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FT Information customer
newsletter - Nov 98
| Why you should market?
Do
you really know how your information services are viewed within
the organisation? Are they a support unit or strategic resource?
To make sure you're the latter (and stay that way) its necessary
to apply marketing skills to your portfolio of responsibilities.
Marketing
isn't selling - its about communicating a perceived value and
is focused on your clients' needs.
Thrive
to survive - alternative sources of information such as the Internet
are on the increase whilst IT professionals (with much larger
budgets) consider information management as another aspect of
their job - particularly in implementing and managing intranets.
The application of marketing techniques can help turn these threats
to opportunities - to remind users of the value you provide in
helping users choose the right information source and to strategically
align yourself with IT and other influential departments and individuals.
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Financial Times
Electronic Publishing
Newsletter Nov.1998
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Who you should market at?
Don't spray and pray - target users (aka market segmentation). These
should be:
- budget holders who have a say in your future existence and role
- early adopters/enthusiasts of the intranet
- champions of the information service that can represent you several
levels up in the organisation
- Don't forget existing users! - you need to market to maintain
repeat usage of your services
Marketing tips
Keeping them informed - send email updates in HTML format, or if this
is not possible, convert the information to webpages on your intranet
(there are a wide variety of web authoring packages -e.g. MS Frontpage
98 - that automate most of the basic HTML codes, making life easier)
and then only include a brief synopsis in the email - with hyper links
back to the webpages you created
Branding
- adopt a consistent style to your communication - e.g. the webpages
you create for current awareness should always have the same look and
feel and be clearly identifiable as having originated within the information
department.
Communication
- adapt your communication style and vocabulary to suit your audience
- facilitate and encourage communication - all emails and webpages
should contain contact details for the information centre - phone,
email and contact name(s)
- be persistent - don't be content with communicating the benefits
and sitting back - proactively follow up
- remind users of the wide range of resources at your disposal
This type
of strategic thinking will help to enhance the profile of information
services , ensuring that they become essential to the role of profit
centres within the organisation.
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