Leveraging the Web's Public Relations Power (6/14)

Leveraging the Web's Public Relations Power

Discover winning strategies for addressing the needs of strategic audiences with online PR.

A World Wide Web ensures communication will never again be the same. And while e-commerce is exploding and online communities are growing, public relations (PR) practitioners are beginning to utilize the far-reaching powers of the Internet to inform and influence strategic audiences on the Web. The main advantage? The Internet allows you to communicate directly with an audience in almost real-time, and at very little cost.

Indeed, PR pros are welcoming the Net as part of an integrated approach to strategic communications. The challenge lies in understanding the Web's unique role in the PR mix and how to leverage the power of the medium to make sure your message gets to the right people at the right time.

"What we are accustomed to doing in public relations is pushing," says Shel Holtz, author of "Public Relations on the Net" and principal of California-based Holtz Communication + Technology. "Pushing doesn't work very well on the Web. You need to draw them to the information, and you need to make sure the information is customized."

Tools You Can Use

The Internet offers companies a whole new bag of PR tricks, starting with e-mail. People were using e-mail long before the Web came about, and it's still the Internet's most widely used feature. This makes e-mail one of the most potent of Internet PR tools, and it can be utilized in several strategic ways. Experts stress, however, that e-mail should be permission-based. In other words, you should not send e-mail to anyone who did not request it.

Once you know the rules of the road, one-to-one communication via e-mail can be used to send information expeditiously to strategic audiences. In fact, e-mail has become so efficient that it has all but replaced the telephone as the chief mode of communication for many PR agents. As Holtz points out, e-mail allows you to keep a record of the entire communications process, include electronic documents with your correspondence, and communicate in near-real-time when you cannot be assured of an individual's telephone availability.

E-mail distribution lists are an effective use of the medium, allowing all parties involved in a negotiation to participate in a discussion. Holtz says distribution lists are also a prime venue for conducting focus groups, sharing research findings with key audience members, and providing regular updates on issues of interest to recipients. The major distribution wires, such as Reuters and Associated Press, have moved online to deliver press and news releases to journalists worldwide via e-mail.

Your goal when compiling an e-mail distribution list is to target your invitations only to those individuals who will find the information useful, such as reporters who regularly cover your company, industry analysts, shareholders, consumer interest groups and so on.

Much like e-mail distribution lists, subscription mailing lists allow you to send specialized information to list members. However, while distribution lists are one-way communication, subscription lists, also called listservs, are interactive, allowing recipients to communicate with other members. Sean Carton, managing partner of Carton Donofrio Interactive (CDI), a full-service multimedia and Web marketing communications firm headquartered in Baltimore, Md., says using a subscription mailing list is an effective method for gaining direct access to an audience. "It's a self-selected, targeted audience of highly motivated people who are interested in whatever the topic area is," explains Carton.

The success of subscription mailing lists depends on getting users to sign up. Be sure to promote list registration to your strategic audiences to ensure a productive e-mail network that encourages members to discuss topics related to your business or industry.

Discussion groups (also known as forums, newsgroups or bulletin boards) are next on the Web evolution scale. These venues allow users to post messages to one another on a variety of topics. The best example of their power are the rumors people post on financial bulletin boards that cause people to make impulse stock purchases. Moving on to the Web, communication becomes global and much more interactive. The Web allows a company to launch strategic PR campaigns through the use of audio files, animation and even live broadcasting.

As more Web merchants begin adding elements of content and community to their commerce models, content syndication is also emerging as a PR tool. Carton says providing content to online media outlets and branding it with your logo is an overlooked method for informing and influencing strategic audiences. Tunes.com, for example, offers free newsfeeds to fan sites in exchange for a link back to the Tunes.com site. "Content syndication is effective because people see it as a service instead of an obtrusive marketing vehicle," insists Carton.

Media Relations on the Net

The exploding use of the Internet by journalists has forever transformed the practice of public relations, according to Don Middleberg, CEO of Middleberg + Associates, a public relations and interactive communications firm based in New York City. In fact, according to Middleberg's "Media in Cyberspace" study, journalists now use the Internet as frequently and as comfortably as they use the telephone, making them an important audience to address online.

"There are now countless opportunities to communicate to new and old audiences, especially journalists, in the medium of their choice -- the Internet," says Middleberg. "This impacts how we help companies build brands, enhance shareholder value and employee morale, reach government and academic communities, and, of course, sell more products and services."

Experts say companies should be asking the reporters who cover them what their needs are before designing a media relations site or virtual press room.

