I will assume that you have based your brand attributes on your culture; and your brand positioning statement takes into account your competitors’ positions; your brand vision is clear; and your brand personality will define all of your communications. You know very well that it takes a lot of work to get you to that place where your brand is ready for the public. So, please don’t skip the vital step of an internal brand rollout before you launch externally. (And I know I’ve said it ad nauseum, but we aren’t talking about logos when we talk about branding. Simply stated, a brand is your ‘promise.’)
With that said, chances are that only your senior staff have been highly involved in your branding project. That’s fine- you don’t need too many cooks. However, your front-line staff should have influenced you during the process because they have the interaction with customers and prospects that should have been very informative to your decisions. And now, they are the ones that either support and reinforce your brand position, or they don’t help at all (which can implode it). So, internal branding is crucial to any brand roll-out, reposition, or mere support.
Traditional business practices say that you need an elevator pitch. OK- but don’t confuse that with your brand position. Your employees need to understand it. They need to buy into it. They need to live it. But, they don’t need to memorize anything- that’s not the point. Your internal brand support simply reinforces what your brand is, and tries to make it stronger in the same regard. To be very fundamental, realize that everything that Disney does needs to be family oriented- that’s their brand. So, all staff needs to know that their thought process, recommendations, and interactions should support the ‘family’ positioning. Even if they are talking to a single adult. Or a married couple with no children. Family! Don’t deviate from it. Nobody has to memorize ‘Disney is the entertainment company that prioritizes fun for families of all ages…yada yada’ They just need to understand the concept that the brand stands for family, fun, and entertainment.
Your internal branding is no less important than Disney’s. Your staff should reinforce your brand at every interaction. It’s your job to make sure that they understand the brand and that their jobs depend on it (at least, they should). Your greatest asset is your brand- not your inventory, your IP, or your recipe. The internal roll-out or training on your brand can take a lot of forms. It’s been different for every branding client that we have worked with. What isn’t different is that it must happen before the external plan is launched. And it’s an ongoing effort to reinforce it. To come full circle: If a brand is built on a company’s internal attributes, and those attributes are sprung from their culture, then you can’t support a brand externally, if you don’t support it internally.
Ultimately, people buy brands. It begins and ends with your staff.
