The Plan

In today's Web 2.0 world, the medium is no longer the message--the content is. However, with so many ways to communicate and share information, the new mediums must all be mastered if the content is to be effectively delivered. This is where defero comes in. By helping companies utilize new communication tools to deliver their content and corporate "message," defero can establish itself as an important entity and powerful force in this brave, new business environment. To accomplish all this, an appropriate marketing strategy must be developed and implemented that will utilize and take advantage of the very communication tools that defero hopes to champion. This is where I come in.

Obviously, I do not need to sell you on the business need for the services you plan on providing. You are already well aware of the value they can create for businesses. My goal is to map out how you can get from "here" to "there." The crucial concept is that defero must become a "product of its own product." That is, you must use these online communication tools (website, blog, social networking) to establish a corporate identity and deliver your company's "message." By exhibiting a mastery of the mediums, defero will be inherently selling itself.

I have envisioned a four-step plan for the successful launching of defero, as illustrated here:

An ad campaign targeting both old and new media will reach out to the appropriate audience groups and establish defero's identity and brand image. The end result of this campaign will be to drive potential customers to the company web site. This web site will further solidify the defero brand and illustrate the company's mastery of online technology. The web site will then have a two-pronged effect of driving customers to both the corporate blog and to the social networking accounts. The blog will establish defero as a "thought leader" in the field of online communication and will increase its web presence and viability. The social networking accounts will continue this saturation. Eventually, all this will lead to direct contact to the "sales team." This does not necessarily mean an actual sales rep, but rather any defero executive or decision maker who would be in a position to create a paying business relationship with a customer. This, of course, is the end goal of any good business strategy.

The Ad Campaign

I envision a well-coordinated advertising campaign as being the first step in the successful launch of defero. The goal of this campaign will be to "brand" the company and establish an appropriate market presence while also driving people to the corporate website. As an unknown entity, defero must first become "visible" to the right audiences and enter into the conversation that is currently taking place about the role of social media in various business practices. Once this visibility and presence has been achieved, defero will then be able to utilize its tangible assets, such as experience, expertise and quality customer service, to grow and maintain its client base.

At the center of the ad campaign will be a simple but powerful slogan -- "unleash your message." This slogan will become the defero catchphrase and identifying expression. It is a powerful way of describing the essence of defero's potential services; it conveys the sense that the message already exists but is being held back for some reason. By offering to unlock the power of new communication tools and social media platforms to deliver the "message," defero is selling itself as a crucial link in the communication chain. Additionally, the simplicity and memorableness of these three words is ideally suited for marketing and branding initiatives.

Combined with this slogan will be the defero logo:

This logo was designed to be clean and current, technical but simplistic. The color scheme of blue with black shadow is very visually engaging. The detail of the open clasp at the end of the slogan illustrates the concept of "unleashing." The white specks on the fill of the black shadow convey a gestural feeling, almost as if it was hand drawn. The font used for "unleash your message" continues with this handwriting theme, which creates a visual tactility that balances nicely with defero's technological expertise.

Using this logo and slogan, various types of advertisements can be developed, targeting both old media and new. Popular trade magazines and other key business-related publications will be identified, as well as relevant newspapers. Below is a sample full page color ad for magazines, as well as a black and white version for newspapers. These could also function well as a one-page marketing "slick" or part of a brochure that could be given out at tradeshows or conferences:

In addition to these, I have developed a potential two-part ad that would be most effective in a magazine forum. The first is a full-page color ad presented as if it's a handwritten note, which is one of the simplest forms of communication. This functions to symbolize defero's straightforward method of communicating:

Continuing with the simplistic theme, this would be followed up on the next page or later on in the publication with this half-page ad:

The concept of the paper plane with the expression "your message here" is a very creative and metaphorical way of illustrating how defero can help companies deliver their message. Limiting the information provided in this ad creates a sense of mystery and mystique, which is intended to lure potential clients to the website.

The new marketplace of online advertising must also be explored along with print media. While the online market is seemingly occupied by very broad and disparate audience groups, the key will be to target the right demographics. Since defero is a business to business enterprise, there is no need to market to the extremely large, general Internet audience but rather a select group of business leaders and decision makers. Strategically placed banner ads in well-established, industry-specific web sites will be most effective, such as this one:

Another potential avenue for online marketing includes text-based links on social networking sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook. These campaigns can be coordinated to directly reach target demographics. LinkedIn would be particularly appropriate, given that it is a community of business professionals and could potentially include CEO's and other executives that would have the most interest in defero's services. More information about these advertising possibilities can be found here and here. Again, the goal of all this is to create traffic to the website and continue the process chain that will eventually allow defero to establish its customer base.

