Internal marketing: a guide to boosting company culture

1. Remote work

Some internal marketing tactics for remote workers include:

• Sending out newsletters and informative emails about new features or big company news (just like you would do with your customers!).
• Using a central communication channel (like on Slack or another chat tool) to send out announcements, updates, and encourage conversation about products.
• Creating interactive materials, like videos, storyboards, and graphics, to educate your team about your company and products.

By engaging and marketing your products to your team like you would your customers, you can build a stronger connection with your brand. 

One company that does this well is Buffer.

This SaaS company has a 100% remote workforce and brings its team together using frequent communication—mainly on their Slack channels. Arielle Tannenbaum heads up Community at Buffer and says the team is essentially an online community, thanks to their communication channel.  She says:

"We depend on it for all of our interactions — from saying “good morning” when we sign in, to celebrating big company-wide accomplishments, to announcing new bug fixes, to sharing exciting personal updates and pictures of new Buffer babies.

It helps us build meaningful relationships with each other, even though we’re spread out around the world."

^{An example of Buffer’s internal communications}

2. Employee engagement

Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Colin Mitchell argues that internal marketing helps employees build an emotional connection to the products they are selling. As he puts it:

"Without that connection, employees are likely to undermine the expectations set by your advertising.

In some cases, this is because they simply don’t understand what you have promised the public, so they end up working at cross-purposes. In other cases, it may be they don’t actually believe in the brand and feel disengaged or, worse, hostile toward the company. 

We've found that when people care about and believe in the brand, they're motivated to work harder, and their loyalty to the company increases."

If you look at some of the world's most successful businesses, it's easy to see internal marketing in action. A good example is Virgin. As the company's CEO Richard Branson says, you should always treat your employees like your most important customers.

Branson may be onto something because, according to a Deloitte survey, 73% of employees say they feel more engaged in a company when they can feel its purpose and vision. Yet, many companies are failing miserably. Businesses are spending over $100 billion every year to boost employee engagement, but only 13% of employees actually feel engaged. 

It’s here we can draw a direct link between employee engagement and internal marketing, because the latter can: 

❤️ Build an emotional connection: By making your team feel like they are part of your company's story, you can get them to invest in your brand emotionally. This positivity can then radiate out to potential customers, family, and friends.

🤝 Encourage employees to have skin in the game. Employees who believe that a brand is not just a workplace but something they have a stake in — and can influence — are better brand advocates.

🥅 Gain a deeper knowledge of your brand’s goals: To truly sell your company’s products, your employees need to know them inside and out. They should know what makes your products and your brand unique. Internal marketing can help educate them in a way traditional training and meetings cannot.

Which brings us to our last point:

3. Brand advocacy

Team members who believe in and are inspired by the brand they represent make for better advocates. 

And better brand advocates are good for business. Research shows that brands with formal employee advocacy programs have shorter sales cycles and find it easier to attract and keep new business. 

Launching an internal marketing plan is one of the best ways to turn regular employees into brand advocates. By using content, you can educate your team and cultivate a culture around your products, messaging, and mission. 

For example, Zappos has successfully turned its team into brand advocates using a 10-point culture manifesto that encourages positivity and honest communication. Employees say the result is a work culture that they’ve never experienced before. One employee said:

"It's always fun and weird, we're all creative and open-minded, passionate and determined, but most of all, we're humble.

I think it's because most of us have worked in horrible dead-end jobs before and can cherish our Zappos culture for what it is. It's what makes me want to come to work every day, even my weekends."

As you can see, internal marketing has a lot of benefits. But a lot of companies who are trying to roll out their own internal marketing strategies are hitting a brick wall.