Leverage Marketing Best Practices to Break Through the Clutter

1. Make it easy to access and navigate information. People are no longer a passive audience. We've grown accustomed to 'surfing' not just the web, but all media; paging through magazines and flipping television channels at a rapid pace. You need to give employees that same sense of control. Simple techniques to try include:

• Using a table of contents.
  
• Organizing information by subject or topic so employees can easily find what they need.
  
• Providing a way, such as a web link or phone number, for employees to get more information.
  

For more inspiration: www.drsfostersmith.com, a wholesale pet supplier, breaks through the clutter by organizing information on its website in a number of logical ways to meet customers' needs.

2. Provide relevant and useful content. Employees want information that's meaningful to them, not company executives, shareholders, consumers or the competition. Use your internal vehicles to help employees understand where they fit in and how to make a contribution. Think “how-to” and “news you can use.”

For more inspiration: www.howstuffworks.com, a site that explains how everything around us works, from technology to nature, breaks through the clutter by writing in layman's terms and making the information meaningful for all audiences.

3. Use visuals to create interest and meaning. Adults are visual learners, so whenever possible, include visuals such as graphs, charts and photos to help employees grasp key concepts. Whether you're communicating about an intricate process change or presenting complicated data, visuals can simplify your ideas and make it quick and easy for employees to grasp complex information.

For more inspiration: www.olympic.org, the official website of the Olympics, breaks through the clutter by using compelling visuals to provide a behind the scenes look at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino.