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Monthly Luncheon Report

(April 14, 2004 PCC Monthly Luncheon)

Maximizing Online Marketing Effectiveness of Internet Challenges Even the Pros

Karen Breen Vogel
B2B Works

Vogel told the audience that clients hire companies like hers to "get this thing right." One needs to examine the Web site, determining what they want, what they are doing, why they are there and track/measure and deliver, while determining what difference their Web presence makes to their business.

"The Internet," says Vogel, "is a client-initiated process." In surfing the Web, users tell companies who they are and what they are looking for. If you look at what the real data shows, when we look at this, we see how it works." Use of the Internet allows businesses to know the markets better and allow them to make stronger inroads.

The system is not throwing things at walls and hope they stick. They are like ant farms, responding to crumbs. There is nothing there to do with achieving goals. Web trends are expected to provide data about unique users and cover the trail of clicks - the "crumbs" dropped. Web analytics is a fast-growing arena.

"The Web offers a means lo measure community," added Vogel. "Eric Zorn creates more heart and soul for the Tribune, building relationships. Counting clicks and page views can be a trap."

Eric Zorn
Chicago Tribune

Zorn is the self-declared "most active person on the Internet" and the first general interest columnist with his own Web site with daily Web logs, also known as Blogs. Like online diaries, where each entry goes to the top and pushes the next one down, there are now approximately 3- to 4 million Web logs. A compelling way to communicate, they deal with every topic from the mundane lo international affairs. With Web logs, it is no longer necessary to have a domain name but still receive millions of hits a day. Blogs are like graffiti boards where comments may be edited and published as mail.

Zorn’s Tribune blog serves to complement what appears in the paper. Through this medium, Zorn receives comments and conducts polls.

One blog entry discussed Al Franken's liberal radio program on a Chicago AM radio station.

The problem with this vehicle is managing the content and making money with it. "It's hard to quantify the value of a Web presence," said Zorn. "There is a news presence expected of the blog by a company like ours. You can measure everything on the Web but not the value."

To see Zorn's Web log, visit www.chicagotribune.com/notebook. It's a fresh, newsy web presence to bring people back for new content.

On a blog, there can be a lot of talking but it’s difficult to know for sure whether anyone is listening. Like chat rooms, blogs move topic-by-topic.

Search engines, on the other hand, rely on integrity, and still have to give relevant results to consumers. Algorithms decide who is first, but they want to make users happy. Relevant information must be given to users.

Ken Bouton
BusinessWire

The regional manager of BusinessWire, Ken Bouton has seen a growing number of companies shift to incorporate online communications into their marketing strategies, and considers it a strong PR tool. BusinessWire provides a number of online tools for PR professionals and considers PR News as its major competitor.

Bouton feels that, leveraged, the Internet has led the field of public relations to a new paradigm. A vast number of corporations and professionals are accessing online tools as part of media relations and developing an online community.

More than 150 million Americans have gone online, with two-thirds using the Web to access or read news. The largest group by far, 72 percent, are between 18 and 34 years old. This may not be the current target market, said Bouton, but it is the first generation using the Internet to this extent and may influence future patterns. Strong relationships can be leveraged or gained via databases. Copy is carried unedited, for the most part, and feeds an apparent insatiable appetite for news by this group. Bouton contends that this is part of a broader integrated package.

"You cannot fax a release to Yahoo or Google and have them post it," said Bouton. However, in many cases, there is still a need to fax and call. "The ability to ensure that the CEO is quoted unedited has value to both the sender and receiver."

There is a great value in having the ability to archive and have a retrievable record that document whether press releases are used. This is especially true for publicly held companies as it levels the playing field. Bouton indicates that this is a branding tool for clients to achieve equal levels of branding. According to Bouton, BusinessWire, an inexpensive medium, allows access to national and international audiences. More and more, BusinessWire is seeing the use of multimedia in the releases it puts out. Companies are using the online medium to leverage brands, especially since that means logos can be included with the releases sent.

Bouton suggests that Alta Vista and other sites providing thumbnails and multimedia have more click-throughs. The brand, logo and products are shown, hyperlinking back to the company Web site and driving the traffic back. It replicates the media kit of the past.

"The feedback is that media no longer has time for [traditional printed] media kits," said Bouton. "The Internet allows us to put kits online with the assets to support them, such as photos in JPG format, streaming videos, etc. In an integrated marketing approach, this integrates both."

Brian Lewis
PrairieWeb Internet Marketing, Inc.

With his no-nonsense "anti-tech-speak" approach, Brian Lewis helps clients define their marketing goals for the Internet on a big picture level, helping numerous businesses and organizations identify and capture new opportunities and markets on the Internet.

Content is king! Lewis’ method is to begin by examining the Web site, decide the goal of the site and whether or not that goal is clear to a visitor. The challenge is to attract qualified people to go to the site, using easy navigation and key words.

The prize is converting Web visits into actual sales. Keep in mind that some tools cost "by click" or inclusion. Design the Web site so that your call-to-action text gets indexed up by search engines. To that end, Lewis suggests writing copy to match key words.

For Yahoo, MSN and Google, including overture.com (a Yahoo company), the rules change frequently. Key words cost money. They cost per click. Therefore, companies need to consider where they want to list their Web site to be most successful - and decide how to determine if they are being successful. He suggests looking closely to determine the cost-effectiveness.

Lewis relates that the best sites are those that reflect the dynamics of the Internet, steering away from linear, brochure-style text to more user-friendly formats.

Also, consider if the site is unique, if visitors are coming, how long they stay, what are the costs, the financial value of the leads provided and the sales/conversion rates. Lewis suggests analyzing the site, reviewing the plan, looking at the users and then making changes or going forward. Return on investment is measured by key words and by search engines.

You can reach Sue Masaracchia-Roberts at MASS! Communications, suemas@comcast.net.

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