It was a pitched battle: a small nonprofit against the highest
levels of the federal government. The nonprofit ended up winning,
and the Web was pivotal in the victory.
The battle dates back to 2000, when Congress passed The Historic
Lighthouse Preservation Act to dispose of lighthouses across the
county no longer needed by the Coast Guard for navigation. The
Currituck Beach lighthouse, located on the Outer Banks of North
Carolina and regarded as one of the best preserved and maintained
lighthouses in the country, would be one of the first to be
transferred under the new law. Since the 1980s a nonprofit group,
the Outer Banks Conservationists (OBC), has been taking care of the
lighthouse. It annually welcomes nearly 100,000 visitors, who
provide more than $600,000 in revenue to the nonprofit. The OBC
uses the money to maintain the lighthouse and support other Outer
Banks preservations efforts.
Although county officials had never taken interest in the
lighthouse, they enlisted the support of a local member of
Congress, Rep. Walter Jones Jr., who sits on the House Resource
Committee. Jones tried to remove the lighthouse from the transfer
process so he could obtain the lighthouse for the county by special
legislation, according to Doug Miskew, account director at
Capstrat, a Raleigh, NC-based PR firm that represents the OBC.
While Congressman Jones enlisted support from the Department of
Interior and the White House to intercede on the county's behalf,
the OBC -- after more than a two-year fight - won the rights to the
lighthouse in late 2003.
An online grassroots campaign helped to put the OBC over the
top. During the battle for ownership, Capstrat placed several
Internet terminals inside the lighthouse so visitors could sign an
online petition supporting the OBC and send it to Congress and the
U.S. Secretary of the Interior, who ultimately determine who gets
the lighthouses. In the summer of 2002 up to 10,000 e-mails were
sent to Washington from lighthouse visitors who had logged on.
"It played a role in raising awareness about the lighthouse and
was done so in an easy format that had an immediate impact," Miskew
says. "If we had to find everyone who visited the lighthouse and
convince them to send letters to Congress it would have much less
impact. The Web was an easy way to line up support."
Miskew's use of the Web to help the OBC keep the lighthouse
speaks volumes to the increasing power of the Internet. Although PR
execs continue to struggle with how to construct (and build) their
company Web sites for effective communications, there is now a lot
more comfort with using the Internet, whether to improve media
relations, tackle crises or enhance employee relations. For media
relations, in particular, search engines are proving to be a major
boon. It's a far cry from two years ago when -- spooked by the
Internet boom-and-bust - Web strategies were hardly a priority
among corporate managers.
"I've spent the last two years educating and convincing managers
about the value of the Web," says Adam Smith, who heads Netcoms,
Hill & Knowlton's online communication practice. Clients
include Boeing, HP and Kellogg Corp. "There's much more standard
use of the Web now and familiarity with how content is displayed on
the site."
Smith added, however, that he's surprised that many corporate
Web sites still lack the back-end tools needed to quickly update
and refresh content. While improving, corporations still have a few
miles to go in how to correctly -- and instantaneously --
distribute their information. (Just ask Martha Stewart's lawyers
who, five minutes after Stewart's guilty verdict in her stock sale
trial, were forced to pull information from Stewart's Web site
denying any wrongdoing.)
At the same time, a growing number of companies are starting to
shift their marketing dollars from traditional marketing vehicles
(read: advertising) to the Web. "It says a lot about how much
marketers are pulling back [on traditional marketing] when a major
pharmaceutical company puts in a RFP seeking a 'buzz marketing'
strategy campaign," says Mike Spataro, executive VP/Web relations
for Weber Shandwick, whose clients include Best Buy, Got Milk? and
Haynes. He says there's been a 50% increase in the last year among
clients considering some type of Web campaign.
The Web played a big role in Haynes' "Go Tagless" campaign in
2003, which integrated PR and advertising. The site included 'Tag
Tale,' a humorous "viral" video of one guy dealing with his
annoying tag at work as well as 'Rip, Match and Win,' an
interactive and instant game that allowed consumers to "virtually"
remove tags from their t-shirts for a chance to win major
prizes
"People got it: those annoying tags," Spataro says. "The Web
allowed people to have fun with the product and touch the issue in
a way they hadn't before." Indeed, the Web component helped to
boost sales of Haynes' tagless t-shirts between 20% and 40% while
800,000 unique visitors logged on to the site within three months
of the launch.
Contacts: [email protected]; Adam Smith,
415.281.7129, [email protected];
Mike Spataro, 617.520.7241, [email protected]
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for PR
Professionals
The Internet has changed the way journalists work. They use
search engines to find information and communicate via e-mail, just
like you do. Other key publics are online, too. Search engines
provide a natural outlet to connect with these audiences - which is
why they are so important. Incorporating SEO into your PR strategy
can play a huge role in your success by helping you:
- Create additional exposure: If you generate online PR content
(press releases, white papers, newsletters, media kits or annual
reports), you will get additional exposure to your key
publics. - Manage your corporate identity: Results that mention your
company are search engine users' first impression of your
organization. What they see can make or break your company's image.
By providing search engines with positive results, SEO reinforces a
positive corporate identity. This innovative, proactive approach
lessens the likelihood that third-party mentions are listed above
your organization's and enables you to control how your message is
presented. - Spot important trends and measure results: Online behavior is
an early predictor of public interest. Analyzing your log files
will help you identify the primary areas of interest to your key
publics.
Armed with this feedback, you can plan an effective
communication strategy, monitor real-time results, and attach a
"hard number" to the company's bottom line.
Sources: Matt Bailey, Internet Marketing Director, The Karcher
Group, is a regular speaker for Jupiter Media's Search Engine
Strategies Conferences. Melanie Broemsen, SEO/PR Specialist, The
Karcher Group, serves on the IABC District 7 Board. For more
information on this topic, contact them at [email protected] or
[email protected]
|
Top 5 Search Destinations
January 2004 (U.S. Home and Work) |
||
|
Unique Audience
(000) |
Active Reach
(%) |
|
| 1. Google |
59,327
|
39.37
|
| 2. Yahoo! Search |
45,774
|
30.38
|
| 3. MSN Search |
44,651
|
29.63
|
| 4. AOL Search |
23,394
|
15.53
|
| 5. Ask Jeeves |
12,792
|
8.49
|
| Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView, per Center for Media Research/January 2004 |
||