About two years ago, travel reporters from both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were interested in doing stories on the latest activities at
Yosemite National Park, and they were eager to learn more about the company that managed the lodging, dining, retail and other guest services for the park's 3.5 million
annual visitors. But they hadn't a clue how to begin.
The problem was that the Web site of the managing company, Delaware North Companies (Buffalo, N.Y.), initially created by IT executives, just had a list of facts about
the conglomerate, sans pressroom and without any unifying theme.
"There was no way for an end user to come to the Web site and get an understanding of what we do," says Wendy Watkins, VP/Corporate Communications/Marketing for Delaware
North, a $1.6 billion, privately held firm that dates back to 1915 and whose holdings range from the Boston Bruins to the visitor complex at the Kennedy Space
Center, among many other assets. "Our clients knew us well, but we were invisible to consumers and the press."
So, in 2003, Watkins spearheaded the effort to overhaul the company's Web site soup-to-nuts. Her mission: To build the Web site as an "attack point" for Delaware North's
entire communications strategy.
Job One was to include a newsroom -- linked by a tab prominently displayed atop the home page -- that would help reporters et. al. to educate themselves on the
company's entire portfolio of properties (http://www.delawarenorth.com).
Clearly indicating a pressroom link as well as prominently displaying media contacts either on the Web site's home page or the first page of the pressroom may sound simple,
but nearly 15 years into the Internet Age, many companies still don't know how to communicate electronically -- and they end up driving reporters to competitors' sites.
"Robust sites help build relationships [with media reps] incrementally and make much more sense than putting up a blockade," Watkins says, adding that Delaware North's online
pressroom will soon be enhanced to include one-to-one video interviews and a video photo library. "Providing more information generates press coverage, and adding quantitative
information, such as a study or a White Paper, is like money in the [media] bank."
Indeed, since overhauling the Web site Watkins says she has seen a surge in the number of reporters seeking information about the company.
Delaware North's Web site reflects how online newsrooms are changing. As reporters increasingly rely on the Web to learn about more about products and services, etc., companies
are starting to learn they have to get out in front of the media with their information or they risk having their messages get lost in the ether.
And despite the very real threat posed by computer hackers, so-called "determined detractors" and/or Web users who may pose as reporters but who have ulterior motives in
obtaining sensitive information, companies can ill-afford to be stingy with what they make available online.
"You can't hold back information," says Mark Coker, president of Dovetail Public Relations (Los Gatos, Calif.), whose clients include Pillar Data Systems and
Trace Security. "The communications team has to decide from the get-go what is public information and what is not."
In the last five years, Detroit-based General Motors has made available online an increasing amount of information that is not password-protected, according to Tom
Kowaleski, VP of GM's global communications. "It's a function of global demand and, for a company like ours, being accessible," Kowaleski says.
GM has a separate Web site strictly for the media at http://www.media.gm.com; media contacts for GM's entire product line, including
office phone numbers, are available to anyone who may be checking out the site via a 'Contact' link on the upper-right-hand corner of the page. However, a password is required if
a reporter wants telephone numbers to contact GM media reps after hours (read: deadline). A password also is needed to download any automotive photos destined for print, broadcast
or online outlets. "Otherwise you open up the potential for abuses," Kowaleski says.
Virginia Lehr, VP of marketing for Manufacturing Insights (Framingham, Mass.), an IDC Corp. subsidiary, says that in communicating online to members of the press,
it's key to go the extra (electronic) mile.
"Any company should have something exclusive to [members of] the press that is non-public, something that clients are not necessarily interested in, and you're not just
putting on your home page," she says.
When Manufacturing Insights launched its Web site (http://www.manufacturing-insights.com/MI/home.jsp) in
January, for example, Lehr made sure to post on the pressroom page "2005 Predictions for the Manufacturing Industry."
Plenty of reporters covering the manufacturing sector took the bite, she says: "It was a lot of fun for them and something different."
Contacts: Mark Coker, 408.395.3600, [email protected]; Virginia Lehr, 508.935.4188, [email protected]; Tom Kowaleski, 313.667.3437, [email protected]; Wendy Watkins, 716.858.5092, [email protected]