MARKET TO
THE CUSTOMER WITHIN
When
most of us think about marketing, we think of an activity directed
towards attracting the right customers, convincing them that our products
and services
are worthwhile and, most importantly, working to retain their business.
But marketing should not just be directed at people outside the company. You
should market to people inside your company, too. Just as customers and prospective
purchasers need to be informed and excited about your offerings, so do your
staff. I once visited a company and was delighted to see, hanging in the staff
room, a large billboard sized poster advertising the company’s business. I
made some comment about it and was told by a senior manager that staff really
enjoyed having it there. “It gives people a sense of pride in the company,” he
said. “The advertisement excites them and helps them to believe that what they
are doing is worthwhile, that what they do will eventually help a customer
further down the line.” “That’s really great,” I said. “It is nice to see an
organisation think about communicating with its staff on a more stimulating
level than internal memos and company newsletters. Do you have these posters
in any of your other branch offices?”
“Oh, no. This is actually a second. It contains a small mistake so we couldn’t
use it outside the company. We didn’t know what to do with it so we stuck it
here and then discovered that people really liked it.”
I was left thinking that if they had discovered that staff really liked it,
why hadn’t they thought about putting one in other branches? The answer, of
course, is that we never think about marketing to staff. Sure, we tell them
what they need to know and occasionally we might launch a new initiative or
change, but we don’t think about trying to excite, persuade and sell to staff
the way we do to customers.
Why not? Is it not just as important to attract the right staff as it is the
right customers? And, how will you get the right staff unless everyone understands
what the company is all about, what its values, purpose and vision are, and
what mission you are all on? It is important to excite customers about your
offerings so they will buy. Why not excite staff about your products and services
so they can sell? I once read about a large airline where the CEO spent time
talking to staff about the airline. “That way,” he said, “I have 4000 sales
people instead of just a few hundred.” By contrast, I know of several large
New Zealand corporates which have such a poor image in the marketplace that
their staff won’t tell people where they work when they are out socially. Perhaps
if these companies marketed themselves to their staff, their staff would market
the company to their friends and acquaintances.
Internal marketing is not sending memos, announcements and letters from the
CEO any more than external marketing is mailing people reports about the company’s
activities and offerings. It involves campaigns, contests and slogans and attention-getting
advertising. Divert some of your marketing dollars, talent and activity into
telling your staff what a great company they work for and how much value their
work creates for your customers. After all, what have you got to lose?
At the very least you’ll probably sell more products to the customer base you
have on your payroll.
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