Impressive! How do you market a website and portal within the organization?
- Omer Ben Yehuda
- Apr 1, 2005
- 7 min read
We've theoretically understood for a long time that knowledge management solutions in the work environment benefit productivity.
The difficulty begins when we're asked to contribute during the actual work. You know how it is: suddenly, because "someone decided," we need to change habits and start working with a new portal, ask questions through discussion groups instead of by phone, or save documents with added attributes that can be searched in the future.
Suddenly, without preparing us, they impose "responsibilities" on us without explaining why. Worse, whoever initiated the change is convinced that we all understand.
Many organizations that invest significant time and resources in launching portals and websites fail at introducing the solution into the work environment. This is not because they didn't invest in marketing but because they didn't know how to do it correctly.
Implementation efforts have several principles that have proven themselves in the past and can wonderfully improve launch results. Here is a gradual implementation process for portals and websites among their users, consumers, and owners:
Note: Not all solutions require all stages. Sometimes, partial use may be sufficient, depending on the solution and the nature of the organization.
The Publication Stage
Think about it: with whom is it usually easier to start an initial conversation? With a stranger or with someone familiar? Research shows that we display more positive behavior towards a person who seems familiar to us, even if they are strangers and we've just "seen them somewhere..."
This is the practical principle in the first stage of the implementation process: activity focused on informing the target audience about the existence of a new tool without expecting immediate results. At this stage (sometimes implemented alongside the marketing stage), the target audience receives information passively, one-way, without requiring action. This step will later help to positively respond to the solution among the target population.
Possible tools for publication:
Sending an informational email/letter/circular
Announcements in meetings/gatherings/social events
Wall notices/update board
Adding links to the site from other sites
Announcement/publication in the internal newspaper/existing unit site (if available)
When publishing, we'll adhere to the following rules:
Use a short and inviting headline to encourage further reading.
Use a concise subtitle that objectively describes the nature of the tool and its advantages.
Ensure the content provides meaningful information about the tool, features, and ideas.
Leave a positive impression - using the tool will be more effective if users want to do so rather than being forced to.
Avoid information overload in the publication - the publication should be concise to not exhaust the reader.
Tell the truth - the solution is a work tool; trying to sell it as something else may create cynicism.
Stay accessible - the publication should include contact methods for questions and additional details.
The Marketing Stage
This stage focuses on "selling" the tool and persuading the target audience to use it. The activity is intended to make the audience active by using or expressing interest in the tool.
Here are four main marketing methods:
Rational persuasion: Proving to users that the new tool is an improvement over existing tools and that using it will benefit them (personally) and their environment (unit). Persuasion is best achieved through face-to-face explanation, including demonstrations and answering questions, or by providing a platform for raising questions/objections and addressing them (someone who doubts at first and becomes convinced will become an ambassador for the tool). Additionally, it's recommended that success stories of the tool be published in other places.
Direct experience: Expose users to an active experience with the tool so they can witness its advantages and innovation "through their fingers.” It's recommended to choose a significant core activity and convert it (and only it) to the new tool (creating no choice). Another way is to implement a 'killer app' that will attract an audience and expose users to the entire tool (for example, a phone book, email, etc.).
Direct marketing: Just as external advertising companies connect products with psychological feelings through logos, slogans, and subliminal messages (clothes with popularity, alcohol with sex, cars with status), the same can be done for marketing the new tool. Positive associative connection to the tool is done through a slogan: an attractive and interesting sentence about the tool and, at high frequency, containing a message of usage worthiness. Logo: giving a symbol to the tool allows its implementation everywhere (posters/documents/emails/etc.) without words. Activity: fun and routine-breaking that symbolically demonstrates the tool's advantages (example: a group navigation trip to demonstrate the advantage of knowledge sharing).
Grand launch: A routine-breaking event to create stimulation to enter! Means for an impressive opening effect are: Mass launch in an unusual location with senior management presence and their speech delivery, formal announcement of the start of activity, presentation of partners and issuance of appointment letters, elaboration on emphases and expectations.
Recommendations for ongoing marketing activities:
Continuous information update conveys that the tool is alive and reflects the current work environment.
Conducting competitions - excites users to use the tool while exposing them to its advantages.
Leveraging feedback - giving users a feeling that they are partners in the tool. Creates commitment and identification.
Distribution of promotional material kits throughout the target audience, such as booklets, leaflets, newsletters, and catalogs.
Using distribution lists to send updates and links from the tool by email effectively makes the tool central in work processes. The distribution list helps create a feeling that its members are part of a group with which they can identify.
