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Holcim–Communicating Process and Strategy

Holcim–Communicating Process and Strategy

Zurich based Holcim, a construction materials and consulting company, knows something about how to use their website to provide stakeholder information. You only need to to look at the About Us section…

Holcim
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Some highlights:

  • a good landing page, with teaser links to Strategy, Videos and more
  • “This Could Be Interesting”: an unusual title for related links, which contains a link to an good explanation of how the company manufactures their main products
  • a factsheet, “Holcim at a Glance”, is available but alas only as a PDF.

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Holcim uses a well organized approach to explain its strategy to visitors in some detail.

The strategy is explained with the use of visuals. The link to the Value Chain displays a comprehensive visual and a portfolio analysis of its product lines. 

The company also includes targets related to the strategy. This is an item overlooked by some companies.

This post would not be complete without a visit to the Corporate Governance section.


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There is a link to Vision and Mission.  Also visit the Organization section. The only suggestion I would make is to offer more content as HTML in addition to PDFs.

Riddle: How Is a Careers Site Like a PPT Presentation?

Actually, a Careers site is pretty much exactly like a PowerPoint presentation.  Which means the answer to this riddle isn’t very funny.

But the answer is important, and here’s why:

PowerPoint presentations (affectionately known as PPTs, or sometimes “decks”) have become the most frequent means of communicating information in many—perhaps most—organizations.  And for purposes of discussion, we’ll just lump in niche platforms like the Mac program Keynote and online options like SlideRocket, which are PowerPoint-by-any-other name, even if they are better in some respects.

The result in all cases is basically the same:  ideas/information organized in slide-sized “bites.”

Once you start thinking about it this way, a website could be seen as a stack of presentation-like pages, each one displaying several slides—sort of like the Slide Sorter view in PowerPoint.  The visitor has self-serve access to these slides, so they can jump around to different parts of the “presentation.”

And now to the point.  The rules for creating good slides/presentations are few and definite, but mostly ignored.  For example, some excellent rules are:

  • Don’t put too much information on one slide—use several slides to build a theme or explain a complex idea.
  • Include something visual on every slide—but be sure the visual content is informative, not merely decorative.
  • Be consistent in formatting—not only on each slide, but across the whole presentation.
  • Provide a clear structure that organizes the slides—and make sure the audience always knows where they are and where they are going.

These rules apply every bit as well to a website design, but are just as often ignored.

Presentation expert Olivia Mitchell takes the psychology of PowerPoint even further in New evidence that bullet-points don’t work.  This substantive post explains research that shows improved comprehension in audiences viewing “sparse” slides (strong graphics, little text) rather than conventional slides that combine bullet-point text with smaller illustrations.  Mitchell goes into detail on the factors that involved—well worth a read.

Now in fact, most Careers sites I visit use lots of bullet points and lots of text.  To validate this impression, I picked out (completely at random) three big companies in completely different industry segments, two of which I’ve never visited before.  Here’s what I found . . .

Bullets--Costco
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Costco Careers

Bullets--WF
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Wells Fargo Careers

Bullets--MGM
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MGM Careers

This is not a criticism of the three sites—just a confirmation that the bullet-point style is ubiquitous.  Like these examples, a great many of the designs I see have a few visual elements around the perimeter, with a big block of text in the middle.

In terms of presentation-style impact, contrast that look with this one:

Bullets--Yahoo
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Yahoo Careers

Since website visitors aren’t getting additional information from speakers, the main ideas obviously must be explained on the page.  But breaking up text into thematic zones, putting some information into a graphical format, or even just changing the round, black bullets to (for example) square red bullets would certainly liven up the page.

Replacing boring bullets with interesting ones would be really low-hanging fruit!  And there are probably quite a few other tweaks that could improve the “presentation” qualities of a typical Careers site and bring about high-value change.

Microsoft was Most Talked About Brand in 2009 on the Social Web

microsoft_buildingMicrosoft has been investing a lot of manpower and money into turning its struggling brand around and making it a powerhouse again.  With brands like Apple and Google beating Microsoft in terms of innovation and creativity, Microsoft has done its best to keep up with the release of its Bing search engine and “I’m a PC” commercials in 2009.  It looks like some of those efforts are working.

According to a study by Zeta Interactive for BrandWeek, Microsoft was the most talked about brand on blogs, Facebook and Twitter in 2009.  Google and Apple came in 2nd and 4th place, respectively, on the list of the top 10 most talked about brands on blogs, Facebook and Twitter in 2009.  You can see the top 10 below:

  1. Microsoft: 375,661 online posts with 83% positive and 17% negative
  2. Google: 361,344 online posts with 82% positive and 18% negative
  3. Amazon.com: 282,668 online posts with 88% positive and 12% negative
  4. Apple: 241,879 online posts with 75% positive and 25% negative
  5. Target: 208,848 online posts with 78% positive and 22% negative
  6. Honda: 195,845 online posts with 82% positive and 18% negative
  7. Sony: 209,955 online posts with 71% positive and 29% negative
  8. Blackberry: 117,641 online posts with 92% positive and 8% negative
  9. Nike: 121,188 online posts with 89% positive and 11% negative
  10. Walmart: 108,988 online posts with 90% positive and 10% negative

It’s interesting to note that Blackberry had the highest tonal rating with 92% of online posts written about the brand carrying a positive tone and only 8% carrying a negative tone.  On the flip side, Sony had the worst tonal rating of the top 10 brands with only 71% of online posts written about that brand carrying a positive tone and 29% being negative.

