An Inside Job: 3 Tips from a Designer for Creating Effective Internal Communications

Good design drives good decisions.

This is why it’s crucial for companies to focus on not only external branding and communications, but internal communications as well. Too often, companies spend considerable resources developing their external brand, while leaving internal communications to fall by the wayside. It’s like spending millions of dollars on your wardrobe, but not spending any time at all developing yourself as a person.

Internal communications serve your employees, who are the soul of your company. Just like your mother taught you, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

Of course, we all know that advertising and marketing work. How many bottles of wine or bars of chocolate have you bought solely because of the label? How many products have you used because the logo caught your attention? Internal communications have the same strong influencing power. They can help your employees make smart decisions about their health and financial well-being. Well-designed internal communication pieces instill employees with a sense of trust and respect for their employer.

In short, good internal communication will make your employees think smarter and like you more. Every employer wants that.  

So, what should well-executed internal campaign pieces do? In a perfect world, strive for these three things:

1.  Make it stand out.

Just like externally facing pieces, an internal campaign needs to have an eye-catching image or type treatment that lures the viewer to pick up the piece and engage with it. While internal campaigns need to reflect the same tone and style of your company, they often have a more personable look and feel. This is generally accomplished through incorporating lifestyle photography. This subtle difference tells your employees that they are looking at something that’s been created for them personally.

2. Make it genuine.

Since internal pieces communicate directly to your employees and their families about profoundly personal matters, it is important to make your tone accessible and your language easy to understand. As for imagery, consider using photos of employees and their families to create a memorable campaign that is automatically unique to your company. That said, incorporating well-chosen stock photography can also enhance a piece. Just be aware of any overly styled or clichéd images. The goal is using high-quality images to complement your messages so they are genuine and engaging.

              
The front of the postcard attracts the viewer with its beautiful color palette and attractive image. This image reflects a genuine and relatable moment of an Adobe employee at work. It is not overly styled or busy.  The use of you and your in the copy also reinforces the personable nature of this postcard.

3. Make it functional.

Like you, your employees are busy people. Allow your audience to quickly digest what you want them to read and understand. Lead your reader through your information with easy-to-understand language and integrate illustrations, icons or photography throughout to help guide the user’s eyes.

With copy, remember: Less is more. For example, it’s not a postcard’s job to tell the whole story. Rather, its purpose is to communicate key messages and have a strong call to action. It needs to encourage employees to take the next step. Without a strong call to action, your piece is about as useful as a sandbox in the desert. Making your piece quick and easy to read and understand can make the difference between employees taking action or the piece getting lost in the shuffle.

“Make the switch” is the strong call to action, and the information below is easy to scan and quickly read. The graphic of dollar bills pulls in the viewer as well.

In today’s world, creating a world-class brand involves more than just having a great product or service. It includes all facets of the business from the inside out. Good internal communication can truly help establish positive company culture. Besides creating positive change, well-designed internal communications can boost your company’s culture, help your employees take better care of themselves and save money—for their families and for your company.  

Learn how Adobe's employee benefits strategy resulted in a 62% enrollment in their HSA last fall, and how our communications best practices helped them achieve such great results.

For more benefits communication tips, join our CEO Jennifer Benz in our Benefits Communication Master Class, starting Thursday, May 15.