"Companies should be treating each reporter as an individual and understand how the reporter wants to get information," says Amos Kermisch, executive vice president of the interactive division of Brodeur Porter Novelli, a leading high-tech public relations firm headquartered in Boston. The idea, he says, is to use the technology to present information in a way that makes it easier for the media to do its job.

Journalists who go to your media relations Web site will expect to find current news that is updated regularly. "During a crisis, journalists will know your site is a resource for information," says Holtz. "In the normal course of day-to-day business, you can make sure your most important messages are front and center."

Experts also stress making your contact information easy to find. In addition, a company background and executive bios should be posted, along with publication-quality artwork, such as head shots and product and packaging shots. Chrysler's Media Relations site, for instance, offers four-color images of its automobile line in a special access area that requires journalists to register before downloading materials.

Position statements, an activity calendar and an archive of past press releases should also be included in any virtual pressroom, as well as articles about your company that have already appeared in the media and a company fact sheet. Media-savvy companies are even offering story ideas on the Web. Symantec, for example, posts possible topics for reporters on the technology beat. This tactic is expected to gain popularity, as the Middleberg study suggests journalists rank the Internet second in importance for handling new providers of story ideas.

"There tends to be a concern among some media relations people that by putting this information up on the Web you won't know that the press is out there doing a story about you," says Holtz. "I haven't found that to be the case. They may do their homework there first, but they're still going to call you about certain issues."

Investor Relations on the Net

In the case of investor relations (IR), it is no longer a question of whether or not to publish financial information on the Web. Experts agree the Web levels the playing field for individual investors, and companies that want to keep their shareholders informed will adopt a Web-based IR strategy.

On an IR Web site, investors want the facts, not a marketing spin. The biggest challenge, however, is not packaging the information, but delivering it in near-real-time. And the biggest mistake companies are making in their online IR efforts are not posting the information quickly enough and not changing it often enough.

"Real solid IR firms on the Internet should be using PR Newswire and Business Wire strategically because any would-be investor, analyst or money manager can go there and look up releases over the last six months and get a real track record of who you are," says Ed Moed, managing partner for New York-based PepperCom, a public relations firm specializing in heightening brand awareness for Web-based companies.

As well, CCBN.com offers a service that allows users to view your company's data pages from the stock exchanges, branded with your company logo. Still, individual investors often go first to a company's site looking for information, and internal IR departments should be ready and waiting with everything the investor needs to make an informed buying decision.

"As the Net becomes a more popular investment tool, day traders and online traders are going to become very significant," says Holtz. "I think you are going to start seeing a shift in the volumes of shares that are owned by individuals, as opposed to institutions, because it's easier now."

An IR Web site should include the basics of any traditional IR kit, but you can't put it up in the same format you had in print. As with everything else on the Web, it must be adapted for interactivity. An online IR area includes all the financial formation found in a traditional annual report, along with any news or information that might affect the value of the organization in the eye of the public.

More sophisticated venues, like Microsoft, for example, provide analysts tools to help investors determine the quality of an investment. But the interactive nature of the Web allows for even greater possibilities, including proxy voting online, investor conference calls, and even online road shows.

Community Relations on the Net

In a society that is placing increased value on socially responsible companies, community relations is an aspect of PR that is not to be ignored. Using the Web is an effective way to address this strategic audience, which includes the community at large, civic and educational groups, and community and charitable organizations. Carton says when addressing this audience, it important to communicate with them in a tone that is as free of marketing-speak as it can possibly be. "Consumers can smell marketing a mile a way," he jokes.

Holtz says a good place to start is by posting your company's community relations report on the Web. Ashland Inc., a chemical company based in Kentucky, offers community members an overview of their investments in civic affairs, education, arts and culture, the environment and heath and human services issues in their Community Relations Annual Report.

"Proactively address the concerns that you can imagine the local residents are going to have," says Holtz. "Talk about future expansion plans and what you are doing to minimize the impact on the community and what it's going to mean to the environment." Experts also suggest talking about your company's impact on the local economy via jobs you are providing and taxes you are paying to the community.

This venue also provides an opportunity to talk about the volunteer and charitable activities your company participates in, including providing used equipment to local schools, sponsoring a little league team, speaking at community events, establishing grants, and so on. Holtz says the biggest challenge with online community relations efforts is letting people know the site is there, and suggests announcing the site through an integrated promotion that includes a direct mailer to community members.

To be sure, the Web is a convenient place to broadcast your commitment to the community and enhance your company's reputation. "One of the things that is determining a company's value is its reputation, and one of the things that goes into reputation is the perception the community has of you," insists Holtz. "A lower reputation means lower earnings and a lower credit rating."

