Communication and Marketing is Key

Clarity in communication is a very big hurdle in a lot of companies. Many people recognize bad communication because it doesn't work, but fewer recognize good communication because it is inconspicuous. It's often only later that you realize that you've experienced good communication. So make communication work for you in your marketing of the new intranet.

From your research work you will have identified both the failings and the good points of the existing intranet setup. You will by this stage have a very good idea what the new intranet you are making will look like and how it's going to work. It's now your job to sell the solution.

You have to be very clear:

• About what your objectives are and communicate them effectively. Not only must you say "It's going to be better" but say why you have confidence that it's going to be. Define what will make it better, what will change to make it better, how it will ease the lives of the users. However be wary of using too much spin - employees are marvelously attuned to spin and usually each have advanced qualifications in cynicism. Tell the truth.

• What the key messages to the organization are. You have to be able to push the right buttons to illuminate those messages.

The actions you need to take before making your communication:

• Identify any "killer apps" - anything that's going to revolutionize the working lives of the staff. If you don't have anything it doesn't matter - don't be tempted to invent something for the sake of it. People are well-practiced in the reading and dismissal of spin.

• Create an intranet site that outlines what the project is about. Construct it with the design you'll be implementing for the new intranet.

Whether you want to or are able to involve your company's marketing department is up to you. It does depend on how the department is perceived internally. If you're going to create your own marketing effort then concentrate on the objectives outlined above. And use plain language -employees generally don't like hype as they may have been subjected to too much. Besides, hype can also lead to downfall where the project is concerned - unnecessary expectations and then not being able to meet them is the bane of all marketing strategies and sales pitches.

See Chapter 11 for detailed advice on how to market your intranet internally.

Staff Involvement

You need to involve your people for the project to succeed. But it's amazing how many web designers are reluctant to do that. Involving people reduces the inevitable resistance to change you may encounter. Not everyone will have your vision and commitment to the New Improved intranet. You have to be prepared to put up with that resistance. The more people you have on your side the easier it will be, and you have been preparing people since the start of the process when you conducted the surveys and research. Just remember that this part of the exercise is not about technology, it is about communicating.

In order to communicate effectively you have to identify your audiences. There's not just one audience, so you have to tailor your message so that it hits home. For each audience you have to consider:

• What's in it for them?

• Identify any perceived threats to them.

• Identify the benefits of the project to them.

• Identify what you want them to do differently.

Each of the "them"s being the different parts of the target audience. For the majority of the staff you're marketing to, the message will almost be the same. There are several identifiable sets of people where the message may have to be different. The ones I can think of are:

• The "difficult"-Owners - those who are seeing "their" web site as a status symbol.

• People who have created a sub-brand - the logos, the different look.

• The senior managers - they need to see things from a different perspective.

• The ambassadors and developers you've already brought on board.

How you treat these people will be dictated by your own circumstances, but you could try the following:

For the "difficults", stressing how the intranet has depended on the content they've been able to provide but say that for reasons of network efficiency it is necessary to incorporate their ideas into the intranet. They may have used their intranet presence as a status symbol for example "...and my intranet site's bigger than yours.". Frequently a lot of their content is duplicated. It's not necessarily bloat, but it's already been said somewhere else. Get them to understand that they can actually be perceived as heroes if they supply half of the information that will become more useful to the majority.

For the "sub-branders" they've spent some thought on creating their site. If it does say something about the content of the site and is not just a logo for design's sake, why not allow the logo on their parts of the page but in a specific position alongside the main company logo. It'll give continuity, a way of users distinguishing what part of the intranet they're addressing (remember we said that users will get confused if everything looks too much the same?) and will give some pride in the system as it is developed.

Both of these will be involved in maintaining the content for their section anyway - so remember this because you need them more than they think they need you.

The Senior Managers probably use the intranet the least of any employee group. For them you may have to stress that the information source you are creating will benefit the company with greater efficiency. You don't need to say anything about profitability, let them make their own decisions.

The ambassadors and developers need to be involved in all stages of this process we've mentioned - they will ease your load and will be on hand to field some of the questions at coffee time during the meetings. Because they are from other parts of the company they will be identifiable to others in your introductory meetings and make it look less like a "them" and "us" situation.

Create Converts Early On

You've already started creating converts, disciples, and ambassadors. Build on them.

One way of doing this is to invite people to meetings. Make them non-compulsory but ensure that you have also asked some of your ambassadors and developers to attend. Present the new concepts and ask them for support. Give the opportunity for questions and ask them for support. Let them play with example intranet sites and ask for their support. OK, so this all seems a bit obvious written down in this way, but unless you ask you won't get the support you need. You're dealing in some ways with a hearts and minds issue here. I'm emphasizing these techniques because it may be unfamiliar territory to those who are charged with doing the job of getting the intranet running effectively.

While we're here, consider the words you're using. I'm not asking you to put spin across - just choosing words for maximum impact. Consider how you speak during presentations and use words to convey the correct tone. For instance you could use the word "effective" rather than "efficient". Efficient has an aura of treating people like machines. Think about the meaning of words. Politicians have a way of using words effectively - that's how they get elected!

Selling the CMS

If you are renewing your intranet because you are implementing a CMS ensure that you communicate the bigger picture to the organization. The CMS will feed content to web page templates but don't forget that most people using the intranet won't actually recognize that there is a CMS driving the content. Ensure that the message they receive is wrapped around issues that are relevant to them. These could be a way to ensure they get less e-mail or create a quantifiable asset to the organization, for example intellectual property.

But what you have to do is make sure that those responsible understand that the CMS will be no good unless correctly maintained. And make sure that the tools serving the information present well. This is beyond the scope of this chapter, refer back to Chapter 8 for more details on CMS, or Content Management Systems (Phil Suh, et al., glasshaus, 1-904151-06-x).