RonAmok!

Last night, I came upon a sign outside a store at the local mall. The sign was for a product called the AR Drone, the cool helicopter thingy that one can fly with an iTouch/Pad/Phone. What really caught my eye was something on the sign…the “As seen on Youtube.”

At one time, “As seen on TV” was a badge of honor, a shining achievement that marketing, PR or advertising could claim credit for. Today it has been supplanted by a service that Google offers for free.

Perhaps a few words from John Donne can express the sentiment:

Mass media “…send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”

New media blurs the lines between delivering messages to the marketplace (marketing), influencing the influencers (PR), and transacting business (sales), because online audiences now have:

1. access to more real-time information than at any other time in history
2. control over the messages that they receive
3. access to trusted influencers through their online connections

The role of the prospect in the business cycle has changed.

The rapid adoption of new/social media technologies has initiated a shift in how prospects interact with their vendors. In the past, prospects stumbled upon corporate advertisements, trade-show booths, and articles that their PR departments pitched to journalists. Today, those same prospects play a much more active role. They initiate the sales process through fingertip-access to real-time databases and networks of trusted sources who love to help their friends.

Most companies still aren’t ready for this new prospect. Is yours? Ask yourself the following question:

“When prospects are searching for solutions that my company offers, have we done enough to earn a referral from either their friends (online networks) or Google (search)?”

It seems that every year, another “social media” channel emerges that demands our attention. 2010 is no different with the increased popularity of “location-based services” such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places and Google Places. Unfortunately, because of their cost (free), most companies blindly add these new channels pell-mell into their communications mix as opposed to determining how to integrate them into their overall strategy.

As someone who has been in business for almost 30 years, I’ve probably seen every combination and permutation of so-called “strategy development.” Most of the time, the activity consists of an over-thought process that culminates in the release of a bloated and incoherent tome. Since I prefer simple-elegance over complex-masterpieces, I’ve developed the little table below for you.

Don’t be fooled by its simple design. By completing it, you will:

• have an overall corporate communications strategy that you can explain to anyone, from the big boss to your eager interns
• have articulated a reason for each new/social media channel chosen
• understand the type of content that needs to inhabit each channel
• be able to delegate content-development tasks appropriately
• see how each channel fits within the overall communications mix
• be able to determine metrics for individual channels and for the overall strategy
• be able to determine whether to add yet another channel–or perhaps more importantly, be able to eliminate one.

The table’s four columns are labeled: channel, objective, audience, and content. Use them to organize thoughts around your corporate communications goals. It’s pre-populated with channel ideas, but of course since every company is different, yours will differ.

Channel: The name of the particular content distribution network. Channels may include your traditional ones (PR, marketing, advertising), corporate new media channels, or even the personal network channels of your fans, customers, and employees.

Objective: The ultimate goal of this channel. What do you plan to accomplish? For example, your objective for a blog may be to write niche content on how to use your products and services so that search engines can bring qualified prospects seeking that information directly to your website.

Audience: The people who subscribe to that channel. Great content creators understand their audiences. Since each distribution channel has its own unique audience, what do they have in common? For example, with a podcast, your audience probably has its hands and eyes occupied, but their ears are free. The podcast channel allows content creators help consumers make good use of this time whether they are driving, exercising or mowing the lawn.

Content: The information/stories that are custom-developed for that channel. Once you understand the channel’s objective and audience, you’re ready to start creating channel-matched content. For example, Twitter–loves real-time information. Foursquare loves location-based information. Your blog, which is more of a long-tail channel, loves more thoughtful information that can be indexed by the likes of Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Your job is to match the content with the audience and objective of each channel.

Finally, when you’ve completed a first draft of this table, take a step back and study it. Look at all of your channels in context with one another. Although some overlap will occur between audience and content, there should be distinct differences also.

Now ask yourself the following questions:

• How do all of the channels play together?
• Are they organized into a cohesive unit, or are they separately driven channels with no link to an overall mission?
• What are the holes?
• What are the redundancies?

When you’re finished with the first revision, show it to colleagues. Can you explain it to them? Do they have any other thoughts to add? By the time you’re finished with your final revision, you’ll have a simple, elegant, and powerful document that will help your company execute its 2011 communications plan.

And there’s one final benefit to this simple little table. The next time someone pulls you aside and asks, “So, why are we investing all of this time and money into social media?,” rather than waxing poetically about the virtues of Twitter and Facebook,  pull out this document and say, “That’s easy; let me show you.”

Photo Credit: ldrose