How to develop your reputation with internal branding
By getting involved, you create engagement, increase motivation and job satisfaction among employees. When was the last time you talked to your own employees about your company brand? Your most important resource is your employees, and you can strengthen your reputation through internal branding with your own brand ambassadors.
In this white paper we look at the importance of internal brand communication. A fundamental understanding of the brand defines a clear purpose for the company and for your staff. Having your own brand ambassadors represent a tremendous value when taking your brand to the market.
Make sure your staff have positive things to say about the place where they work
When it comes down to it, creating brands is all about building reputations. Or, in other words, working systematically and purposefully with how you want to come across to your target group. To achieve this, you have to be clear and look at the big picture.
A good reputation comes from the very core of your business – the company itself. Many companies that employ agencies to create campaigns often just look at the company from outside – they consider how the company's message fits in with the target group. But with this, you overlook an important target group: the company's own staf
It's a well-known fact that companies don't work as well as they can if there's a gap between internal and external communication. It's really not much use having good intentions if you haven't made sure you implement the values that you want your brand to signal among your own staff first.
So, if you are launching a new brand identity, it is essential that good internal preparation is done beforehand so that the external message is perceived as genuine. That way, you will on the one hand achieve more loyal and engaged employees, and on the other hand, you will get your employees to talk warmly about the brand. What could be better reputation building than that? As an employer, can you face disruption head-on in your search for talent?
Think of marketing as a two-lane highway
Imagine the following scenario: you're in charge of marketing at a major Norwegian corporation. You've been using a design agency over the last couple of years to help you with the development of a sharp brand – a new identity – with everything that involves: marketing material, updated websites , templates, logos, tone-of-voice to name but a few examples. This has been an incredibly interesting and educational process that's not only cost you time and energy, it's required long-term investments as well. Now the owners are expecting the new position in the market to increase their returns. There's a lot at stake.
As the marketing director, you have to be able to show the success of the company's updated identity, and to help you along the way you've been given increased marketing resources for the next year. As the person in charge of marketing, you reckon it's natural to focus primarily on everything outside the company, where you have a network of contacts among both customers and suppliers, all of them wanting a share. This is where your expertise lies, you get to show off a bit and so make your company even more visible.
That's true to a certain extent. This is a natural part of the everyday work of many people who work with marketing – spending time with external contacts and stakeholders. It's also a reason to ask yourself whether it wouldn't be a good idea to use some of your resources implementing the new brand among your own staff as well. Even though the marketing department got to know the new identity a long time ago, there is every reason to believe that most of the other staff won't be all that familiar with it, other than what they know from the rumours they hear occasionally around the coffee machine. This is a wasted opportunity that can cost you in the long run.
Traditionally, the HR department notifies staff about major changes to the company, but they often don't have much of an insight into the ideas behind the brand or the marketing of the company. And this is where the marketing department comes in. Doing an additional circuit among your own staff does take up time, and it may result in delays for the external launch of a new identity. The good news is that many of the strategies used to talk about the brand externally can also be used internally within the company, with a successful outcome. This is actually an excellent opportunity to try everything out and adjust and fine-tune your brand before launch.
"If you look to your own ranks first, you'll also find you forge positive alliances among your staff as well."
It's important to create a link between external and internal communication. External communication should take the company's promises to customers to new heights and always strive for improvement and to achieve a clearer market position. This can have a motivating effect on staff. But if you go too far, it could result in staff failing to recognise themselves in the message and becoming disillusioned or losing motivation. You'll achieve the best success with this demanding balancing act if you chat to staff prior to an external launch.
Moreover, if you look to your own ranks first, you'll find you forge positive alliances among your staff as well. This is a major positive during a transitional phase. Employees who identify with the place where they work and understand the purpose of the company are not only happier in themselves at work, they're more productive as well. Experience shows that design and brands rooted in the company, from the top brass all the way down to trainees, new staff and part-time staff, all help to reinforce the brand – and in this way, employees become brand ambassadors. Having these kinds of fans for your new brand is worth its weight in gold when you come to launch your brand. The more people who talk about the brand in-house, the more support it'll have among the target group.
Remember to celebrate the new brand
Upgrading your brand is an excellent reason for an internal launch, like a kick-off. This is an important consideration – and unfortunately something that's often overlooked at a busy company. When you've invested months of valuable working hours in analysing and surveying and systematically making demanding changes in order to end up in a top market position, with a new identity and new market communication, this is definitely worth celebrating. Make sure you invite all your staff, and let them know their input, feedback and communication have been invaluable. In other words, it's high time to strike a blow for yourself and your own efforts.
Read more about how you can stand out from the crowd with website design.
Checklist
Brands that have the internal support of staff have a better chance of surviving in the market
Working partnership with HR to notify staff of brand changes
Set aside time and resources to present changes internally before going for an external launch
Ally yourself with employees and create brand ambassadors
Remember to celebrate your new brand identity in-house
Further reading: How to create a cohesive visual identity with a design system
