Internal branding: Lost in translation?

Ensuring all your staff are speaking the same ‘brand’ language relies on three simple things: engagement, communication and relevance says Verity Gough…
By Verity Gough, staff writer
Corporations may be working hard to improve their methods of communicating with their customers but what’s the use of having a brand strategy unless each and every member of the team is conveying the same key messages?
Across the multiple channels that firms operate; from the executive decision-makers down to the frontline staff; and from key account managers handling single customers to call centre agent sales agents dealing with high numbers of calls, there is a fundamental need for a consistent brand experience in the modern business world. As such, internal brand management has become an increasingly popular exercise.
A company such as Disney, for instance, has its entire business based on brand image, and so it has been critical to ensure its staff live and breathe the brand message. "Helping frontline staff resolve day to day dilemmas is key to making your brand real," explains David Williams, CEO of How To Experience. "Disney has done this brilliantly. Not only has it defined four things that are important but also an order: Safety, Courtesy, The Show, Efficiency. Based on this, staff can make the right brand choices every day in every interaction. You don’t need a big rule book, just clear guidelines. Human beings do the rest!"
But not all firms are as successful as Disney in theri brand alignment efforts. Justin Bater, senior manager for Cognosis, a consultancy that helps develop brand and portfolio strategies for businesses in both the private and pubic sectors, believes that many internal branding initiatives fail because of a lack of focus and failure to follow through the corporate strategy.
“A firm may have a brand or communication strategy that people understand in the external world but often it’s not related through to what’s applicable in people’s day-to-day jobs,” he says.
A recent survey of senior and middle managers from both public and private companies carried out by Cognosis revealed that over half were suffering from a strategy-culture mismatch. So, if managers are disengaged with the internal brand strategy, how are the staff on the front line be expected to convey it?
Engaging staff
It’s not rocket science. If your staff are engaged with the brand and understand it, the result should be a more coherent customer experience. Involving all employees in the corporate branding strategy - not just the higher echelons of the company - allows them to engage in a more meaningful way and helps bring that brand to life.
“If you generate your employees’ belief in your corporate strategy, that’s half the battle,” says Bater. “Understanding it and knowing what it is, is right at the lower level. Engaging employees in the creation and execution of the brand strategy by making it creative, collaborative, practical and action-orientated is fundamental.”
Employee engagement agency NKD Group has vast experience in helping employees understand their brand. Recently it undertook a project with Virgin Atlantic to create and implement a customer service refresher programme for the company’s 4,000 cabin crew members to build ‘collective pride’ in the brand and service experience.