An online media kit should be an important element in your branding effort. We can help you maximize your brand messaging by developing an online media kit for your corporate website.

When implementing an online media section, take the following tips into consideration:

• Make it easy to update and always keep it up-to-date
• Push for interactive: Add video selections and demonstrations where applicable or possibly a question and answer section that is always in play
• Contact information should be clickable for quick response

The goal is simple: have a central source for media and other audiences where they can learn about your goals, history and the people who make your company great.

Click to find out what categories every corporate online media kit should have, and see some examples.

There are three types of goals to identify for your website: Primary business/organization goals, user goals and internal/political goals.

• Primary business/organization goals should fit within broad initiatives but be related to how a website can help you reach them. The team should work to identify a primary goal for the site, although secondary goals may also be supported. For example, the primary business goal of revenue generation via the website may be expressed by providing content to paid subscribers. A secondary goal may be a strong branding presence that might communicate the perceived value or cache of the membership.
• User goals should be developed from the research already performed. These types of goals can help identify and refine functionality offerings that help support your primary goals. The use of personas can help your team understand why user goals are different from broader business goals. In our above example, the user goals might include the ability to control outbound communication or customize the content on their homepage.
• Political or internal goals may not have specific numbers tied to them, but may still be important to communications. For example, green initiatives, sustainability programs or charitable giving may be important for supporting and generating good will within your community. In addition, strong historic or cultural aspects of the company may be important for hiring new associates.

Goals are just the beginning to the process. To understand all steps to writing a successful RFP, read our newest article, “Five Steps to Smarter Website RFPs.”

While there are only five steps to this process, some are handled best by an experienced team. When we build websites for existing clients at Paulsen, we follow these steps because they guarantee a clear picture of what the website should be and they are necessary for understanding the true cost of proper website development. We are always available to help you write your RFP!

1. Gather Materials

Locate all of the marketing, educational and research materials your company has produced over the last couple of years. You will need them eventually for content development, branding references and stakeholder review.

2. Identify Stakeholders

The best mix of ideas is representative of all viewpoints across the company, but it in order to manage your group, try to keep the number of stakeholders to a minimum—seven or fewer is ideal. Marketing, sales, product or division managers, IT and C-level staff are typical, but the group depends on the size and management of your company. If you have a lot of stakeholders, break them into manageable groups, keeping in mind group dynamics and personalities. As author, one of your jobs is to act as facilitator and keep bullies in check while bringing out the best in everyone. Before you meet as a group(s), streamline the process by gathering information and summarizing findings to present in a stakeholder session.

3. Internal Assessment

The final RFP will contain statements and requests that your company stakeholders must agree on first.

Is your company branding in order? Your website may be many things, not the least of which is a communication vehicle. The RFP must communicate brand expectations to your vendors, typically through a style guide or other documentation. If that does not exist, plan on hiring a solid marketing firm that can guide you through the process of defining and expressing your brand. Plan to include the style guide with your RFP.

Who are your audiences? Unless your website is for internal use only, take into account that some of your audiences are not present at the stakeholder meeting for input. Consider your various customers’ needs and expectations. Once you have identified these audiences, you can move on to understanding their differences.

What are their goals? Five to seven interviews per audience will provide valuable insight into their expectations. Questions should revolve around existing interactions with your company, general expectations, comfort with website functionalities, use of mobile, use of social media, examples of websites they like and use frequently and open-ended wish list thoughts.

An even more effective method of determining audience’s needs is to perform usability testing on your own website and competitors’ websites. This testing will close the gap between what users say and what they actually do, and provide insight into the usefulness of the investment your competitors have made in their websites.

Done well, usability testing is a science unto itself, so hire a professional if possible. Five to seven audience members tested per website is the rule of thumb. From this research, you should be able to develop personas that will help you understand user goals. Summarize your findings for the stakeholder session.

Where do you fit among your competitive set? Identify your competition, considering companies that compete for the same wallet share even if they are not in the same segment. Perform a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and assess their website for functionality, design, brand positioning, global navigation and search engine optimization. Bring this information before your stakeholder group.

In what condition is your current website? Perform the same style of analysis as the competitive set on your own website.

4. Stakeholder Session

Bring your research summaries and functionality checklist along with an agenda to keep the meeting on task. A sample agenda would include:

• Introduction
• Review research findings
• A working session to determine:
• Goals
• Select functionalities
• Set content strategy
• Determine security levels
• Plan for website maintenance
• Accommodate external marketing integration
• Set deadlines
• Set budget

Review research

All summarized documentation should be presented at the beginning of the meeting. If any audiences or competitors have been missed, they should be identified at this time. Glean what you can from the stakeholders and assess if there is a need to perform more research at a later date.

