Marketing from the Inside Out

How employee engagement can take your marketing to the next level

Employee engagement is a hot topic among businesses in general, and HR departments in particular. With statistics saying that a staggering 87% of employees worldwide are not engaged, there is a crisis for businesses and it’s no surprise that engaging employees is such an urgent priority.

Clearly, employee engagement and workplace productivity are inextricably linked, however, having an engaged workforce is also an important part of your marketing strategy. A happy, engaged team who are aligned with your business goals will undoubtedly help you to build a stronger brand and enhance your reputation. We call this ‘Marketing from the Inside’.

So, the big question is: how do you get ‘marketing from the inside’ to work for you?  In March, I gave a talk at Castle Employment Group’s HR & Employment Law event in Scarborough to discuss how employee engagement can help you to achieve great results from your marketing. I explained that the solution lies in aligning the culture, values and vision of your business – and involving employees in the process and making sure they buy in to it.

People often forget that branding is much more than what people see of an organisation from the outside, and more about how interactions with your business will make people feel. Really successful brands create a feeling or emotional engagement with their customers so that their company or services are the ones people choose to buy over any others.

Emotional engagement is absolutely key and it relies on the values that your staff and customers buy in to. It is about much more than what you do, it is about your purpose, why you exist and why people love and support what you do.

This might all sound a bit idealistic, however, think about the success of any big brand and how people to relate to it and you can see that this is the case. Just look at Apple and ask yourself the question, why are their computers and mobile phones the most popular yet also the most expensive? It is because people connect with the feeling of owning them and the purpose behind the organisation to produce cool, beautifully designed, easy to use gadgets which make your life easier.

So, for people to be engaged in your business, they need to believe in what you are trying to achieve. That means your vision, and values need to come from within – from the people who work in the business and interact with your customers every day. By involving your employees in the process of defining the values of the business and its vision and asking what’s important to them they will feel more empowered and more engaged in your business, and more invested in its success. They will help you to build a powerful, authentic brand that customers can connect with and become loyal to. In turn, of course, engaged happy customers are fantastic advocates for your business too.

In our next blog, we’ll look at how we have put this engagement theory into practice in our own business.

To find out more about marketing from the inside please do get in touch.