The Web Site

Establishing a robust and useful corporate website is a crucial step in successfully launching any business enterprise in the Internet age. As a potential leader and expert on Web-related technologies and communication, it is important that Defero's website illustrate and show how the Web can be mastered as a communication tool. It should serve both marketing and informational purposes to prospective clients and also function as a one-stop online portal to the company's other social media initiatives, such as the corporate blog and Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Defero's website must be thought of and designed in harmony with all other marketing and branding aspects. According to Website Guide for Small and Medium Sized Businesses by Snap Technologies, "The look and feel of your website is an extension of your corporate brand. It should be representative of your company and be consistent with other marketing materials."

Illustrated below is an example of what the defero homepage could look like:

There is a brief introduction, an overview of services, links to several communication options and a news section, and feedback from current clients. The logo and slogan from the ad campaign are prominently featured, and these should also be used as a header throughout each page in the site. The details and specifics of all this can be further refined by your design team in the coming year.

While the visual design of a website is important, the content within the site is perhaps the most important aspect. As stated again in Website Guide for Small and Medium Sized Businesses, "Having a great looking website is not very effective if the content is confusing, poorly written, and/or incomplete." It is essential that defero creates engaging content for the website that will continue to maintain and enhance its "brand name." In Web 2.0 for Designers, Richard Macmanus and Joshua Porter explain, "Web design in Web 2.0 is about building event-driven experiences, rather than sites...Web designers must now think beyond sites and figure out how to brand the content itself." I recommend the defero web design team familiarize themselves with this article and other key and current Web 2.0 design concepts before developing the company website.

Usability is another critical aspect to the effectiveness of a web site. Defero's site must be easily navigated, with the homepage designed to allow easy access to all other areas and pages. Intuitive navigation will not only demonstrate defero's strength and mastery of online communication, it will make the client more likely to stay on the site and continue browsing. Below is a diagram of how the website homepage and congruent pages could function:

As seen in the diagram (click here to see a larger image), the visitor will get an overview of the company first and then can easily move on to more detailed information in some of the following areas:

• direct link to the company blog
• following defero using one or more of the social networking site links
• learning more about defero's services and product lines
• contacting defero via live chat or appointment setting options
• finding defero at an upcoming event

Maintaining a sense of openness and accessibility is key to inviting consumer interest in defero's services. Information must be kept transparent and the user must be feel that they can easily contact the defero team should they have any questions or comments. As mentioned before, a key function of the website will be to provide an avenue to the corporate blog and social networking accounts, which together will further defero's online engagement with their potential client base.

The Blog

Blogging is a relatively new but potentially powerful communication tool that is becoming increasingly used in the business world. The goal of a corporate blog should be to establish an open "conversation" with your customers, thus promoting goodwill and further establishing the brand and company values. This can have a direct effect on the bottom line. According to Corporate Blogging: Is It Worth the Hype?:

"Corporate blogs are giving established companies and obscure brands alike the ability to connect with their audiences on a more personal level, build trust, collect valuable feedback and foster strengthened business relationships. More importantly, these companies are enjoying tangible returns on their blogging investment in the form of increased sales, partnerships, business opportunities, press coverage and lead generation."

As part of the overall launch strategy, defero should maintain a frequently updated corporate blog. This will help to establish defero as a "thought leader" and increase its viability in the field. A representative blogger should be designated early on in the process (preferably the CEO or other key executive) who will be responsible for writing and updating the posts. Topics to blog about include:

• current projects
• new services
• rate changes
• referral information
• cost saving operational changes
• leadership changes and promotions
• open positions
• awards
• publications

Once the initial blog is established and up and running, peripheral blogs can be created from other team members. However, all blogs must be monitored and properly coordinated so that they have a unifying message that is reflective of defero's company values.

There are various platforms that can be used to create the blog. One is pre-existing software such as Blogger, which is what I'm using now. This is extremely quick and easy to set up and provides a very usable interface, as seen below:

A benefit of going down this road is that the service is completely free and has very minimal impact on your bottom line. However, because it is another company's software, you do not have complete control over the design features or where and how the data is stored and who has access to it.

A more expensive but perhaps ultimately more viable option is to create the blog internally via your own team of software developers. It can then be stored directly on the company server, along with the website. Using your own server will eliminate any confusion as to the "authenticity" of the blog (such as, "Is this really defero's CEO?") and will eliminate unwanted advertisements. This option will allow defero the greatest control over the content and allow for the most effective branding.

