That’s really where we have reinvented ourselves as a digital solutions provider that is ultimately driving results.
Jon Hollenberg is the owner and web design expert at Five by Five, Australia’s highest rated website design agency that builds great looking and high performing websites. With over 18 years of experience in the web industry, Hollenberg is an expert in online marketing and growth strategies. Over the past 10 years he has worked with such iconic brands as Qantas, Jeep and the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary plus hundreds of others in Australia.
In this episode of Velocitize Talks, Hollenberg shares his insights into how companies should engage in digital branding and web design in order to get the results they want.
The Know-How to Know How (1:45)
Writing a book forces you to unpack your brain to dissect your methodology and the process for delivering your product or your service.
Hollenberg is the author of Love at First Site: How to Build the Website of Your Dreams (aka “The No B.S. Guide to Getting Your Website Working”) to illustrate what it means to partner with a digital agency. He wanted business owners to have a practical guide in a “punchy and condensed read” with the know-how to create a website that will generate results. Writing this book forced Hollenberg to unpack and dissect how and why he does what he does as well as share his beliefs on digital branding and web design. “I actually wrote this book five years ago, and the principles and the framework that I wrote about are still very relevant today,” says Hollenberg.
Site Appeal (3:13)
It’s critical that your digital presence is consistent with your brand, your go-to-market messaging.
Creating a website that generates results is a top priority for Five by Five. There are three outcomes of a successful website that Hollenberg focuses on when working with a client. First, the brand establishes themselves as an authority in their industry. Secondly, the brand wants customers to get in touch with them. Thirdly, they want a platform that represents a consistent brand and tone both in the digital spaces and offline spaces.
Everyone knows that first impressions are very important. According to Five by Five, 38% of people will stop engaging if a website is unappealing; 79% of audiences who don’t like what they find on a site will visit a competitor site. As a result, Hollenberg considers it vital for brands to stand out with a high performing website. Five by Five delivers this through awesome photography and video assets, compelling copy, and amazing design.
Strategy: Digital Branding and Web Design (4:37)
We’d get stuck in the project and we’d say, ‘Hey client, I need your copy now or I need your photography, or it’d be really great if you had a video front and center on your homepage.’
And clients would say, I don’t have any of that stuff.
In order to deliver a complete digital presence, Hollenberg and his team decided to identify ways his client’s projects would be successful even when they hit bumps in the road, like lack of content or imagery. At the onset of each project, the agency believes it is important to create a customized digital strategy; in other words, a deep dive into who the client is, what they do, who they serve, and the metrics for a successful project outcome.
Five by Five looks at the brand’s logo and messaging as well as its digital assets. In an effort to truly understand what a brand’s customer encounters when they engage with the brand, they will go onsite with their client and simulate what a client engagement process would look like. What does it look like when they walk through the door? Who are they greeted by? What’s the process that they are taking? This type of detail translates into a strategy built from an in-depth strategy onto a thoughtful and high-performing website.
Expand Your Reach (8:43)
We really encourage our clients to go out and share their secret sauce; what makes them unique and brilliant in the market.
Great marketing showcases a brand’s true essence. Now that 93% of customers research a brand online before engaging with them on or offline, digital marketing and web design are critical for a brand to showcase that essence. In digital marketing brands use digital platforms like websites, search engines, social media, email, and other websites to connect with customers. This allows brands to reach a larger audience of both current and potential customers than traditional marketing. It is also a more cost effective way to reach these audiences versus traditional advertising.
Hubspot defines 11 types of digital marketing: SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, pay per click, affiliate marketing, native advertising, marketing automation, email marketing, online PR, inbound marketing, and sponsored content. These are all avenues for brands to share who they are, what sets them apart from their competitors, and connect with current and potential customers.
What He’s Reading (10:13)
It’s critical that we continue to challenge ourselves and take up new hobbies or pursuits. It forces you to be a beginner and it twists your mind but it’s very exciting and super fulfilling.
Hollenberg enjoys reading John Danaher, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu master and coach who dispenses not just fighting advice but also life philosophy. While attending Columbia for his PhD in philosophy, Danaher was an NYC bouncer who realized the value in learning jiu-jitsu. Since then he has been hailed as one of the best jiu-jitsu coaches in the world.
According to Hollenberg, Danaher has “a tremendous knack of weaving together general philosophy and martial arts.” An example Hollenberg shares is learning how to lean into discomfort by consistently putting yourself in uncomfortable situations. Danaher shares these philosophies in two different books as well as on his popular Instagram account.
For more information on Five by Five, check out their website and follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. To stay up to date with Hollenberg, follow him on LinkedIn.