Monitoring Your Company's Online Image

While the Web has proven itself a tremendous image-building tool, it's important to keep in mind that it's also a very potent rumor mill. Companies like Mrs. Fields and popular clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger can testify to the Internet's far-reaching power to damage a good reputation. For instance, bulletin board posts announced that Mrs. Fields had donated cookies to O.J. Simpson's victory party, and Hilfiger was accused of making derogatory comments about the minorities who purchased his products. Neither of these rumors were true, but the word spread like wildfire, and much damage was done before the scandals were quashed.

"Every public company probably has somebody out there posting messages about them, and if you are not monitoring what people are saying about you at the grassroots level, you can get into trouble," says Carton.

As these examples illustrate, it is critical to monitor your company's online image through newsgroups, e-mail lists, and commercial online service forums. However, this is very time consuming, and experts recommend outsourcing to online clipping services, like eWatch and Company Sleuth. Such services use keywords and brand names to scour the Internet for communications surrounding your company. These services, however, are still in their infancy, and some observers remain skeptical about their efficacy.

However you accomplish it, the goal is to keep abreast of what is being said so you can respond quickly and keep unfounded rumors from spreading. "Whether it's syringes in Pepsi cans or people who create rogue Web sites against companies or individuals, the idea is you need to know about it through online research, and you need to have a strategy for dealing with it," explains Middleberg.

The Net's Role in Crisis Management

Just as the Internet can be a vehicle for harming a company's reputation, it can also be a strategic advantage in times of true company crisis. The objective of crisis communication is to solve or dilute the crisis, and this is best accomplished by controlling the flow of information to the public. The Web has secured its role in crisis communication by allowing the swift delivery of information directly to the individual consumer without interference from or interpretation by the media.

As such, the Web is more and more becoming the first place people go when they hear something has happened in your organization. If nothing's there, says Holtz, a couple of things happen: They wonder what you are hiding, and they seek alternative sources of information. On the other hand, if you do post information, do it responsibly. "Honesty is always the best policy, regardless of the medium," says Middleberg. "But it's never been more true than in the case of the Net, where credibility is everything."

Experts recommend having a plan in place that prepares your company for crises, both online and off. A strategic crisis management plan will detail roles and responsibilities of the major players, how information is distributed, and other decision-making guidelines. The bottom line is, when there's a negative issue facing your company, you should be there quickly with information.

There is, perhaps, no bigger crisis for a company than the product- or service-related death of a customer. When the Swissair tragedy killed hundreds of people in 1999, the company responded quickly by posting all relevant information about the crash on the Web. Swissair even implemented a password-protected area where relatives could go to find out information that was not yet available to the general public.

As an example of poor online crisis management, Holtz details the handling of the TransWorld Airlines (TWA) Flight 800 crash in 1996. Almost immediately after the tragedy, the company's Web site was removed and replaced with a terse statement that verified the crash but noted that TWA had no additional information. Though the statement promised to post information as it became available, the site remained unchanged for weeks. Experts describe TWA's response as "a disgrace."

"If it's a crisis, the chairman or the president ought to be talking to the public about what they are doing about it right now, on the Web," says Ermisch. "Actually, it ought to be going out on your company's Web site faster than it appears in the news media, which is the real challenge for a lot of companies."

Measuring Results of Net-based PR

Another challenge is measuring the results of Web-based PR. Moed says that while public relations has always been a gray matter, it should be measured. "Just like advertising is benchmarked, and you look at it in terms of how you've built a reputation or an image, PR should be measured the same way," he explains.

You have to determine at the start of your PR efforts what your objectives are in order to get an accurate measure of the campaign. Most people stop at hits, and experts say this is a mistake. While hit counts may tell you how many people saw the information on your site, it won't tell you if your message was effective.

The measurement needs to relate more closely to your objective. So, for example, if your goal is to place three executives in community-speaking engagements during a one-month period via your Web-based community relations efforts, then as long as three engagements were booked via an online contact, it doesn't matter how many people viewed the information. If you reach your objective, then the campaign was effective.

Getting somebody's name and e-mail address is a great measure of success online, says Carton, because people are very reticent to give up personal information on the Net unless they are very interested in your product or service. You can also trace viewers' click trail to find out how they are arriving at your site, and use that as a measure of where you want to focus your efforts in the future.

Experts say Net-based PR is the wave of the future and insist many core PR functions must move online to better serve strategic audiences. "Public relations practitioners not truly incorporating Internet communications initiatives into their public relations strategies are doing a disservice to their clients and to the media," insists Middleberg. "To dismiss the new generation of media in cyberspace and the online communication they prefer is incompetent and borders on negligence."