Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business Issue 39 | Page 27

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 27
Agency offers
web strategy
advice for
SMEs
‘Fail to plan and you’ll plan
to fail’ says business park
marketing agency, Thrive
Local businesses are being advised to pay great attention to the importance of
strategy and planning, particularly in regards to website design and build projects.
T
he team at Thrive includes its long-
standing, development-focused arm,
headed by senior developer, Reza
Snowdon, who has recently steered the
company in the direction of app builds,
including desktop software solutions and
mobile apps.
But the team remains passionate about
building responsive websites, with bespoke
functionality and on-brand design, and
they know through their many years of
experience that two things are imperative to
a successful, enjoyable development project.
Director Johnny Woods says: “When
we have a client that comes to us with an
excellent approach – which basically means
a desire to be proactively involved in the
project – we know the product we ultimately
produce is going to be of high quality, and to
a standard that delights.
“That’s all we hope to achieve with every
single client and that generally is the case,
but it’s all down to the client’s attitude,
which is why we want to share some of our
advice for anyone currently going through the
development process.”
Thrive recommends that SMEs take
Benjamin Franklin’s ‘fail to plan, prepare to
fail’ advice to heart, as a plan is the most
crucial element for ensuring development
projects are produced on target, to
requirement and within budget.
The digital growth agency offers a
robust process for onboarding new clients,
delivering scoping meetings and a solid
proposal stage, but it asks clients to consider
the following analogy before they embark on
a development project.
Johnny explains: “You’re undertaking a
house build… Would you just call a builder
that you didn’t know and agree to their costs,
timeline and ideals for design and materials?
Would you be comfortable leaving it in their
hands or would you aim to provide ideas on
house type, size, materials, looks, plans,
milestones, timescales, budget?
“A development project is precisely
the same and any developer worth their
salt thrives when they have a client that
proactively provides ideas, branding
guidelines, functionality preferences,
photography and structured content.”
The experienced agency has also compiled
a list of possible outcomes that most
commonly come from a ‘failure to plan’
project:
1. Lack of open communication which, in
a worst case scenario, can result in a
relationship breakdown that can jeopardise
the whole project.
2. Developers being forced to make guesses
and estimations, as they attempt to
‘read your mind’ and make ‘best guess’
assumptions, resulting in a website
structure, design or functionality you didn’t
want or need.
3. Back-and-forth conversations about minor
issues or trivialities that end up taking up
an unnecessary amount of time, resulting
in increased costs.
4. Reworking or revisiting previously agreed
content causing frustration and risking
missed deadlines.
5. ‘Scope Creep’, which is every developer’s
nightmare and refers to additional or new
work which appears ‘out of the blue’ and
outside the original agreed proposal,
resulting in missed deadlines and extra
costs.
6. Confusion, frustration, difficult
conversations and dissatisfaction, all of
which are often the result of a poor – or
lack of a – plan.
Thrive recommends that if any businesses
are concerned about a current development
project they are undergoing, at whatever
stage it is, to speak to their developers
and to maintain open, balanced lines of
communication to best alleviate concerns
and resolve any issues.
Visit Thrive’s blog for regular updates and insights from the marketing, web and
design industry – thriveability.co.uk/blog