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In
all aspects in life, but publishing in particular, there is a
need to get facts right before communicating.
For example, a community pharmacist friend of mine had a successful
pharmacy and decided it was time to enlarge and move to a new
location.
He fitted out a shop in a new complex in a prime location and
then prepared to move in.
To mark the occasion, he held a celebration, inviting suppliers
and prominent local citizens, old customers etc.
Many of those invited sent floral arrangements to help in the
decoration of the new pharmacy.
My friend was appalled, however, when he received from his favourite
wholesaler, a funeral wreath that bore the inscription, "Rest
in Peace".
The liaison representative for the wholesaler acted immediately
to contact the florist.
After apologising, the florist said,
"What happened to you was very bad. What is worse, however,
is that somewhere today a man was buried under a wreath that said,
'Good Luck In Your New Location!!!'
In
publishing, Murphy's Law can remain supreme, so let me share some
of the problems you may encounter in your own publishing venture........I
have virtually met all of them.
Background:
In 1972 I began a career in management consulting, a time when
consultants to small business were virtually non-existent.
Conventional wisdom dictated that the costs of such a service
could not be delivered economically to small businesses, but this
was the perspective from the "big end of town", and
fortunately was proven wrong.
My first client was obtained through an introduction by a mutual
friend, and after an initial meeting, suitable rapport was established
and my first assignment began.
My second client came through a recommendation by my first client.
But where to go to from there?
At that time I had a unique information base acquired through
a painstaking analysis of my own business activity as a community
pharmacist. I was managing partner in a group of three pharmacies,
and the problems of that era revolved around tax planning, inventory
management and marketing.
After five years I was able to provide a range of solutions for
the partnership sufficiently innovative to be able to be sold
on to other pharmacists. I resigned from the partnership to form
my own consultancy.
The services were difficult to advertise in the conventional sense,
so I solved the problem by writing and publishing a hard-copy
newsletter, giving de-identified case histories from my original
business and current clients.
The publication was successful and was sold so as to make a small
profit.
Clients came in at a steady rate and I eventually became national,
with a stable of five management consultants.
I
left the ranks of management consulting around 1981, but towards
the latter end of this segment of my career, I became interested
in the concept of pharmacists selling their knowledge to patients
for a fee i.e. consultant pharmacists.
My
group was able to develop five pharmacists nationally to the stage
of generating consulting fees, totally independent of government
subsidy or medical fund support.
Recently, this idea has been "born again", officially
sanctioned, developed and promoted, and has stimulated my interest
once more.
It
is not a quantum leap for the techniques of management consulting
to be taught to pharmacists so they become pharmacy consultants.
Only the knowledge base changes for each style of consultant.
However,
it is a quantum leap to move from a hard copy publication to an
Internet publication.
This was something I had to master before entering the realms
of management consultancy once more, because to do so, I needed
to establish a publication built around ideas.
This
proven method of publicising services has been utilised by many
forms of business, including pharmacy.
Only
a handful of pharmacists have undertaken this type of project
to promote their business, and mostly in hard copy.
For most, the commitment to develop an Internet communication
has yet to be faced.
Publishing newsletters and magazines on the Internet looks easy
from the outside, which is why so many people launch new publications
without previous publishing experience.
Most newcomers fail.
The relatively cheap start-up expenses for Internet publishing
means that failures are easier to absorb financially, and given
that everyone has to fail before they succeed, building a publication
in a stepwise fashion is easier to achieve using an Internet format.
My first attempt was a simple e-mail newsletter, which developed
over time to an e-mail summary, with links back to a website.
The newsletter then gave way to a more elaborate production of
an e-magazine....i2P "Information to Pharmacists", which
embodies the experiences gained in developing all earlier productions.
The name i2P is an acronym to illustrate the magazine's relevance
to the Internet, much like the similar acronyms B2B and B2C, although
one of my writers commented that it reminded him of what he had
to do before going to bed.
I thanked him for sharing his prostate problems with me, but decided
to stick with my original thoughts.
In any publishing venture, there is a potential to make a number
of glaring errors, which seem to be commonly repeated by many
start-ups.
The Most Common Mistakes made in Internet
Publishing:
1.
Not planning or setting goals
Developing an Internet publication is like having a business within
a business.
It has to be properly resourced, in human and financial terms,
and be supported with adequate equipment to do the job.
A genuine commitment to all these facets is an absolute essential.
A business case should be made as to why you need the publication
in the first place.
