"The Internet Advocacy Book" offers tips, techniques and case studies for nonprofits and corporations alike to get the most from their online presence.

The internet is one of the most powerful marketing vehicles ever created. 

While that is one of the more obvious statements you will ever read, it is necessary to repeat it from time to time because so many organizations fail to take advantage of the opportunities created by the internet. Whether you are focused on communications, advocacy, community building or fundraising, there are so many missed opportunities out there it's staggering.

Yes, nonprofit groups and social changes organizations, I am talking about you. And yes, companies that adopt a social agenda and want to demonstrate your commitment to social issues, I've got you in my sights as well.

There are dozens of major nonprofit groups and advocacy organizations that have mobilized their audiences to action, raised millions of dollars through small donations, and captured the attention of media, government and world powers as a result of their actions online.

Look at the campaigns waged by the ONE Campaign, MoveOn, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, DonorsChoose and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation -- they have all demonstrated an understanding of how the internet complements their efforts and generates success on a variety of levels.

Major marketers are starting to get into the act as well -- Dove with its real beauty campaign, GE around Ecomagination, Whirlpool, Nike and others. To help sell their product or position their brand around a serious issue like the environment, health, or net neutrality, they pull out all the stops. 

What these groups do is different than marketing products, which is harder in many ways. They expand their reach and impact our society through their online campaigns, and they raise the bar for everyone in the process. Sadly, they are more often the exception than the rule.

When it comes to serious issues, many companies and many more nonprofit groups and advocacy organizations either don't use the internet at all, or fail to develop comprehensive efforts that drive real success online. They build websites and don't promote them. They launch campaigns online but don't integrate them with their offline activities as well. They generate a lot of buzz but put no energy or focus into sustaining and building their audience. 

Why do these groups have so much trouble seeing the opportunity that online presents? 

Why they can't see the incredible innovation taking place in all sectors of business, education, sports and entertainment as models for their own success, I don't understand.

For others, the groups who do recognize the potential the internet provides, the challenge of communicating effectively online is simply too great -- on the nonprofit and advocacy side because they only have limited resources or staff to put on a project, and on the corporate marketing side because they lack an understanding of what really drives success around serious issues.

As a result, they often invest in a piece of technology or a set of activities without fully understanding how they should be used to advance a campaign. And when it comes time to execute, they fall short of their potential.

There is now a resource to turn to for information on how to properly execute certain key elements of an online campaign to support a cause, nonprofit group or advocacy effort. The Internet Advocacy Book by Michael Organ is a collection of tips, techniques and case studies to help nonprofit groups and advocacy organizations understand how to win the battle for "share-of-influence" on the internet.

The lessons can easily translate to corporate marketing as well. And to everyone's benefit, the entire contents of the book have been published and are freely available at IssueMarketing.com.

The Internet Advocacy Book is a rich resource that spans topics including internet keyword research, internet copywriting, inbound link campaigns, search engine optimization, internet advertising, internet press releases, advocacy blogging, internet outreach, email alerts and affiliate programs. The book provides blunt and realistic assessments of what it will take for a group to be successful online. 

The author, who is a consultant and provides online support to nonprofit organizations, doesn't seem to have an agenda in his writing, other than to offer much needed support to nonprofit groups and advocacy organizations who are floundering online.

That being said, the Internet Advocacy Book does not offer all of the tools and information that a nonprofit group or advocacy organization truly needs to be successful online in today's complex communications environment. 

First, in its ambition to help raise the profile of nonprofit groups and advocacy organizations on a global scale, the Internet Advocacy Book all but dismisses a key element of what drives success for these organizations, online and offline. As the introduction of the book notes, "If your primary goal is fundraising, or if your advocacy ambitions are limited to a local area, then The Internet Advocacy Book is not right for you."

While every organization wants to gain global attention for its issue at some point, the likelihood of that happening -- even for a group with the most dynamic online strategy ever created -- is very slim. With very few exceptions, the organizations that achieve global status started small and built their capacity over years of successful efforts on a local level.

The book offers clear, actionable recommendations to help organizations execute effective campaigns. But tactics should be one of the last things that an organization considers when looking to tap the energy and enthusiasm of an online audience. Organizations, first and foremost, must establish clear goals around their online communications efforts and then build a strategy for meeting those goals. That strategy must take into consideration all the resources and tools available to the organization and the nature of the online environment and audience they are trying to reach. Only then should an organization think about what tools to use and where to spend their resources.

The Internet Advocacy Book is a tremendous resource -- and organizations of all kinds will benefit from having it available to them for free online. Before referring to it, however, nonprofit groups and advocacy organizations, as well as corporate marketers who are looking to mount a promotional effort around a serious issue, should consider their goals, the strategic opportunities for reaching and engaging their target audience, and the ways in which any online effort can be fully integrated with the rest of their operations.

Only then will the valuable insights that this book offers truly serve to benefit the organizations that use it.

Brian Reich is the director of new media for Cone. Read full bio.