HALIFAX, NS - If you build it they will not come. Of course, there will always be the curious and keeners and those that inherently understand it, but an intranet firing at maximum value requires marketing.

In a survey of 500+ intranet managers by Melcrum Research, the number four issue or challenge facing intranet managers was low take-up or usage (the number one issue was ownership/politics).

One of the reasons why even the best intranets need to be marketed to employees is that computer-based workers are often exceptionally busy and do not have time to explore and surf the intranet. They need to be educated as to what is there and why it is of value to both them as individual workers and also to the organization as a whole. Employees need to be ‘sold’.

A couple of years ago I was undertaking some research on an insurance company’s intranet. My research included a company-wide survey which included the participation of some 2700 employees. One of the key findings underscored one of the ubiquitous findings at many organizations – people like the intranet but weren’t using it. In fact, employees rated the intranet a 7.5 out of 10.

So if the intranet was rated so highly, how come employees weren’t using it? I dug deeper in employee focus groups and found the answer: the average employee had been to the intranet home page and liked what they saw but they hadn’t spent much time on the intranet and therefore didn’t know what was there. As such, the average employee didn’t understand that the intranet was a valuable resource because they didn’t know better. Mystery solved; employee use was not for a lack of value, but for lack of knowledge. The employee population needed to be better educated as to what the intranet offered and why it was of value to them. The intranet needed marketing.

In short, every intranet needs a marketing plan followed by execution with results. Sodhexo USA knows this all too well. The leading provider of food and facilities management in North America and 110,000+ employees has a built a marketing plan that is critical to the success of its intranet portal, Sodhexonet. Angelo Ioffreda, VP, Internal Communications Sodhexo USA, shares their intranet marketing plan that focuses on six major components:

1. Promote ongoing SodexhoNet name recognition and key wins.

2. Highlight the variety of useful content through on- and off-line.

3. Increase essential content and applications available only online.

4. Increase content – including fun content – that drives repeat visits.

5. Encourage continued endorsements from senior leadership.

6. Support content owners – increase skill level and enthusiasm, identify and leverage best practices.

As far as tactics go, dust out your old marketing texts. Marketing tactics could include:

·         E-mail broadcasts

·         newsletter stories

·         internal press conference

·         executive promotion

·         hosted chats with the CEO

·         posters and mousepads

·         premiums (handouts)

·         screensavers

·         etc.

A regional subsidiary of a large financial/investment services company embarked on an ambitious marketing campaign to promote the launch of their redesigned intranet portal. The campaign included an email campaign, promotional cookies for each employee, posters and even a professionally produced 10-minute promotional video replete with a famous voice as the narrator. The CEO personally launched the new intranet with an internal press conference for employees. In total, the company spent about $20 per employee on promoting the new portal.

As for results, Sodexho can bear witness. As a result of their efforts, those never using SodhexoNet dropped from 19% to 1% and registered users who visit the site monthly increased from 55% to 90% (see Best practices case study: Sodhexo USA for more details).

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