For this you need a vision and a list of objectives.
Subscriber growth is one objective and this is often equated to
brand awareness.
If your publication is designed to sell, then the more important
numbers are the sales conversion rate, profitability and responsiveness
of your publication's audience.
A strategic mix of these objectives will determine overall success,
including the ability to attract potential advertisers to support
publication costs.
2.
Not determining your readership needs.
Obviously,
you need readers if you want to be a publisher, but a surprising
number of people don't bother to study their potential readers
before they create their publication.
They concentrate on what they want to write, not on what their
audience wants to read.
Avoiding this mistake is simple: Before you start publishing,
make sure you know what your readers need.
For example, my readers consist of pharmacists and other people
involved in servicing the needs of pharmacists, in their various
settings.
I have been a pharmacist for many years and have owned a number
of community pharmacies individually, or in partnership.
I currently work in a hospital setting.
I have also consulted to pharmacists and have studied many working
environments. I have listened to the practical problems.
So I believe I know my target audience.
There is a genuine need for strategic information revolving around
the management and marketing of the professional role and direction
of pharmacists.
This is what I try, through my writing and the writings of contributing
authors, to provide.
My publication is aimed at pharmacy leaders or potential pharmacy
leaders, and as such, a lot of the material published is "futuristic",
and endeavours to translate current problems into future solutions.
It is also dotted with some practical material for the immediate
"now" and highlights any problems at any level that
may prove damaging to pharmacy.
My audience is a tough one.
They are competitive, will only allow thoughts translating to
policies when they feel they genuinely "own" the ideas.
They are extremely territorial.
They give no quarter, no recognition and are not complimentary
in their attitude.
It is survival of the fittest, and acceptance only comes with
persistence.
Some pharmacists in the community have immediate "wants"
and would probably respond more to material constructed around
"quick fixes".
While this would probably attract a wider readership, and a more
"popularist" publication, I have elected to service
a "niche" market, which would not suit all would-be
publishers.
So, if you are thinking of launching your own publication, first
think about your readership.
If your publication is to be directed, say to the customers/patients
of a community pharmacy, ask yourself the following questions:
How old are they? How literate? How much money do they have? How
are they spending their time? Why are they interested in your
subject? How much (or how little) do they already know about it?
What motivates them to read: personal development, financial gain,
recreation?
That is, how are they going to benefit by reading your publication?
Next, get your audience to talk to you. Ask questions or poll
opinions from your customer/patient base that is readily available
to you.
Ask your most valuable resource-your own staff.
Conduct mail and telephone surveys in the wider population.
If you're already in print, run polls and surveys in your publication.
There is an excellent Internet survey program available on the
Web called "Zoomerang". It is free, and you can construct
some quite intricate surveys. Many large companies use it
I utilised it prior to launching i2P and it provided some extremely
valuable information, which I have since published on my website.
If you're not yet in print, study the letters to the editors,
opinion polls and other reader feedback that runs in related publications
(hard-copy or web-based).
Take every step you can, that will allow prospective readers to
tell you about themselves.
Then, study your competitors. What's missing from them? What could
you do better? No matter how many other publications are already
out there, you can usually find a unique and valuable editorial
niche, especially if you thoroughly understand your readers.
In my case, there are no competitor e-magazines running in Australian
pharmacy. There is the potential, with existing hard-copy publishers
able to develop an Internet version of their offering, but revenue
issues around advertising have to be resolved, as well as the
problem of competitors generally offering more free content as
the tempo speeds up.
There is a reluctance to become a pioneer.
As I do not carry advertising, and my niche is fairly unique,
I believe I can survive and grow, using i2P as a base, and developing
new publications and commercial products that can be revenue spin-offs.
Being "lean and mean", and first, has certain advantages.
New competitors will simply expand the market.
For your own publication, after you get readers talking to you,
and you train yourself to listen to them, sit down to create your
offering - one that suits them.
3.
Not selecting the right publishing frequency
If you don't think about it, you may select the wrong frequency.
If your publication evolves from newsletter to magazine you may
need to change frequency, as I had to.
So, if you get a fit of optimism and decide to publish your offering
weekly, then make sure it can be sustained.
The effort required for Internet publishing is enormous and apart
from the general editing chores and dealing with site instability
or site enhancements, the continual development of content can
be quite laborious.
The solution is to ensure that a reasonable estimate of time is
calculated and develop a schedule that is fairly relaxed.
If you think you can start with a daily offering....go weekly.
