Marketing isn’t just for attracting and retaining customers. To create a powerful image and value proposition, you must convince your employees first. Internal marketing is just as important as external marketing. For marketing to succeed, employees must be happy. An employee who feels appreciated and fairly compensated is much more likely to sing the praises of your company. Pick any successful company, from Apple to Xerox, and odds are favorable they’ll have at least one type of marketing program geared specifically to selling the company to their employees.
Workers need to be inspired to maximize your company’s success. They need to know they’re making a difference and what they do matters. Treat them like they matter, and they’ll return the favor.
Any Apple employee will tell you the company does an excellent job of marketing to its own people. This effort consistently keeps the enthusiasm for the company high. When employees are excited about a product or service, their customers will be excited as well.
Company culture is a product that can offer rewards in the form of higher productivity, client loyalty and profitability. Many marketing efforts turn inward, with communication campaigns designed to inspire employees at all levels. It’s an inside-out marketing approach that pays off.
According to a study conducted by the Manchester Business School and reported by Dr. Lee J. Colan, in Engaging the Hearts and Minds of All Your Employees (2009), companies are more likely to grow when employee satisfaction exceeds customer satisfaction because employees typically have a direct influence on customers’ views. As company leadership increasingly recognizes every employee as a potential brand ambassador, heavier emphasis is placed on internal marketing. When turning communication inward, use some of the same tools and techniques you’d use when targeting customers. Marketing to your employees begins with communicating core values, mission and vision. In addition to communicating (and living up to) core beliefs, you can do other things to brand and market a business to employees:
■ Empower employees by sharing information about the company’s marketing plan and discussing future business plans.
■ Create a culture of mutual respect.
■ Encourage an environment of feedback between employees and management.
■ Show employees you value them through rewards, acknowledgement and by providing a path of upward mobility.
■ Recognize an employee in front of the entire staff for something positive.
■ Make a commitment to give employees first viewing rights to all marketing materials before they’re presented to customers.
You can reach Goldglantz, president of Pest Control Marketing Co. and author of “Marketing Matters,” at hgpcmcinc@aol.com. His book, Marketing Matters, is available from the PMP bookstore.
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