Your employees think they know your org. But do they really?

During Ragan’s Internal Communications Conference at Microsoft HQ last month, Laura Krenek, head of brand marketing at Esri, told the audience that an internal survey asked the company’s employees if they were confident they knew the company’s competitors. The responses said they were. The next question asked employees to name them. Many couldn’t do it.

“Immediately, you start to see those gaps that exist in the knowledge, and it’s okay,” Krenek said. “But let’s tell the truth. Let’s understand where these gaps exist, so that we can properly design around them.”

Krenek added that her team ran the program like an external marketing campaign, with a brand hub and monthly newsletter.

“We found that on average, it was helpful to have seven touch points,” she said. “Any less, and most people had no idea what we were doing. ‘Oh my gosh, you’re doing a series of videos?’ We’ve emailed you like 17 times!”