Ask integrated marketers to name their most-important stakeholder and they usually mention customers. It makes sense: After all, no company stays in business without them.
However, going for profit over people could be short-changing your strategy. Your employees have the most control over the future of your company.
“High-performing organizations make employee communications a priority,” communications expert Sarah Boggess clarified in a recent post on Ragan.com. “They know an engaged workforce makes for a more successful organization. And to engage employees, they understand the need to communicate strategically with them.”
Think of your employees as a target market. What do you know about them? Before communicating any piece of information to employees, ask the question, “What’s in it for them?”
Just as you would write a customer newsletter article with your targets in mind, craft your internal communications program with your most-important assets in mind: your employees and their needs.
Here are three ways to make employee communications an effective part of your integrated marketing strategy:
Make Employee Communications a Priority
Establish a regular communication schedule that is tailored to your organizational culture — and stick with it. Some ideas include:
- A weekly email update on company progress
- Weekly “hallway” updates in person
- A monthly conference call with management
- A quarterly all-hands meeting with the CEO or other top executive
Are creative teams a segment of your employee population? We created a guide on how to manage creative services; “Get the Best from Your Creative Team” has tips to incorporate into your employee communications strategy.
Get People Involved
Communications can’t be top-down from management. Empower your employees to share their ideas. Oftentimes, they are closer to the heart of a situation and can fix problems faster. Try some of these ways to get them talking:
- Hold a “town hall” meeting
- Set up interactive video interviews
- Ask them to log questions on company social media channels or intranet
- Conduct annual employee surveys
Video is a strong tactic for this integrated marketing strategy. For a primer on using video in your employee communications plan, check out “Tips for Creating Successful Videos.”
Seek Every Opportunity to Recognize
Results-generating employee communication programs include well-defined employee recognition and reward elements.
- Call out employees for surpassing expectations
- Include them in your publicity or advertising campaigns
- Recognize them with awards
To help you build out this rewards strategy, read our guide, “Developing Better Promotional Products Campaigns.” You’ll pick up ideas on how promotional products could be incorporated into your employee communications strategy.