Determine goals for the website

There are three types of goals to identify for your website: Primary business/organization goals, user goals and internal/political goals.

• Primary business/organization goals should fit within broad initiatives but be related to how a website can help you reach them. The team should work to identify a primary goal for the site, although secondary goals may also be supported. For example, the primary business goal of revenue generation via the website may be expressed by providing content to paid subscribers. A secondary goal may be a strong branding presence that might communicate the perceived value or cache of the membership.
• User goals should be developed from the research already performed. These types of goals can help identify and refine functionality offerings that help support your primary goals. The use of personas can help your team understand why user goals are different from broader business goals. In our above example, the user goals might include the ability to control outbound communication or customize the content on their homepage.
• Political or internal goals may not have specific numbers tied to them, but may still be important to communications. For example, green initiatives, sustainability programs or charitable giving may be important for supporting and generating good will within your community. In addition, strong historic or cultural aspects of the company may be important for hiring new associates.

Establish success metrics

Determine how the success of the website will be measured. The easiest metrics may not be the most meaningful. Google Analytics is a very powerful tool, but requires experience to learn much beyond general traffic numbers. Metrics must reinforce the primary goals of the website – in our example above, data about subscriber behaviors and interactions would be more meaningful if the demographics allowed segmentation and analysis.

Establishing the goal oriented metrics early on allows your website to evolve strategically.

Set content strategy

Content strategy is critical because your website is primarily content. Content architecture, concise communication, branding consistency, search engine optimization and social media optimization all stem from this strategy, so consider carefully the sources of your content, not just for the launch of the website, but for its long-term life and health.

In her article titled, The Discipline of Content Strategy, Kristina Halvorson lists the primary areas of content strategy.

• Editorial strategy
• Web writing
• Metadata strategy
• Search engine optimization
• Content management strategy
• Content channel distribution strategy

This is a tall order for anyone not trained in these disciplines, which is where your agency comes in. Setting expectations and budgets within your stakeholder group for these services will provide a website with a much longer shelf life. Consideration should also be given to ongoing content generation.

If content is to be generated internally, provide training resources to writers, photographers, videographers and graphic designers to understand search engine optimization, website architecture, social media optimization, writing for the Web and communicating your brand. However, it is much less important that your writers understand technology or social media than how to communicate clearly and intelligently.

Select website functionalities

Once your goals are set, and content strategy is mapped, you are ready to refine the list of functionality that will support those decisions. Provide a comprehensive list of functionality options to prompt the team, but remember that any functionality must match up with the above goals and strategies. Pay special attention to functionality your competitors provide that passed the usability test. That’s where the bar is set from your user’s viewpoint.

If your RFP includes any business-class integrations, discuss this at length with stakeholders. A separate task force may be required to finalize the details of this type of investment.

With the increase of mobile technology and smartphone usage, include discussions for mobile development. Progressive vendors will request to design for mobile first and will include technologies that can determine the device and serve up the proper version of your website. If your website needs a shelf life longer than 12 months, you must consider mobile in your RFP.

Determine security levels

It is critical your IT or IS department is included in this process. If you do not have an IT department or if your website is not hosted in-house, then security recommendations should come from your vendor and be based on the level of functionality chosen. E-commerce, job applications, customer account information or any other online access to sensitive information requires secure transmission and data storage. At a minimum, use a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) for transmission, and do not store Social Security or credit card numbers in an online database. Host your website with a reputable provider.

Prepare to include IT documentation and questions within the RFP.

Website maintenance

Determine if you have the resources to maintain the website over time. A good Content Management System will allow you to add, edit and delete content, but you may still need or wish to have the ability to change functionality over time. If you are going to leave this to your vendor, include specifics in the RFP.

External marketing integration

Your website is the core of all your in- and out-bound communications. Ensure all your marketing is aligned with the functionality of the proposed website. While some of this might be identified from the functionality checklist, plan to include details in the RFP for search engine optimization, social media optimization, pay-per-click marketing, direct marketing landing pages, e-mail and mobile marketing.

Deadlines

Provide realistic deadlines to agencies for submission of the interest to participate, final proposal or presentation and the launch date of the website. Include any other milestones for your group’s participation such as the date when a vendor will be chosen, but let your vendor set their own internal milestones for completing work.

Significant websites take an average of four to six months to develop. Complex business integrations can take six months to a year. This is also the area to specify how you wish to receive your proposals, electronically or in person. You will be working closely with this team for months or years, so consider an in-person meeting at some point.

