Branding
Digital Marketing
IT Services
Web & App DevA website is a significant investment. Yet studies show that 25% of all IT projects fail and companies can go over budget by as much as 60%. Too often the website fails to meet stakeholder needs while technology decisions come as afterthoughts that make life difficult for IT. The main reason is poor requirements definition.
The complex and increasingly technical nature of digital marketing requires a cross-functional set of skills during the planning process. The Smartt Website Planning Roadmap reduces risks. Our multi-disciplinary team of digital marketing experts uses objective data to build a complete project plan that includes recommendations for feature, functionality, and content.
What are the benefits?
Financial
A project plan with clear requirements reduces scope creep, budget over-runs, and delays. The Smartt Website Planning Roadmap sets out key recommendations and priorities, a project charter, and a creative brief to ensure all project members stay focused on what’s essential.
Functional
Stakeholders must arrive at consensus on features, functionality, and priorities or your website will fail. The Smartt Website Planning Roadmap helps internal stakeholders gain clarity through workshops, audience research, and user experience discovery to achieve consensus.
Technical
Busy IT departments often lack the resources to respond to Marketing in a timely manner. The Smartt Website Planning Roadmap includes proactive discussions with IT; we address security, scalability, platform support, and ongoing maintenance before they become an issue.
What's in a Website Planning Roadmap?
Smartt works with your team to define stakeholder needs, customer personas, buyer experience, and other key information. We bring data to each workshop, so we add value to what you already know.
We get the answers every project team member must know before planning a website:
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How can you improve traffic and engagement on your website?
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What are users trying to achieve on your website and what’s the best user experience you can give them?
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How can information architecture improve accessibility while keeping scalability in mind?
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How should you structure website content to rank higher on search engines?
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How can you integrate better with social media?
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Which desktop and mobile platforms should the website support?
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Which web platform should you choose to support your features, security, and future scalability?
A Website Planning Roadmap answers such questions through the following activities and deliverables.
What are the Activities and Deliverables
From a Website Planning Roadmap?
Over the course of this engagement, your team will participate to define customer personas,
positioning, the buyer experience, and other key information.
We bring data to each workshop, so we add value to what you already know.
Collaborative
activities
- Business Review Meeting
- Stakeholder Interviews (including IT)
- Workshop #1: Who are Your Customers?
- Workshop #2: Buying Experience Map
- Final Meeting and Presentation
Smartt
activities
- Preliminary Research
- Competitive Research
- Audience Definition and Research
- Content Audit
- Keyword Research
- Call-to-Action Analysis
- Information Architecture
- Features List
- Technical Considerations
- Design Goals
- Related Web Properties
- Creative Brief
- Project Brief
- Roadmap and Presentation
People LOVE
Brand Strategy Roadmap
Smartt’s approach of using the Brand Strategy Roadmap facilitated open, productive discussions. It gave us the confidence to proceed to the next step of web development because we had consensus on branding and long-term goals.
- Yetla Hernandez, Columbia College -
How Does a Website Planning Roadmap Work?
A Website Planning Roadmap can take from two to six weeks. This is a highly-customized engagement; we don’t use ‘canned’ content. We develop workshop content and deliverables based on information specific to your situation.
The Right Issues
Workshops and interviews bring out stakeholder objectives for the website.
- Preliminary Research
- Business Review Meeting
- Stakeholder Interviews (including IT)
The Right Data
User-centric workshops and competitive information help drive consensus for features and priorities.
- Competitive Research
- Audience Definition and Research
- Workshop #1: Who are Your Customers? (User Personas)
- Workshop #2: Buying Experience Map
The Right Strategy
Based on further analysis and your goals, we develop a set of requirements for features, functionality, and content.
- Keyword Research
- Call-to-Action Analysis
- Information Architecture
- Content Audit
- Features List
- Technical Considerations
- Design Goals
- Related Web Properties
The Right Plan
In a final meeting, we present the Website Planning Roadmap and supporting materials. The goal of the meeting is to help your team move forward with your web development project.
- Creative Brief
- Project Brief
- Roadmap and Presentation
Need Help?
Make sure you’re ready with the right website plan to lower risks and ensure project success. Give us a call for about the Website Planning Roadmap. We’re happy to give you a free consultation and show you examples.
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