I am working with a client in Scarsdale to overhaul their website. But as often happens the wish list of features is bigger than the online marketing budget. So what do you do when this happens?
You prioritize. And implement some tactical online marketing solutions. Here are some of the issues and how we decided to tackle them.
Custom Shopping Cart
This was a biggie. We needed a simple way to allow visitors to make multiple purchases before checking out. Sounds simple enough but because each item needed custom information – and the existing setup was old – it became a bit of a challenge to fit this into the budget. But it was a high priority item; and it stayed.
Content Management System
This was another high priority item. How could the client update the specials and market to existing clients without paying a fortune for some web designer (aka, yours truly – no offense taken!) to update the site each week?
We leveraged the existing, but limited, content management system so that seasonal specials could be updated. To make it easier, we created “standard” seasonal graphics that could be repurposed from one year to the next. Below the graphic, the details could then be edited allowing flexibility in the special being offered.
Email Marketing
Email marketing was not high on the list of priorities for the client. But it got a bump up when it became clear that this was the solution to staying in touch with clients, promoting specials and events going on in-store. By managing these on-the-fly promotions via email marketing we were able to keep the content management system budget on-track.
Logo Design
Updating the logo was not on the radar for this project. But since we were updating the look and function of the website, the current logo no longer served its purpose. In a perfect world, a logo redesign is part of a larger strategic marketing initiative. We didn’t have a budget for that so a more tactical approach was needed. We added a small amount to our budget to allow for a “nip and tuck” of the existing logo to update it and have it more accurately reflect the look of the client’s brick and mortar store; which provided the direction for the website.
So while wish lists and budgets will always bump up against each other, there are plentiful tools to help you move your marketing plan forward if you know where to look.