Budget

There is always a great debate about presenting budget parameters within an RFP. Most RFPs do not contain a budget, but unfortunately that increases the chances of receiving proposals that are not apples to apples and often wildly different in price. Think of it as building a house: are you expecting a 3-bedroom rambler, or a 3-bedroom executive home with granite countertops and a view of the Rockies?

If you cannot provide a budget, instead provide detailed functionality statements to ensure proposals are comparable. Conversely, if you are unsure of how to provide enough detail, providing a budget will set expectations allowing more productivity and recommendations from your vendors. It will also save time by narrowing the field of candidates.

Stakeholder session deliverables

The research performed and decisions made during the stakeholder session(s) are the preparation for the real work of writing the RFP. To recap, you should have:

• Business/corporate goals
• User goals
• Political/internal goals
• Competitive SWOT and website analysis
• Company website analysis
• Usability testing results
• User interview results
• Functionality list
• External marketing efforts integration
• Timeline
• Budget

Provide as much of the findings in the RFP as possible to give context to the requirements.

5. Writing the RFP

In broad terms, the top-level contents of the RFP are as follows. An RFP is both informational and contractual. Remember that if your questions are vague and open-ended, it will be difficult to compare proposals. Another way to think of it is the more open-ended information you request, the more varying information you have to digest to make a decision. Conversely, the more detail you provide, the easier it will be to compare proposals and make the right choice.

Introduction

• Company overview
• Team roles and responsibilities
• Goals
• Research findings

Vendor information

• Qualifications and history
• Staff bios and experience
• Process: it should include frequent approval checkpoints
• Examples
• References

Requirements: Use the research and stakeholder session information to fill out the details. Pay special attention to functionality.

• Branding: Attach your style guide and a list of websites you like and why.
• Content: Provide stakeholder session requirements.
• Functionality: Prioritize needs over wants. Ask for wants to be a la carte with separate pricing. See example below for level of detail that will get the best results.
• Hosting
• Security

Selection criteria: Provide a weight of importance for each criterion. If budget is most important, it should be reflected here.

• Industry expertise
• Branding expertise
• Technical expertise
• Pricing

Timelines: Allow your vendor to provide detailed milestones within the development process for your approval.

Project proposal and pricing: If budget was not already included.

• Base price for functionality listed
• A la carte items
• Hosting
• Domain registration
• SSL (Secure Socket Layer)
• Additional hardware or software as per your IT department

Functionality detail example: Take the list from the stakeholder session and provide enough detail for the vendor to estimate. The more detail you put into this area, the easier it will be to compare the responses.

For example, don’t just request a blog for the website, but provide details:

• How many bloggers it will support?
• Will your bloggers need different types of access?
• Do you need workflows to support different blogger access levels?
• Do you want readers to comment or post content?
• Do those comments need to be moderated?
• Would you prefer full or limited registration users?
• How complex is the moderation workflow?
• Can users subscribe via e-mail or RSS?
• Will blog posts support multi-media like video or audio files?
• Will blog posts need to be fed into various areas of the website depending on the context of the other content within the website?
• Are pingbacks, trackbacks and blogrolls important to you?

The more your RFP resembles a true scope of work, the more accurate your proposal responses and the easier to compare.

In Summary

The most effective website RFPs are written by experienced teams that understand the processes and terminology a vendor needs. Through careful planning and detailed writing, you can craft an RFP that will make your selection process easier and your choice clear.

Special consideration should be given to contracting for the service of writing your website RFP. It is time-consuming and important work that must be done by someone during the course of the process. Having the process professionally done will save staff resources and provide you a successful website that you can build on for years. Contact Sara Steever, VP, digital services at Paulsen Marketing to learn more.

Adding to this challenge is the fact that many of these important purchase decisions are made by more than one person, such as a father and son(s) or father and daughter(s). This unique decision-making dynamic has many agri-marketers asking, “How do multi-generational farming operations make major purchase decisions?”

To answer this question, Paulsen Marketing conducted 14 different interviews with farm families across the Midwest. We spoke with two different farming demographics: older row crop producers, ages 46 to 70, and younger row crop producers, ages 25 to 45. These demographics represent a typical father-son(s) or father-daughter(s) farming operation. The purpose of these interviews was to gain insight into the purchase patterns of multi-generational farm families and identify ways agri-marketers can effectively reach this important audience.

This is what we learned: The consideration cycle leading up to a purchase can last well over a year.

The need to increase production is a continuous cycle. This is why farmers seem to be in a constant state of consideration. Further examination of this observation reveals two important findings:

Major purchase decisions require several different perspectives.

