Intranets and print: Two ways they can work together

There are probably dozens of ways your print and online vehicles can work together but here are two that we know work well

Imagine for a second that you are a corporate communicator in a large organization, and you have two primary vehicles at your disposal: a monthly print publication, and a section on the intranet devoted to communication.

Your boss comes to you with two stories, and tells you to cover each one. Here they are:

1. Bring your daughter to work day. Dozens of employees brought their little girls to work, and your boss thinks it’s worth some coverage.

2. The company’s conversion to something called “SAP,” which stands for Systems, Applications and Processes. This is a very complicated initiative that is going to scare a lot of employees. Your job will be to educate employees about what it is, and what they need to do about it.

Two very different stories, obviously. But you need to cover them both, and you only have your two vehicles to work with. You could handle both the same way—run a print story, put some additional materials online, hope you don’t repeat too much of the same material, or be sure to repeat much of the same material in the hopes that somebody sees it in at least one of the vehicles.