Restricted; do not share outside of your company.
Do not mention that the new report will be free until after launch.
Please bookmark this page so you can easily return. Background information and assets (including this timeline) are published at: www.clearbox.co.uk/vendors/
7th December 2021 – ClearBox properly explains the new direction of the new report for 2022 in a blog article (it covers all kinds of intranets and emp exp platforms in one, 600-page report).
7th December 2021 – ClearBox promotes pre-launch sign-up page.
Week commencing 3rd January – ClearBox promotes the launch webinar.
Weeks commencing 10th and 17th January – vendors may pre-build (but not publish) their ‘Download the report’ pages and announcement blog articles.
12th January (approximately) – first press release goes out.
24th January (approximately) – second press release goes out.
Password protected. The password has been sent to participating vendor representatives.
Password hint: ClearBox (no spaces).
In short, ClearBox: a blog article, a sign-up page, a promo mailshot, social messaging, and a feature in our monthly newsletter.
1st Dec: ClearBox stops promoting the old SharePoint report and the old Independent intranet report.
7th Dec: ClearBox publishes a ‘pre-launch sign-up page’.
7th Dec: ClearBox publishes “A whole new guide” blog article to say the report will launch in January.
📧 7th or 8th Dec: ClearBox sends mailshot out to promote the blog article.
🐤 7th to 17th Dec: ClearBox promotes the ‘pre-launch’ page and blog article via social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Company and personal pages), including LinkedIn Groups.
📧 15th Dec (expected): ClearBox regular monthly newsletter promotes the ‘pre-launch’ page and blog article.
22nd Dec: ClearBox stops selling the old SharePoint report and the old Independent intranet report. URLs now point to the ‘pre-launch sign-up’ page.
In short, ClearBox: a second pre-launch blog article, planned webinar (with social campaign and mailshot), a video for social, a pre-launch press release, and the regular monthly newsletter.
In short, vendors: prepare messaging and web pages (but do not publish). Can say “We’re in the ClearBox report” from 10th Jan on social.
📹 6th Jan (expected): ClearBox publishes an explanation via blog, and promotes a launch webinar.
▶️ 13th-ish Jan (expected): ClearBox publishes a 90-second video natively on social, and embeds into last week’s blog article.
🐤 6th to 21st Jan: ClearBox promotes the blog article and video via social networks, including LinkedIn Groups.
‼️ Week commencing 10th Jan: ClearBox provides vendors with graphics of the report cover (and ‘workplace people’ photos) via www.clearbox.co.uk/vendors/ and email (to help pre-build pages, but no publishing).
‼️ Same day: Vendors receive their “We’re in the report” promo graphics for sharing – best time to share would be after the launch of the report, but vendors may simply state publicly that they’ve been reviewed or are in the report.
🐤 6th to 21st Jan: ClearBox promotes the launch webinar via social networks, including LinkedIn Groups.
📧 11th Jan (expected): ClearBox sends dedicated mailshot out to promote the launch webinar.
12th Jan: First press release published via www.prweb.com and ClearBox press centre, www.clearbox.co.uk/press/ – explains the changes and purpose of the report, invites interviews and offers a copy.
‼️ Mid-January: All vendors will receive the full report – vendors are free to quote from the report, and so pre-build their ‘Download the report’ pages and blog articles.
‼️ Mid-January: Winning vendors will receive a ‘ClearBox Choice’ graphic to enhance their ‘Download the report’ pages and for their ‘winning announcment’ blog article and social campaigns.
📧 18th Jan (expected): ClearBox regular monthly newsletter promotes the ‘pre-launch’ page and blog article, and webinar.📹
In short, ClearBox: the launch press release, the actual download page published, Choice winners announced, webinar promotion and then actual webinar, PR work.
In short, vendors: publish own download page, promote own download page, Choices winners announce their win.
26th Jan: Second press release published via www.prweb.com and ClearBox press centre, www.clearbox.co.uk/press/ – announces spec of PDF, explains the scenario-based reviews, lists all products.
🚀 26th Jan 12pm midday: ClearBox launch. Report download page published, using the exact same URL as the ‘pre-launch sign-up’ page. Only now do we reveal that it is free.
🐤 Same day through to mid-February: ClearBox launch social campaigns across Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, including LinkedIn Groups.
Same day: ClearBox publishes intranet choices blog article.
🎥 1st Feb: Launch webinar – 20min+5min Suzie and Wedge.
🐤 Same day through to late-February: ClearBox promotes the Intranet choices via social, including LinkedIn Groups, @mentioning individual featured vendors at times.
‼️ Same day: Vendors publish their copy of the full report [not edited, in original condition] [no watermark required] on their website (gated). And promote.
‼️ Same day or day after: Winning vendors announce they are a ClearBox Choice winner.
📧 Same day: ClearBox mailshot to provide the report, to everyone who signed up at pre-launch..
Same day or just after: ClearBox sends the report to our affiliates, reviewers, and friends, as a courtesy but also in the hope we will generate some reviews (so, provide TOAPs alongside).
Same day or just after: ClearBox [Sam or Suzie] sends link to the press release to influential orgs like the VOICE, IoIC, CiPR etc.
[ClearBox now drops the price of the ‘Employee apps report’ to $195.]
▶️ 🐤 1st Feb onwards: ClearBox shares the launch webinar video recording (YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook).
🐤 7th Feb: ClearBox report social campaigns across Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, including LinkedIn Groups, @mentioning individual vendors at times.
ClearBox webinar series – every 6 weeks – considering different aspects of digital workplaces, intranets, and employee experience platforms, such as:
Wedge will introduce Suzie as our expert, and ask questions or highlight concerns and solutions throughout.
Each webinar may mention two or more products / vendors (specifically related to functionality).
Webinar attendees will be sent the full report.
Video recordings of the webinars will be published in full on YouTube and our videos web page. Each video recording will be promoted via newsletter and across social channels. It might be possible to edit some videos down into a 60-second ‘snapshot’ for natively sharing across social.
Our ongoing organic social messaging (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Business, Twitter) will will transition away from launch messages into evergreen business value messaging.
ClearBox social messages are often supported by the personal accounts of Sam, Suzie, and Wedge.
For long-term use across social, an audiogram (little slideshow with voice over) for each product review.
In mid-to-late Q2, we’ll share the concise ‘our view’ (as seen on the splash-page of each review in the report) along with some scores and an image, across all social channels, @mentioning the vendor.
Later in 2022, we’ll share each @vendor’s report page as an image with some concise commentary.
In late March or April: paid-for social campaigns on LinkedIn.
May: paid-for social campaign on Twitter.
June: paid-for social campaign on Facebook.
Review of results will influence choice of platform for further paid-for campaigns.
We are actively seeking speaking spots or panellist slots at conferences in 2022, and we’re open to joining virtual events, and guesting on podcasts too. We’ll publish our ‘Upcoming events’ web page as soon as we have confirmed events in the diary.
We are ready to appear on your webinar or podcast as a guest. As explained, one of the ClearBox team would be delighted to participate to offer off-the-cuff insights, expert opinion, and ad-hoc commentary on the day.
Dates need to be booked well in advance, so please contact Suzie and Wedge to discuss.
We will be glad to retweet your webinar promotional tweets but, depending on the month, our marketing output will likely be focussed on promoting our own webinar.
The ClearBox blog is a key channel and content source for ClearBox activities, and has been for nearly 12 years. We have three regular writers. The below topic ideas will evolve through 2022.
