You could have the best incentive program ever, but if you don’t build effective communications to build some excitement, your results could be lackluster. To make a bang, here are some suggestions on how to keep everyone revved up when striving for their rewards:
1. Energize and inspire your audience with teaser communications
Teaser communications as part of your communication campaign give your team a thrilling taste of what’s to come. If you’re offering incentive travel, you may want to send a teaser video with hints of the location and activities the winners will get to experience. If you’re launching a sales incentive program, you might send a physical mailer and suggest landing new leads to get closer to qualifying. Or, if you want to unveil program details over a few days or weeks, you could send a sequence of teaser emails. Employees will look forward to learning more about the rewards program with every read!
However you execute your teaser campaign, there are a lot of different tactics to explore for elevating excitement and anticipation.
2. Provide helpful tips for participating and fun opportunities to get involved
Once your incentive program is in full swing, provide suggestions to turn up productivity to encourage employees to give it their all. Tips can come from management or past earners. Either way, be sure they apply to more than top performers to show support for everyone’s success.
Just like with any team initiative, involving participants plays a key role in heightening energy and participation the whole way through.
In order to get people pumped up and promote company rewards, include a leaderboard that reveals the latest standings on the program website. You can also put up posters or distribute desk reminders to encourage your team to strive for the ultimate rewards. Also, planning a purpose-oriented team outing can help to unite everyone in the spirit of collaboration, while giving them a break from their workday.
When you celebrate, motivate, and nurture your team and their talents, it shines throughout your company’s culture.
3. Incorporate motivational messages throughout
There are periods during a program when messaging can give the push participants need. From the beginning, the right communication sets a positive mindset. Midway through, messaging encourages keeping momentum. And in the final stretch, a little motivational messaging makes a big difference in propelling team members to victory.
Motivational messaging comes in many forms. It could be a global meeting where key speakers spark a go-get-em attitude while personally addressing the company. A video where the CEO speaks from the heart about how everyone’s efforts make a measurable difference. Or branded team swag like jerseys or caps imprinted with their words of encouragement.
Keeping your communications strong throughout your campaign provides a performance pick-me-up. It also demonstrates the level of your organization’s commitment to its success.
4. Use mixed media to appeal to different participant preferences and promote interactivity
Just as you’d expect, employees respond to different stimuli. A smart approach is to cover your bases by using a mix of communication campaign tactics and incorporating different methods of interaction that will make the experience more memorable. Here are a few thoughts:
A digital newsletter – Perfect for those who prefer bite-sized chunks of information. Consider including fun trivia questions or soliciting program feedback.
Employee emails – In addition to a pithy paragraph about your company’s rewards program, you can include a game or a quick quiz to further the connection with your crew.
Event App – A digital solution for keeping all program participants connected at every turn, an event app opens dozens of opportunities for enhancing your incentives campaign.
When we created a unique incentive experience for a leading food service distributor, we used app-enabled notifications and encouraged team members to share their fun travel photos.
Program Website – An important key factor in driving change and inspiring your audience to act is a mobile-friendly program website. A customizable platform that allows you to communicate key updates will ensure your audience is aware of more detailed changes.
Compelling videos – Motion graphics, powerful messaging, and heart-pounding music with a prominently placed ‘play’ button can do wonders to inspire excitement and action.
Live events (when applicable) – The sense of intimacy and empathy is tough to replicate virtually. Sharing a compelling story or attention-grabbing slideshow can leave a lasting impression.
At a group lunch orchestrated for the race to finish breast cancer, race founders successfully fired up crowds by sharing how the race concept began, as well as all their strides in cancer research.
In the end, physical rewards shouldn’t be the only exhilarating draw. Let’s work together to determine the right touchpoints and communication campaign strategy to keep the excitement flowing, from start to finish.