Also interesting is the fact that only one automotive manufacturer made the top 10 list (Honda) and three discount retailers made the top 10 (Amazon.com, Target and Walmart).  It can be assumed that the struggles of American car companies and the economic recession drove the number of online posts about these companies and brands up in 2009.

While this study isn’t enough to bet the farm on, so to speak, it does provide a high-level picture of the online buzz about brands across the social Web.  There is no way to ignore the social Web in terms of brand building anymore, and brands that focus on leveraging its broad reach and power are generating a loud online buzz, which is predominantly positive.  A social media marketing plan is simply a strategic imperative in 2010.

Your thoughts?

Image: Flickr

Black Friday Search Trends for 2009 and What They Mean for Marketers

black_fridayGoogle released its annual Black Friday search trends analysis recently, and searches for “Black Friday” and “Black Friday sales” were up more than 20% and 50%, respectively in 2009 over 2008.  Considering that Google controls more than half of all search traffic online, I think it’s safe to call these results a fair representation of what’s really going on across the Internet.  Searches for “printable coupons” and “sales” were also up by 50% over the prior year.  Clearly, the economy is driving holiday shopping this year, and consumers are looking for deals more than ever.

Another interesting statistic was the spike in Black Friday related searches, particularly deals, which began picking up steam a month earlier in 2009 than they did in 2008.  The peak in shopping-related searches occurred on Black Friday, itself.

Interestingly, online sales were up by 11% on Black Friday (according to comScore), which tells us not only are more and more people turning to the Internet to find deals and holiday sales, but they’re also making more of those purchases online.

And of course, searches for the ‘must have’ toys and products of the 2009 holiday season are up as you’d expect.  This year, Zhu Zhu Pets and Mattel’s Mindflex games are hot!

So what does this tell us from a marketing and branding perspective?

First, the trend in searching for deals earlier probably won’t go away even when the economy turns around.  People will become accustomed to searching for great deals online earlier, and your brands need to be there when they’re actually searching.

Second, consumers are making more holiday purchases online, but in-store sales continue to dominate.  If consumers are using the Web to find deals and research products, doesn’t it make sense that capturing them with amazing offers that they can’t refuse at the time they’re searching for them would be a good idea?  There’s something to be said for getting out of the gates early and snatching up those sales before they have a chance to get away.  Put together your best offers and go out big and early!

What do you think?

Image: Flickr

The Social Media Master: How Your Company Can Excel at Networking

I am a big fan of Facebook and Twitter and count them as the number one effective ways that I market and network with peers in my field. The networks have proven undoubtedly that they are quite successful in connecting with and finding resources for whatever your company’s field of expertise may be.

Although the concept is viral, there are still many companies, large and small, who do not take advantage of the multiple benefits of utilizing a social networking campaign within their media campaigns. There are numerous articles and blogs online that cite the wonderful advantages of using social networking, but until a company actually implements some of these tools and tips, they are simply “ideas” that are waiting to be found.

If your company has the resources, consider delegating the campaign solely to an individual or set of individuals who can concentrate 100% on building a social networking presence online.

They could be responsible for posting blog entries, interacting with others in the industry, answering questions that readers may have or simply researching and finding industry-related news that you can use in your marketing strategy.

Sometimes, it is just as effective to make 1-2 blog posts per week and Tweeting them as opposed to nothing at all. However, building up a viable presence on the social sites will require more than a Twitter post.

I personally have found that companies who interact from a genuine standpoint are usually more successful than those who are not. By that I mean companies who take the time to explain a concept, answer questions directly, respond to comments expeditiously and participate in discussions are more likely to get the attention of their readers than those companies who may make a few random comments on occasion. Readers and social networkers who frequent online networks can quickly tell the difference in the two. Help your company stand out by taking the time to invest in building up a solid networking campaign that readers will come to know and trust.

Once you’ve invested the tools, resources and time in building a social networking presence, be sure to keep it stoked by staying abreast on news and developments that relate to your industry. It’s important for readers to see that your interests and commitment align with theirs and they will eventually come to trust you as a viable source of solid information and knowledge. Your mastery in the social media world is not one that has to be elusive or overwhelming. It’s all a matter of placing yourself in key positions and on important sites to get you and your business noticed. While I cited Facebook and Twitter as two of my favorites, what are your favorites? Do you find that any particular social networking site is more receptive of your business or service than any other?