Marketing Gets Innovative

Intranets were little more than online employee phone lists when they came on the scene a few years ago. Today, employees can update benefit plans, check stock prices, read up on the latest company news and even take an online training class.

But how can employees take advantage of these services if they don't know they exist? As intranets become more sophisticated, companies are marketing these tools internally and launching campaigns to stimulate usage.

"People come up to me all the time saying they don't have enough employees using the intranet," says consultant Shel Holtz, president of Holtz Communications + Technology. "The marketing effort is important. If you want people to change the way they work using the intranet, they have to understand what's in it for them."

At PricewaterhouseCoopers, Abbey Harper, manager of communications for the global knowledge management organization, has full-time responsibility for promoting the intranet, which is known as Knowledge Curve.

Informing all of PricewaterhouseCoopers' 150,000 employees scattered throughout 150 different countries about what the intranet offers is not an easy task. During the year, Harper takes to the road, visiting various offices and scheduling presentations throughout the day.

"I sit people down and teach them how to use it, one on one," she says. "I go in there bringing literature, giveaways, boomerangs, little wallet cards, posters and flyers."

To spur interest, she hosts specific professional sessions. For example, she helps accountants use the intranet to do research and prepare taxes for clients. And about two years ago, the company started a Knowledge Curve Champions program, a team of 200 avid intranet users. Since Harper can't be everywhere, these employees sponsor brown-bag lunch sessions to promote Knowledge Curve within their own departments and divisions.

"We had these constant complainers who had their own opinions about how the intranet should work," explains Harper. "We gathered them together and listened to them, and now they are cheerleaders in their own locations."

Holtz agrees that enthusiastic users can be the key to corporate intranet evangelism. He takes that idea one step further by challenging senior managers and executives to serve as role models.

"I'm a big believer in contact by senior management," Holtz says. "They need to model the behaviors and tell others, especially the old line folks, that they found their info on the intranet. It's important for them to show other supervisors how they can be more productive and effective at their jobs using the network."

A focused trade show, or a so-called Intranet Day, also can generate interest and enthusiasm. When J.C. Penney Co. launched its intranet, the information systems group transformed the company's auditorium in its Plano, Texas, headquarters into a miniature intranet trade show. Representatives from Allaire, Microsoft, Netscape and Oracle set up booths and displayed products to inspire other departments to create their own internal Web sites. The one-day affair was complete with live music, brochures introducing the intranet, and promotional giveaways.

At Chevron Corp., whenever there is a major change or addition to the intranet, the company's employee communications department uses company e-mail to alert its 30,000 employees worldwide. Mike Johnson, Chevron's editor of employee communications, says the intranet's home page is set up as a news page for the latest company news.

During news of a recent Chevron re-finery fire, Johnson's department sent out a companywide e-mail that included a link to a more in-depth story on the intranet's home page.

So far, the Go.Chevron home page has been extremely popular among employees, Johnson says. "We get 5,000 to 7,000 hits a week," he says. "We have a fairly sophisticated audience. It is a company run by engineers, and they are very fact-oriented. The home page is a place where we educate readers."

Companies also can promote usage by publishing success stories either in print or on e-mail. "If someone gets a product launched early because of using the intranet compared to using traditional channels, you have to talk about it," Holtz says.

It's not uncommon for someone with a problem to go to a discussion group online and get the answer there instead of taking 90 days to hire a consultant, reports Holtz.

When Hewlett-Packard needed to get the word out about its HR services on the Web, it published a three-page flyer with screen shots describing the service, says Michele Drake, HP's manager of employee services communication.

"It's not a problem to get the word out," she says. "The challenge is directing them where to go on the Web. We have to constantly keep the intranet message new and fresh."