by Greg Sherwin Connecting Online: Creating A Successful Image on the Internet

Transcription

1 Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi greg@coectigolie.com March 9, 1998 Versio 1.0

2 The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret greg@coectigolie.com I. Documet Audiece The iitial phase of your Web site or Iteret iitiative lifecycle focuses o research ad plaig. The first part of Chapter 10, Web Site Research ad Specificatio, i our book idetifies a umber of questios that you will eed to aswer whe formulatig your Iteret PR pla. This documet presets may of those questios i a format that will lead you through the process of effectively plaig your Web site or Iteret PR efforts. The successful completio of this documet should reflect the success of your Iteret PR plaig, ad it should ot be your primary goal of this exercise. Thik of this documet as the meetig miutes that record your key Iteret busiess decisios. The audiece for this documet may iclude marketig, public relatios, busiess developmet, Web developers, outsourced cosultats, quality assurace/testig, ad future Web team members. I specific, the Coectig Olie Iteret PR pla was created with ourselves as the iteded audiece(s). As the primary documet audiece, the roles we played for our Iteret PR pla icluded the followig: evetual Web site developers public relatios ad marketig for both the book ad Web site busiess stakeholders This documet was also iteded to documet our Iteret busiess decisios ad the begiigs of our evetual Web site developmet process. We iteded it as a meas of recordig busiess requiremets decisios ad, later, revisios. We also plaed to use it for comparig our Iteret effort ad Web site achievemets with our origial goals. II. Image Aalysis Existig Public Image I two or three seteces, describe the type of image your compay curretly has with its publics. March 9, 1998 Versio Copyright 1998, Greg Sherwi ad Emily Avila. All rights reserved.

3 The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret greg@coectigolie.com We both had te years of experiece i our respective fields of public relatios ad the Iteret. Furthermore, our expertise was ackowledged by peers ad other established experts i these fields. However, we both largely lacked more maistream recogitio. We were both first-time authors. Our credetials, expertise, ad careers made us stad out amog the authors of related books. However, most other authors have backgrouds better suited for book promotio tours ad egagemets: career authors, marketig cosultats promotig their ow services, ad professioal semiar ad coferece speakers. Also, while we valued the complete editorial cotrol that our small busiess publisher provided us, their distributio ad ame recogitio did ot sufficietly rival that of other major busiess publishig houses. Desired Public Image I two or three seteces, defie the type of image you would like for your compay. For example: resposible iovative professioal fu experts i your field family-friedly The authors are recogized experts i the combied fields of public relatios ad the Iteret. The book is a comprehesive referece to Iteret public relatios. The book provides expert advice from hads-o experiece ad yet maages to be fu to read. March 9, 1998 Versio Copyright 1998, Greg Sherwi ad Emily Avila. All rights reserved.

4 The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret greg@coectigolie.com III. Busiess Requiremets Goals ad Objectives Defie the primary purposes or busiess requiremets of your Web site or Iteret presece. For example: build awareess streamlie customer service ecourage preferece obtai sales leads maitai customer loyalty geerate profits through olie sales Also cosider the followig: Do you wish to ifluece behavior? If so, how? What kid? Will your Web site be a source of ews ad iformatio for the media? Is your Web site a extesio of a customer service program? Iitially we lauched our Web site specifically with distributors as our audiece. The the sole purpose was to geerate distributor iterest i carryig our book. Oce this goal was achieved ad the book eared completio, our goals chaged to meet a ew audiece. First ad foremost, our Web site ad overall Iteret PR efforts must help sell our book. They must build awareess of the book, its subject, ad ourselves as the authors. Our Web site must demostrate our combied expertise o Iteret public relatios by example demostratig the priciples we outlie i the book. We must also demostrate the same through postigs o Useet, key mailig lists, Web-based forums, ad articles submitted to other Web sites. Furthermore, our ow Web site must compaio the book by takig advatage of the Iteret s stregths as a medium. It must provide us a meas of addressig timely issues where the book caot. It must provide updated iformatio ad ews for the commuity iterested i Iteret public relatios. It must provide a meas of cotiued two-way commuicatio with our publics. It should also eable commuicatio amog our publics through vehicles such as olie discussio forums. March 9, 1998 Versio Copyright 1998, Greg Sherwi ad Emily Avila. All rights reserved.

