You have only been focusing on external branding? You may be behind your competition - Here are 3 important ways to affirm internal branding for effective brand messaging.
3 Important Ways To Affirm Internal Branding For Effective Brand Messaging
Ask most people why branding is important in business and they’ll tell you that it’s a way to connect to your customers, let them know what you’re all about and make sure that they think of you first when they’re making purchasing decisions. That is true, and you do need to focus on the customer when you’re trying to build a branding strategy, but don’t forget about your internal branding.
Internal branding, if you haven’t heard the term before, refers to the relationship that your staff have to the brand. If you think of your brand as the personality of your company, you can see why it’s important that your staff fully understand it.
As representatives of the company they are the people that are promoting your brand, and if they aren’t on message your whole company won’t be as effective. If you haven’t been paying much attention to your internal branding recently, this is the time to give it some thought.
Internal branding: What is it and why is it important? We will answer that question and give you three ways to approach it effectively.
Define Your Core Values
Any good brand, external or internal, is built around the core values of the company. They tell you what kind of business you’re trying to portray in the public sphere. You’ll have a hard time growing your business if you have not identified and defined those values.
Before you start trying to write a strategy, sit down and discuss what your priorities and values as a company.
- Do you want to focus on environmental sustainability?
- Is customer service the main selling point of your company?
When you’ve worked out what it is that you’re trying to do as a company, you’ll have a much clearer idea of how to brand your business.
When you’ve decided on what your core values are and started to create a plan for your external branding, you should create a strategy for internal branding as well. It’s vital that you identify those core values and then communicate them to your staff so they can carry that message forward in all they do.
Be Consistent
Things like color scheme and font choices are all a big part of your external branding, and they’re important internally as well. You want your staff to be immersed in your brand as much as possible. That’s why you need to be consistent and use the same branding on any internal documents and marketing materials etc.
Without consistency, your brand will quickly unravel and your employees will be a bit confused about what message they are trying to send about the company.
Enforce The Brand
The biggest internal branding mistake that managers make is forgetting about it after a few months. They start out well and with enthusiasm, and then efforts may halt after their busy work days focus their attention away.
It is important to commit to enforcing the brand. Dedicate time and resources, and remind your employees of the message that your company is trying to convey. Set a calendar of reminders to assure that all team members are on message at all times.
The success of your external branding is completely dependent on your internal branding strategy so be sure to give appropriate attention to both.