Whatever the platform used, it is crucial for the blog to maintain defero's branding and company standards. The logo and slogan should be displayed prominently as the header (such as it appears on this blog), and the font and approved colors should be used throughout each post. This will continue to assure readers of the authenticity of the blog and have them believe it is a direct line of communication to and from defero. RSS feeds must also be provided and clearly displayed on the blog pages. These feeds allow users to subscribe to the blog and be notified whenever there is a new posting. This provides a great way to maintain a constant flow of content distribution to your potential customers.

Another great benefit of blogging is that it will increase defero's web presence and visibility. This is done partly through an increase in search engine results. Search engines place a particularly strong emphasis on blogs, and choosing labels for each post will increase hit rates. This post, for example, is labeled defero, blog, branding, social media, and web. When a potential client searches for social media, this blog will be more likely to be returned somewhere in the search results, especially if it is linked from and contain links to other highly trafficked sites. In general, hyperlinking to other articles and company websites should be used frequently in the blog postings, as this will increase online search results as well as further defero's overall web presence. As confirmed in Corporate Blogging: Is It Worth the Hype?:

"Greater word-of-mouth buzz on- and offline, higher search engine rankings, increased press coverage and superior lead generation are just some of the potential benefits of blogging in a corporate setting."

As with the other areas mentioned in this proposal, developing interesting and engaging content will be the ultimate key for the defero blog, and particular attention must be given to this area. As stated again in Corporate Blogging: Is It Worth the Hype?:

"It is a company’s blogging content strategy that will determine the overall relative success of a corporate blog when it comes to building a community. The success of building community will determine a company’s level of direct traffic, higher search results, and online PR."

The goal of defero's blog is to continue building the company's online presence and accessibility. Tying in with the website and the social networking accounts, the blog will act as one more piece of the puzzle that will establish defero as a trustworthy source and ultimately drive potential customers to seek out your services.

The Social Networking

In addition to the blog, social networking can provide an avenue for defero to appear accessible to its potential clients and let them tap into company happenings. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter make it particularly easy to set up and maintain a company account. A good page only requires following your branding standards and keeping with your corporate message, along with regular maintenance and updates by an assigned marketing or P.R. representative.

Facebook is a great way to stay on your potential or current client's radar. You can create a profile page with corporate information, pictures, calendar reminders, daily news feed and live feed updates. You can also create a fan site in which users can become a "fan" of defero. On both the profile pages and the fan pages, networking occurs through "friending" of contacts, a referrals application, and basic search using key words, location, affiliations or email addresses. Not only is Facebook accessible and easy to use, but it's considered a more professional and respectable social networking site than most, if not all, of its predecessors.

Twitter is a social media tool similar to Facebook's "updates" feature. It provides a forum for short and concise text-based blurbs rather than full-fledged profiles or fan pages. You can collect contacts as "followers," but there is no official invitation system or private inbox capability as with Facebook. The benefits of corporate "tweeting" are similar to that of Facebook "updates," which is that it maintains your visibility to your clients. However, "tweeting" is much more casual and less of a commitment than a full scale update or email blast.

A good option is to combine and link the company Facebook and Twitter accounts. This means that every Facebook "update" will also appear as a "tweet" or Twitter feed. Thanks to the ease of use and versatility of these applications, these messages will appear on desktops, laptops, handheld devices, blackberries and some plain old cell phones of your semi-tech-savvy potential clients.

Easy access to defero's social networking accounts should be provided on the company homepage. Having these applications linked to your website can keep those one-time visitors continually tapped in and connected to current defero happenings, even if they never return to the site. Illustrated below is a mouse-over feature that could be utilized on the homepage:

Clicking on the icons would bring the user to the following separate Social Networking page. This page would contain direct links to the corporate accounts and allow the user to easily follow defero's profiles with their own account:

A strong presence in the social networking world can solidify and boost defero's brand recognition and status as a reputable and open company. There is added incentive and reason for defero to maintain a strong presence in this field, being that these are the very tools and applications you are marketing yourselves as beings "experts" in. By showing how a company can properly utilize social networking to maintain and establish their brand and "unleash their message," defero will essentially sell itself as its own success story. The ultimate goal of all this connectivity and accessibility will be to begin dialogues with potential business clients, which will eventually ensure the commercial viability of the defero enterprise.