5 The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret greg@coectigolie.com Missio Statemet Usig your goals, objectives ad requiremets from above, determie a missio statemet for your Web site or olie presece. Your missio statemet should provide your Web team with a focus ad the media with a simple meas of classifyig you. Keep it simple ad cocise you should be able to use it as a soud-bite with everyoe. The CoectigOlie.com Web site practices what its compaio book preaches as the defiitive Iteret PR referece. IV. Audiece Iteret Audiece Defie the audiece for your Web site or Iteret efforts. Examie your publics, ad pick two-to-five groups. Be as specific as possible, ad prioritize your audieces if possible. This will help you to better target your goals ad messages, ad it will help you make decisios whe differet audieces may have coflictig eeds for example, employees ad ivestors durig a geeral strike. For example, your targeted publics may iclude the followig: media/jouralists ivestors curret customers govermet prospective customers employees After iitially targetig book distributors, we targeted book buyers seekig to itegrate the Iteret ito their busiess commuicatios plas. Our publics for the book therefore icluded small busiess owers, self-employed etrepreeurs, public relatios practitioers, marketers, ad college istructors ad studets of busiess commuicatios. Our publics for the Web site icluded colleges, people who have purchased copies of our book, people who were cosiderig purchasig copies of our March 9, 1998 Versio Copyright 1998, Greg Sherwi ad Emily Avila. All rights reserved.

6 The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret greg@coectigolie.com book, ad the media. Our publics for our Iteret postigs elsewhere primarily focused o the media ad those who cosidered purchasig our book. Strategies ad Tactics Usig your PR pla from Chapter 1, Itroductio to Public Relatios, idetify your strategies ad tactics olie. For example, if you would like to expad your busiess i aother coutry with the help of the Iteret, oe tactic could be laguage traslatio of your writte materials for your Web site. Strategies Tactics For example, the Iteret strategies ad tactics we used for our book are as follows: Strategies Gai recogitio as Iteret public relatios experts Tactics Participate i olie forums ad Webcasts aimed at Iteret busiess ad Web developers (e.g., Bares & Noble olie chat; WebMaster/CIO Magazie, Seidma s Isider, WebReview, Raga, Maisprig, ad NetPreeur forums; PRForum ad NPRN mailig lists); write ad cotribute olie ad offlie articles (e.g., Web Marketig Today, NETResults); create a Web site that demostrates our priciples March 9, 1998 Versio Copyright 1998, Greg Sherwi ad Emily Avila. All rights reserved.

7 The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret greg@coectigolie.com Icrease book sales Establish relatioships with olie bookstores; lik the book s Web site to olie bookstores for direct sales; offer cotet through the Web site that is tied to book cotet (e.g., this documet) Icrease media awareess of book Use the Web site to complemet book cotet Iclude the Web site URL o all correspodece; issue press releases through olie distributio services; offer cotet for jouralists o the Web site Add olie ews feed, articles, discussio forum, glossary, ad cotact iformatio for further questios V. Busiess Opportuity What is the busiess opportuity for your olie efforts? Give other Web sites ad olie iitiatives i your field ad the state of the curret olie busiess eviromet, what busiess opportuities lie ahead that you would like to exploit? For example, if you re a home fashio desiger, you might ote that your busiess is ot yet well represeted o the Iteret. If you are a bookseller, what uique qualities about your busiess model will set it apart from the may other olie bookstores? Web sites have become highly strategic for book sales i geeral. Olie bookstores have created a ew ad popular medium through which cosumers buy books. CD-ROMs are waig as a desirable complemet to computer-related books, ad yet the use of Web sites for complemetig prited books largely remais uexplored. Most book Web sites do t take advatage of the medium, choosig to throw up a static site that is largely abadoed. Our cotiual career ivolvemet with the Iteret ca be leveraged as a stregth. We could demostrate our proficiecy at the medium by creatig a Web site as both a platform ad example. Applyig our skills ad experiece effectively, we could both demostrate our expertise while illustratig key cocepts idetified i the text. March 9, 1998 Versio Copyright 1998, Greg Sherwi ad Emily Avila. All rights reserved.

8 The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret greg@coectigolie.com VI. Iformatio Sources/Cotet Examiig your audieces from IV. Audiece (see page 5), idetify iformatio or cotet that would be of direct ad appropriate iterest to each of your defied publics. They may iclude existig cotet you have ad cotet you would like to develop. This iformatio could be shared with your publics for example, product offerigs, ews, tips, ad helpful how-tos. Alteratively, this iformatio could be shared amog your publics for example, by hostig message boards, chats, or eve acceptig suggested offsite hyperliks. For example: Audiece jouralists Cotet iteractive press kits, ews releases, fact sheets, photos ad graphics, experts directory, ews tips ivestors speeches ad presetatios, aual reports, aoucemets of evets, quarterly earigs reports employees customers or the geeral public govermet policies, beefits, ews, features o employees ad commuity ivolvemet ewsletters, catalogs, how-tos, FAQs, maps ad directios positios o political issues; support for trade, labor, legal, or other busiess policies commuity charitable cotributios, fudraisig evets, commuity programs, employee voluteerig sposorships Audiece Cotet March 9, 1998 Versio Copyright 1998, Greg Sherwi ad Emily Avila. All rights reserved.

