Dave Cain: Welcome to unsuitable on Rea Radio, the award-winning financial services and business advisory podcast that challenges your old-school business practices and their traditional business suit culture. Our guests are industry professionals and experts who will challenge you to think beyond the three-piece suit, white shirt, wingtips and conservative tie to help you enhance your company’s growth with meaningful modern solutions. I’m your host Dave Cain.
It’s 2018 and anybody who’s anybody has a website. These days, it is no longer something that’s just nice to have, it’s a marketing necessity. It’s a place where you can tell your story, outline your products or services, highlight your brand and ultimately secure the sale. That being said, it’s no longer enough to build a nice … virtual real estate and set it and forget about it. Today, so much more has to go on your website if you truly hope to see that much desired return on investment.
Now, full disclosure. Even though I speak with authority, I don’t know what specifically goes into building a kick ass website but I know someone who does. Brad Circone, president and chief brand officer at Circone & Associates is here to talk about the work that goes into building a top-notch website and how business owners can outshine their competition by simply paying closer attention to a few key elements. Welcome back to unsuitable, Brad.
Brad Circone: Thank you Dave.
Dave: Good. In the intro, we talked about your company, Circone & Associates. We need an elevator speech from you. You’re one of the top entrepreneurs around Rea & Associates and so we need to know more about your company.
Brad:We have been doing specifically brand differentiation, which means the separation of your company and its products and services from anybody else in that category. That’s what we’ve been doing for 17 years. Started out in the advertising business, which was more tactical, and now the last, I don’t know, 12 years all we focus on is this idea of what we call positional brand differentiation. In other words, those messages that set you apart from anybody else with like or similar services.
Dave:I’ve seen you speak a number times on the very topic, and you’re a great presenter in the whole brand presentation and website. I remember one presentation, we always talk about entrepreneur and rock ‘n roll and stuff like that. Your presentation always has a music theme, a rock ‘n roll theme. If I recall, you used to be in a rock ‘n roll band in the 70s, early 80s.
Brad:Yeah. Not 70s. Nope, no … Frampton quite yet.
Dave:Yes.
Brad:But yeah, we were signed to Geffen for $3.6 million from ’89 to ’92, and toured with the Ramone’s and a bunch of other unique bands. It was a time where I learned about differentiation. It really taught me, the discipline of rock ‘n roll taught me about the poetry of business.
Dave:Was that the blitzkrieg bop tour with the Ramone’s?
Brad:That’s correct. I don’t think they even named any of their tours. It was just Ramone’s.
Dave:They just went out whenever-
Brad:They just went out. They went out. None of the tours were named, but speaking of differentiation since you brought it up, the Ramone’s invented an entire category of rock ‘n roll called punk rock. A lot of people think punk rock was invented by the Sex Pistols or The Clash, and that’s not true. It was actually the New York Dolls in New York City and the Ramone’s, so that’s pretty interesting that they took the time … They had the smarts because people think about the Ramone’s as a simple, it’s a fast two-minute song. The truth of the matter is, they invented an entire other category that has influenced all the great bands of today from REM to U2 to even The Chain Smokers.
Dave:That’s a good segue because your presentation goes through and you identify the bands, and you talk about branding and websites. Virtually every band you follow today you go on and they have a website.
Brad:Yes.
Dave:You can find out anything and everything about all the band members, the lyrics and so forth. Today, we could talk about music the rest of the day but I think we’re going to talk about building a website.
Brad:Yeah. If you think about it, music is expressionism. Everybody understands that, and we try to teach businesses how to express themselves better. The best way for a business to express itself omnipotently is through digital.
Dave:Can you spell that?
Brad:Nope.
Dave:But the point is, oftentimes I don’t think company spend enough time caring about everything that goes into that website. If you do go to rock ‘n roll bands’ websites, or even classical music websites, or jazz websites, you will see that the visual acuity of that site directly affects and symbolizes the band itself. You’d mentioned about not paying enough attention to the website, and of course all of us have looked at websites, all different sizes, shapes, no matter what we’re doing, but just a couple tips. Let’s talk about what makes a great website.
