Internal Branding Matters
Internal branding refers to the process of providing employees with the training and education they need to support, understand, protect, and advocate for your brand’s mission. A critical part of expanding a successful business is internal branding.
In fact, internal branding should matter to companies of all sizes, from the solo professional to the Fortune 500 company. The reason for this is very basic: If you and your employees can’t fully get behind and believe in your brand, how can you expect complete strangers to become lifelong loyal customers?
Here are some of the key benefits of internal branding for your company:
Develop a relationship between the brand and employees
With internal branding, you are essentially handing your employees the keys to unlocking the secret to the mystery of how they are integral to the overall company mission as well as the vision for the brand. Employees discover how the job they do affects how the brand is viewed by customers.
Develop better relations between coworkers
Shared goals between coworkers are a proven way to bring people together to create a cohesive team. The same can be said for sharing a powerful brand vision. When employees share a strong belief in what they are working toward, productivity and morale go way up. Employees also become more vocal advocates for the brand.
Improve hiring and retention
Believing in the brand’s promise and feeling passionate about being an important member of the team that helps bring that brand’s promise into reality for the customers helps employees remain loyal to the company. When a company gains a reputation for having happy, passionate employees, it is easier to keep people from leaving to explore other opportunities. Likewise, it is so much easier to attract great talent when prospective employees know they will be treated well and enjoy working in an encouraging, community-like atmosphere.
Internal branding builds character within an organization
Strong brands are built on unshakable values and authenticity. When a brand spreads its message and vision internally, employees are encouraged to adopt the same values the company has shown that they prize. This makes it less likely that employees will act in ways that are counter to the brand’s accepted culture and values. This promises a more consistent brand experience for every customer who buys from you.
Internal branding creates ardent brand advocates
It is widely accepted as fact that one of the most powerful methods of marketing is word of mouth. There is no amount of money spent on expensive prime time television commercials that can duplicate the efforts of a few vocal and passionate brand advocates on social media.
While it is a definite boon to a company’s bottom line when a celebrity with a million followers on twitter tweets about how much he or she loves your new product — you can’t really count on that. What you can count on, however, is the appreciation of employees who love your brand and buy into the mission. Even more than that, you can count on the admiration of customers who enjoy a consistent and pleasurable brand experience as a result of interacting with your company in any number of ways.
Define your brand in terms your employees can understand
When it comes to defining your brand mission, vision, or promise, it is important to include your employees closely in this. In the end, if you want your internal branding to be effective, your employees need to be able to name your brand’s intentions in plain English, free of empty jargon or marketing-ese. When you can understand something clearly, you can internalize it more easily.
