Promotional Strategies for Re-launching Your Employee Magazine: A Comprehensive Guide

Re-launching your employee magazine is a significant milestone for any organization, and it presents an excellent opportunity to not only engage your current workforce but also attract new talent. By effectively planning and implementing promotional activities, you can maximize the impact of your magazine and ensure it becomes a valued resource within your organization.

Understanding Promotional Activities with Incentive Theory

The core theory that underpins any promotional activity, such as advertising and marketing campaigns, is incentive theory. This theory helps us understand why individuals engage in a specific behavior by providing motivation through rewards or the removal of undesirable outcomes. To develop an effective promotional strategy for your employee magazine, we can use a framework based on incentive theory. Here's a step-by-step approach to guide you through the process:

Step 1: Develop the Core Objective

The first step is to clearly define the core objective of your employee magazine. Depending on the goals, your magazine may have one or more of the following objectives:

To educate employees about the various Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives the company has undertaken. To acquaint new joiners with the events and activities happening within the organization. To promote activities and initiatives taken up by the organization amongst employees and to the broader community.

By setting clear objectives, you can align your promotional activities with the goals of the magazine.

Step 2: Identify the Stakeholders

The stakeholders of your employee magazine are not just the readers but also columnists, writers, printers, publishers, sponsors, and other entities that play a role in the production and distribution of the magazine. Understanding who these stakeholders are is crucial to tailor your promotional activities effectively.

Step 3: Classify the Stakeholders

Once you have identified the stakeholders, classify them into direct and indirect categories. Direct stakeholders are primarily the readers and contributors, while indirect stakeholders include everyone else involved in the production and distribution process. Demographically segment both categories for a more nuanced understanding, taking into account age groups, gender, income levels, etc.

Step 4: Identify Value Propositions for Stakeholders

The next step is to identify the value propositions for each segment of your stakeholders. This is a mutually exclusive and independent exercise, and different stakeholders may have conflicting value propositions. For example, a writer may value creativity and recognition, while a sponsor may value brand visibility and networking opportunities. Recognizing these different perspectives is key to crafting appealing promotional strategies.

Step 5: Develop Promotional Strategies

Based on the value propositions identified, you can develop promotional strategies that appeal to both direct and indirect stakeholders. Some examples include:

Award for Best Article: Encourage high-quality writing by offering prizes for the best articles in each issue. Celebrity Launch: Organize a launch event with a celebrity or industry expert to generate buzz around the magazine. Engagement Campaigns: Run interactive campaigns for readers, such as opinion polls or quizzes related to the content of the magazine. Sponsorship Incentives: Offer exclusive advertising spots or coverage opportunities to sponsors.

Designing these campaigns can help you build excitement and ensure broad participation from your stakeholders.

Step 6: Prepare the Stakeholder Strategy Matrix

To prioritize your promotional strategies, it's essential to develop a stakeholder strategy matrix. This matrix helps you evaluate the impact of each strategy on different stakeholder segments. Here's how to create it:

Assign Importance: Categorize stakeholders as "Important 1," "Very Important 2," or "Most Important 3" based on the size of the segment. Assign Value: Use a value of 1, -1, or 0 to indicate the correlation between the strategy and the stakeholder segment. A 1 indicates a strong positive impact, -1 indicates a negative impact, and 0 indicates no impact. Multiply and Rank: Multiply the values and place them in the matrix. Calculate the column-wise strategy score and rank the strategies based on their overall impact. Select the top 50-80 strategies based on your budget.

Step 7: Continuous Improvement

To stay relevant and maintain the effectiveness of your promotional activities, it's crucial to review and refine your strategies periodically. Repetition every 3-4 issues can lead to innovation and adaptations, ensuring that the promotion remains exciting and engaging for stakeholders.

In conclusion, by following these steps, you can create a robust promotional strategy for your employee magazine's re-launch. Remember, the key to success lies in understanding the needs and motivations of your diverse stakeholder groups and tailoring your activities accordingly. This holistic approach will not only boost engagement but also enhance the overall value of your magazine to both internal and external audiences.