Brad: Number one, I would say minimalism. Less is more. Clarity becomes the most important thing so get to the punch line quickly and often. Number two, you would be surprised how many websites today are not responsive on a mobile device. The world is seen through mobility. It’s not seen through a desk anymore. It’s seen through mobility and I’m talking about major firms that do not have responsive sites, so that would be number two. Keep it easy and then make sure that it’s mobile friendly.
Three, make content that is extraordinary, not just content because you have a bunch of things that you do so say it all. Don’t boil the ocean, as you were talking in the last podcast, but rather keep that content to either, you better educate somebody, engage them or delight them. Sometimes it can just be joyful. Reading something on Facebook works because you’re habitually addicted to it because it’s joy that you get in catching up with friends or learning something that you didn’t know before.
The other thing I would say is to make sure the navigation isn’t too deep. When you talk about professional services firms, especially, or businesses that are complex, you’ll see navigations that have a parent nav. We call them parent. When that opens up, that’s the child. That’s what it’s called when you’re developing and those navigations all the sudden turn into a family tree that goes all the way across the site, and again you’re certainly not thinking mobile, so you want to keep it very simple and simple to find the nav. That’s very hard to do when you have a complex business that’s very knowledgeable with a lot of people.
Dave:So the mobility, I’ll call it mobility, and that’s a must. That is a …
Brad:It’s cost of entry.
Dave:As we look at this and talk about this, I can go out and buy a web design builder, do it yourself, for 199 bucks. That might work if I’m doing tax returns out of my basement, but that’s probably about all that’s worth. Would you concur?
Brad:I would concur, but I would probably be more critical of that. And the reason is, you want a partner to push you along the way. You need a partner to be objective. No matter how small or how big your business is, you have to be bold and brave. Oftentimes, I see websites that are built on, “Well, what would the customer want to hear?” Well, it doesn’t matter. Who are you and what do you stand for? Then look at your services through the eyes of your customer, but you always need a partner.
Yes, they can put up a parking lot. That’s not a website. Putting up a parking lot for free that has a bunch of blank spaces where people can park their interest doesn’t commit you any business. To get business, you’ve got to again be bold and brave and beautiful about what you want to express and express that through the tongues of your would-be prospects that are now viewing the site. That’s the tricky part. That’s what makes it hard is the latter of what I just said.
Dave:How do you gauge that?
Brad:Research. Research, research and research.
Dave:Research?
Brad:Absolutely. Part of this is to make sure that you don’t get too lost in what I call the egocentric eye. Years ago, I wrote an article for Business First where I coined that phrase “the egocentric eye” and oftentimes when we work with companies, the first thing they do is say, “Well, we’ve got to say this. We think it’s important that we say this. Oh, and by the way, this is very important that we say this.”
You ask them for a hierarchy. Okay, well what’s the most important thing and what’s the least? All the sudden, the hierarchy becomes this horizon. In doing that, you realize right away, “Oh okay, so this is about you. It’s not about the customer.”
Dave:So it’s not based on research. What’s the term?
Brad:It’s based on ego.
Dave:Egocentric.
Brad: The egocentric eye. An egocentric eye gets in the way and it blinds us from the goal, and the goal is to build a website from the point of view of those who want to view it. So you have to go out and ask your customers, “What do you really like about our website?” Let them say, “I don’t like anything,” or “I like two sections. I go and I look at these articles. I also like this section where you do a once a month free giveaway.” Whatever that is, do all that research before you can begin building because otherwise you’re building something that may not be wanted by anybody.
Dave:This may be a good time to go in this direction. Recently, you assisted Rea & Associates with rebuilding our website where we have multiple locations, 13 locations, across the state of Ohio, over 300 employees. We’ve got service here, this service, this service. How in the world did you tackle that project?
Brad:Well, in all seriousness, by starting out with a great internal team at Rea that cared enough to listen to an outside objective voice saying, “Guys, let’s simplify this in a way that the average business owner, especially those that you serve, can get on this site and it can function for them.” So one of the things that we did is, on our homepage, we made it feel less accounting in that it begins in a carousel moment where you’re eavesdropping into the lives of our clients.
It’s part of what we’ve been trying to do in the tone of this podcast, and so when you go onto our website, we want to add the stories, how we’ve been behind scenes, the Rea heroes are behind the scenes of the real heroes, which are our clients. The idea was to make true stories out of the brand through the voice of our client.
