XL Communications

How We Do It

Strategy Development
Strategy development lies at the core of each XL assignment. To assure the success of any effort - regardless of its scope - XL assists its clients in developing a plan that, at the very least, identifies rationale and objectives, contains measurable goals and identifies what is to be communicated, to whom, when and how.

The extent of the strategy development process depends on the needs of each client and the scope of each assignment, but can include some or all of the following steps.

• Step 1 (Research) - to determine how effective your current communications are in educating and
engaging your employees and in helping you meet your overall objectives.

• Step 2 (Present Findings and Recommendations) - a report of our findings from our research, as well as
our recommendations. It provides the framework for a customized, strategic communication action plan.

• Step 3 (Communication Action Plan) - a comprehensive "roadmap" to help you meet your organization's
communication objectives. It identifies key messages, media, audience, frequency and timing of each
communication element to optimize your ability to engage, educate and motivate your employees.

• Step 4 (Implementation) - XL's team of exceptional consultants can help you implement any part or all
of your Communication Action Plan. Our goal is to provide only the services you need.

• Step 5 (Evaluation) - to review the effectiveness of the communication effort and adjust, as necessary,
the Communication Action Plan.

Copy Preparation & Translation
In addition to our expertise as consulting and project management professionals, all of XL's world-class consultants are exceptional writers. Each of our consultants has the unique ability to prepare content that is easy for all employees at all skill and educational levels to read, understand and appreciate.

In addition, XL's industry leading language translation resources will accurately and effectively translate your messages into more than 75 different global and regional dialects - helping you to further optimize the performance of your increasingly diverse workforce.

Internal Branding
Today's electronic communications bombards us with hundreds - even thousands - of messages each day, making it more difficult than ever to get employees to pay attention to important information that affects their employment relationship. That's why it is critical that each message reflects a consistent, distinctive, engaging and immediately identifiable "brand."

An internal "brand" is an extension of your corporate brand, reflecting the unique culture of your organization. Custom logos, tag lines, design themes, fonts, color palettes, print and electronic templates or any combination of these can all play a role in the "branding" process, depending on your specific needs.

Graphic Design/Layout
Our award winning design team brings perspectives from a variety of cultural and professional backgrounds to provide unparalleled design expertise and originality to every assignment. Areas of expertise include branding and identity development, print, packaging, multimedia, and web projects for business-to-business, consumer, trade show and direct marketing.

Every XL client, regardless of size, enjoys the benefit of our design team's expertise from world-class HR communications and global marketing initiatives for some of the largest organizations in the world.

Web/Print/Video Production
XL is committed to providing our clients with the most talented, committed and cost-effective team of production resources available. Our goal is to provide each client with the greatest possible cost-efficiencies by employing appropriate technologies for every project in any medium.

Intranet Development/Content Management
When developed with the right mix of functionality, content and design, a corporate intranet can be one of the most effective tools for communicating with employees on a regular basis. Our strategic development process will:

• Identify overall objectives and essential functionality (i.e., surveys, enrollment, blogs, social networking)
• Craft the navigation, graphic theme, and engaging content to meet your company's specific needs and culture.

For clients with an existing intranet or third party product, XL can help optimize and manage the content on an ongoing basis to produce the greatest impact/return on your investment.

Organizational Research
To communicate effectively, organizations need to:
• Identify and articulate their leadership's corporate objectives
• Establish quantifiable short and long-term goals
• Understand how employees prefer to receive information
and
• Be aware of issues that can affect the credibility of communications.

Whether it's the introduction of a new program, restructuring, acquisition or merger, a change in policies or practices, or the beginning of a broad strategy development initiative, XL consultants know how to identify the core issues to help assure that your message is crafted, delivered and received most effectively.

We do so by:
• Formulating clear, thought provoking questions
• Facilitating engaging employee focus groups
• Creating and deploying employee surveys
• Conducting one-to-one interviews
• Administering internal communication audits
and
• Analyzing, reporting results and our recommendations.

This information enables and empowers our clients to develop communications that are specifically tailored to the needs of their employees and reflect the unique culture of their organization.

Fulfillment
From 100 post cards to 100,000 enrollment kits, XL's fulfillment team uses a mix of hi-tech and manual methods to make sure every campaign is collated accurately, assembled correctly and delivered on time, every time.

Human Resource Communications from Recruitment through Retirement.