TEN Topic: Branding from the inside out: Building internal brand advocates

At our September TEN meeting, we discussed the difficulties we all face in the industry with building a strong brand—particularly in our own organizations. TEN member, Sharon Bell, a veteran brand expert and now independent consultant and instructor, presented some thoughts she has compiled over the years, and then we dove into some good roundtable discussion.

Image from Brand Advocates Should Be Cultivated
Tuesday, May 10, 2011

What is brand?

We all have definitions for brand in the marketing industry. Some say brand is an emotion; others use the metaphor of a story. At Incite, brand is experience –every single touch point that might exist for an organization. That experience, whether it is logo and colour, phone reception, boardroom art, or sales demeanour evokes both logical and emotional responses in your audience. A good brand should make you trust that the person or organization does what they promise. Ultimately, a brand is what people believe about your product or service.

What are the difficulties?

Gaps in a brand (experience) erode confidence.

If you say you are the leading edge of expertise in your industry and you have a logo that looks like it was created in Paint, then people start to wonder...

A good brand (experience) is consistent throughout the company. You cannot build market confidence of your value and experience if your employees don't believe it or truly own it.

Your marketing campaign promises engaging, people-oriented service, however your staff is introverted and not equipped for one-to-one interaction. Your promise draws in clientele, but your staff negates that promise by not fulfilling the expected experience. Too often our employees are not set up for success, or given the tools or opportunity to "be the brand".

What is a brand advocate?

Brand advocates make a difference in every organization. They believe and trust in the value promise, they feel excited and empowered about sharing that promise, they constantly talk about and recommend your organization, and they embody the brand experience. In today's sceptical, over stimulated and too-rushed market they are your biggest sales force.

"Employee brand advocacy does not happen overnight, nor does it happen with a few stickers, T-shirts or emails. Senior marketing executives need to be prepared to lead and partner with peers through a dynamic process..."

Source: "Transforming Employees into Brand Advocates", Forrester, 2007

Best practices for building brand advocates

1. It starts at the top. Your leadership must be the first brand advocates. Brand cannot be simply an initiative driven from the marketing department. A good brand speaks to the existing culture and value promised of the company, so this should not be a hard sell, but it must start and be driven passionately and consistently from the top.
2. Communication. Not necessarily more, just better. Communication also involves listening. What things are being said internally about the sense of empowerment, the process, the brand itself? Where are the disconnects? And have you clearly communicated the brand and what the experience should be?
3. Empowerment. Can your advocates make the decisions they need to in order to maintain the brand? Ensure they feel trusted and supported in their ideas and decisions.
4. Brand Champions. Identify those in the organization who truly are the brand. These are not necessarily the individuals who volunteer for the committee. They are the people who embody the persona and the value of your organization. They live it and breathe it and it shows.
5. Tell your stories. Share and talk about the experiences you have with clients, share and celebrate the brand advocates in your organization. Remind each other why you are there and how great it feels when you get it right.
   One of the most powerful brand advocate stories is from the late Ray Anderson, Founder and Chairman of Interface Inc.
   
6. Recruitment, performance expectations, measurement and rewards are all in sync. Do you talk about the experience but reward the opposite? Are your process and operations set up to facilitate the brand or are they in opposition? Do you have rewards in place that truly recognize those who propagate and reinforce the brand?