When we hear about marketing, we generally think of brand marketing for a product or a person. After all, personal brands are our calling card in the age of social media. But in organizations, internal marketing to employees can make or break efforts to create a high-performance work environment and attract top talent. Unfortunately, many companies fail to see the value, or purpose, of marketing to their employees. Today’s blog will focus in those areas, and give some helpful tips on how you can get started.
What is “Marketing to your Employees”?
Employee Marketing is all about improving employees’ experiences. Because company culture is your employee’s experience of your organization, and engagement is how they respond to it. So, whether you have an internal Organizational Development team who can help you, or you engage your marketing team or a consultant like The Hire, internal marketing is not a “nice to have.”
Reason 1: Your employees deal with your customers more than you do!
Let’s face it leaders, how often do you deal with clients? The higher up you go in most organizations, the farther you are from the end customer. In general, the employees paid the least, with the least access to information, are the closest to your customers. And a disappointing experience here can cost you a customer forever.
In this way, to those customers, your employees ARE your brand. With that in mind consider - how confident are you that they understand, embody, and communicate that brand in a meaningful way? Companies that fail to provide internal communications about their marketing efforts often fail to deliver on what they are promising their customers.
Reason 2: Attracting & retaining the right people is essential for success
The first thing most job candidates do after being contacted by a perspective employer is look up, online, what people say about that employer. Thank Glassdoor for a ton more transparency in this process, and don't forget Reddit and the other industry specific sites that rate and rank employers. There is no where to hide. If an employer gets enough “bad press” they will likely not get top tier applicants.
But, a determined and people-centered organization can leverage the same channels for good, through employee advocacy. When your employees are engaged with your brand it makes your company more attractive to your customers. So, if your brand is strong enough, it will naturally attract the type of employees you want to work with.
Reason 3: Its good for the bottom line
Satisfied Employees will positively impact the bottom line as a study by the University of Tennessee showed in 2015. They found that companies with a higher score for employee friendliness (EF) achieved better financial results than peers with lower ratings. This includes higher sales, lower expenses, and increased innovation as measured by number of patents filed.
Marketing internally is not about pretty pictures, brochures, or cool intranets. It's about addressing the needs and wants of the individuals in your organization. Remember, the Golden Rule is obsolete - what you want in life is not likely what fires your Team member up! That's why we advocate The Platinum Rule – treat people how they want to be treated. That means talking to them. Learning about their goals and desires. If you do that your employees will be your best advocates, and will help you build the most effective teams.
