Installment 1 - The Power of INternalBranding - Creating a Super-employee INvironment

Acknowledgement:

This blogger wishes to acknowledge and thank Susan Drake – who penned ‘Light Their Fire’ – for an inspiring book that was the cohesive force which helped me formulate my approach to INternalBranding, and for providing some of the success stories referenced in this blog.

The Power of INternalBranding - Creating a Super-employee INvironment

Today, service leadership separates market leaders from the laggards. Every employee – at every level – must do whatever it takes to attract and retain customers by providing a positive and consistent Brand Experience. Creating an INternalBrand Culture based in solid Core Values and a Brand Promise articulated by management and delivered on the front line at every touchpoint is imperative if the Brand is to dominate its category.

Now is the time to contemplate how your company develops and implements a program that markets your Brand internally to the most important, yet overlooked key audience of your Brand – your own employees. Start to think about how to engage employees as your greatest ambassadors. Begin the process of INvesting to create a work environment filled with employees who are: INcluded and INvolved in driving the business; INnovative and take INitiative; and do their jobs with INtegrity and INthusiasm. Simply put, Super-employees DAZZLE customers. Developing an INternalMarketing program and creating a culture where Super-employees DAZZLE consumers and keep them loyal to your brand will make you a service leader in your category from the inside, out.

INternalBrand Marketing to Employees – INdividual Engagement and Communications

Why Brand INternally ?

INternalBranding, also referred to as internal marketing, is becoming a widely utilized method to garner employee support and dedication to the Brand. In particular, companies that are going through transition or periods of sales stagnation need to keep employees focused on the Core Values and philosophies of the brand so that the promise the Brand makes to its consumers (and the employees) is delivered consistently – all the time – and at all touchpoints.

INternalBranding provides an easier decision-making track for employees, and helps identify a clear path to reward and career advancement. It ensures the brand proposition is reflected through actions, not just words. Internal marketing stimulates an increased sense of corporate community and camaraderie and increases sense of pride and satisfaction among employees. This also assists in retaining employees as well as attracting new employees.

The Executive Management Team Role.

The buck stops with the executive management team, but it also needs to start with them as well. They must understand, accept, and live the following ‘truths’ if an INternal Branding program is going to be successful:

1. Brand strategy is the visible expression of business strategy
2. Brand strategy means senior management leads by example
3. Branding is every employee’s responsibility

Quoting Curtis R. Welling, CEO of Americares … “Being successful financially is a necessary condition for corporate success, but it isn’t a sufficient condition to stay successful. Money only has certain staying power. If you don’t do more for your employees, you are vulnerable. Unless you’ve established an emotional, not just financial, connection with your employees, you’ll always be susceptible to the next person who can trump you by one dollar.”

Super-employees – Create an Emotional Brand Connection

Attract the mind, you get action. Attract the heart, you gain commitment.

At the very heart of every great company is a set of Core Values that underpin and resonate as its Brand. The brand is a guiding light that prompts an emotional response in customers and prospects anytime they come into contact and have an experience with an organization and its people. People are predominately emotional creatures that respond to many touchpoints – both personal (a public-contact employee) and impersonal (an ad or Web site hit).

It is fact that the greatest and most successful brands in the world are built on solid, rational business models, but resonate with consumers on a highly emotional level. Nike, General Electric, and Apple Computers are solidly run businesses and also examples of brands built around emotional messaging in almost a cult-like fashion. This leads to a greater impact, higher recall and influences a consumer’s willingness to change purchase behavior and try your company’s products or services.

But this is not enough. There is one critical target audience many companies continue to overlook in their branding efforts – and clearly the one that is the most critical in the delivery of the Brand Promise and Brand Experience – Super-employees. Reaching out to the employee group and making them champions of the Brand is the first critical step in building a solid Brand and delivering a consistent Brand Experience externally with consumers. That is why it is crucial employees be involved in the branding process from its inception. It’s not sufficient to create catchy, engaging and emotional external messaging. You must deliver on the emotional expectation you create in your branding, and that requires you move the emotions of, and engage your most important front-line audience – the employees.

‘Brand-extraordinaries’ like Ritz Carlton, FedEx, Virgin, Chick Fil’A, and Southwest Airlines all message externally with passion, but they take it one step further. Their Core Values are drilled down and instilled among the employee group – in effect – creating a Brand culture and mantra. “How may I serve you?” “It’s my pleasure.” “Absolutely, positively, without a doubt there the next day.” “We bring good things to life.” “Freedom to Fly.” The NBC three tone signature, or Intel chime. Do these verbal or auditory prompts sound familiar? They should. Why? You recognize and associate them with their Brands because the experience provided by those Brands is consistent – day after day – as their promise to you. All represent well managed, rationale business models that are delivered to consumers by employees who give a damn about who they work for and what they do. Yes, they give a damn. Why? Because the company gives a damn about them, and has created an Super-employee culture that excites them about the Brand and rewards them for delivering the Brand Promise consistently day after day after day. These Brands are super star leaders because their employees say so in their attitudes, dedication, actions and service. This comes from the enculturation process that is the core essence of INternalBranding philosophy.

There appears to be an inextricable link between employee morale and financial outcomes. Consider the following when thinking of brands that are successful or failed.

The Brand Promise + Consistent Brand Experience Delivery = Business Results

Stay tuned for Installment Two ... coming soon.