Real stopping power

Employee communications tools

Handouts & posters

Purpose	Typical audience	Pros	Cons	Can you do it yourself?	Thinking points
Great for visualizing simple messages	Ideal for local audiences and production workers	Easy and inexpensive to create using DSM templates	It’s all about the image (and getting the most from a few words)	Yes, although you might need creative help	Where and how do you distribute your posters and handouts?

What is this tool?

A well-designed poster has real stopping power. The good news is that if you use our specially designed DSM templates it couldn’t be easier to create attractive and professional posters with minimum effort. In fact, why stop at a poster? You can use the same template to create (A5) fliers – maybe as event invitations or perhaps to recognize a big achievement.

What and when is it typically used?

Check out the comparison notes below and weigh the pros versus cons. This will help you decide how to spend your time/ money for the best result.

Benefits

It‘s fast.
Templates make it easy.
It looks professional.
Ideal for noticeboards (especially used by production workers).
You can create hand-outs or fliers using the same template.
Relatively inexpensive.
Printable in any size (at some cost).

Challenges

The image/picture you use often defines your success.
Don’t forget the words! You will need to explain your message in very few of them.
It may be hard to find colleagues willing to print and hang up your poster.
You may need an external vendor if you want to print in larger formats.
Paper isn’t as sustainable as digital.

How to use this tool

We developed a variety of poster templates in PowerPoint for use in internal communications. You can find them via our Office & Outlook templates, as one of the suggested PowerPoint formats.

The easiest way to access a poster template is to:

Open PowerPoint.
Select ‘New’.
Go to DSM PPT Templates.
Rest of the World.
Just choose what you need:
- Multi or single color.
- With or without image.
- When choosing ‘with image’ note that there are different pre-determined sizes plus a scalable version.

How to bring your poster to life

Remember, the DSM brand elements are always fixed.
You can insert your chosen image into the poster template by simply clicking on the image placeholder and selecting your preferred images from your workstation.
You can adjust the text: note that the font is fixed as our corporate typeface.
The suggested text blocks are based on DSM Brand Guidelines. Even though you can adjust them, we advise that you don’t – and just play around within the set boundaries.

Things to keep in mind

When it comes to choosing your image, try and find something that really tells a story!
Any poster you create using DSM Office Templates System should be used internally only. If you need to develop material for external use, contact a colleague from Group Communications and Branding for advice. You can also find general information on posters for external use here.
Make sure the image you choose is high-resolution and copyright-free: You can use your own, find one in the DSM image bank; or find free images from sites like Pixabay or Pexels.
If you use pictures of DSM colleagues, please remember to get their written permission first.
Finally, before developing your poster, always familiarize yourself with the DSM brand guidelines. A really good way to get knowledgeable on this topic is to follow the Brand Ambassador Training.

KPIs for this tool

How will you know ‘what success looks like’? Measuring the response to this channel /tool could give you a better understanding of whether you’ve reached your communication objective. KPIs can be qualitative or quantitative. Here are some ideas:

For posters, it’s difficult to know who has seen them and for how long. This will also depend on how many posters there are – and where they are!
For fliers, you can organize them centrally and share a link where users can download them. This in turn will give you statistics on the number of downloads.
Ask for feedback from colleagues.
Count the number of flyers you put down and check how many are left at the end of the week!

Final thoughts

If this a stand-alone initiative, then go ahead! However, if this is part of a wider initiative, you might want to take a step back and look at the broader communications perspective. A good starting point is our 9-step approach to creating your communication plan - which includes an overview of all the internal channels and tools.

Images

They say a picture is worth a thousand words – and for good reason - the smart choice of imagery can help you create a compelling and memorable message.
PowerPoint

PowerPoint is best used as a communications support tool to give your audience the headlines, but really you should be the star of the show.!
Assigned Suppliers

This portal helps you to find any of our Assigned (Mar)com Suppliers. It’s important to work with Assigned Suppliers only as only these suppliers are carefully selected and approved by Group Sourcing in alignment with the Manager Communication Vendors (MCV) and the business.