Marketing does not end outside of your company. In fact, there should be a marketing strategy to gain attention inside your company. Internal marketing as the name suggests is the act of promoting business internally or within a company.
In the process, company employee engagement increases and they can act as brand advocates. Now that we have established what internal marketing is, the next step is to figure out how you can harness this marketing strategy within your company to improve your bottom line.
While you can do simple things like creating a professional email signature for external marketing, internal marketing is a little different and trickier. Internal marketing can improve customer satisfaction and it is something the company’s should consider.
Here is a list of a few things on how to improve your internal marketing.
Evaluate your internal marketing
Now that you have established that you need an internal marketing strategy. Evaluate it once you have strategized. Check to see if there are any problems you should fix, address, or tweak. Internal marketing is all about increasing awareness within the company about their contributions and about the company products and services.
A good internal marketing strategy is one that is holistic and one that is well integrated.
In other words, make it easy for everyone to get involved. During the evaluation process recognize that each company employee is a brand contact point for prospects and clients.
When you evaluate your internal marketing keeping this in mind, you will ensure that your employee and customer are in sync and that their needs are addressed.
Enhance internal communication
A big component of internal marketing is enhanced by internal communications. Starting with a well-devised human resource or HR plan can help address communication needs effectively.
For example, create recurring meetings, use an email signature, build a rapport with employees, etc. If HR keeps track of communications, internal and external communication can report to one officer and ensure there is a consistency in all information and communication material.
If there is a new company release or policy or product or anything that is about to become public knowledge or part of a marketing campaign, HR needs to circulate this material to all employees.
This will ensure everyone is in the loop and there are no surprises among employees if any prospect or client questions them.
Offer great rewards
Happy people are the best brand advocates, and happy employees can become great brand advocates. People love benefits, so if you can create a reward system for your employees then studies show that internal marketing rewards can have a positive impact on employee performance.
Remember employee satisfaction leads to customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction leads to increased profits. So, in order to operate a successful business, you have to keep your employees motivated and you have to ensure they are your biggest brand advocates. Rewards are a great way to keep your employees engaged with your brand.
Give your hardworking employee a reward in the form of a perk and/or recognition. Give your better performing employees access to a company incentive and/or package. Give your employee with high customer satisfaction a bigger responsibility.
Reward effort and delivery and continue to recognize your employee. Because rewards motivate and motivated employees will improve your bottom line. This is a great way to ensure an effective internal marketing strategy.
Engage employees in creating core values
Collaboration at the workplace can start with creating core values. If you engage employees in creating core values then they are more likely to adhere to them. In case, you have already defined your core values, make sure you establish this among your workforce.
Because guess what, most employees have no idea what the core value of their company is. This means that either your company has not done a good job defining it among your company individuals or that your employees simply do not care, which could be a result of something else.
Regardless of the reason for ambiguity, make sure your company has a policy in which you instill core values among all employees for improved employee performance and customer satisfaction.
Create a lovely brand experience
Each brand contact, ranging from marketing materials put forth by the company to the interactions with employees helps build up a brand experience. The process of creating a brand experience involves knowing the ins and outs of a company.
For example, if you are a service provider and if you let your employee use your service for free then they will be able to understand the product from a customer experience and they will be happy they got more than just a paycheck working with your brand.
In this process, you get to understand the customer experience from an internal perspective and you create brand advocates among your workforce. Both of these are important in creating a lovely brand experience and ultimately increases customer satisfaction.
Provide open training and sessions
If your employees do not have a clear understanding of your company values and mission they will not be able to become the advocates you need and want them to become. Educate your employees about company marketing messages using interactive ways.
This will make sure they understand company efforts and are able to question if they have any confusion. For example, create a training event for your employees to understand your company’s vision or create a poll to make your employees choose and vote on the next marketing campaign poster.
Alternatively, create sessions amongst teams and HR while building a marketing plan. Companies can gain insight and ensure their employees are heard. These are simple steps but crucial steps in making your employees heard and making them feel empowered within the company.
Whether you are an individual, small business, medium business or large conglomerate looking to grow, you have to take your employees in confidence. Treat employees like business partners and make them feel like they have a stake in your business to bring out the best in them. Remember marketing your business starts internally!