Branding Copy and Web Sites. A Bad Fit.

People come to our web sites for information and to buy products and services. Consequently, the best web sites make it easy for people to find the information they want, and make it easy to complete a purchase. Pretty simply so far.

Enter the marketers. Particularly those with branding on their minds. Oops.

You know the sites I mean. You go there looking for something and have to weave your way around all the nonsense telling you that they offer 'Tomorrow’s Solutions Today' and stuff like that. One of my favourites was from the Ford site a couple of years back. 'Ford Motor Company - Striving to Make the World a Better Place.' The less said about that, the better.

The trouble with using text as a branding tool on web pages is that it gets in the way of what visitors are looking for. Visitors want and expect text to be useful and information. They are in 'active' and 'engaged' mode. They are searching. They want something. Text that isn't useful is disappointing. One thing you can be sure of, they are not looking for your fancy, branding copy lines.

There is still a struggle at work here, particularly at older companies with established, powerful marketing groups who see the web as another 'branding opportunity'. The branding folks wade in and make their mark. To the detriment of the site.

And here is where things get a little more complicated...

The web IS a wonderful and powerful branding tool. But you can’t use it the same way you would use print or broadcast media. You can't successfully brand online with fancy photos and self-serving copy lines. You brand online by giving your visitors a wonderful, hassle-free user experience. You help every visitor achieve their goal as quickly and simply as possible. THEIR goal, not your marketing group's goal. Branding is a culmination of every experience people have with your company or organization. Use the web to brand by giving people what they want. Be sure of one thing. You won't achieve this by hijacking the text. The text should always help the reader, not you.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author and speaker. You can access all his newsletter articles on writing for the web at Excess Voice
This article first appeared in Excess Voice, December 2004.