Employees bear the torch for your brand
Organizations spend considerable amounts of money, time and energy to promote and protect the value of their brand, and rightly so. A company’s brand carries a big load. It’s not only an indicator of the origin or quality of an offering; it’s personally meaningful, providing emotional and social value for customers. To get full value from your brand, keep in mind that a big part of it walks out the door every evening and returns the next morning. Employees bear the torch for your brand. It’s up to you whether they carry it proudly, or drag it behind them on the ground. Follow these guidelines to keep employees holding the torch high.
Brand engagement is a marathon. Too many organizations launch a short-term promotional campaign to excite and energize employees around brand and think the results will be long-lasting. One and done is not enough. True brand engagement requires organizational change, where the brand culture is ingrained in the organization’s systems, behaviors and symbols. Consider how you can infuse your brand into daily organizational life – meeting agendas, PowerPoint decks, performance management, rewards and recognition – anything that touches your employees.
Brand engagement must be internalized. Posters and videos and other communication channels help convey the brand and culture, but they’re not enough. Real brand engagement comes from within an employee. If your employees don’t identify with the brand and feel like they’re a part of it, how can they convince customers to believe your brand has value? Ongoing engagement data through vehicles such as employee engagement surveys, culture audits and employee input sessions signal where your brand is resonating with employees and where it’s falling short.
Brand engagement starts at the top. Employees closely watch – and mimic – their leaders. And they sense hollow talk pretty quickly, so executives from the CEO on down need to be walking examples of what your brand means. It’s great when leaders naturally adopt their role as brand poster child, but even top leaders can benefit from coaching. Invest in regular executive and manager training to keep brand behavior and culture top of mind.
Sounds easy, right? Of course not. Brand engagement takes time and energy and commitment. But your efforts will pay off in spades in terms of employee productivity and retention, satisfied, loyal customers and a healthy bottom line.
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