Going hyper-channel?

Following our theme of multi-channel communications, it's important to remember that sometimes it's better to go narrow and deep rather than broad and shallow. Think of it as multi-within-multi-channel or what I will call "hyper-channel." For some types of content, it's the best way to get started. Some examples:

A customer with a large set of audio files wants to maximize the return on this set of content. Ok, you could, I suppose, convert audio to text and make transcripts available to make this content more multi-channel. But, how appealing would reading transcripts in a Web page or newsreader really be? Instead, provide them as audio as a set of manually downloadable MP3 files, a subscription Podcast, as streaming audio in both the Windows Media Player and Real player formats. Next, a set of images of the people or products involved could be added to the audio track to convert them into a set of corresponding video feeds, also available to the various player formats. That way, regardless of the skill or devices used by the customer, the audio will be available.

In another case, a company hosting events wanted to increase the visibility of each one. At first it certainly made sense to post the event on the Web site, RSS news feeds, promotional newsletters and so forth. But after a while, the company eventually realized that the problem was not getting the word out, but getting people to actually sign up. In short, there just wasn't enough information to draw folks in. Instead of just going broad with event promotions, they also went deep. Each event got its own dedicated Web site or "micro-site." While only a few pages per site, the event seemed more important to visitors, and could be complimented with materials. Cross linking the micro-site back to the main Event Page listings and other news feeds ensured consistency. Again, with a hyper-focus on this single Web channel, one whole "site" for each event, the returns in event registration were much higher.

Covering a given channel in all of its variations, or going "hyper-channel," often allows you to embrace the medium that best fits the content, yet still maximize returns.