Effective marketing extends beyond customers—it encompasses anyone that represents the brand – employees, partners or dealers. Engaging and aligning your channels with your brand’s vision and values can drive performance, enhance retention, and deliver a better customer experience.
Over the course of my career, my mission has been to eliminate the “Us vs. Them” mentality that disrupts cross functional team dynamics.
My goal is to guide sales and service channels to perceive the collective as One Team. One Team combined with unique strengths and unbeatable skillsets. This should not be confused with a one-sized fits all strategy, which I find ineffective and talk about in this former blog post. Instead, achieving this requires a thoughtful, human-centric approach that considers each channel’s distinct aspects.
Engaging Communication
Engaging in clear and consistent communication is the cornerstone of marketing to your employees and partners. Organizations spend a lot of time crafting stories for their customers and very little time thinking about the people inside their organization responsible for delivering these stories during customer interactions. Here are three strategies we find useful:
- Develop a robust internal communication strategy.
- Use storytelling to make messages relatable and memorable.
- Consistently update employees on company goals, achievements, and challenges.
Gather and Act on Feedback
Regular, structured feedback from your channels can provide valuable insights into what is working as planned and what requires improvement. Actively seek their input and use it to refine your strategies and support systems.
- Conduct regular engagements and feedback sessions.
- Hold open forums (physical or virtual) to discuss challenges and gather ideas.
- Implement changes based on feedback to demonstrate that their input is valued.
Nurture Belief
Employees who not only understand but have a sense of pride and belief in the products and services they represent are more likely to become brand ambassadors. The gap between knowledge and belief is often pretty wide. People can know something, but not believe in it at the same time. That is why we encourage organizations to focus their efforts on closing this gap.
- Find creative ways to engage your employees with your products and services.
- Create a two-way dialogue so you’re not just pushing information at them.
- Make them part of your messaging strategy so they have confidence in sharing your story with customers.
Transparent Leadership
Transparency fosters trust and loyalty. Regular updates highlighting both hits and misses can help employees feel valued and included in the journey. Knowledge is power and context is everything, so share openly and frequently.
- Hold regular team meetings, ask me anything sessions.
- Share financial results and strategic plans.
- Address challenges and setbacks openly, discussing solutions and next steps.
Marketing to your employees is just as crucial as marketing to your customers. Prioritizing your employees’ engagement and satisfaction will help you build a motivated and cohesive workforce and strengthen your brand’s foundation from within.