Implementation/General Training
For goal-oriented solutions, persuading users to use a new tool won't be enough if they don't know how to operate it. Therefore, the third part of the implementation process is activity among the target population that will detail the tool's structure, how to use it, expectations, and new work processes. This main implementation part is characterized by active and intensive activity that gradually decreases until completion. The recommended implementation process:
General implementation for the entire target audience
This is the highest level of intensity. It involves teaching the target audience how to use the tool, navigate it, input/extract content, etc. The recommended activities are frontal training, including hands-on experience, and a user guide and/or tutorial that includes experience and practice. This stage begins one month before launch and lasts at most one month after launch.
Personal Guidance for Key People in the Target Audience
After training sessions, it is recommended that individuals who serve as "knowledge hubs" (consultation sources for the rest of the target audience) be selected and trained one-on-one, focusing on practical operation and direct experience with the tool. Recommended actions include inputting/extracting content on the site with them, demonstrating usage methods, sending feedback, etc.
Demonstrating Presence in the Target Audience Environment
The target population has already been trained on the tool at this stage. Still, it's important to demonstrate presence by "walking around" the area and signaling availability for users to ask questions. Users should also be approached proactively and asked if they manage the tool well. This "walking around" has a dual significance: it enables questions that users wouldn't otherwise ask, and it demonstrates the tool's importance in the eyes of higher ranks to users and the target audience.
Phone Calls to Key People and Occasional Users
At this stage, most of the general implementation process is complete. Now, it's recommended to contact users at different levels and ask about tool usage: "Are you using the tool?" "What was the last activity you performed and when?" "Are you satisfied?" These questions will help collect information about the tool's strengths and weaknesses.
Remote Activity Monitoring
In general implementation, the final stage begins about 3 months after training and is invisible to users. At this stage, it's recommended to conduct proactive checks on the level of tool usage by key role holders. You can check the last update dates of information, last feedback dates, and dates of recent questions and discussions in knowledge-sharing formats. The most recommended tool is statistical reports, but purposeful "browsing" of the site may also suffice. The findings will identify weaknesses in the tool and inactive role holders, enabling individualized and tailored treatment (next section).
Note:
Most of us prefer to use our familiar work processes in our work environment, especially if the new tool is relatively complex and new. Given the opportunity to return to old work processes, most of us will do so. Therefore, for the implementation process to succeed, users must be helped to stop using their old work habits by closing old channels for work processes, not accepting outputs and inquiries from sources that don't use the new tool, and providing high availability and support for those who struggle with operating the tool.
Individual and Customized Implementation
Even after general training sessions, we will still find users who struggle with or resist the tool. It's important to identify them and provide appropriate support to ensure they use it. The individual customization process is the final adjustment for implementation, and it's important to involve the relevant unit manager. As with the general training process, there is intensive activity here that gradually decreases until completion:
Formal Meetings
The highest intensity. Conducting one-on-one training meetings (or at most up to 4 participants) between the activity leader and the group/individual. The activity leader will determine the most appropriate implementation for the specific recipients. The training will focus on functional operation, work processes, site structure and navigation, content input/extraction, and rational persuasion (for resisters). It's recommended that this activity be begun immediately upon identifying the individual/group. Maximum four meetings.
Coordination with Unit Managers
It's recommended that the individual/group's unit managers be approached and checked to ensure that work processes in their unit do not conflict with/contradict the individual/group's expectations. This dialogue should end in one of two decisions: agreement on cooperation to promote and encourage individual/group activity or mutual agreement on ceasing individual/group activity related to the knowledge solution.
Phone Calls
After personal training sessions and aligning positions with unit managers, it's recommended to contact users to assess their satisfaction and check if any change has occurred. It's important to do this no more than two weeks after the customized training.
Remote Activity Monitoring
In the final stage, we will discreetly reexamine the individual/group's level of use to identify changes in behavior patterns. We will again use statistical tools and/or browse and search for item updates. The activity should stop several weeks after the start of customized training. If we continue, the ROI from the investment may no longer be worthwhile.
Summary
Implementing portals and sites in a work environment is complex and must succeed in justifying the investment. Non-use or partial use of the tool may fail the entire solution. Following the implementation stages described can prevent this.
Remember, implementation stages are sequential and gradual, but in practice, no stage truly ends, and each is used throughout the solution's lifecycle. The difference is in intensity levels: work is intensive at the beginning of the solution's life and gradually decreases as results are achieved. Intensity will increase again during downtimes or when innovations and updates to the tool need to be announced.
The described stages are ranked in ascending order from the very first to the last in the implementation process.
Good luck!
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