Building an effective AV integrator site

by Don Kreski

“This is the best thing we did last year,” says Susan Lewis, CEO of Waukesha, WI-based Lewis Sound & Video, talking about her new website.

The site, designed and created by Kreski Marketing, is a 114-page online brochure consisting of 13 pages about the company, its staff, capabilities, technologies, and location, 14 navigational pages and 87 additional pages showing and describing 41 customer installations.

“My goal for our website has always been as a sales support tool,” says Lewis. “I need an online reference where customers can go and see the quality and the types of projects that we've done.”

My task as the website’s creative director was simply to make very obvious the kind of work Lewis Sound does. There was no need for hyperbole or unrealistic claims. There usually isn't with a sound contractor or AV integrator. Show the work and you’re half way there. Of course you need to do it in a way that attracts attention, pulls the reader through the pages, and is believable.

Believability is, in my view, the most difficult problem in any marketing message. We’re bombarded hourly with advertising claims...this toothpaste will do this, this company will do that. How do we sort out what’s important and what’s real?

Photography can be a big help. People believe what they see much more than what they read. Lewis Sound had more than 10 years worth of good sites to photograph. I was able to shoot almost 40 customer sites in the six months before we started work on the website.

Beyond the photography, we tried to write very specific descriptions of each install, as well as of the company itself. It’s one thing to say “this is a great company,” but quite another to show why. The site’s navigation is simple, but also compelling. We divide the work into nine categories, by customer type, then make it easy for people to find the installs most interesting to each of them. We try to draw people in step by step, first with with a market name and photo, then the customer name and photo, next a brief description (with photos), and then a slide show. For about half of the installs, we offer a more detailed description, generally drawing from articles we have placed in the trade press. The site is very easy to browse and skim, but as readers find specific areas that interest them, there’s more detailed information to explore.

Customer reactions

So far, Lewis Sound’s customers seem to be quite pleased to see themselves featured on the website. One we did not originally include –the Midway Hotels– actually called and asked if we could add them to the site.

“Most often we get contacted either thru contractors or by referrals from other customers,” says Lewis. “They don’t know who we are, and they somehow have to do due diligence. The site helps them decide that we’re a legitimate firm, one that they can put their confidence in.” She is more than pleased with the results so far.

“It seems,” says Lewis, “that we had a ton of difficult projects last year. And sometimes you get dragged down in the quagmire of the day to day ugliness of the project –equipment that doesn't show up, deadlines that are hard to meet, whatever– and don’t see the good things that we did. But if I review the year, I can say, look at that great website. It’s an awesome website.”

Visit the Lewis Sound site