It could be tempting to skip out on employee communication campaigns. Youโre already paying your employees, but clients are where you get the big money from! But if you think this way, youโre making a mistake. Your employees and your company culture set the tone for everything else you doย – including client retention.
Did you know that weโve helped with several internal communication campaigns? We have years of experience and would love to share some great tips and examples so that you can feel more comfortable creating one!
How to Plan Better Internal Communication Campaigns
Planning internal communication campaigns is not difficult – but it is a multi-step process that can be tough to navigate if youโre not familiar with it!
1. Research Your Baseline
You know us – the first step is always research!
You need to communicate thoroughly with your contact to ensure you understand the full scope of the project and whether thereโs any room for flexibility within the project. Thereโs a wide range of client preferences, and while some internal communications can have a fun tone to them, others are more straightforward and less open to creative interpretation. If the client has a brand guide, ask for it.
Ask your contact about what has worked in the past and what didnโt work. Pick their brain to make the project as effective as possible. Use your knowledge and experience to make sound recommendations and facilitate worthwhile discussions among the team.
Be sure you understand:
- The scope
- The deadlines
- The resources needed
- How content will be produced
- Who will be producing the content
- The nature of the project and how youโll help
By setting expectations and ensuring you and your client are on the same page every step of the way, youโll keep all parties happy and achieve success.
2. Set Goals and Define the Target Audience
Choose realistic (but slightly out-of-reach) goals and set a timeline to accomplish them. While youโre at it, define your target audience. Do you want this communication campaign to go to your Ops team? Sales? Marketing? The target audience will have a direct impact on the channels you go through and your messaging. Bonus: it also helps drive engagement.
3. Be Strategic and Consistent
Instead of sending out a โone and doneโ reminder to employees, use different types of messaging to reinforce the action you want them to take. For example, if the goal is to get employees to watch a training module, you can send it in three different formats: video, visual (graphs, etc.) and written, over the course of several days.
4. Choose a Multi-Channel Approach
Everyone is different – and people are active on different channels. For that reason, it helps to use a multi-channel approach. Youโll reach more people – those who are active on social media platforms, inbox zero types, and those who use the companyโs messaging platform.
5. Spice Up Your Messaging
Your employees arenโt too different from people youโre reaching out to – they can get bored very easily. Spice up your messaging by crafting a great hook, using appealing headlines, and incorporating visual elements (graphics, videos, etc.).
Be aware of the tone youโre using – different teams may communicate differently. For example, data scientists typically think in very practical terms. Theyโre straightforward and donโt need or want a lot of fluff in their messaging. On the other hand, marketers tend to be more enthusiastic,ย favoring creativity and storytelling.
Think about the differences in your team as well. Using inclusive language and thinking about diversity and how the messaging will be perceived across groups is vital. Keep things easy to understand so it will appeal to a broader audience.
Track engagement by including a CTA. This also gives your employees an actionable step to take as soon as they finish reading, watching, or looking at your content.
Using the example of completing a training, a CTA of โReact with an emoji once youโve read this postโ in messaging or social platforms can be helpful. If youโre sending it via email, asking them to send a message saying โGot it,โ can suffice!
6. Track Your Performance
Last of all, analyze the success of your campaign. Look at the numbers and learn what part of the campaign was most effective. (This data can also help with any subsequent campaigns you may be planning in the future.) What worked well? What messaging format and channel got the most engagement? What campaign choices were a flop? Did you meet your goals?
Real-Life Examples of Internal Communication Campaigns
To get your creative juices flowing, we want to give you examples of internal communication campaigns that went well.
1. ELLWOODโs โWhat Do You Do All Day?โ
ELLWOOD employees expressed interest in learning more about what other teams do, and in seeing more employees in their communications. Their communications specialist combined the two, and created a series of short, one-minute videos. In these videos, he interviewed employees on the frontlines (across several locations). Employees loved it and it boosted the company culture.
2. Margaret Mary Healthโs โCheers to Peersโ
Everyoneโs probably been in a situation where they felt unappreciated, but at Margaret Mary Health, they wanted to do things differently. This campaign enabled employees to give their teammates a โshout out,โ and at the end of each month, the employees are entered into a drawing for prizes. This campaign helped employees feel appreciated and rewarded for their hard work.
Contact Us for Help with Your Internal Communication Campaigns
Are you looking for help with your internal communication campaigns? If so, weโd be happy to help! At Matcha Design, weโve been doing it for years! Whether you want to promote a merger, sales kick-offs, smaller sales-goals promotions, or something else, contact us today!
