Organizations invest a lot of time and capital into buildingtheir brands, but in the process often pay little attention to the best brandbuilders of all: their employees. By tapping into this amazing resource,companies can unleash an army of brand ambassadors that favorably influencesthe way the organization is viewed by customers, prospects, industry colleaguesand the local community. We believe that every employee has the potential tobecome a powerful brand champion—and every company can enjoy the benefits— if the right structures are in place.
Engaged employeesare natural brand ambassadors. They “delight” in their work and theirworkplace, they feel supported, and they’ll go the extra mile. So the startingpoint for turning your own employees into brand ambassadors is a solid employeeengagement program driven by purposeful design along with meaningfulrewards and recognition.
The underpinning of engagement is a strong company culture. When employeesunderstand what an organization stands for—its values—and they are encouragedto demonstrate those values, the result is a cohesiveorganizational culture. Organizations that have built a positive culture makeit easy for employees to become brand champions.
Communication iscritical to transforming employees into ambassadors. Communications regardingorganizational values and goals, employee and customer success stories, anddecisions affecting employee’s lives in the workplace must be transparent,timely, and pushed out through multiple channels. Communication is alsobi-directional. Inviting input from employees means they are part of theprocess, part of the ethos, and part of the company. In total, effectivecommunications ensures that brand ambassadors are true advocates - informed andengaged.
Give your employees the toolsand information they need to be your advocates by taking a page frommarketers. For example, the ContentMarketing Institute (CMI) suggests giving your employees success stories toshare. You can repurpose your casestudies that show how your organization helped its customers achieve theirgoals to share with potential hires.
CMI also suggests integrating customer success stories intothe company culture by creating a “customer success” photo album that employeescan page through. Organizations that have internal video screens can run quotesfrom happy customers on those screens.
Social media can be a powerfulbrand-building tool when used strategically. You can use it to showcaseteam-building activities, highlight customer success stories, or talk about howyour organization or even individual employees have contributed to thecommunity.
Look at ways your thought leaders can contribute to industryconversations. For example, by following and commenting on industry posts inLinkedIn, your thought leaders are raising your brand’s visibility.
We recommend havingclear social media guidelines in place and designating a team to handle socialmedia posts and to monitor and respond to conversations on other sites
We believe that every single employee has the potential tobe a great brand ambassador. It is absolutely the one thing that no othercompany in the world has—your people. Your people make your business personaland real—authentic and trustworthy. Nothing else can represent the full scopeof your culture, products, services and purpose like your people.
Are you ready to see how you can turn your workforce into ateam of brand ambassadors? Contacta Marketing Innovators solutions expert today and we’ll help you getstarted.
