The simple truth of Web communication and marketing is that any information can be communicated to anybody with Internet access at any time. This is good for Web marketers but requires a serious planning effort before any actual Web development work is begun. Of course, this is not the case in most situations. Many Web sites are thrown together with little or no previous planning, and then Web developers are held responsible for the enormous expense and minimal results.
Whether you are starting from scratch or revamping a Web effort already under way, it is never too late to make a plan for your Web communication efforts. Why do this? For two very significant reasons:
Without some type of plan in place regarding our Web marketing and communication efforts, we have no way to benchmark where we stand at any given point. Unless we are working for ourselves, we will probably be held accountable for a budget and how money is spent on Web communication. A plan helps justify and explain how money is used and the communication it funds.
A plan also gives us a course of action. Because of the technical nature of Web communication, it is very easy to get involved in technology usage issues while losing sight of an overall objective. Technology for tech-nology's sake is a reoccurring problem in the marketplace. As Web communicators, we need to drive Web development efforts toward a communications goal. And to do so we must come up with a goal or series of goals in the first place.
Keep in mind that we are not talking about project management issues in this chapter. Those issues are covered elsewhere in this book. Instead we are talking about examining all of the communication options available to us and then developing a communications plan to execute and measure against.
To discuss this concept, I'd like to utilize the traditional journalism model of who, what, where, when, why, and how. This is a formula used by generations of writers to develop news reports. We can also use it to begin planning Internet marketing and communication efforts. In this discussion,
Whodefines the audience.
Whatdefines the information exchange taking place with each audience.
Wheredefines the physical location of the audience members, which may or may not be important.
Whendescribes the time issues involved with the information exchange.
Whydescribes the planned outcome of the exchange.
Howdefines the structure and Internet communication applications being used to communicate to the audience.
The first term, who, is probably the most important aspect of such a plan. Since every user of the Internet is a potential audience member, this question must be determined first and foremost. Who are we planning to communicate with? The answer to this question can be defined as an audience, a group of users we wish to communicate with. A myriad of potential audiences exist on the Internet, but here are some likely groups for our efforts:
Whatis the next question we must answer in an Internet marketing and communication plan. Each of the audiences listed previously will require a different information presentation and exchange effort. For example,
All or some of these different information presentations may need to be included in a comprehensive Internet communication effort. Each audience requires a different approach, but all can and should be served.
Whereis a relatively easy question to answer in this process. In front of some type of computer terminal with access to the Internet, World Wide Web, and e-mail service is where this communication will take place. Geography is not important for many Internet-based communication efforts.
However, in some situations where that communication takes place might be an issue to consider. Delivery of products and services may not be available in some areas. Shipping of products may be priced based on geography. Employees working on a manufacturing floor may not have Internet access at work but can be encouraged and assisted in home access. Doing business with international customers brings in a whole series of issues, including currency, export laws, and shipping.
Whenis another easy answer with a big catch. The Internet is available all the time, seven days a week. That means a Web site can be accessed "24/7," to use a familiar buzzword. But if your audience requires individual, person-to-person interaction, that might mean a shift in business operations to a 24-hour cycle. If an e-mail message sent in by a customer or prospect won't be answered until the next business day, then that day must be defined for the Internet audience.
The same is true for any type of fulfillment on or off the Web. Due to the instantaneous nature of Internet communication, users expect fast results. Your company or organization must define its ability to fulfil information, products, and services and then execute that fulfillment as promised. If you commit to shipping a personalized product within 24 hours of the time the order was received, then that should happen. If it isn't possible to do so, then it is better to change the fulfillment schedules than not deliver as promised. A broken commitment is no way to begin or continue a business relationship.
Why this interaction is taking place has probably been discussed in the answer to the whatquestion. But a planned outcome for each information exchange with the appropriate audience member helps further define the plan for development and measurement of an Internet marketing effort. This whyanswer can be a benchmark for Web site activity. If the planned outcome is a sale to a new customer or an information exchange with an employee, then a later comparison of actual sales versus new Web site visitors or measurement of information fulfillment is an excellent tool for analysis.
The answer to the whyquestion also helps further develop a plan for the next question: Howdo we communicate using the variety of options available on the Internet? The answer to this question will probably involve a variety of technology options and information interface decisions.
Traditional marketing materials used text, graphics, and multimedia to identify, explain, display, and demonstrate products and services. The Internet provides opportunities to duplicate such efforts on the Web. The Web also provides opportunities to capture information using forms processors embedded into Web pages. If each user requires individual confirmation of an order or an answer to a specific question, then e-mail can probably be used. E-mail can also be used to replace relationship-continuing efforts like hard copy mailings and regular phone calls.