If you think you can start with a weekly offering....go fortnightly.
In the case of my publications, the original newsletter started
monthly, then went to fortnightly, but now as a magazine, it is
back to monthly.
If it proceeds to journal status, then it may have to go quarterly.
4.
Not publishing in the right format
If
you like colourful e-mail in HTML format, spare a thought for
your reader, who may not be set up to handle this and finds that
your message is slow to download and is scrambled when viewed.
Don't
take this sort of risk.
Send all your emails publications in plain text.
If the publication grows in length and complexity, then consider
building a website to host your publication, and have your text
e-mail sent out as a summary, with links back to the appropriate
sections of the site.
Of course, you can go to an intermediate step and give your subscribers
the choice of plain text or HTML, in summarised or full-length
format.
5.
Not planning for growth or automation
A
good Internet publication can grow rapidly, because readers will
recommend it to others, by emailing pages or links to their friends
and colleagues.
It is possible to grow from say a modest 100 subscribers to 2000
subscribers in a relatively short period, and this can then grow
exponentially to a very large number.
Unless you have planned to automate as many procedures as possible
you will be unable to handle growth, which means that you will
not be able to review your offering as frequently as is required,
ultimately causing a number of "unsubscribes".
To succeed, you must have the ability to move fast so as to match
reader aspirations, and head off potential competition.
If you try to do everything yourself in an effort to save costs,
the workload will eventually overtake you.
You
need to delegate repetitive administrative tasks to technologies
such as auto-responders, the programming tasks to programmers
and share the writing tasks with people who can derive benefit
from such an alliance.
Even the general management may need to be eventually delegated.
Each stage of growth represents a new cost.
Was your planning adequate and are you taking full advantage of
the alliance opportunities that progressively open up to a successful
publication?
In doing everything yourself, you do not expose yourself to a
challenge of your opinions, which is always a deadly mistake,
because it retards growth and opportunity.
6.
Not optimising profitability
After
establishing yourself as a publisher, it would be a rare occurrence
that, if after a review of your activities, you would not have
regretted doing something differently in the recent past.
Usually, it will relate to a profit opportunity lost.
Internet publications can throw up a number of revenue streams
including advertising, sponsorships, direct and indirect sales,
paid subscriptions, joint venture alliances or partnerships etc
just illustrate a few of the opportunities that can occur.
Most Internet publishers are never fully aware of the power of
their publication as a marketing and profit tool.
It may take time to develop these activities, or even recognise
that they are actually there and within reach.
Investing time and effort in this process will always improve
your leverage as you learn the ropes.
How
to Write for the Internet
Basically,
writing for the Internet is little different to writing for any
other publication. However, there are some differences.
a.
Article length
This
is not as critical as for a hard copy publication, because Internet
real estate is virtually limitless.
However, there are some basic guidelines:
200-300 words for a newsletter article.
600-800 words for a magazine article.
If
the presentation exceeds 800 words, then it is probably advisable
to run it as a series over two or more editions.
b.
Article research
When
preparing for an article these days, most research can be done
through "surfing" the Internet, using an appropriate
search engine such as "Google" and a range of keywords
that may open suitable sites to gather information from.
If you find a suitable reference, then copy from the browser and
paste into an appropriate program (Word, text editor or HTML editor).
After concentrating your references, look for some pathway or
perspective to enter your subject, and if you have done enough
homework, the creative juices usually begin to flow.
If you have to leave your work partly completed, always finish
in mid-paragraph so that your ideas and the direction you were
going can be re-stimulated. This is easier than completing a logical
sequence and having to start a new thought process at a different
time.
Always leave suitable time to revisit your work to polish, edit
and format, remembering that formatting may be lost if it is transmitted
to a publisher in other than HTML.
When formatting the final presentation within a website, always
leave plenty of "white space" around text. Closely packed
text is difficult to read and reader interest may wane.
Background colours and textures also affect readability
Text style, size and colour are also important, but with a bit
of experimentation, you can arrive at an aesthetically pleasing
web page which distinguishes your publication from all others.
Utilising Internet publishing as a Marketing
tool -
Pharmacists Keeping in Contact with their Patients
As
pharmacists begin to experiment with various types of web activity,
there will be a need to develop communications directed towards
patients and customers.
If a hard copy publication already exists, then there is little
difficulty in converting this type of publication to an Internet
version.
Pharmacists have the need to receive and generate many forms of
publication.
