What went up several years ago as a simple prop for an Atlanta PR firm has developed a formidable role of its own, generating an unexpected $800,000 online revenue windfall last year alone and spawning a spin-off of an interactive branch for the company.
When Atlanta-based Duffey Communications designed its Web site, http://www.duffey.com, it didn't realize the need for professional Web services. But today the company is offering PR Web advice and support through Duffey.com, its branded interactive branch.
Lee Duffey, founder and president of the firm, says the site was initially put together as a "working prop" for existing clients, and perhaps a few inquisitive surfers. Duffey spent a mere $4,000 on site development, using in-house talents to create the massive amount of content and paying only for some graphics. "Our goal was brochure-ware," Duffey says. "I guess we did a hell of a brochure."
Two days after the site's launch, an inquiry requesting information about Duffey Communications appeared in Senior Account Exec. Mike Neumeier's email box. "Everybody sort of gathered around the e-mail, like a scene from 'The Gods Must Be Crazy.' We couldn't understand why it was there - but we were excited," says Duffey. (Heck, they weren't even registered with engines yet. The first e-mail was from Employease, an online employee benefits site, which was looking for PR representation. Neumeier described the e-mail as "an informal RFP.")
The lone fact that Neumeier responded to the inquiry the same day, unlike online competitors that took weeks, made Duffey Communications the PR firm of choice for some new media clients - Security Network Bank and Thomson Investors Network and nearly 10 others.
Putting Its Best Foot Forward
In the long run, the site has proved itself as teacher and cash cow for Duffey.
In some ways, it provided them with a kind of technology classroom to see what would work best for the firm.
The education and related success, says Neumeier, came through basic online show-and-tell. "We learned to network online," he says. That included putting the entire URL in all company text - and making it a point that it was on all press releases that went out. And once Duffey figured out that its Web presence was more than just an electronic billboard, things changed online.
The redesign incorporated more techno bells and whistles, adding an interactive talk feature (password protected). That alone gave potential clients and existing clients the chance for a dialogue.
What Duffey recalls most about the evolution of the site is how the transition was phased in as lessons were learned. The first site attempt, Duffey says, was formal and stuffy, presenting information in a very businesslike manner. Since then, the site has taken a more personalized approach.
All employees are encouraged to become involved with the site, thus functionality ideas and content are generated in-house during creative and brainstorming sessions.
That's resulted in a site (which initially received about 10,000 hits a month) that's a rich PR resource because of the potential its online content offers as an image booster: There's a news bureau, comprehensive background information on the company and case studies about clients. "Every company has a culture and personality and that should come through on the entire site," Duffey says.
Unexpected Revenues
But the site - while also being a great promotional tool - also led Duffey Communications to buttress its business strategies. It developed Duffey.Com, an interactive PR wing, to help build allied relationships with its vendors and clients.
The new division grew from the obvious - that there were a large number of potential clients surfing aimlessly looking for help with the new media.
But the primary reason there is a Duffey.Com is respecting the immediacy the Web offers. Duffey Communications, which answers its electronic mail immediately, was the only Web site to respond to that first e-mail sent out by Employease, Duffey says.
Peggy Moody, VP of Duffey, says another unanticipated pleasure is the ability to service clients, both existing and new, using the Web site as a communications tool. Moody says the cost of mailing out marketing materials has shrunk to nearly nothing - and the time it takes to get something approved has dramatically decreased. "We turned the Web site into a little extranet," she says. "It's helping us and our clients manage creative projects more efficiently." (Lee Duffey, Mike Neumeier, Peggy Moody, 404/266-2600)