Give your content the edge
February 10th, 2009
As communications budgets tighten, publications need to serve up more than entertainment. They need to create advantage.
Ten years back, discussion around the value of employee communications was a different ball game. Procurement departments were relatively unheard of, employees were happy enough to read about colleagues’ birthdays, and the strategy behind a publication was rarely debated at board level.
We’re in a very different era now. The recession has forced companies to scrutinise the value of their channels. The challenge for publications is to deliver tangible value and return on investment.
Content must work harder than ever – and for those measuring its value, ‘advantage’ is the top commodity.
Competitive advantage
Engage Group believes an effective internal publication should deliver multiple benefits for the employer and employee.
Insightful content can improve performance by giving employees the latest industry intelligence. In competitive markets like mobile networks, customer loyalty can rest on minor details such as the knowledge or attitude of call centre staff.
Recognising that, O2’s internal magazine breeze explored the credit crunch in September 2008 to increase understanding of the impact on the mobile industry, to explain O2’s strategy and to suggest ways that staff could help their customers save money.
The business disseminated key information; the readership understood their contribution; and customers could save money by staying with O2. Advantage O2.
Raising the bar
Good content can help advance the reader’s career and improve their prospects.
Costain, the construction group, recently used its Blueprint magazine to summarise the group’s work across all sectors. Employees were left with a clear understanding of how their work was contributing to the company.
Such clear visibility helped Costain motivate and retain its best staff. Karim Gorgy, graduate civil engineer, said: “Blueprint gave me a new perspective on Costain’s rail projects. It helped me set targets about where I’d like to work.”
Working as one
Content also enhances the sense of ‘belonging’ and fosters teamwork. Learning about colleagues and key personnel can lead to stronger interaction and thinking about opportunities across the business, rather than looking externally.
Enthusiasm is also heightened. Engage Group launched the london angle for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 2008. The newsletter is conversational, irreverent and fun and Tim Jones, Freshfield’s Chair of the London Management Group, said: “I’m not sure how many other firms could claim their staff magazine is read cover to cover.”
Channel hopping
In an increasingly digital age, printed content should act as a springboard to other channels, offering the reader a portal to further knowledge off or online.
Working in harmony with digital creates more opportunities to feedback, contribute ideas and measure reader engagement by monitoring activity on a signposted website after publication.
Making the call
The key to creating advantage is knowing your readership and targeting its needs. A leading mobile operator recently announced that it is combining its customer and internal magazines. While the decision may save money, it has the potential to disengage and entrench existing negativity among staff. The advantage may fall to the competitor.
Editors, web managers and comms professionals, consider the advantages your publication content creates for the reader and organisation. If there are none, put it down and demand more.
What do you think?