* General news on pharmacy developments and new products and services.
* Products and services on special offer.
* Patient information e.g. CMI's, Medication Reviews
* Patient reminders as prescriptions fall due.
Internet
publications can also be used as an indirect marketing tool for
communication with GP's and other professionals. These can be
communications directly for individual patient benefit or for
the entire patient population i.e. raising your "brand awareness".
The number of uses is only limited by your imagination, but a
prerequisite is to have a database of patient/customer e-mail
addresses, with the permission of each individual, and stored
in files that would preserve privacy.
You will also need to develop a database of specific information,
such as CMI's, which are in a format that is readily transmitted.
The format may also need to be one that cannot be altered e.g.
Acrobat PDF file.
Maintaining and Building Interest in
Your Publication
To
maintain a level of interest in your publication, it must become
interactive. This can be achieved through:
*. Maintaining a message board or forum so that people can express
ideas and views. Obviously, the type of publication will determine
what sort of thread will run through the bulletin board.
*. Running polls and surveys to gauge the opinions of your readers.
*. If the publication is commercially oriented, you could consider
running competitions with prizes attached. There are a range of
free Internet games (e.g. Rubix cube) that can be integrated into
this type of activity, if deemed suitable.
*. Links where patients/customers can send individual e-mail/form
mail communications, particularly where help or complaints are
required to be registered and dealt with.
*. Above all, the ultimate interest is generated by providing
well-researched, well-written, timely information that matches
customer/patient need at any given time.
Branching out into Other Forms of E-Publishing
suitable for Pharmacies
Other
developments in e-publishing include stand alone productions that
can be attached as links within a website or transmitted as an
attachment to a regular e-mail. This type of publishing is often
known as E-Book publishing, which allows you to develop a full
scale book, say, on a specialist subject, which can actually be
sold by Internet download, using your existing e-magazine etc
to publicise it.
Opportunities are opening up to exploit each format, which again,
is only limited by imagination.
a.
Acrobat PDF files
This type of file cannot be copied through an Internet browser
or able to be edited on download through the Internet. This means
that a file of this type provides a measure of security, particularly
if you are dealing with sensitive medical information.
A publication can be developed in a Word document and then converted
to PDF with all formatting remaining intact. It can also carry
graphics and has the ability to be transmitted as an e-mail attachment,
providing good portability.
b. HTML Compilers
These programs have the ability to take in folders of HTML pages
from your website and be "bound" in book format i.e.
having the look and feel of a book, down to the binding and method
of page turning.
They retain the ability to maintain links within the publication
or to take you to another site on the Internet.
Generally, they will have an index facility and provide a very
useful structure to deliver a publication of any size.
Some programs come complete with their own browser, making them
independent of any other desktop browser. This preserves formatting.
Other programs need to have various "readers" installed
such as the Microsoft e-Reader.
These productions also have portability, and can be sent as an
e-mail attachment. They can also be integrated into other websites.
c.
E-Book exe files
These are similar to HTML compilers, but use plain text editors
similar to word processors. They also have the look and feel of
a normal book and provide a range of methods to turn pages (page-turn,
slide or whisk-away). They can generally be indexed internally
and externally and are not dependent on any specific browser i.e
they are completely standalone.
They can also be installed within websites and e-mail newsletters
etc for download from your website, or they can be sent as an
e-mail attachment.
The versatility and portability attracted me to using this type
of program to duplicate the e-magazine, allowing people to store
them in the form of a library on their desktop, or transmit copies
to friends and colleagues.
Any
of the above formats could be used to publish medication reviews,
or bundle a range of CMI's together for a patient. You could even
develop a complete e-book for a patient to embrace all of their
pharmacy related information.
As
the lines between specific publications and everyday communications
begins to blur, a need is fast developing for some form of secure
document exchange on the Internet.
My current project at the moment involves the concept of Internet
postal boxes, where encrypted documents in a variety of file formats
can be pigeon-holed on the Internet, and accessed by another person
at a remote location.
Documents exchanged could be GP patient prescription to pharmacist,
pharmacist medication review to GP, or a report to a patient.
In fact any document to any person with the ability for a return
communication, and all documents only being able to be unlocked
by an individual security key.
New
communications and new methods of information delivery have the
capacity to create the "paperless office".
Targeted information delivered at ever increasing speed represents
the new currency of the 21st century and those people who close
their minds to the opportunities presented by these new technologies
will do so at their own peril.
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NEIL
JOHNSTON