A good marketing campaign offers solutions to common problems, stresses product benefits, overcomes potential objections, and creates a sense of community. You can accomplish these goals and more with the awareness resources provided in the Lync Adoption and Training Kit. Do you really need an internal marketing campaign to make your Lync rollout a success? We—and several other organizations like yours—think you do. The value proposition is simple:

• Inform, involve, and inspire your users, and you’ll have a much higher adoption rate.
• A higher adoption rate results in lower long-term costs and a better—and more timely—return on investment.

On this page
Getting Started
Best Practices
Microsoft Case Study

The awareness phase emphasizes three areas: enlisting people, managing communications, and hosting events. For details, see the Awareness tab of the Rollout and Adoption Workbook.

Enlist People
Your executive sponsor plays a critical role during the awareness phase. By signing the rollout emails and embracing the overall messaging of the awareness campaign, the executive sponsor brings legitimacy to the rollout effort, emphasizes the benefits of the new software, and excites and motivates users to start using Lync.

The Lync champions program—recruiting product evangelists from the power users in your organization—is another important aspect of your awareness campaign. Use these early adopters to help spread excitement, answer questions, and recruit others.

Manage Communications
To begin, use the provided Lync Custom Intranet Site to create an internal Lync site. This site will be the home for information and Help and training resources during the rollout. For details, see the Lync Custom Intranet Site.

Then set up a Lync-specific email distribution list, and publicize the location of your Lync intranet site. You can encourage repeat visits by posting blog-style updates and starting a list of frequently asked questions.

Distribute posters and other awareness resources, and use the provided email templates to motivate users, build curiosity and anticipation, and inform users of the approaching rollout date. For details, see Email Templates and the Awareness and Education Materials Web-To-Print Website.

Host Events
Hold small-scale awareness events, such as brown-bag lunches, or invite yourself to regular team or department meetings with the rollout group. These events don't have to be elaborate; all you really need to do is show the Lync What's New video, do a five-minute informal demonstration, and give people a chance to ask questions.

Immediately before the rollout, schedule a larger kickoff event with the participation of your executive sponsor and representatives from the training and support teams. Feature the Lync champions program, and include videos, demonstrations, and a question-and-answer session. For details, see the customizable Launch Presentation: Introducing Lync 2010.

An awareness campaign and a Lync intranet site are two of the eight most effective best practices for a successful Lync rollout. For details, see Top Eight Best Practices.

Others have found the following related best practices useful during the awareness phase:

• Generate user interest and excitement with popular Lync apps. Show users some of the more impressive Lync applications to create buzz and help adoption spread. Two Lync apps in particular have caused immediate widespread interest wherever they are shown: IM an Expert, which provides instant access to knowledgeable people, and Conversation Translator, a real-time instant messaging (IM) translation tool. For details, see Tool and Apps.
• Consider using contests or giveaways. The Microsoft IT department had great success using a series of contests and giveaways to generate interest, motivate users, and collect targeted feedback about specific features and scenarios. For details, see Generating Awareness.
• Use multiple channels in your awareness campaign. You'll get more of a response if you say the same thing in different mediums. Some people like t-shirts but ignore emails; others don't see posters but love live demonstrations. The Lync Adoption and Training Kit provides you with a wide variety of ways to get your message across.
• Schedule a one-on-one demonstration or training session with your executive sponsor. Your sponsor is likely to be a much more enthusiastic supporter when the new features and value propositions are demonstrated first-hand. Consider including adoption team stakeholders, such as the Chief Information Officer or Chief Technology Officer, in this as well.
• Use early adopters to keep momentum going. You've heard a lot about using enthusiastic and knowledgeable peers to help facilitate your rollout, but it's worth noting that several Microsoft customers chose Lync champions as the number one factor in their successful Lync rollout.
• Anticipate user objections. Be prepared to answer questions like "Why should I change?" and "What's in it for me?" by emphasizing the productivity and ease-of-use benefits of Lync. Clearly communicate to users exactly what they are expected to do and when.

As the Microsoft internal pilot expanded to include additional users, the Microsoft IT rollout and adoption team began to revise and refine their awareness plan. In particular, additional emails were sent to keep users better informed of the actual date they would be moved to Lync. Post-pilot rollouts were no longer done on an opt-in basis, so the team put much more emphasis on the productivity, ease-of-use, and "cool factor" benefits of Lync in all their communications. Highlighting the Lync value propositions in emails and on the Lync intranet site made users more willing to undertake the temporary disruption of learning a new technology.

Another important addition to the awareness campaign was a resource clarifying the differences between Lync and related technologies, such as Microsoft Lync 2010 Attendant and the Response Group application. Making sure users understood the audience and feature set of these related technologies helped to eliminate confusion and unnecessary help desk calls.

The Communicate Hope and Scenario Spotlight campaigns that had proven so effective during the pilot phase were continued and expanded, and a number of special events and contests were added to increase user awareness. Contests called "Feedback and Win" and "Tell Your Lync Story and Win," which both offered gift certificates and other prizes, got users to interact with the product and each other. For details, see Generating Awareness.

Two special events also got great results for the Microsoft IT rollout and adoption team. The team had a booth at an internal Microsoft trade show that highlighted new technologies for field employees, and they signed up more than 1,000 enthusiastic early adopters. They also held an event during the lunch hour at a popular gathering place on the Microsoft campus to demonstrate Lync and sign up additional pilot participants.