We’ve all seen them: Facebook posts written by someone at work, counting down the hours till the weekend and complaining about their boss/colleague/job/coffee facilities. Maybe next time we are out buying groceries we see the company’s name and the first thought that comes into our heads is that the coffee in the head office is undrinkable and some of the people who work there could have better personal hygiene.
It isn’t a great advert for the company, is it? It’s so easy for employees to spread negativity about their workplace, to share their lack of enthusiasm and to indirectly tell friends not to buy that brand – they never would themselves. No amount of print advertising or flashy commercials will ever change your opinion of that brand now: you know the inside story.
Contrast this with employees who work for companies like Zappos, Google, Apple, or any number of businesses with highly engaged employees who rave about what great products they make, what a talented team they work with, and how they feel so lucky to be working there because they have always been fans of the products. It’s not just about positivity: in one of their studies Gallup showed that companies with high employee engagement levels have 3.9 times the earning per share compared to their industry peers or competitors.
Remember that employees aren’t just people who work for a company; they are advocates,ambassadors, and their enthusiasm for the brand can generate vitally important positive word of mouth. The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, a trust and credibility survey that collects data from more than 30,000 people, found that regular rank-and-file company employees have more credibility than executives. By turning employees into trusted brand ambassadors, companies bring their strongest asset and their most vocal internal advocates in direct contact with their customer base. But most companies do not encourage their employees to be their external ambassadors.
So how can a business activate its employees and convert them into brand advocates, who live and breathe the core philosophies and extend the brand out into the world around them?
Be clear what your brand stands for
As a company grows, its direction will change, but its purpose, its reason for existing, should always remain the same. The most successful brands can state their purpose in one short phrase: a mission statement.
Ethical shoe company TOMS was founded on a simple principle: for every pair of shoes (and now eyewear) purchased, the company would donate one pair to disadvantaged children around the globe: the One-For-One mission statement. Founder Blake Mycoskie says that his driving force was his desire “to eliminate unnecessary human suffering through the distribution of new shoes.”
Every employee at TOMS is bought into that “why?” for brand’s existence. They feel like they are a part of something bigger and that their work is contributing to a higher purpose. It’s not only important to build a culture around that purpose, but to ensure you are hiring the talent that is the right fit. You also have to ensure you communicate well internally.
Make sure your internal communications are effective
The internal communications manager holds a pivotal role in connecting a company’s employees with the brand as a whole, and with its mission. They are responsible for communicating up and down the levels of management, and ensuring everyone feels joined to the brand’s philosophy.
Depending on the size of the company, internal intranet systems, internal newsletters, awards ceremonies, regular all-employee briefings and events, and training for department heads and team leads to enable them to communicate with their staff can all help spread messages and make everyone feel a part of something bigger.
Build internal networks
The larger the company, the more likely it is that it will start to fall into the ‘silo mentality’. This is when whole departments develop a culture of their own, where information flow is not only restricted to that area, but work and projects are often duplicated because there is no knowledge of what is going on in other teams. This is obviously inefficient, and can start impacting on the bottom line, as well as causing tensions between departments.
Inter-departmental networks can help to break down barriers between areas. These could be knowledge-sharing networks, best-practice working groups made up of people with similar job roles, training networks to ensure everyone has the same toolkit to work from, or innovation networks. Secondments between teams can also help staff get a broader knowledge of the organization, as can training schemes that encourage job-shadowing and placements in a variety of areas.
On a practical level, managers are often responsible for agreeing to many of these types of networks – and their support is necessary for them to succeed. This is where senior management and internal communications are vital for showing what an important part networks play in supporting the wider culture.
Hiring the right people is vital
If you have a strong sense of purpose as a brand, you will know the key characteristics you need to look for in an employee beyond their skills and experience. You are not just looking for staff who can perform the role, you need to find the people with the right mindset to share your vision.
At Threadless, an online community of artists as well as an e-commerce site, the most important characteristic they look for in a candidate is passion. Every single employee participates in the community, responds to questions, even submits designs, so without that passion and sense of purpose, their skills would be meaningless. The company tries to grow their employees from within, from the warehouse upwards, because their internal community is so strong that they know they are already filled with that sense of excitement that drives the company forward.
Empower your employees to speak for you
When you are confident you have put together a team who share your values and passion, you can feel assured that they are able to speak on your brand’s behalf without a script or press release. After all, is a brand’s message more convincing coming from your regular employees or from your PR team? This is a belief held very strongly at Zappos: they give their employees full freedom to talk on behalf of the brand in front of their customers, and their vendors, and Zappos employees even speak at industry events to talk about the things they are most proud of.
Your employees will need the information and tools for sharing, so provide them with all the materials, facts, visuals and technology they need to talk to the wider world about what your brand does so well.
Conclusion
Brand advocacy and brand passion all stem from a clear sense of purpose and a clearly defined philosophy behind your brand. From that solid base, you can build a team of people who share your values and your vision. To make sure you continue to move forward as a whole as your brand grows, you need clear communications and strong internal networks, with managers who will push for the best outcome for the organization as a whole. Finally, you must empower your team to share their enthusiasm by providing them with the tools and freedom to use their voice to speak on behalf of your brand.
Originally posted in RingCentral