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September 2008

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Guest Column

The Internet and Your Practice

By Dee Rambeau, DVCO Agency

In 2000, The Council of PR Firms commissioned IMT Strategies, an international research firm with clients such as IBM and American Express, to research the Internetâs impact on the PR Industry. The result was a 70-page report entitled, ãThe Impact of the Internet on Public Relations and Business Communicationsä that was largely unread due to its length and price. But just because the study did not become a ãmust haveä among PR practitioners does not mean it didnât have valuable information.

IMT Strategies found that ãthe PR and communications industry was not leveraging technology as well as other marketing disciplines and is generally thin on innovation.ä Further, ãInternet-enabled, networked communications will force change on the communications industry, whether participants like it or not.ä So how can we leverage this information to improve our own best practices, to enhance our service offerings to existing clients and to expand services and win new business?

Six high-level implications found by IMT Strategies about our industry and the corresponding six action items for us as communications leaders to take.

Implication #1 -- Quality and authenticity will be self-regulated

Implication #2 -- The volume of information flowing will grow

Implication #3 -- The media is exploding

Implication #4 -- Levels of centralized control will decrease

Implication #5 -- Efficiency of communication will increase

Implication #6 -- Collaboration and interaction will increase

One of the research frameworks for the study was the traditional Public Relations Value Chain and how it has been changed forever. The chain was broken into four discrete groups: the customers, who have an objective or message to deliver, the providers, who assist in managing and distributing the message, the media, through which the message is delivered, and the audiences that the message is intended to reach and influence.

A mere decade ago, most people around the world received their information from familiar mass media such as television, radio, newspapers or magazines. This was a linear information flow, a model of one-to-many. The Public Relations industry was an active link in this chain as providers. Suddenly, with the advent of the Internet, people are able to communicate in a radical new way: many to many. The usefulness of both the providers AND the media is being minimized.

The study found that of the four groups, the customers and the media are feeling the most pain from the impact of the Internet on communications flows. The customers have not been able to trust their PR counsel to effectively monitor and influence the new information outlets. The media has grown to consider the PR professionals as unnecessary gate-keepers of information. Consistently in the interviews done for the IMT study, media stated that they wanted more permission-based control over corporate communications and that PR professionals should focus their energies on value-added creation and analysis of information rather than simply its dissemination.

This non-linear or networked communications model is here to stay. The question is·are you?

By now, can we all agree that Internet-enabled, networked audiences will force change upon the communications industry whether the participants like it or not? If you donât agree, skip the rest of this article. For the rest of you, letâs discuss the five tools of a strategic, online communications strategy.

This strategy assumes two key things:

Assumption 1: all online content publishing and management can be done by the professional communicator through an easy administrative interface that requires only the most basic computer skills.

Assumption 2: all media assets, contacts and content are stored in a server environment designed to suit the needs of the company. This material can be accessed from anywhere through the Internet given the proper security.

The five tools of a strategic online communications strategy are:

1. A Corporate Web Site. This is the first point of contact for all external audiences. The brand and the message should be consistent with all other offline marketing and PR material.

2. A Media Room. All information that anyone would ever want about the company, updated on a constant basis. Linked directly to the corporate web site and controlled by the PR professionals. Brand, message, design and navigation match corporate web site.

3. A Crisis Site. Dark until needed for an eventual crisis, this is the online component of a companyâs overall crisis communications plan. An insurance policy, this site is controlled by the PR professionals. The message is prepared in times of quiet and published to the site in advance. When the crisis occurs, the site is made live and is used as a one-stop resource site for both internal and external audiences. 

4. A Corporate Intranet. This is a vital tool for internal communications, both in times of normalcy and in times of chaos. Employees must share the vision, the brand and the message and be able to communicate it consistently to the outside world. Also allows for dynamic learning, training and presentations.

5. A Client Extranet. The company gives access to a secure area for its clients and customers. It is separate from the corporate website and password protected. It can be used for collaboration among account team members, for managing client billings and for commerce if so required.

Only by developing an understanding of the use of these tools can a PR professional truly call themselves web-enabled. 

DVCO Agency

DVCO is a business communications company providing products and services to other business communications professional. Our products are based on our proprietary technology "DVCO Now!" Our services are based upon years of diverse experience as business communicators.

This powerful combination allows us to work directly with corporate communicators or with the agencies representing them.

1800 Platte Street - Denver, CO 80202
PH: 303.561.1234   Fax: 303.561.1235

E:  info@dvcoagency.com

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