Whole Foods employees wear T-shirts with the wording “Our team members are the secret ingredient”. Richard Branson maintains that “Fun is at the core of the way I like to do business, and it has been key to everything I’ve done from the outset”.
How much time do we devote to analysing our customers’ behaviour and buying patterns, developing innovative ways to attract their interest and engage them in conversations, and striving to deepen our relationship with them? In contrast, how many of us pause to consider our closest customers – our employees – who have the potential to be the strongest brand advocates?
If we did, we would soon notice that engaged employees become passionate people and brand enthusiasts who understand the company’s strategy and direction, believe in its products and services, and help to make the brand come alive for customers. We’re not suggesting brainwashing along the lines of Star Trek’s Borg and its “hive mind”. Nor are we saying that you should overload departments with irrelevant marketing materials or try to please everyone. Indeed, for a large corporate, where there are many stakeholders involved in each decision, this would stifle decision-making and slow down responsive marketing.
Instead, the key is to have a consistent, documented process in place to share and exchange information with employees. They need to know why certain decisions are being made and how these will affect them, and should be able to voice their opinions and insights on a particular topic without fear of backlash from management. We live in unstable times, and uncertainty breeds fear and cynicism, which in turn stagnates creative thinking and slows down responsive marketing. More and more often, management is realising that marketing is perfectly placed to meet these challenges.
The Essence of Marketing is to Understand, Excite and Convert the User
- We research and craft buyer personas so that we truly understand our target market’s motivations, goals and buying behaviour. Why not focus on personas of internal “customers” too? If we can gain deeper insight into employees’ concerns and pain points, we can give them the most appropriate tools to confidently deal with customer challenges.
- Walk around any co-location venue like WeWork, 1871 in Chicago, or Techspace London and you will feel the infectious energy overflowing like a frothy cappuccino. People move with a sense of purpose, bursting with fresh ideas, creativity, and determination. They are relentless in their pursuit of start-up success and bounce back when they make a mistake or encounter adversity. A culture of deep collaboration instills a sense of commitment and pride that radiates beyond the walls of the office and touches prospects and customers alike. We need to take this start-up vibe and find ways to internalise this sense of excitement in a large corporate. If your workforce connects on an emotional level with your company, they will feel like they are part of something much bigger, than just “John in Accounting”.
- An overriding factor that we sometimes forget in an online world of apps and artificial intelligence is that you still need real people to manage the process and drive growth and sales. When there is marketing software that can automate every repetitive task, people often get forgotten in the process. “Martech” is not a “plug and play” solution but one that needs a human touch to ensure integration with other areas of marketing. A CRM is only as effective as the salesperson that manages it. For B2B sales that involve large financial investments, there is no substitute for face-to-face meetings that steadily build up trust over time.
Easy Marketing Tactics to Boost your Brand Internally
- Team photography and corporate imagery: The benefits of being part of an internal social community are undeniable. Tell a story and humanise the people behind the scenes. Decide what works best for the size of your company, whether it is a photograph of every member of staff on your intranet or a dynamic page on your company website that highlights individual employee’s roles in the company.
- Internal events and team building exercise: Internal events can be useful for cross-departmental communication and getting feedback on new campaigns or product developments, before launching them publicly. If you’re planning on rolling out a new digital marketing campaign, invite employees from different departments to a forum to share their thoughts and views. This transparent and inclusive method will motivate, inspire and instill a sense of working towards a bigger purpose, plus build stronger interpersonal connections within your firm.
- Presentations and questionnaires: These may sound traditional, but if executed well, are very effective at engaging all levels in the corporate structure. A company presentation that highlights a success and is led by the responsible team members is going to resonate with far more employees than a top-down lecture by the CEO. Questionnaires are another tool that gather a lot of useful information about how people really feel about their jobs, company and culture.
- Video communication: Your employees experience the same sinking feeling you do when opening a lengthy email filled with boring text. Use a short and snappy video instead to keep your team updated on new developments, for training and how-to videos, announcements by the CEO, or recognition of employee achievements. Video is no longer a complicated and hugely expensive promotional tool, but one that adds a truly human touch to your communications.
- Internal social network and intranet: Encourage two-way communication to build community within the company. Your employees are living and breathing your brand every day and have some great ideas and experiences to share. Engaging them in a conversation on an internal social network, and encouraging free exchange of ideas and knowledge, is a fun and effective way to enhance internal collaboration, and gain valuable insights. Plus, your content marketers will thank you for crowd-sourcing ideas for new content.
- Spontaneous mini-events: Appeal to the inner child of each team member and do something simple like distributing ice-lollies on a hot summer’s day. Don’t discount just how powerful the feel good factor is in building brand ambassadors and positive sentiment towards the company.
Remember, your people help shape your brand. As keynote speaker and author of many customer service titles, Shep Hyken, summed it up, “What’s happening on the inside of a company is being felt on the outside by the customer.”
For more ideas on building up a strong internal marketing campaign, please get in touch. We’d love to help you make the most of your communications, both external and internal.
