Have you ever wondered what marketing strategy is really all about? Well, the answer is simple — communication. It is built around finding efficient ways to communicate messages about a certain product or service to a targeted audience. The biggest goal of marketing strategy is convincing people to buy your products instead of your competitors’.
However, more and more companies are using internal communication as a marketing strategy. As employees are the company’s best advocates, employers rely on them to convey the message about the brand.
Here are 3 ways marketers can make use of internal communication to create an efficient marketing strategy:
Onboarding and Off-Boarding Process
When talking about employees as brand ambassadors, it has to be clear they don’t become that overnight. It all starts with proper onboarding. When a new position within the organization has to be filled, HR managers usually either hire someone just to get it over with or carefully select the candidate with the highest potential of becoming an advocate for their brand.
Providing a great employee experience from day one, including the recruitment and selection processes, is important to the selected strategy. Internal communication is one of the factors affecting the overall experience in the workplace. Satisfied employees will share their experience with others, thus promote the company. Their perception of the workplace will positively influence the opinions of potential employees in the future.
The same goes for the off-boarding process. Employees simply like to talk about their employers. Whether it is on social media, online discussion boards, or to their family and friends, it doesn’t matter. It’s a smart move to use this characteristic in favor of marketing. If the contract was terminated amicably, the employees are more likely to leave positive reviews on the Internet. Either way, employees do play a pivotal role in creating and promoting the public image of the company.
Communication Channels
Many employers are often faced with poor employee communication and engagement. As a result, the business suffers. To boost internal communication, participation, and connection among employees, an intranet is the best solution. It keeps all employees connected, engaged, and willing to collaborate on spreading the word out about the newest innovations.
Internal communication is more than just information sharing. It provides feedback on the latest products or services. For example, presenting employees with samples or original packaging to try out and making them feel like customers for once can get ideas flowing. It is a great opportunity for them to discuss possibilities for improvement together and grow as a team. Also, if they have the first-hand experience with the brand, it will be much easier for them to promote it.
Proper communication channels and tools can serve as a great way of educating employees. It is crucial to teach them about company values, mission, and vision. For brand ambassadors to share information about the company, they first have to know what to share with others. Communicating internally with employees will have them prepare for advocating in any situation.
Social media platforms are also great communication channels. They can be efficient in delivering external content to the targeted audience. Providing employees with valuable content or giving them complete freedom in creating authentic pieces seems like a great marketing strategy. Encouraging them to post it on their social media networks will drive traffic and reach a much wider audience.
Company Culture
While company culture was a new trend in the business world in the last decade, that isn’t the case anymore. Organizations all around the world have to actively start enforcing this concept, especially when deciding to implement new internal communication campaigns.
Communication strategy is ideal for showing company values to the world. Business is currently witnessing a synergy of a multigenerational workforce. While handling different generations at once may be difficult, it can also be quite useful. Once the company finds the best solution for connecting such as diverse workforce, they can all become successful brand advocates. Effective communication among employees increases motivation, knowledge, and experience sharing. Also, in a healthy and diverse work environment, many opportunities for mentorship arise.
The strategy will only be effective if the aims are known and shared by everyone in the company, from employees to executives and managers. The more genuine your employees feel the communication and engagement tactics; the easier it will be for them to unite as a team. As a result, company culture and employee advocacy will be strengthened thanks to teamwork and effort.
To conclude, when employees strongly believe in their company and trust their employers, only good things happen. Deciding to integrate internal communication in the marketing strategy has great effects on business. A wise selection of new employees and distribution channels, along with cultivating a fantastic company culture brings the company one step closer to creating great brand advocates. And there are no better brand ambassadors than employees.