Brand engagement from within

Focusing solely on external brand communications and ignoring internal engagement is a half-baked solution that can lead to unengaged staff who fail to deliver on brand promises, which consequently impacts upon customer experience.

Despite this, a recent study by communications agency, INVOLVE, shows that 50% of marketing and brand directors question the worth of their own internal programmes.

The majority of survey respondents said that they value internal brand engagement and agreed that it makes a positive contribution towards financial performance. However, lack of measurement and investment in internal campaigns is largely down to them being perceived as less exciting than external marketing programmes.

Jeremy Starling, managing director of INVOLVE, says, “Internal brand engagement is crucial if brands want to deliver seamless customer experience. Most marketing and brand directors understand the value of engaging their employees, but external marketing activities are still thought of as more prestigious and influential.”

Only half of directors measure effectiveness “to a fair or great extent” and only 30% measure the impact of internal programmes on financial performance. Unsurprisingly therefore, investment in internal programmes is also low, with almost half of those surveyed saying that their companies spend between 15 and 3% of their budget on internal brand communications.

Starling says, “If companies fail to address the perception of brand engagement and the subsequent lack of investment and measurement, little will change. This is short-term thinking as employees are a company’s most powerful weapon; its best brand ambassadors in fact. Only employees can deliver the lofty promises that a brand makes to its customers, and involving your people in how to do that is the most effect way of guaranteeing a truly differentiated customer experience.”