Being in marketing means that we are the driver of the brand for the company, often the creative behind it and the creative ahead of it, originate from the marketing department. However we all know that the face of that brand belongs to the staff.
Something many companies do not link correctly are the HR and marketing functions. Internal branding is just as important, if not more so, than the external branding. Because without the staff on board the marketing manifesto then you can forget the customer experience reflecting that slick message the board spent thousands to develop one bonding weekend!
We run staff days and it has been my job at my past few employers to inspire and encourage staff buy in with regards to the company ethos and branding…not always easy to do! There has to be emotion and feeling not intellectualism of the brand message ~ intellectually staff already get it, I tell them so they get it..they understand why it is important, they don’t have a job if they don’t make it important. But they don’t all feel it!
Perception is everything. Period! So if staff perceive that management are not living the brand message and simply rolling out trite corporate rhetoric then what hope is there for the brand evangelist! Management ‘made’ the brand message for goodness sake, of course they are engaged…aren’t they? They feel engaged…but how do staff perceive them?
Ahhh, the circular argument! So perhaps we do not concentrate so much on the engagement but on INVOLVEMENT. Yes I agree it is not possible to involve EVERY staff member in the determination of your brand promise, but it is possible to ask for their involvement afterwards…how would they approach it, what does it mean to them, how would they like to be treated in a situation like this or that, is that consistent with their behaviour and the brand promise? It’s internal MEkerting at work here…
Get the staff involved…they turn up to work, they follow procedures, that is engagement. Make sure that their brand experience is a positive one, mekert to them, involve them, make it about them, and let them mekert to your customers.
It’s hard work keeping so many different personalities on message, but is that a function you would trust just to HR? Don’t think so! Sorry to rush off but I gotta go talk to some staff about a smile policy…(grins)
Curious about this silly word MEkerting? Visit my earlier posts about it.