I’m excited to have a very useful guest post today from Kenneth J. Weiss, Director of e-Commerce at Hoover and author of a new book called Slightware – The Next Great Threat to Brands.  You can download the first chapter for free at Slightware.com.

Back in the dark ages when I was in design school, students were given the challenge of developing pieces of communication that had powerful primary and secondary messages. The primary message was the overt or obvious message that was communicated, and the secondary message was the underlying meaning created by the actual execution.

The classic example is a dusty road sign that says “Fresh Eggs” in hand-scribbled letters. The primary message is “fresh eggs.” The execution of the sign, simple and homemade, supports the secondary message of goods being sold directly from a farm. If the exact same sign were changed to say “Sky Diving Lessons” the lack of professional execution delivers a secondary message that immediately raises concerns about credibility and safety.

Today almost every brand and cause is relying on digital communications to help advance the message. Reviewing the primary message is easy – what secondary messages are being delivered by your technology choices?

The growth of digital publishing and delivery tools has allowed organizations to cut out the “middle man” of advertising agencies, public relations firms and other companies. The messages are perceived as being more authentic since they are coming directly from the source. Bad technology is risky because the brand or cause takes a direct hit. Be careful! Consumers are more discriminating than ever before.

Choosing the Right Technology and Building Better User Experiences

Selecting the right words, carefully constructing messages and staying on point is tricky but can be done. Technology is a bit more problematic because many case leaders have limited track records with technical decisions. Here are some areas where technology can help or hurt your cause.

Hosting – Did you know a massive push toward green hosting is underway? Companies that host web sites are looking at the construction of their buildings, the way their power is generated and the efficiency of the web servers to provide a more environmentally conscious web hosting solution. For some causes, green hosting is a must.

Vendor Selection - If your web development company or IT firm uses off-shore labor for code development make sure they select countries with reasonable labor practices. Once an offending company is exposed, their list of clients is usually made public as well.

Editorial Policy and Processes for Social Media - Social media is all the rage. How a brand or cause reacts says volumes about credibility and transparency. The issues are many: Will you let employees Twitter? Will you offer comments or ratings on your own site? Will you respond to comments made on other sites? Will you allow employees to share work related information or pictures on their own Facebook pages. Will you develop a Facebook page for your cause? Will you publish stories or pictures on your site submitted by readers – if not how do you turn them down gracefully?

Bulletproof Attribution – Any article, chart, image or phrase used on your site that can be credited to a third party must be explicitly notated. How can a cause be trusted if copyright rules are not followed?

Stock Photography – Using stock photography is easy. It is affordable and it can be found on dozens of sites around the web. This is what makes it dangerous. You may use a stock photograph to create a feel or tonality. A reader, however, might take it as an editorial statement. For instance you might use a shot of smiling children when talking about a community outreach service to illustrate the benefit. A viewer of the page might interpret the picture as “we helped THESE children.” Imagine their deflated feeling when they see those kids smiling on ten other web sites.

E-Commerce Partnerships – If you sell any products or materials through partner sites, you need to understand the end-to-end flow of the order. Is the credit card information safe? How are orders packed and shipped? Will email addresses be used for further marketing? In some instances the e-commerce experience feels seamless with the original site. Any negative customer experience will reflect poorly on you.

Security of Your Back-End Systems - Wouldn’t a person opposed to your cause love to have a peek at your mailing list or donor list? Or worse yet, wouldn’t they love to send an email pretending to be you? Quick! Right now – can you say your data is safe? Where is the back up? Who has access to it?

Required Fields on Forms – In this age if identify theft and rampant marketing customers are very cautious about sharing information. Any online form – email sign ups, information requests, simple contact forms – must balance completeness of information with the user’s protective instincts. The number of fields that you can mark “required” drops each day.

Print Strategy – Are all of your documents, forms, guides and manuals available as PDF’s? Do you tag each email with a note that says consider the environment before printing? When used correctly digital technologies can greatly reduce paper consumption.

Now is the Time To Get Started

Now more than ever, the web is the go-to source for research and information, and digital communication is a cost effective way to keep people informed. Consumers are becoming socially conscious about the right ways and wrong ways for a company to use digital technologies – and the bar is getting higher every day.

Thanks again to Ken for this excellent post.  Please take the time to check out his new book over at Slightware.com.  And please leave a couple of comments if you have a moment.

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