Many technology companies have fantastic websites that in many cases show off their technology savvy using updated functionality as well as rich applications. I think some of them are truly wonderful. I am a bit curious though in terms of marketing’s role during the development of these. In many cases the technology companies have their own IT persons actually develop their websites with all of the whiz bang apps.
During a recent conversation with a tech marketer, I listened to their frustration over a new website project. I found myself asking why organizations put critical marketing decisions in the hands of the IT department, or at a minimum allow the IT department to exert too much influence on the marketing decision making process? Lets face it, the website is a critical marketing tool for any organization, but understanding how Tech buyers use the internet during their decision making efforts, puts more emphasis on a technology company website and its need to be marketing driven.
Content is key here and I would be hard pressed to understand how the IT department will add marketing value to the content on website. IT has a role to play certainly and should contribute their tech savvy to ensure the website has the GUI, the ease of navigation, the proper hosting platform and CMS systems and ensure the rich apps can all run smoothly. Tech buyers appreciate this ease of use, but ultimately they are looking for content and solutions to their problems and this rests in the marketing department.
If your organization is considering a website effort, I would encourage the management team to allow marketing leadership to make marketing decisions and IT leadership to make IT decisions.
Amen to this one Tom. My company is the leading web design company for small/medium tech firms in the Northeast. Although we’ve seen this trend improve over the past 3-4 years, there are still many cases where IT claims ownership of the website.(and often they achieve this by confusing the marketing folks with tech jargon overkill).
While legit in certain instances, when a website is deeply integrated with companies’ internal systems or if they plan to do ongoing development with internal programmers, overall this is a MARKETING, sales and customer service tool. Not an IT function.
Thanks for the reply Bill,
We have also seen the shift towards a more collaborative effort between marketing and IT. The technology industry still struggles with this issue as many of the technology companies we deal with are lead by engineers or technical folks with a “build it and they will come” mindset. Thanks for your thoughts
[...] in the water… Here is a problem we’ve been preaching about for years, and along comes Tom Jacobs’ post with the above title, reminding us that although there has been improvement, we still encounter [...]
Thanks for the acknowledgment!
It is comforting to know that there are many out there that still see this issue as relevant and critical. I am Hopeful that more tech companies will realize the value marketing can drive if given the opportunity to correctly position the corporate technology.
Thanks
tom jacobs
Tom,
You are more diplomatic than I am. I’ve been marketing B2B software and services for more than 20 years. (longer than websites obviously!) I would go so far as to say that most of the websites are pretty pathetic. I hope I don’t sound too curmudgeonly, but this has to be said.
The worst offenders are the small companies. I suppose this is understandable since they aren’t to the point where they feel they can afford marketing. A few small changes would go a long way for these guys.
Right after the small tech companies are the bigger VARs/SIs for the vendors like Microsoft and SAP. Looking at these sites is like looking into a mind map of the product manager. Just because you think that way doesn’t mean your prospect does.
Finally, the ones that tend toward extremely poor sites are the service providers. This always surprises me as these folks have all kinds of business expertise they could be showcasing and yet many of them lack any kind of call to action.
Yesterday on my blog, I recommended putting website improvement at the top of the list for 2010 investment. It is the hub for all of your marketing activity and the “storefront” for the B2B technology company.
Phew, I got that off my chest! Thanks for letting me comment.
Melissa
Happy to bring up the topic Melissa and thank you for your thoughts
tom
[...] why this is so and how to avoid it. First is Tom Jacobs on TechMarketingBlog in his post “Technology Company Websites should not be driven by technology.” The second are comments by Bill Gadless on B2B Web Strategy in a post by the same name. My [...]
OMG, I have been searching for this information. Technology always gets the best of me when I need it most.
It seems so. Great blog by the way!
I imagine it is. Very good stuff, glad I found this.
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Great post! I have found much of what you say is true. Great Blog!
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