9 The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret greg@coectigolie.com This sectio has particular sigificace if you are plaig to lauch or redesig a compay Web site. We idetified the followig cotet sources for each of our audieces: Audiece book distributors (oly for first Web site versio) small busiess owers, self-employed etrepreeurs Cotet book excerpts, defiitio of the book s market, competitive aalysis of related books book excerpts, Iteret PR ews headlies, Iteret busiess articles, discussio forums, reviewed bookmarks, worksheets public relatios practitioers, marketers book excerpts, Iteret PR ews headlies, Iteret busiess articles, discussio forums, reviewed bookmarks, worksheets college istructors ad studets of busiess commuicatios media potetial book buyers book buyers sample course syllabus, course slides, worksheets, book excerpts, discussio forums, Iteret PR ews headlies, reviewed bookmarks press releases, book excerpts, cotact iformatio, reviews of the book book excerpts, reviews of the book, press releases, liks to olie bookstores for book purchasig Iteret PR ews headlies, Iteret busiess articles, discussio forums, reviewed bookmarks, book supplemets (such as this form) March 9, 1998 Versio Copyright 1998, Greg Sherwi ad Emily Avila. All rights reserved.

10 The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret greg@coectigolie.com VII. Messages Determie Your Messages Determie your five most importat messages. They should be precise ad specifically target your differet audieces. Highlight your top three. Take ote how the cotet you idetified i VI. Iformatio Sources/Cotet (see page 8) ca be used to support or covey these messages. Here are our top five messages, listed i order of preferece: 1) Coectig Olie is the defiitive book about public relatios ad the Iteret. Lear from the authors combied expertise. 2) Beig successful o the Iteret requires a careful busiess pla, a clear visio for desig, ad a uderstadig of the techology. 3) Whether you maage it or ot, you may already have a olie image. 4) Olie public relatios lays the foudatio for all olie marketig ad sales efforts. 5) Like radio ad televisio that came before it, the Iteret is a ew medium that requires a ew set of public relatios skills for maagig a compay s image. VIII. Metrics for Success Oce your Iteret iitiative is uderway, how will you measure your success? How will you kow if you are ay closer to attaiig your busiess goals tha whe you started? How will you kow if oe approach or idea you try olie is more effective tha aother? Defie measuremets or metrics by which you will judge the effectiveess of your Iteret efforts. These should give you a idea of how well you are achievig the busiess goals you defied i III. Busiess Requiremets (see page 4). I some cases these may ot be apparet, ad you may eed to develop a system for measuremet. Example metrics iclude the followig: March 9, 1998 Versio Copyright 1998, Greg Sherwi ad Emily Avila. All rights reserved.

11 Number of visitors to your Web site Citatios i the press, both olie ad offlie Sales leads Quality ad quatity of feedback or customer survey data The metrics we chose for determiig our effectiveess were as follows: Total traffic to the Web site ad its features Books sold through the Web site feedback Number of Web sites that liked to our site, especially Iteret busiess/marketig Web sites Citatios o other Web sites ad olie ews services IX. Exclusios Idetify ay plas or ideas that were iitially cosidered but were later removed due to complexity, cost, time-to-market, risk, etc. Some of these ideas may be postpoed for a future iteratio of your Web site lifecycle, or it may be abadoed etirely. Regardless, if it s sigificat, it pays to itemize it here so that this documet will reflect that you have t overlooked these possibilities. For the first phase of our Iteret PR efforts, we addressed oly book distributors ad ot potetial buyers.

12 The Iteret Public Relatios Pla by Greg Sherwi Coectig Olie: Creatig A Successful Image o the Iteret greg@coectigolie.com X. Busiess Risk Aalysis Note ay busiess risks recogized at this poit here, for example: low iteral level of computer ad techical kowledge extremely limited budget, huma resources, or timelie very aggressive ambitios ad/or schedule with little relevat experiece XI. Cotacts of Authority ad Approval Idetify the perso(s) who ca approve your Iteret public relatios pla, make strategic decisios, ad have the authority to allocate resources ad see it through to completio. To esure that all key stakeholders have reviewed your Iteret public relatios pla ad commit to its objectives, obtai sigatures here. By sigig, you ackowledge that you ve read, uderstood, ad approve of the pla. Your sigature is a measure of your commitmet this is ot iteded as a legal documet. March 9, 1998 Versio Copyright 1998, Greg Sherwi ad Emily Avila. All rights reserved.