Traditional ag media is still highly valued between both demographics, especially when it comes to creating awareness and identifying a purchase need. Online channels are becoming more important for comparing and evaluating possible purchases. Peer recommendations and positive word-of-mouth are some of the most significant influencers when it comes to actually making a decision.

Younger producers may be willing to take more risks…to a degree.

The most noticeable difference in purchase philosophy between older and younger producers is this: younger producers are more comfortable making a purchase decision based on maximizing return or profitability; older producers seem to be more comfortable making purchase decisions based on minimizing costs. As a result, younger producers seem to be more willing to adopt a new piece of technology or try a different planting strategy.

With such a prolonged consideration cycle, agrimarketers have several opportunities to reach older and younger producers with different messages along a multitude of touchpoints. This is just one of the many observations discussed in Paulsen Marketing’s latest thought paper.

Read the complete paper, watch the interviews and discover the key marketing take-aways.

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One trend that probably still holds water is producers’ increased use of communication technologies. The tech triggers we identified over a year ago are still occurring. Cell providers prod farmers to upgrade to smartphones with data plans, and kids return to the farm bringing their expectations for speed and connectivity. End-of-year tax strategies should trigger another uptick in mobile devices and Wi-Fi farms. The newest research from Successful Farming shows producers adopting smartphones at an accelerated rate over the general population. One thing holds true—if you are using e-mail or QR codes for marketing, your website needs to be responsive Web enabled.

Social Media Cage Match

Late, late, latecomer, Twitter is finally jumping into the ring with Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn with better support of brands. As per usual, it is a limited rollout, so as ag marketers we will keep vigil. Not long ago technology seers were predicting the entire Internet would be pulled in through Facebook and while that doesn’t seem to be panning out, we have to wonder just how many social platforms are people willing to support. If it were anyone but Google trotting out a broad-audience, catchall platform, you wouldn’t be reading about it much. But it is Google, famous for learning from its own mistakes (Wave), as well as the mistakes of others. Google+ may just do it well enough to move the masses, but I’m not making any predictions. The marketing truism for this battle is regardless of how new and improved social media platforms become, the real work is providing engaging content with the same resources. Maybe my prediction for 2012 will be the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Read my 2011 predictions here, or add some of your own!

Justin, 35, Minnesota

These days, the concept of family farming often involves an older father who is nearing retirement and a younger son or daughter who is taking on more responsibility around the farm. It also involves two different approaches when it comes to making important purchase decisions. This unique dynamic is the subject of Paulsen Marketing’s latest thought paper, “How Multi-generational Farming Operations Make Major Purchase Decisions.”

To answer this question, Paulsen Marketing conducted 14 different interviews with farm families across the Midwest. We spoke with two different farming demographics: older row crop producers, ages 46 to 70, and younger row crop producers, ages 25 to 45. These demographics represent a typical father-son(s) or father-daughter(s) farming operation. The purpose of these interviews was to gain insight into the purchase patterns of multi-generational farm families and identify ways agri-marketers can effectively reach this important audience.

This is what we learned: The generational gap associated with online usage is closing.

While online marketing efforts are gaining significance with both older and younger producers, they have not displaced traditional ag media as a trusted source of information. However, we did notice two emerging themes regarding online usage:

Older producers are spending more time online

Several producers in this demographic reported that they are going online more often and for longer periods of time. More importantly, they are engaging in more advanced online activities such as following blogs, contributing to forums, subscribing to specialized content, participating in online auctions and making online purchases.

Younger producers are creating their own peer networks

Younger producers are reaching out to other young producers and cultivating their own trusted networks of peers, including those formed in online communities. They often seek and provide advice online using organized forums and ag-related social media channels.

Ag-related social media channels include online communities developed by trade publications, commodity groups and issue-orientated organizations. These are considered to be more work related by young producers—and therefore more relevant to their needs as a producer. Conversely, they tend to view Facebook and Twitter as non-work related.

Online usage is just one of the many observations discussed in Paulsen Marketing’s latest thought paper. Read the complete paper, watch the interviews and discover the key marketing take-aways.

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It was early 2010, the economy was struggling and new media was emerging. Agrimarketers were challenged with balancing a new frontier of reaching producers through digital strategies and social media. Media buyers spent their days trying to maintain reach and frequency through mediums which have provided year after year tried and true results, while realizing that producers were wanting to receive information in different ways. And many of us were doing that with recession reduced budgets.

We thought the world was changing fast then. Though less than two years ago, “The New Ag Media Model” was written as Steve Jobs first held up the iPad 1 to a capitivated audience; this “tablet technology” was not yet available in stores. Meanwhile, Motorola had just announced it’s Droid, built to compete with the iPhone, which was only available through AT&T at that time. Blackberries were the smartphone of choice for the 11% of producers that owned them.

