Q: Our company website is always stopping
and starting, with lots of glitches and
complaints from customers. We’ve used a
freelance website specialist up until now, but we’re
now wondering if we should take on a dedicated
website developer and controller fulltime. We’d
appreciate your thoughts on the advantages/disadvantages
of this.
PT, Hamilton
A: It sounds like the person you are currently
using just might not be at the right
skill level for your requirements. I’m not
sure how large your operation is, but bringing
on an internal specialist might be overkill, and
you risk ending up in the same position again
(except with an 80-100k salary and employment
laws that don’t make it easy to end the
relationship if it isn’t a right fit.) This is why
businesses come to agencies like us because
they get the expertise and skillset at 35-40%
of the costs of an employee, without tremendous
risk (and generally far greater results.) In a
nutshell, it’s time for the ‘Dear John’ letter. Give
them the axe and start looking - there’s tonnes
of talent out there!
Q: We’re in the middle of developing our
website for a new food innovation to be
launched in New Zealand before we take
on the world! What sorts of up-to-date technology
can we put into it now, so it remains as current as
possible without the need for largescale capital
injection in the future?
AT, Auckland
A: Congrats! Sounds epic. Ideally, I’d
need some more information to answer
in detail, but I think the biggest mistake
I see with businesses and their digital presence
is consistency (or lack thereof). Make keeping
your presence online fresh and up-to-date a
top priority. It’s literally comparable to maintaining
a storefront or warehouse - the work only
costs an arm and a leg if you update just once
a decade! Ensuring your website, social media
and online advertising is consistently optimised
and innovative is a lot more palatable with regular
monthly payments (whether you outsource
to an agency or hire internally) so I’d highly
recommend you ‘hit the ground running’ and
organise a long-term strategic plan for this off
the tail-end of your new website launch.
Q: I loved your straight-forward advice column
in September’s issue. My business is
struggling to get the website right - in fact,
I am a bit scared of it. How can I get ideas from
other websites that could work for me, as I am
about to add several new products to my range?
Can I steal ideas from other websites without
worrying about copyright etc, and once I get those
ideas, what’s the best way to introduce them to my
website?
MJ, South Island
A: Look, what you are asking is probably
more suited towards a solicitor - I can’t
give copyright advice but I can tell you
this… you absolutely can use other websites
for inspiration, but do not outright copy it.
We call it ‘funnel hacking’ - part of keeping
up-to-date in our fast-paced industry is finding
out what’s working for others so that we can
replicate this (and tailor) for our clients. Buy
your competition’s products: see what emails,
ads and content you see afterwards, and what
up-sells you receive after two months.
Expert Advice
Murdoch Razmi is head of
strategy at agency Powerhouse
in Auckland, and will be
regularly tackling your issues
about food and beverage
commerce within digital media.
If you have queries about digital media that you’d like
answered in upcoming issues of FOODtechnology
magazine, send them to editor Kathryn Calvert at
kcalvert@hayleymedia.com. For other queries,
contact Razmi on 0800 797 473, mobile 021 956 263
or murdoch@powerhouse.agency.
www.foodtechnology.co.nz 43
/www.foodtechnology.co.nz
link
link