Dave:Has our check cleared yet?
Brad:Just did.
Dave:Just did. Good. All right, so you’re buying …
Brad:I just got a text.
Dave:Yeah, …
Brad:Everything’s good, so good. Folks, it’s working. Check us out.
Dave:You use the term “artfully executed” and I’m not sure what that means. Help me out. Define, what is artfully executed?
Brad:By that, I say all the time the idea of if you’ve been to an art museum or you happen to like a certain illustrator, or I was talking to a client last night who was challenging me on finding a better list of artists that are on epic records and how the prolific epic record was. My point is, artfully executed means knowing when not to have any more voice and give room to the experience.
So in design, things in three matter because they create a form of imbalance so that you can have wide open space. Oftentimes, if you look at even some of the early sites that we did as a company and that Rea did in some of the iterations of their site, they’re very copy heavy. One thing you want to do nowadays, one thing you want to do nowadays is make sure that you police that so that there is space for the visitor to both view and read.
Websites are visual properties, so I sometimes say, “If you could commission one piece of art per page, what is that piece of art and let’s stick just to that.” The navigation can lead us to different frameworks, but we don’t need to spend tons of time on copy and other forms of art that distract from that moment of being artfully bonding with the visitor.
Dave:So really you’re an architect, you’re an engineer of the website where you build based on research and data that you’ve accumulated over your years of experience.
Brad:That’s right. And even if you note, if you go to, let’s take Casper. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on the Casper bed website, but it’s a huge, of … time period, it is a huge brand right now. Their positional tagline is something around, “Better night’s sleep creates a better life.”
Dave:Oh, it that the mattress they put in the box?
Brad:Yes, yes, and they’re selling at $1000 and Tempur-Pedic is selling at 5500. According to Consumer Report, Tempur-Pedic is lower on the grading system by CR than Casper. Casper is the highest, is the fastest growing mattress company because they’ve been disrupted by putting a mattress in a box but go to their website. It’s like being inside of a cloud and their mattress is about that.
Dave:We have to change directions. You’re putting us all to sleep here talking about mattress. Obviously, your name is well known around central Ohio for website building, but I also understand you travel around the country. In fact, one of your associates shared with me that you have a trip scheduled out to California to pick up some rewards.
Brad:Nope, I do not know about that.
Dave:You don’t know about that?
Brad:No.
Dave:We’ll fill you in. I think that’s an inside joke somewhere.
Brad:I think it might be. I think it might be, but I don’t know about it.
Dave:Let’s understand the three Ps, you talked to me about the three Ps of web perfection. Being a novice in website building, I want to go out … I was ready to buy the 199 version and cut you out of the deal until I heard about these three P’s of web perfection. What are those?
Brad:First, this idea of viewing the web as a platform. As a marketing piece, you can … It’s something that is always communicating, it never closes, so you have to understand that the web is the most critical platform of 99.9% of all businesses today, whether it be, I mean look at Casper. They reinvented the entire industry based on the ability to change distribution points. We don’t go to a retailer. Your retail experience is at the Casper site on the website, so you have to think of the website as a platform, not as a medium.
Back in the advertising days, people would say, “What do you on the web? What do you do on TV? What do you do on a radio? What do you do in print?” Those are mediums. A website is above a medium in that it’s the platform. By that I mean it’s a platform that serves up your processes, your people, your products and your philosophies. So you have to treat that as if it is, again, your abode, your virtual abode, your domicile that you are sharing with the world around you. That’s the first P. That’s the platform.
Dave:That’s the platform.
Brad:Always open, always open, always ready for business.
Dave:24/7.
Brad:Always sharing. Next, you want to personify the brand. What do we mean by that? We mean this idea that the brand should reflect the people and everything that … The website should reflect the brand and the people, and everything that they stand for. By that, we mean tonality. So if you look at the Rea site, it is written with a very humble perspective, and I think it’s written well in that way because its tone actually matches the people behind Rea.
If you go to another website, let’s say a government website, you’ll note a sterner personification, one that doesn’t seem as humble maybe, not open to questions. Here are the directions.
Dave: Exactly.
Brad: Here are the instructions.
Dave: Exactly.
