We know that purchase decision is typically made emotionally. Digital experiences have the tremendous benefit of allowing several types of communications to be displayed. These communications can each work to pull on different emotional heart strings that can help build desire and entice purchase. In order to maximize this, benefit it is important to begin with a proper content strategy. As part of this strategy, establishing the right mix of content is a key element. To do this we must first understand clearly who the target audience is. This is critical to establish in order to ensure the content will be observed and not deselected. Establishing some personas for the different types of individuals that will view our experience is a good start. Then we must observe and build empathy for them by learning their desires, values, needs and most importantly purpose of visit. Once we know this we must consider what type(s) of content would they expect to see, what types of content they would not want to see and what type of content would be a surprise to see that would complement their purpose of visit at the particular state they find themselves along the brand journey.
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A great way to think about how to design for emotional connection is based on the concept of “designing time.” John Jerde a famous architect when discussing the aspect of experiential design once said “Our purpose is to fabricate rich, experiential places that inspire and engage the human spirit.” He goes on to say “What we do is design time... The primary design focus is not an object but time itself. It’s designing what happens to people in time, in a place.” What he meant by this holds extremely true to us a digital experience designers. If we can engage people to want to give us their time, to spend consuming our experiences we have the ability and responsibility to deliver a meaningful experience that will connect with them emotionally. Today’s consumer has a short attention span and time is precious. If they are going to give their time to brand, that brand has to satiate them to keep them engaged, entertained, inspired and emotionally invested in building that brand loyalty. Digital experiences have this ability to build desire and engagement and achieve that emotional connection between brands and customers. 

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In order to succeed in delivering internal digital communications, the content has to revolve around building “Employer Branding.” This is the employer’s reputation as a great place to work and their employee value proposition. The term was first used in the early 1990s, and has since become widely adopted by the global management community. Some describe employer brand as “the image of an organization in the mind of current employees and stakeholders.” Digital experiences are a great communication portal to empower organizations concerned with the attraction, engagement and retention initiatives targeted at enhancing a company’s employer brand. The same way that a company would look to elevate its external brand perception to its customers through digital marketing and advertising, an employee value proposition led by human resources and talent management can help to attract, engage and retain talented candidates and employees.

To be successful, this needs an up-front internal communications content strategy. Strong internal communication is vital for any organization. Without it, employees and senior stakeholders might not be aligned on the company goals and vision. So a key component is to establish communication objectives for this medium. This means deciding what types of behaviors and actions are desired in the digital experience and then planning out how to realize them. Some common objectives may include raising awareness, increasing employee engagement, communicating important company information, providing education or training support and receiving ongoing employee feedback. It’s very important to relay these goals to employees.

Including some different seniority levels of staff in the discovery phases of this strategy is highly recommended. Defining the audience is a key first step in having strong internal communication. You don’t want to send the same generic message to everyone, so it’s crucial to personalize your messages and segment your audience. You may want to decide which message you send to different departments or teams. Personalizing communications this way will make employees feel like their time matters, instead of being bombarded with generic messages that might not be relevant to them. Content that contains topics like tips for workplace improvement or education on new processes that can save the employees time, will increase the chances that they will pay attention to the content instead of de- selecting it.

Employee engagement is also very important. Internal digital communications do not need to be dry and boring. Adding some excitement through employee recognition or through gamification can be quite effective. Some companies have implemented leader boards or achievement-tiered levels that employees can strive for and then displayed these like a winners table or leaderboard as you would find in video games. Adding some human personalization is also great like acknowledging an employee anniversary or birthday shows that the content can be individual-specific. Promoting company retreats or get- togethers can also help build camaraderie and social activities, which are great for building team spirit.

When these internal communications and brand building initiatives are done effectively, they can increase the chance that employees will advocate on behalf of their company. This means putting out positive reviews online and socializing their pride in their workplace culture. This is very influential in the recruitment of new talent and future hires.

Here is an infographic sourced from linkhumans.com that shows some great statistics on the importance of “Employer Branding” and the results it can bring an organization.

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