Employees who understand and value the company’s goals and visions contribute to the brand’s advocacies. Engaged employees help make a brand successful.
Updated December 13, 2022
Employees who are passionate about their company and what it offers will share that passion in their social circles—both offline and online. When employees share their enthusiasm for the brand they represent, they are doing external marketing.
How can you foster your employees’ engagement with your brand’s goals and advocacies? You need to do internal marketing.
Hire a digital marketing agency to help with your internal marketing ideas.
What Is Internal Marketing?
Internal marketing deepens your employees’ connections with your brand. It is about establishing a company culture that promotes a healthy work environment.
In internal marketing, you are communicating to your employees your company’s goals and values and how your employees are vital contributors to your brand’s success.
Learn more about internal marketing campaigns: ‘Internal Branding: 5 Strategies to Motivate Employees’
Why Is Internal Marketing Important?
Internal marketing is as important as external marketing. Many elements of internal marketing come together to create a strong foundation for marketing success and employee initiatives.
Source: ResearchGate
Internal marketing ensures a brand’s success because you are developing your brand’s most important asset: your employees. The primary objectives of internal marketing are:
Read on to learn more about the benefits of internal marketing.
Increase Employee Engagement
Having a healthy work environment that makes employees feel valued results in high company morale and increased employee productivity.
A positive employee engagement prevents absenteeism and lowers employee turnover. When employees are positively engaged and they find fulfillment in their jobs, they are loyal to the brand message and company's vision.
Promote Brand Advocacy
Employees who are passionate about their company and what it does become brand advocates.
They will recommend your brand to their social circles who may, in turn, recommend your brand to others. Studies show that potential customers tend to trust brands whose employees endorse their own company’s products and services.
Empower Staff
Internal marketing strengthens the communication flow inside your company.
With internal marketing, you are equipping your employees with important information they will use when interacting with customers and prospects. Internal marketing empowers your staff.
Internal Marketing Strategies
Here are strategies to ensure a positive working environment inside your company and foster employees’ engagement and enthusiasm about your brand:
- Consistent brand education
- Benefits and recognition programs
- Employee feedback and discussion
- Clear internal communication
- Social media marketing efforts
- Learning and development programs
- Self-endorsement
- Robust annual plan
- Team-building activities
Learn how these marketing tactics within internal marketing programs can expand employee experience.
1. Consistent Brand Education
Your company’s mission, vision, goals, and objectives are your brand’s guiding star. Regularly remind your staff about your brand’s values, and more importantly, show your employees that you stand by these values.
Consistently communicating these values to your employees make them feel they are a part of the big picture. Brand education is important in creating and establishing a company culture.
These may be done through presentations and videos of the company’s history, giving employees items such as shirts or mugs with the brand’s logo, and even items from your product line.
2. Benefits and Recognition Programs
Recognizing your employees’ contributions fosters loyalty and improves productivity. Giving out benefits and recognition awards are great ways to bolster morale.
Companies can mark employee milestones, teams reaching their goals, an efficient onboarding process, and other efforts by giving their team members incentives that lead to increased employee satisfaction.
3. Employee Feedback and Discussion
Through regular employee roundtables, discuss with your staff their concerns and gather their feedback on company policies.
These discussions will give you insights on improving working conditions, products, and services. By talking with your staff you are showing them that their input matters.
Employee advocacy should be a key component of any internal marketing plan.
4. Clear Internal Communication
Clear communication is vital in any company and any successful internal marketing plan. A clear, centralized communication streamlines the flow of information within your company.
Using an integrated communication app ensures that everyone receives important information. This helps decrease the chances of disruptions due to staff not being informed or misunderstanding the information they received.
5. Social Media-Friendly Environment
Have a social media policy on how employees use social media concerning your brand. The policy clarifies what is expected of employees with their online behavior. This policy can also encourage your staff to promote the brand by sharing pre-approved content.
Your employees should serve as brand ambassadors on and offline
6. Learning and Development Programs
Get feedback from your employees to learn which skills they have to develop and training they can take.
Employees who receive better training contribute to company productivity and are less likely to leave. Invest in your staff through development and training programs, and support and encourage them when they seek to learn new skills or training.
Programs like these can increase retention rates and employee satisfaction.
7. Self-Endorsement
Practice self-endorsement by using your new products and services. This shows that you trust your brand.
Remember, employees are also customers of your brand. Help them to be proud of the products and services they help create.
Give your employees the correct information on your products and services so they could communicate effectively with external customers. Through self-endorsement, you can also get your staff’s feedback which can help you improve your products and services for customer satisfaction.
8. Robust Annual Plan
Having a clear plan for the next 12 or even 24 months shows employees a detailed picture of what your company wants to achieve.
A year plan keeps staff optimistic and assured that the company has direction. Consistent communication of this plan ensures that everyone is on the same page and allows for adjustments when necessary.
9. Team-Building Activities
Company outings, holiday events, or end-of-year parties are bonding activities that help employees to relax and strengthen their relationships with colleagues and the company.
Having a party or ceremony for new employees makes them feel welcomed and allows them to get to know their new colleagues. You can integrate your recognition programs with these activities as well.
Internal Marketing Builds Strength from Within
Internal marketing focuses on strengthening your brand’s relationship with your employees. Basically, internal marketing is “taking care of your employees”.
Employees who feel they are valued by the company and that the company is contributing to a better society are more likely to perform their best. Internal marketing builds loyalty, decreases absenteeism, and lowers employee turnover. It also encourages them to become advocates for your brand.
Your employees serve as a more trusted form of marketing when they recommend your company’s products or services. Investing in effective internal marketing strategies ensures increased productivity and profitability, and your company’s success.
Consider hiring a digital marketing team to support internal marketing efforts and overall marketing goals.