Leverage your Intranet And Net The Benefits
March 7, 2012 Leave a comment
By: Mike Milligan, President Legato Marketing & Communications
How many of you view your hospital’s intranet as a communications tool?
No surprise there.
OK. Let’s take it one step further … How many of you use your intranet as a powerful marketing tool? If you do, are you squeezing every ounce of marketing opportunity out of it? You should, you know. Here’s why.
Your intranet is a top-down/bottom-up, horizontal/two-way, multi-faceted marketing vehicle. It can be powerful. Economical. And it can put you on the fast track to increasing employee satisfaction, improving efficiencies and building brand — if you leverage all of its strengths. I’ll give you a few examples to state my case.
Employee satisfaction: Your intranet allows management to get timely information to employees. But don’t make it a one-way street. Internal employee blogs, feedback forms and user-specific dashboards give you the opportunity to hear what’s on employees’ minds so you can respond. Open communication plays a big role in employee satisfaction. And your timely response to staff’s suggestions, concerns and questions ups the ‘satisfaction’ ante.
Improved service: Employees throughout the organization (and in multiple locations) can use the intranet to exchange information and best practices with one another. That can improve customer service by helping employees fulfill your organization’s brand promise.
Brand ambassadors: Your intranet can provide employees with updates they need and information they want, as well as other ‘perks.’ Examples:
- Employee benefit information about insurance options, open enrollment – even free flu shots, health screenings and more.
- Fitness and nutrition tips that promote a healthy lifestyle. (Healthier employees translate into a healthier organization all the way around.)
- Local events, family activities and volunteer opportunities that connect employees to the communities you serve.
In other words, don’t just talk about life/work balance, promote it. Encourage it. Show your employees you care about them both professionally and personally, and your staff is more likely to speak positively about your organization and make referrals to family and friends.
The intranet is a powerful tool that is often taken for granted. Don’t overlook the obvious or underestimate its marketing potential. Log in now and see what opportunities are staring you straight in the eye. And one more word of advice: Before you jump in too deep, be sure you have an intranet governance model in place. You’ll want to have enough flexibility to allow individual departments to use the tool but not at the expense of your brand.


