How to Make Your Most Important Brand Advocates From People Already on Your Payroll

Brand image holds as much, if not more, of a stake in consumers’ buying decisions, as product features and functionality, and so it isn’t a surprise that, since brand image is pretty crucial out there in the big wide world, it is crucial that that brand message is adopted and conveyed by those who work in your offices, factories and retail outlets. These are your greatest brand advocates and they are already living, eating and breathing your brand for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week! Everyone from the big cheese to the sales team, customer services, finance, HR and the lady at the back who you’re not entirely sure what she does. It’s everyone! So how exactly do you deliver your branding message to an entire corporation of diverse employees? Hmm.

Firstly, recognise that there are three potential outcomes that can be achieved with a successful internal branding strategy. Aim to achieve all three. It can be done so do it.

Staff morale increases as well as commitment and dedication to the brand. Efficiency levels soar as staff become enthused by their new found understanding of the product and the sense of community surrounding an exciting event at work.

Internal branding ensures that all employees understand the importance of their advocacy and coherence to the brand message to the company as a whole (and by no means least!!). Employees know people, who know people who know people. This is the most obvious and least exploited form of buzz marketing. You could be looking at distributing your message far and wide before your product has hit the streets, the shelves or the media. Before you’ve even started spending your marketing budget on reaching your consumers, they’re already in the know.

It’s no surprise that having a transparent set of brand values undertaken by all employees is a good thing, and I’m sure they have the information in a company booklet that’s rotting at the back of a drawer somewhere (or begrudgingly carried in a top pocket), but what we’re talking about is something different. We’re talking about actively engaging and motivating your staff to fall in love with your brand as you would generate loyal, regularly returning consumers. Just as your consumers are no longer willing to simply accept your branding message from a billboard or TV advertising, and require further stimulation of the senses to be engaged by your brand, similarly your staff should be at the forefront of your attention to ensure they are enthralled by your brand message and not just left to read it from their pocket notes or staff notice board. Don’t tell employees what they should and shouldn’t stand for. Instead, generate an experience that lets them feel the brand message themselves, that lets them understand the importance it has, and inspires within them the responsibility to convey it to your consumers.

This isn’t one for the to-do list. There’s a wealth of rewards that are waiting for you as soon as your staff have valuable buy-in. Every task that will be achieved today throughout your entire corporation, could be achieved quicker, more efficiently and more enthusiastically if only you’d done this this morning. But that’s not to say that they’re aren’t key moments when invigorating branded activity in the workplace is almost essential, after layoffs or just before or after the end of year vigorous grind as a warm up, or lets get going. Launching a product? Brilliant. This is a fantastic opportunity to use motivational tactics to gain staff buy in AND deliver essential educational information regarding your latest product.

But what to do??
Launching a new technology?? Offer all employees a chance to apply to be the first to test and report back on the new product. Create internal brand ambassadors for your latest product by getting them to hold internal office focus groups on the product and gain initial feedback from colleagues which will also give you invaluable insight in your up and coming marketing strategy for consumers and offers the satisfaction of knowing that everyone’s opinions matter.

Launching a new make-up product? Each employee is sent a personalised top-secret envelope with a particular product in it from your make-up range along with hints and tips, about various products being handed out, branded and detective themed. Employees must use the detective themed clues to determine which product is being worn by whom and submit their answers to win a prize. If this really is the first time employees have been able to get their hands on the new product, they should be asking around to see who was sent the new product for the rest of the day!
No launch? We just need to invigorate staff and build a sense of community? Invite staff to sign up to a mighty weeklong challenge. Those who sign up are given your key product and a camera (even better if the product IS a camera). Each day, staff will be sent a text message on their way home from work asking them to do something incredibly random in a public space, potentially inviting attention (and therefore explanation to passers by– we’re starting the word of mouth with strangers here, brownie points please). And the staff member must ask someone to take a picture which is then put on the staff notice board with ALL the others the following day. The staff notice board also carries positive branding messages, as does each of the activities staff performed in the street. Generate buzz in the office, get people talking about it. Sending emails about your activity, feeling like part of a community of supporters for this great thing your company is doing around this brand.

Testing staff knowledge? Let’s get together a really great prize for your staff based on how they answer key questions. Better still, lets turn your office into a University challenge studio for one day. Better still, lets bring in some strange props and matching team polo shirts. Wait, it just got better, let’s film it and edit the footage together to make a fantastic viral to upload to various video networking sites for the world to see vital key product information question and answers presented in an entertaining and engaging manner.