Communicate the Rollout to Your Company

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Launch an internal marketing campaign to promote Salesforce.
  
• List best practices for communicating the upcoming change to users.
  
• Develop a training plan.
  

Craft Your Marketing Message

Believe it or not, communication is such an important factor that it can literally make or break your mobile rollout. In this stage of the process, you’ll prepare your users for the upcoming change and build some buzz and excitement about the Salesforce app. Let’s start by crafting your marketing message, which is a critical step in communicating the launch to your users.

What’s In It for Me?

In the same way that executives care about how your mobile use cases will benefit the company, your users want to know how the use cases will benefit them. When it comes to adopting any new technology, your users’ main question will always be: “What’s in it for me?” You have to tap into their motivations, goals, and pain points, and then connect your use cases to the things they value.

So how do you get users excited to try out the Salesforce app? Let’s look at an example.

Maybe one of your use cases involves a custom action in the app that lets users quickly update an opportunity record with notes about the next step. When crafting your marketing message, you might be tempted to write something like, “Update your opportunities on the go.” And that’s a great start. (You’re practically a marketing guru already!)

But you can do even better. Try to dig deeper and use language that will resonate with your users. Maybe a message like, “Close your deals faster” would be more compelling. If you’re not sure how to align your message with what your users care about, get input from stakeholders who are more familiar with users’ goals and pain points.

Develop a Communication and Marketing Strategy

Now that you have your marketing message, it’s time to shout it from the rooftops. This is the part of the rollout where you inject some fun into the project so you can go live with a bang. Consider making your go-live into a true event and use simple marketing strategies to build buzz and excitement about the coming launch for weeks in advance.

No matter your budget, you can use your creativity to market your go-live. To get the creative juices flowing, here are some launch ideas:

• Send a weekly email drip campaign announcing the launch. Each email can highlight the marketing message for one of your mobile use cases.
  
• Hang up posters that advertise the benefits of using the mobile app.
  
• Create a topic in Chatter for all your communication updates to drive momentum and buzz.
  
• Have a raffle with prizes, such as gift cards, a free day off, or lunch with an executive.
  
• Host a launch party with cupcakes or cake.
  
• Order swag and branded items to distribute on the day of your go-live.
  

Be sure to include key communication milestones in your marketing strategy. For example, make sure that the entire company gets an official communication on the day of the launch, as a Chatter post or email from your executive sponsor, VP of Sales, or CEO. Don’t forget to ask for help from internal teams, including customer care, training, and support teams.

Here’s a sample communication plan:

Create a Training Plan

So now your users know about the mobile launch, and they’re excited about all the cool things they can do with the mobile app. But do they actually know how to do those things?

Hmm. Well, mobile apps are pretty intuitive by nature, and the Salesforce app is no exception. But you won’t want to skip training entirely. You can use training to overcome the age-old user resistance to change, and you can build their mobile confidence. Bottom line: Training boosts adoption.

When you’re creating your training plan, here are some questions to ask yourself:

Consider training your super users and have them help conduct trainings. This will save you from having the burden of training all users.

You might also hold follow-up training sessions or office hours after your launch to help reinforce the right behaviors and keep your users current. If you have a support team, involve them in the training too, so they can be prepared for user questions.

Design Mobile-Friendly Training Resources

Before you launch the Salesforce app, make sure your training materials are accessible, and put them somewhere users can’t miss them. A Chatter group is the best place because the feed is available in the mobile app. But you can also add resources to your Salesforce home page, company Intranet, or learning management system. And be sure to include it in your email communications, too!

One of the most effective ways to train your mobile users is to provide a short (3-5 minute) video. You can even get an executive or your CEO to narrate the video to give it more impact. But the most important part is that the video demonstrates your top use cases and highlights the value they provide.

Of course, you can create more traditional training materials, like a tip sheet, user guide, presentation deck, or e-learning module. But consider how easy or difficult it is to consume that type of training resource from a mobile device. Some users will engage with your resources on the desktop, but some will be in the field, trying to get help as questions or problems arise.

And now for some awesome news! In the next unit, you’ll finally get to see the fruits of all your labor when you go live and roll out the Salesforce app to your users.