If your audience needs access to a database of information, then a Web-based database interface must be designed with the specific needs of each audience participant in mind. A complete sales cycle must be envisioned first and then an interface must be developed that accomplishes the goal of the interaction. The amazon.com Web site is an example of a interface designed to sell products and uses databases behind the scenes to deliver, capture, and exchange information with the user. The whole interaction is designed to facilitate the purchase and fulfillment of products.
To understand the importance of planning in Internet marketing, let's use a hypothetical example from the physical world. Let's assume for the sake of discussion that you have been instructed by a supervisor to communicate face to face with the five biggest customers your hypothetical company has, asking each what their projected growth is for next year. Let's assume you have to complete this task in five days. You have to travel out of state to do so, and your company requires preauthorization for travel money. Your supervisor wants daily updates on your communication and how you spend travel money.
a) | Using the five Ws, what is the first question you need to answer for yourself to complete this assignment? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
b) | What is your next step in going to see these people? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
c) | On the third day the supervisor calls you in a hotel and wants to know how much money you have spent and whom you have spoken with. Based on the information given in (a) and (b), what do you tell him or her? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
d) | Upon return to the home office you must submit an accounting of your travel expenses compared to the original authorization and estimate an average cost for this type of activity in the future. How do you do this? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Let's now examine some basic planning ideas by reverse engineering a successful Web site. Using a computer connected to the Internet, return to the amazon.com Web site that you visited earlier. We won't know the exact answers to these questions, but we can make some general assumptions to address these concepts.
a) | Who are some of the audiences this Web site plans to address? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
b) | What information is planned to be exchanged at this Web site with its audiences? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
c) | Where are these interactions taking place? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
d) | Does physical location play any role in this interaction? If so, what role? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
e) | Does the concept of whenapply on this Web site? If so, how? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
f) | Why are these interactions taking place? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
g) | How are these interactions taking place using Internet technology? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
a) | Using the five Ws, what is the first question you need to answer for yourself to complete this assignment? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | Your answers may vary, but you probably need to determine exactly whom you need to speak to. You have a general understanding of your audience in this assignment. You need to communicate with the five biggest customers, but you don't know who they are. A quick check on sales numbers will give you the answer and, hopefully, the contact information you need. This is the first step in developing a plan for communication with this audience. You already know what to ask these contacts. And you know the why and how of the situation. Your goal at the end of the interaction is to know the customer's plans for next year. You plan to visit each person personally to complete this interaction, answering the how question as well. |
b) | What is your next step in going to see these people? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | Again, this is a broad question, but your answer should include development of a plan to travel to and communicate with these contacts. Since travel requires preauthorization in this hypothetical situation, you need to make arrangements in advance. Regardless of the need for preauthorization, most people like to plan travel in advance and create an itinerary that includes all the stops and transportation issues involved with the trip. In this situation planning is imperative for most people. Plane tickets and hotel room reservations are usually purchased and reserved in advance to save money and secure availability. Some things, like airport transit and dining choices, can be determined in each situation, but many of the larger details are planned in advance. In this situation money must be budgeted for these activities as well. Overall, this effort requires an action plan of some kind. If you only have five days and need to visit five people, then one hypothetical plan would be to visit one each day. A plan will be developed to determine travel issues and make sure you get to each place at the appropriate time. A plan also helps you determine costs in advance and ensures that you don't spend the night in an airport. |
c) | On the third day the supervisor calls you in a hotel and wants to know how much money you have spent and whom you have spoken with. Based on the information given in (a) and (b), what do you tell him or her? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | Answers will vary, but based on the discussion so far, you could tell the supervisor that you have visited with three customers, give their names, and state your conclusions based on your interactions, the amount of money you have actually spent, and your plans for the rest of the trip. This demonstrates why planning is so important in any marketing effort. Planning gives us an opportunity to measure our activities and analyze expenses based on these measurements. With a travel plan in place, we can report actual results and accurate costs to our supervisor when it is requested. It is the same in Internet marketing and communication. A course of action, a record of interactions, and an accounting of costs gives us the opportunity to measure the performance of our efforts and compare results and expenses. |
d) | Upon return to the home office you must submit an accounting of your travel expenses compared to the original authorization and estimate an average cost for this type of activity in the future. How do you do this? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | To complete this action you would add up all your travel costs and compare them to your budgeted amounts. You would also divide these costs by 5 to develop an average cost for this type of activity. While this activity seems quite simple, the implication of this step is that a plan has established a benchmark for later analysis. The plan has also provided a basic analysis that can be used for determination of success and for a later allocation of resources. Though this communication plan was basic and dealt more with travel logistics than customer interaction, this exercise helps define the importace of plannning. Quite simply, without planning we don't know how to get somewhere or how much it will cost. Planning gives us the opportunity to ascertain where we are at any given time, what it cost to get there, and a way to analyze results and costs in the same context. |
Let's now examine some basic planning ideas by reverse engineering a successful Web site. Using a computer connected to the Internet, return to the amazon.com Web site that you visited earlier. We won't know the exact answers to this question, but we can make some general assumptions to demonstrate these planning concepts.
a) | Who are some of the audiences this Web site plans to address? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | Your answers will vary but could include a description such as this: A wide variety of customers from a horizontal representation of the Internet audience, meaning almost anyone on the Internet. This audience is interested in directly purchasing books, music, or other media and has demonstrated a desire to do so using the Web as a communication channel. Both current and new customers could be members of this audience, and prospects could be responding to on-line and traditional media offers. |
b) | What information is planned to be exchanged at this Web site with its audiences? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | We discussed this in the previous chapter. The very simple answers to this question include: product information customized for returning visitors; special offersbased on particular products; detailed information explaining the business transactions available; and updated customer accounts including contact, payment, product preferences and interest, and shipping information, which is all captured and utilized instantaneously. It is important to note that this Internet marketing example does not have a traditional media component. The whole company is based primarily on the Internet communication model, which can be analyzed to define the importance of planning in such efforts. Many of the options available to us as Internet marketers are used on this site, and it serves as an excellent model to see all the types of information that can be exchanged over the Web. |
c) | Where are these interactions taking place? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | Again your actual answers will vary, but it can be assumed that the interactions are taking place on the Web, with users communicating from home or work via some kind of networked device. |
d) | Does physical location play any role in this interaction? If so, what role? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | The physical location doesn't necessarily affect the information exchange, but it does affect the transaction that is completed in this marketing activity. Physical location is very important in the fulfillment process and affects the pricing structure for shipping costs and for international customers. Another aspect of where this exchange takes place involves users and their relationship with the computer they are using to access the Internet. The customization aspects of the Web presentation use cookie technology to identify the client computer with the captured customer data. If the person using the computer shares that same machine with a number of users, who in turn access the site, then that cookie and ID will be incorrect. In this situation the whereand whodefinitions are in conflict. No solution exists for this issue, but the amazon.com Web site is not wholly dependent on cookie ID processes and instead uses individual usernames and passwords to identify customers. |
e) | Does the concept of whenapply on this Web site? If so, how? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | This marketing activity and the information exchange on this site is available at all times, 24 hours a day, and seven days a week, sowhen is only important for fulfillment activities. Again, this involves shipping time for a variety of audience locations and the cost of that shipping. Express delivery is more expensive than ground transportation. International delivery takes longer than domestic. In addition, telephone-based communication is available for customer service in this effort, so this communications channel must be staffed 24/7 as well. |
f) | Why are these interactions taking place? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | These interactions are taking place for the specific reason of selling books and other materials using an on-line direct marketing model. Though information gathering is a part of this process, the reason why this marketing effort has been put together is the direct sale of product. The entire effort was planned and produced to facilitate purchase and fulfillment of goods. The Web site is similar to a consumer catalog effort in traditional media. |
g) | How are these interactions taking place using Internet technology? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ |
Answer: | Internet technologies being utilized include a front-end dynamic Web site supported by back-end database technology and e-mail for direct follow-up communication. A lot of information is being exchanged on this Web site, but the technology being used is the same available to any interested Internet marketer. The Web site is dynamic because almost all of the actual Web pages displayed to the user are created from databased information as they are needed and as the interactions between users and sites develop. The information capture occurs via forms, and the information and graphics are displayed after instant retrieval from the databases where they are stored. E-mail is generated automatically when transactions are completed by the same database technology. Though we don't know the exact development process involved, we can assume that this whole effort was planned and executed, at least in part, using these types of definitions. The same process can and should be used when developing any Internet marketing effort. Planning is generally a common-sense practice in our personal lives. But this same common sense is sometimes overlooked in the confusing world of technology-based business. This can and will lead to inadvertant and expensive mistakes. A better practice involves defining the who, what, where, when, why, and how of our communication goals first and then planning and developing an Internet marketing effort to execute these definitions. Such a plan also helps us set a course of action and provides a point of reference for measurement and expense. |
In order to test your progress, you should be able to answer the following questions:
1) | Which are two reasons to develop an Internet marketing plan before beginning any effort?
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2) | What are the five Ws and one H we should consider when planning a Web communication effort? |
3) | Planning is always considered first in Web communication development.
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Quiz answers appear inAppendix A, Section 2.1.