In a ”how-to” story I wrote recently, published by Chief Marketer, I share 13 Rules Your Brand ID Guide Should Be Enforcing. Read on …

Denise B. Hearden

Does it succinctly describe what, where, when and how your business does what it does and for whom … in one paragraph? Does it offer bite-size chunks of information and links to additional details for those who seek it? Does it explain how your customers benefit from doing business with you, and competitively position your company against all other options?

The purpose of a website’s About Us page is to explain its value proposition to its most valued audiences. An About Us page should effectively explain the company’s purpose and what it stands for.

Most importantly, it should demonstrate exactly why the visitor should buy the company’s products or services.

When coming to an online About Us page, visitors should instantly find useful fact-based company information that: 

• Supports his/her  decision to do business with the company
• Makes him/her feel that the company is trying to create a relationship
• Boosts his/her perception of the company’s credibility

Seems like a no-brainer, right? Apparently not.  Jakob Nielsen reported in ’08 that while there’s been a 9% improvement in the usability of About Us information on websites over the previous 5 years, many, many companies still can’t (or choose not to) explain what they do in one paragraph.

What’s a Company to Do?

If you take a closer look at the Nielsen study, or the websites referred to by experts as usability-focused, you’ll find that many have the following elements in common:

• The About Us link is titled as such
• The About Us link is offered in the primary navigation – not necessarily the most prominent link, but clearly visible
• The About us information is offered in 4 levels of detail:*

1. Tagline on the homepage: A few words or a brief sentence summarizing what the organization does.
2. Summary: 1-2 paragraphs at the top of the main About Us page that offer a bit more detail about the organization’s goal and main accomplishments.
3. Fact sheet: A section following the summary that elaborates on its key points and other essential facts about the organization.
4. Detailed information: secondary pages with more depth for people who want to learn more about the organization.

This layered content presentation forms an inverted pyramid that uses hypertext (text links) to shield users from overwhelming details, while making specific information available to those who need it.

Just the Facts, Ma’am

Objective, fluff-free facts are a great way to differentiate your business, and address all of the decision-making criteria your customers and prospects consider when choosing to continue or begin doing business with your company.

Here are some ideas for an online Fact Sheet. Remember, facts are also a great way to support the fluffier promises and claims you make!

Say It with Video

One definite trend in About Us content is higher user interest in video. Multi-media presentations are a great way to highlight the people within your organization, your satisfied customers and their testimonies and video can really showcase the personality of your organization’s leaders. Caveat: Web users are still impatient and prefer short videos.

A video I recently came across that fits this bill is for Uline, a shipping supply distributor. View it.

Where to Start

Auditing your own About Us page, section or entire website isn’t easy. An objective eye from an experienced outsider can often identify opportunities for improvement that may surprise you. Improvements may take the form of copy enhancements, page re-organization, link architecture, navigation, usability techniques or design.

The goal for any content improvement (copy, design, organization) is of course to present your information in a more relevant manner, making the site’s content and tools more accessible and user-friendly.

An objective 3^rd party audit will lead you to site changes that will ultimately result in higher visitor usage rates and satisfaction.

The Approach

The way I typically go about a website audit is to: 

• Detail the current page/section/site’s contents and cite overall pros and cons
• Research, review and reference industry trends, case studies, best practices as they relate to this type of website and the client’s objectives
• Identify opportunities to improve current pages
• Develop recommendations for specific improvements and changes
• Visually illustrate recommendations where appropriate
• Present to the client; gather feedback
• Adjust and deliver final documentation based on the client’s feedback

If you’re not sure your About Us page is stacking up, and you believe that it should, contact me.

Denise B. Hearden

*Source: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/about-us-pages.html

Customer testimonials – quotes from your customers about the services and products you provide – are a great way to hit home your business’ unique selling proposition(s).

I’m working on a new marketing campaign for a commercial envelope printing business in Wisconsin, Express Envelopes Unlimited. Most of its client-base are commercial printers and mailhouses who need thousands or millions of envelopes printed quickly, with high quality standards and at a fair price.

Express Envelopes Unlimited’s value proposition is:

In an effort to add new printer customers to Express Envelopes Unlimited’s client roster, the foundation for the new campaign will be real testimonial quotes from actual customers.

