If you want your business to succeed in today’s challenging environment, then you need every person who touches your business to be a brand advocate. You already know, of course, how important it is to convey your brand clearly to your customers. But it’s equally important to do so to people inside your company (and alongside, in the case of partners, suppliers, and other third-parties).

Whether they’re a part-timer on the shop floor or an executive director sitting in your boardroom, you won’t get the best out of someone unless they are really engaged with your brand. Here’s how you do it:

Communicate through existing platforms

Your members of staff won’t believe in your vision if they don’t feel like a part of it. In a world that’s swamped with media, you need to craft a marketing plan of effective communications, and deliver them via internal platforms, like email and intranet. This is vital: your employees are your brand’s main touchpoint. If there’s a gap between what your brand promises and what your employees deliver, people will notice.

Make those communications as clear, and regular, as possible

If you want staff to deliver on the brand, they have to feel like a part of it. That means helping them to understand why change is happening, engaging them right from the beginning so that they understand your business’s trajectory and the reasons for it. The key to accomplishing that buy-in from staff is simple: make your messages clear, simple and easy to understand; make them worth paying attention to; and send them out often.

Your staff should be your champions

Your brand has values, an identity, and a goal. And it needs people to champion those things. Elevating staff members to the position of champion, with a particular focus on living and communicating your brand’s values, is an extremely effective way of getting more from your employees. This kind of thing not only helps people feel valued, but also gives management a valuable insight into what staff really thinks. And, of course, it creates true brand ambassadors: people who talk your brand up authentically, positioning your business for organic growth.

Don’t neglect face-to-face communications

In today’s modern world, digital communications are a vital part of any marketing strategy. But don’t neglect good old-fashioned face-to-face meetings either – the possibility for interaction between employee and employer makes in-person presentations something you can’t do without. When conducted openly and honestly, in an environment where staff and management feel empowered to collaborate over ideas, this can be an incredibly valuable addition to your internal marketing strategy.

Kiss Design creates and implements internal marketing strategies and campaigns for some of the UK’s biggest and most successful businesses. Why not join their ranks? If you’d like to know how we can help you craft internal marketing messages that hit home with your employees, please call Lynsey on 01675 446101.