Fast forward 20 months. Today, I sit at my desk, mourning the loss of the greater-than-great Steve Jobs, marveling at my iPad 2, and patiently awaiting the arrival of my iPhone 4S Siri. I relish the thought of dropping my Blackberry on the nearest train track and letting fate decide its future.

Though it would seem that the world has changed so much, the thoughts of producers we talked to in those video clips remain much the same. Today, as clients ask us about revising strategies, I can still confidently pull quotes from the producers we spoke to. While we forge ahead on the digital frontier, the wisdom of the producers we talked to still holds true.

Producers shared with us that as much as they love the internet, it will never replace the magazine or the newspaper. One producer said, “There is something to be said for a magazine. They are always in our shop office. It’s an easier format to read. You have to know what you want when you are on your computer.” The association between the active behavior of viewing something on a screen still holds true today.

Another producer added, “I still get more out of it, if it’s on paper. The information you get on the Internet is the same, but it doesn’t soak in as well.” Our brains are programmed to absorb information in certain ways. Without a doubt some of us prefer the tactile association that print provides us.

And producers continue to remind us that the radio messages follow them all day; from the office, to the truck to the cab of their tractor.

While we sometimes feel that our worlds are changing at a pace that’s difficult to keep up with, it’s good to know that the more things change, the more things stay the same.

Download the paper to watch the interviews of producers we spoke with and see if you agree that the producer mindset has not changed.

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Older producers are getting ready to retire. Younger producers are taking on more day-to-day responsibility around the farm. This creates a unique decision-making dynamic that has many agri-marketers asking, “How do multi-generational farming operations make major purchase decisions?”

To answer this question, Paulsen Marketing conducted 14 different interviews with farm families across the Midwest. We spoke with two different farming demographics: older row crop producers, ages 46 to 70, and younger row crop producers, ages 25 to 45. These demographics represent a typical father-son(s) or father-daughter(s) farming operation. The purpose of these interviews was to gain insight into the purchase patterns of multi-generational farm families and identify ways agri-marketers can effectively reach this important audience.

This is what we learned.

When it comes to deciding upon major purchases such as equipment, crop inputs or technology upgrades, there is a high degree of brand assimilation on multi-generational farming operations.

If producers are loyal to a specific brand, it is generally because the brand has been assimilated into a farming operation from one generation to the next. Just like general consumers, producers prefer to buy brands they already know based on four categories: familiarity, integration, consistency and relationship.

Familiarity

Most producers will purchase the same brand of equipment simply because they are more familiar with the capabilities and control system of the product. Taking the time to learn how to operate new equipment was considered too time consuming.

Integration

Both older and younger farmers agreed that, in most cases, an integrated equipment system (i.e. tractor, planter, sprayer, attachments, etc.) is important to maximizing operating efficiencies and improving production.

Consistency

With so many “unknowns” from one growing season to the next (i.e. moisture, heat units, pests, diseases, etc.), producers need a compelling reason to switch brands and add another variable.

Relationship

If a specific brand is represented by someone who has earned the farmer’s trust—usually through a consistent pattern of exemplary customer service, proven results and fair pricing practices—there is a much greater chance of brand exclusivity for the farming operation. In many cases, farmers are more loyal to the relationship than the actual brand.

Read the complete Paulsen Marketing thought paper, watch the interviews and discover the key marketing take-aways to incorporate into your marketing program.

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The study involved 13 personal interviews with rural lifestylers in the Midwest, as well as 341 completed e-mail surveys of rural lifestylers in a random representative sample of the United States in C and D counties. 98 percent of those in our e-mail survey who purchase products online also write reviews about a purchased product or service.

During our interviews we asked the same questions. It was interesting to hear that most reviews written by these folks were negative reviews. Surprisingly, a customer who did not develop a bond with the product during the initial purchase may turn into a positive influencer after trying a competing product. Keep in contact with bad-vocates, and ask for their testimony as they have substantial impact.

It is important to intercept post-purchase behavior and encourage online sharing to reinforce and enhance relationships and cultivate influencers into brand advocates.

Consumer reviews impact each step as rural lifestylers navigate through the purchase decision-making process. By recognizing rural lifestylers purchasing behaviors, create a user experience that matches their expectations, converts sales and builds relationships.

These customer insights may extend past the marketing and bring an overall commitment to customer satisfaction throughout all areas like product development, sales and distribution.

To read more about how consumer reviews impact each step of the purchase decision-making process download the full study and view video interviews.

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