We went to Express Envelope Unlimited’s top tier of clients for the initial round of testimonials. Within three days, all customer contacts had responded enthusiastically to our request for “a quote about the benefits of doing business with Express Envelope Unlimited.” Here are just some of the quotes I pulled from these responses:

“They print ALL of our envelopes – more than 4 million in ’09.”
 “More than pleased with EEU’s exceptional quality and service.”
“Unsurpassed quality, service and price.”
“EEU puts us in good standing with our clients.”
 “Every order is printed correctly, delivered on time and at the price quoted.”
“EEU is our preferred envelope vendor … great customer service and they deliver on time.”
“Consistently makes our deadlines and delivers quality work.”
“EEU is a terrific vendor … a rarity these days!”
“Fantastic customer service.”
“EEU helps us to stay competitive in this tough economy.”
“They commit to our deadlines so our customers will not be let down.”
“We love EEU’s fast turnaround for quotes.”
“Our orders are always delivered on time, within budget, and exactly the
quality we need.”
“EEU is very competitive on price.”
“They produce our envelopes faster than any other printer – by far.”

As you can see, the key points Express Envelopes Unlimited makes in its value proposition — which is consistently conveyed across all marketing efforts from its brochures to its website — are expressed by these customers in their own words.

There are so many ways to collect and use testimonials effectively in your marketing efforts including ads, direct mail, collateral, email marketing, websites, and public relations, to name a few. If you need help soliciting or applying testimonials to your marketing initiatives, please contact me.

Denise B. Hearden

Caller: 
“Does my business really need an online press room?”

In many, many cases, the answer is YES! Your media contacts can benefit greatly from a press room (a.k.a. news room) – managed by your PR team – to keep them abreast of your company’s latest endeavors, innovations, accomplishments and much more.

Press Room Contents
The best way to make use of an online press room is to make it an easy-to-find and user-friendly “asset” management tool for your media contacts. A place they can go to easy access information, images or videos about your company, its spokespersons and products/services.

In a typical press room, the media will appreciate the following information and materials:

- Media Relations Contacts

- Current Annual Report

            – Annual Report Archive

- Company Backgrounder

- Company & Product Fact Sheets

- Executive Bios

- Image & Video Library

            – Executive Headshots

            – Facility Interior and Exterior Shots

            – Product Beauty Shots

            – Product Application Shots

            – Videos (by type: education/how-to; promotional; social; etc.)

- Recent News Releases

            – Archive of Past News Releases

- Resource Library

            – Technical Papers

            – Research Reports

            – Company History

            – White Papers

Ultimately your press room should be tailored to suit the specific needs of your media contacts, your business and PR/marketing objectives.

Publicity Placement Archive
For your company’s own benefit, you’ll also want to maintain a page within the press room that provides a detailed list of publicity placements (name of media outlet, title of placement, publish date, type of placement, author) along with a link to each placement (a PDF copy of the placement or link to the media outlet’s archived version of the article/video/audio placement).

Your Press Room’s Home
When communicating with your media contacts, you’ll frequently and consistently point them to your online press room to access information, images, etc. In electronic communications, you’ll include a hotlink (hyperlink) that takes your media contact directly to your press room.

But don’t stop there. Any great resource to the media becomes accessible day or night. You never know when a story idea will hit an editor, and if your press room is useful and memorable, he or she may just firm-up their story idea by taking a look at the information you’ve made easily available online. So, make sure that the URL of your press room is short, sweet and makes total sense. For example, “WidgetsUSA.com/pressroom.” Or, “WidgetsUSAPressRoom.com.”

Of course, you’ll make sure your press room pages comply with all of the basic search engine optimization best practices so that when a reporter searches Google for “Widget USA annual report” she’ll be a click away from your press room.

Finally, you’ll want to make your press room easily available from your site’s Home Page and About Us section. Intuitively, the media will look for a Press Room link on these pages.

For public relations counsel, press release (news release) development guidance, press release distribution or media relations support, get in touch with me.

Denise B. Hearden
Be Heard Marketing

Great question!
There are dozens of online press release distribution services, some listed here, that will help you get your news out into the world wide web. Rather than submitting your news to any or all services, I recommend you carefully study which will help you reach your specific target audiences and media outlets.

Free online press release distribution should NOT replace a customized media relations initiative. Simply put, it is another way to increase online awareness about your news and drive traffic to your website(s).

Online Press Release Distribution Services

NakedPR blogger, Jennifer Mattern, published and updated this list of free online press release distribution services:

But before you distribute, please objectively edit your news release to ensure it meets at least the basic criteria for a well-written, timely and newsworthy story. Stay tuned for next week’s post where you’ll find the press release basics most often overlooked!

For public relations counsel, press release (news release) development guidance, press release distribution or media relations support, get in touch with me.

Denise B. Hearden
Be Heard Marketing