By Lynn Manternach / Guest Editorial
We all want our customers to love our organization’s brand. But have you given much thought to whether your employees love your brand?
If not, you should.
Your brand isn’t what you say it is – it’s what your customers say it is. And that is typically based on what your employees do.
If your employees don’t understand and believe in your organization’s brand, they can’t deliver on the brand promise. And you can’t deliver on the brand promise without their help. Employees are an organization’s best brand ambassadors. They have the power to move the organization forward, and bring the brand to life in ways that matter.
But this isn’t just about your brand. It’s also about your bottom line. According to recent Gallup research, only a third of U.S. employees are engaged at work; half (50.3 percent) are “not engaged” and 16.8 percent are “actively disengaged.”
Employee engagement is a leading indicator of future business success, and Gallup has identified close ties between engagement and outcomes such as turnover, profitability and productivity. As the percentage of employees who are engaged at work increases, companies find themselves better positioned to grow.
When you take the time to build and manage your organization’s brand from the inside out, you will have an entire workforce acting as an ambassador for your organization. That allows you to connect with customers in ways that matter, and deliver on the experience you’ve promised in your external branding and marketing.
So how do you go about building a team of engaged employees who love your brand?
Building the brand to ensure employee buy-in is often more difficult than creating the brand for consumers. That’s because your employees know exactly where your external brand differs from internal reality.
Start by making sure you clearly understand your organization’s brand and the promise behind that brand. Take the time to do this right, as it is the foundation for your success.
Next, you need to figure out how to align your brand and your culture. Ultimately, you have to match what you say with what you do. Where do employees see and feel the alignment between the brand promise and the organization’s culture? Where are the gaps? Conduct confidential employee research to understand what’s working and what’s not working from the perspective of your employees. Building your strategy using employees’ insight will help with buy-in and increase the likelihood of developing a plan that will work.
Develop an engaging internal brand campaign that helps employees understand the link between the brand and what they do every day. Market to your employees like customers. Take the time to build a comprehensive internal brand plan. Use traditional tools, like posters and employee publications, but don’t stop there. Make it viral, interactive and hands-on.
Employees should read, hear, see or feel something daily that represents your brand promise. When employees truly understand and connect to a brand’s goals, personality and promise, they are much more likely to become ambassadors and engaged employees.
Your say/do ratio is important when it comes to your brand, as actions speak much louder than words. Make sure your employees work in an environment that supports your brand promise. If you expect them to deliver a high level of customer service, demonstrate those qualities in your interactions with employees. If you are good to your employees, it is much more likely that they will be good to your customers. Delivering an on-brand employee experience builds employee morale and motivation, improves employee retention and increases employee engagement.
Engaged employees are happier and more productive. They are looking for more than just a job, and your brand promise makes that possible. Taking the time to integrate your brand internally and engage employees offers benefits for all stakeholders, including customers.
If your employees love your brand, chances are much better that your customers will, too.
Lynn Manternach is brand arsonist and president at MindFire Communications Inc. (MindFireComm.com) in Cedar Rapids and Le Claire. Contact Lynn at lmanternach@mindfirecomm.com.
