Brands are so often consumed with external marketing that they forget about internal branding and making sure staff feel involved and, most importantly, valued, writes Damian Madden
Few people question the powerful impact a strong, engaging brand story can have on a business. However, there’s one slight problem with this – we’re only looking out. To borrow a sporting cliché branding is a game of two halves, so hanging up your boots at half time isn’t an option. Not if you want to win the game anyway. No, you need to go right to the final whistle if you’re going to have a chance of really developing a successful brand.
This means focusing on internal as well as external branding.
External vs internal
Think of it this way. External branding is the work you do to draw your customers into your brand world. This could be a combination of content marketing, social media, traditional advertising, live activations, letter drops and so on. It’s the work you do to say: “This is who we are and this is why you should engage with us.”
Internal branding is comprised of two main areas. It’s the work you do to attract new staff, by demonstrating that you have a great company culture, and to make current staff feel involved and (most importantly) valued.
Breaking it down
Effective internal branding means mastering the following five elements:
- Internal communications
- Staff empowerment
- Rewards and recognition
- Engagement
- Conversation and feedback
Before we dive into these elements we need to chat about your brand story. Yes, that old chestnut. Ideally you should use the same brand story that shapes your external branding when working on internal branding. If it hasn’t been developed to work internally and externally there’s no reason to panic, you just need to make sure they’re similar. They don’t have to be exactly the same as they often serve different purposes.
Internal communications
Internal communications is the most important element of internal branding strategy. Think of it like a marketing campaign aimed specifically at your people, employing elements of content marketing as well as traditional advertising. Put posters up, send them email updates and newsletters on topics of interest, film interviews with executives discussing company strategy and other relevant content. Develop a calendar that helps align your content with key events in the company’s yearly lifecycle. Get creative. Above all else, treat it with the same importance as you do external communications.
Staff empowerment
Gone are the days of control and command because you need to empower your people if they’re to feel like an integrated part of your business. They are your company and failing to remember that is flat-out dangerous. Your people are your biggest asset and if they don’t feel empowered to make their workplace better you’ll have lost before you even start.
Rewards and recognition
If you just read the headline of this section and your first thought was around costs then you’re going to have a problem. Rewards and recognition don’t always have to involve a financial contribution because it’s more about the idea behind them. It’s the thought that counts when we give or receive a gift, right? Well the same is true here. Make sure you reward your staff for the work they’re doing, even if they’re just doing their job, because they can easily be paid to do it somewhere else if they don’t feel valued.
Engagement
Brands spend heavily on external focus groups but often ignore a great source of information that’s right under their nose. Engaging with staff and getting opinions on everything from marketing campaigns through to what biscuits are in the kitchen makes them feel part of the company. When they feel this way they’re likely to put more effort in. Another aspect of engaging with staff is making senior management available. Never under estimate the impact of having senior executives interact regularly.
Conversation and feedback
This carries on nicely from the last point. Just like social media has opened up a dialogue between you and your customers, so you should open one up with your people. You can do this through one of the specially designed intranet-based social networking programs or through a larger feedback program. The mechanics don’t matter, just make sure you do it.
Check and recheck
Internal branding is not a ‘set and forget’ job. You need to constantly monitor, tweak and update, just like you would for an external marketing campaign. If you can afford it, bring people into your organisation whose sole responsibility is internal culture and branding. More and more businesses are doing this because they’ve realised it’s an investment that will quickly pay dividends.
Some internal is external
It’s worth mentioning that some internal branding needs to be external. This is primarily the kind of marketing where you’re trying to lure in new staff. However, you shouldn’t attempt to do this until you have the internal stuff right first. A lot of people are daunted by how to externalise their internal marketing but it isn’t that difficult. You’ll find that once you have your internal processes in order, what you need to focus on will become very clear.
The same rules apply
The good news about internal and external branding is that all of the same rules apply. There really is no hidden secret to it. Methods like content marketing and consumer engagement are just as effective (maybe even more so) when turned inwards, so there really is no excuse not to do it. You already have people in your business who know how to do it and, when you consider the cost of bringing in new staff and getting them up to speed, it makes a lot of sense to put some effort into your internal branding. The positive impact of creating an attractive working environment is almost immeasurable.
As Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly famously said: “Culture beats scheme.” Investing in your business culture will greatly improve your odds of winning the game. You’d be a fool not to do it.
Damian Madden is group creative and social Director at communications company Spectrum Group. Image source: iStock