclusive. Basically though, Rice says, the experience was “still flat.”
What changed, and continues to change Web development in the present era is the addition of speed. When terms such as broadband, DSL, and cable entered the Internet lexicon, a truly vast potential for customer connection was born. Not only could companies provide every scrap of information a consumer could possibly need or want, a brand could also offer an effective platform for services such as take-out and delivery. High-speed data transmission also brought the opportunity for sophisticated relationship-building based on the entertainment power of audio and streaming video.
Tim Hackbardt, former marketing vice president at several major quick-serve chains and now Principal Farmer of the White Barn Group consultancy, urges his clients to pay heed to both the Internet’s past and its potential. Working with a number of clients that he says evolved from several to several-dozen or even several-hundred units, Hackbardt stresses the integration of well-executed Web sites into the brand building and marketing processes. Hackbardt says often a growing company makes the mistake of thinking that it is enough to simply have a Web site, with little thought given to image appropriateness or how the Web site translates into business opportunity.
“Currently, there’s a lot of smaller and mid-size businesses that are moving into new markets where customers have never heard of them,” Hackbardt says. “A lot of these people have five or seven year-old Web sites that they don’t take seriously, but the Web site is often the first contact a customer has in an expansion area.”
Still Hackbardt decries being technologically clever just for the sake of it. He is particularly critical of viral promotions that don’t seem to have much of a target or a selling point. He is, however, drawn to the power of streaming video. “People are missing out if they’re not considering streaming video,” Hackbardt says. “It gives you the opportunity to deliver full content about your brand, affordably and without time limitation.”
Even here, though, Hackbardt cautions that operators need to distinguish between offering brand content and running ads. Customers are looking for entertainment and truly interesting and relevant information, says Hackbardt, and they need a pay-off that makes them want to return to the Web site and the operation. “An ad is a ‘gotcha,’ not a reward,” he cautions.
Hackbardt cites Carl’s Jr and Krystal as Web sites he admires because they both embrace state-of-the-art Web capabilities and hone in so well on their target demos. Noting that what is fresh today often seems archaic tomorrow, Hackbardt also offers advice about the growing importance of mobile telephony formats in an on-the-go world. He predicts that many companies will eventually produce two Web sites, including one that comes across effectively on a cell phone platform.
Ultimately, though, the experts would seem to agree that the driving force in Web strategy should be translation into sales. Boston Market’s Chief Brand Officer, Trey Hall, emphasizes this point in discussing a revamped Boston Market Web site that won a top industry award in the most recent Web Marketing Association judging. Acknowledging the increased need for engagement between Web sites and their visitors, Hall admits that the real driver of the revamp was simply Boston Market’s intent of promoting two new business segments: catering and supermarket deli.
“We don’t have games,” Hall says. “Our customers are intelligent, and we provide them with intelligent information about our chefinspired, great-tasting meals. Any great brand has brand guidelines and the important thing is you need to know your own voice.”
That’s good advice on any level and in any medium of communications. Heck, it would probably even play in Perth.
