Internal Branding

Your employees are the most important asset you have and the difference to whether your brand inspires or -- turns off – customers. They are the difference on whether there is alignment or a woeful disconnect between what customers expect from your brand versus what is actually delivered.

Just to be sure what we mean when we talk about “brand,” we’re not using the term as if it’s just a name, a logo, tagline or visuals...rather, brand is everything your company is -- the ideas and experience you evoke for your customers and it is constantly developed through what you say and do. Brands form an identity that communicates an inherent, implicit promise and branding forms a “relationship” – delivered through both the “promise & the experience” provided by the brand’s representatives.

Furthermore, it’s a focused brand strategy that helps employees understand and integrate brand values into their respective roles to effectively deliver on the brand promise.

So, for example, if one of the core tenants of your brand is “responsiveness,” what message does it send if the customer care department does not deliver service in a timely manner? And, how does it appear when you say “customers are our #1 priority” yet they receive surly service?

Employees must understand more than just the words of the brand promise; they must understand how that promise must be supported and specifically carried out every day in their respective roles.

• Our business (& Brand) needs to change; how can our employees positively impact and contribute to this?
• How can our employees deliver on the promises we’re making in our advertising & customer value proposition?
• What will it take for employees to want to deliver on these promises?
• How do we respond to the new customer requirements that are inherent in our brand attributes?
• How do we translate customer data into organizational (vs. just marketing) action?
• How can we ensure that both our customer-facing and non-customer facing staff are aligned with our brand?
• How do we connect internal and external messaging?
• How do we identify and shape the behaviors (at all levels) that are required to live the brand?