Internal Marketing

It should come as no surprise that there is a noticeable need to bolster the attitudes and perceptions of employees towards the company they work in. When employees have positive emotions or attitudes towards the product or service that they are making, it transitions into their work and improves overall marketing efforts.

Internal marketing is one way of improving employees’ perceptions of the brand, and it comes in many forms. This article will help define internal marketing and highlight its most important benefits for companies. We will also provide you with some valuable tips for creating your internal marketing strategies.

What Is Internal Marketing?

Internal marketing refers to the process of promoting a company’s vision, objective, culture, and values within the business to promote brand advocacy and enhance employee engagement.

In its traditional understanding, marketing usually triggers associations with a company’s external communication with its customers. In contrast, internal marketing focuses on a company’s employees.

Switching the focus of marketing inward can bring various unexpected benefits. First, it better engages employees in understanding a brand’s long-term vision and goals. In addition, internal marketing helps create more precise and effective materials for content marketing.

When employees promote their brand first, they become free advocates, fostering synergy within the company. Moreover, there is no better endorsement for customers than to observe the genuine enthusiasm for the brand among those most familiar with it. This elevates the brand’s authenticity and significantly enhances its appeal to potential customers.

Internal marketing, therefore, plays a crucial role in harnessing this powerful dynamic, turning employees into passionate brand ambassadors.

How to Define Internal Marketing?

Internal marketing can be defined as the sum of all strategies used to promote company values, improve company culture, and promote brand advocacy. Managers in charge of internal marketing will utilize different sources of information to create an effective strategy.

Employees are a useful source of information when creating an internal marketing plan. Seeking their suggestions on ways to improve specific processes can be a goldmine of information. Asking your employees what they like and dislike about the company will help you win them over later on.

Examples of internal marketing efforts include:

• Creating clear paths for career advancement to motivate employees by showing them a future within the company.
• Ensuring equal wages to foster a sense of fairness and equity among all employees, reducing internal conflict and increasing satisfaction.
• Developing open channels of communication where employees feel heard and valued, improving the flow of ideas and feedback throughout the organization.
• Providing regular training and development opportunities to help employees grow their skills and stay engaged with their work.
• Recognizing and rewarding employee achievements builds a positive company culture that values hard work and dedication.
• Fostering a supportive work environment that encourages teamwork and collaboration, enhancing overall company performance.
• Advocating for work-life balance in the corporate world.

By implementing these strategies, companies can cultivate a more engaged, motivated, and unified workforce, ultimately driving the brand forward both internally and externally.

Why Is Internal Marketing Important?

Promoting the brand vision and values to your employees not only fosters their engagement but helps in a more effective brand promotion later on. Employees who truly believe in your vision and message will do a better job when a valuable prospect inevitably comes along.

1. Boosts employee engagement

One of the primary benefits of internal marketing is its positive influence on employee partaking. Engagement is one of the most valuable parts of excellent employee performance.

Employees that are engaged with their workplaces are more invested, passionate, and dedicated to their work.

This is a net positive for employers, which is why they would be wise to aim to make the employee engagement strategy near the top of their priority lists. Effective internal marketing benefits the external marketing strategy.

3. Strengthens the company culture

A strong company culture is the bedrock of any successful business. By integrating internal marketing strategies, organizations can communicate their core values and beliefs more effectively across the workforce.

This helps attract talent that aligns with the company’s vision and retain employees who are a cultural fit. A cohesive culture fosters a sense of belonging and loyalty, significantly reducing turnover rates and building a more resilient organization.

3. Improves customer service

Employees who are well-informed and passionate about their company’s goals and products tend to provide better customer service. Employees understand the brand’s value proposition through internal marketing and how they contribute to delivering on that promise.

This empowers them to act as brand ambassadors within the company and in every interaction with customers. Exceptional customer service is often the result of employees who feel connected to and believe in what they’re promoting, making internal marketing a critical component in achieving this.

Internal Marketing vs External Marketing

Although the overarching goals of internal and external marketing are fundamentally different, both still have important roles for a brand.

While external marketing aims to improve the perceptions of potential customers, internal marketing focuses on improving the perceptions of employees.

Still, as previously mentioned, internal marketing efforts work directly in favor of external marketing campaigns. To perform the best they can, employees may benefit from events, perks, or other forms of internal marketing that motivate and educate them.

What Are The Best Internal Marketing Strategies?

The best internal marketing strategies will consider the employees’ interests and desires. Improving marketing performance is not as simple as giving employees everything they want. That is why we’ve compiled some useful advice for creating your own internal marketing strategy.

1. Explain your strategy

It may sound simple, but explaining your external marketing strategy in detail is also good for the internal one. Employees who feel like they have no idea why they are doing certain tasks will not be as motivated to perform as employees who are in the loop.

2. Create two-way trust

Similar to explaining your external marketing strategy, other methods can be used to boost trust between the brand and the employees. An effort could be made to improve transparency as well as customer service.

For example, implementing monthly open forum discussions with leadership allows for direct communication and feedback exchange, fostering transparency and building trust between employees and management.

3. Improve company culture

Creating a productive company culture can be done in various ways, but activities that bring employees closer and benefit the best-performing ones are some standout examples. In that case, you may wish to modify your internal strategy to suit the company culture you already have.

For example, introducing regular team-building retreats and performance-based rewards can enhance camaraderie and recognize excellence, effectively tailoring your internal marketing to reinforce a culture of unity and achievement.

4. Leverage internal social networks

Utilize an internal social network platform where employees can share achievements and updates and collaborate on projects. This digital space encourages informal interactions and knowledge sharing, mirroring the social media experience in a professional context.

For instance, a company could launch a monthly challenge on its internal social platform, where departments compete to share innovative ideas to improve customer service. The winning team would receive recognition in the company newsletter, fostering a sense of community and innovation.

5. Personal development opportunities

Offer workshops, courses, and seminars that focus on professional skills and personal development. This shows employees that the company invests in their growth beyond the immediate needs of their job roles.

A good example is organizing a quarterly ‘Learning Day’ where employees can attend workshops on topics ranging from technical skills to soft skills like mindfulness or public speaking. This approach nurtures a learning culture within the company, demonstrating a commitment to employee development and well-being.

Additional Tips & Tricks

• Effective internal marketing starts with getting to know the average employee. Work on communication and get to know their biggest points and ideas;
• When it comes to marketing, an employee is not that different from a customer. A company wants the customer to become a loyal brand advocate, but this can also be achieved by focusing on employee advocacy;
• Internal marketing efforts can improve customer satisfaction by enhancing the communication abilities of each employee.

The Bottom Line 

Internal marketing focuses on targeting a company’s employees with strategies designed to increase engagement and deepen their understanding of the brand’s vision and objectives. By implementing an internal marketing plan, you can devise effective communication strategies and other approaches to enhance brand advocacy among your workforce.

This article has introduced you to the concept of internal marketing, outlined its significance, and provided several practical tips for its implementation. Equipped with this information, you can now decide whether internal marketing is the right approach for elevating your company or organization.