Brad: Here’s the PDF form, fill it out.
Dave: And that’s our personality, and leave us alone.
Brad: Whereas if you are looking at say even more youthful sites, which might be say a clothier or a fashion site, it is going to be more about lifestyle so it might not talk about … It might not have a humble tone of Rea, it might not have the sternness of a governmental site but it personifies the idea, “Come in and check us out,” or it could just be bright colors and look what’s happening in spring, but the idea is to actually personify the voice of the brand on the website.
Again, many times business owners think about, “What do we offer and how can the website be functional?” They don’t think about these more esoteric touch points that are important like the idea of understanding there’s a platform and then personifying the brand in the right way.
Dave: The third P I think is something about purpose that you shared with us?
Brad: Yes, and so today, unlike any other time ever, ever in business, businesses have to have purposes greater than themselves. and they have to define and articulate that purpose beyond this idea of what they sell and how they sell. The idea of … And by the way I would say anybody who is thinking about building a site, just go onto a few sites and ask yourself, “Are they telling me about what they have? Are they telling me about why they have what they have?”
Those that say “why” first and save “what” for second, “when” because humans want to know the “why”. We want to be connected into the “why”. The “what” and the “how” we learn always through many different channels, but if a brand or a website is written from this idea of the “why” and a shareable “why” then it’s going to touch that human heart. When it comes down to selling something, it comes down to emotional trust. That’s why it’s often times our job in building sites, co-authoring them with clients like we did with Rea, is this idea of saying, “Well, wait a minute. Let’s not spend too much time on the “how” and “what”. Make sure our voice of “why” is there.”
Sometimes you’ll have clients push back and say things like, “Well, this is our website,” or “This is what we want on our site,” and we say, “It’s actually everyone’s website. That’s why it’s on the thing called the World Wide Web that never closes.” We’re here to share information, to get to know each other and to make purchase decisions through a website of whether we want to do business with you.
Dave: That’s great insight. Again, as a novice to website, I’m intrigued by the presentation and your notes for today. One of the things that, again, we built the website, how often do you change it? Do you go in for oil change every 5000 miles? What’s your advice in that area?
Brad: That’s a great question, and the answer is with the web’s prominence today, you should always be changing it. You should be always working on it, you should be always updating it, and you better think of the next thing to do that supports your “why”. By that, I mean you’re not deconstructing the current site you have, but just like anything that grows, it’s organic. It’s out in the world. Your people are interplaying with it from behind the scenes. Your customers and prospects are looking at it in front of the scenes. Our job as a marketing team is to say, “What are the six things we learned this month that need to be employed?”
Our second most important job as a marketing team is, “Which ones are absolutely necessary?” Those that aren’t, they go to another phase, but this is something that when websites first came around was the idea you put one up and you kept it out there for a year and a half, and that’s what it was. Nowadays, you can’t do that. No. You’re always nurturing it.
Dave: I think you hit a key early on in your presentation. Research, research, research.
Brad: Research, research, research.
Dave: Find out what’s going on in your area, in the industry, with your clients, with your customers.
Brad: Yeah, and that’s exactly what, again that’s exactly what Rea did on Insight was, “Let’s allow the fascination of the customer to lead the brand instead of the brand leading the customer.”
Dave: Our guest today has been Brad Circone, chief brand officer at Circone & Associates located in central Ohio. Thanks again for joining us on unsuitable today, Brad. Great job.
Brad: Thank you.
Dave: Thanks for the work you and your team have done on the Rea website. It looks fantastic and I’ve used it a lot in trying to refer clients in that area. Listeners, if you haven’t already, please take a look at the new Rea CPA website, and then let us know what you think. You can either leave your feedback by clicking on the “contact us” button or you can send us an e-mail at podcast@ReaCPA.com.
If you haven’t already hit the subscribe button on iTunes or check out video from today’s episode on Rea’s YouTube channel, take a look at it. Thanks for listening. Until next time, I’m Dave Cain encouraging you to loosen up your tie and think outside the box.
Disclaimer: The views expressed on unsuitable on Rea Radio are our own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rea & Associates. The podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the professional advice you would receive elsewhere. Consult with a trusted advisor about your unique situation so they can expertly guide you to the best solution for your specific circumstance.