If you’re a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME), it’s critically important that both your proposal (and other off-line documentation) is not let down by your online presence (primarily your website).
Here are just some of the reasons why . . . especially if you’re up against larger competitors, with larger budgets, and more glamorous on- and off-line presentation:
- If you’re an SME, the chances are your prospective customer or client organisation is going to want to know more about what sort of enterprise they’re going to be dealing with, than you can – or should attempt to – build into your proposal.
Conversely, the larger the competitor you’re up against, the more the prospect is likely to feel they already have a reasonably sufficient general knowledge of that company itself.
So, in this context, the larger player’s website isn’t as important as yours . . . which is a moot point anyway, since their website is likely to be a big-budget production. - Closely related to the above point, if you’re going for a piece of business that is worth enough to attract corporate competition, you’re going to have to demonstrate your ability to handle the deal, along with the sufficiency of your general credibility, track record and reputation.
While your proposal should do this in the specific context of the product you are proposing to supply or the service you are proposing to provide, when you’re a lesser-known – and thus perceivably a riskier entity – you need to create the broadest, deepest comfort you possibly can, and this is where your website has an important to perform.
- The most obvious point, of course, is that you don’t want your enterprise to look “back yard” in comparison to your larger competitors’ bigger budget websites and other aspects of online production.
You might not be able to go toe-to-toe with their marketing department’s budget and their creative agency’s talent, but you can ensure you’ve done the best you can with what you’ve got.
** In future posts, I’ll discuss the advantages you can give your enterprise in the online space e.g. how to make your website look like you’ve put a lot more budget into it than you actually have, and key do’s and don’ts with a business website. **
