Is Marketing the New HR?
FIVE TACTICS TO STEAL FROM MARKETING TO IMPROVE YOUR COMPANY CULTURE
I love the way advertising mixes creativity and behavioral science. It’s both unnerving and impressive how much companies have invested in understanding humans — our emotions, psychology and physiology — to influence what we buy.
Through the rise of experiential marketing, targeted online ads and augmented reality, consumers today experience brands in a way that merges their personal identity with that of the brand.
But from a company culture standpoint, it’s surprising to see companies that are so good at reaching their external customers fail to use their marketing knowledge on their own employees.
How is it that a company knows so much about what motivates its customers but so little about what motivates its employees?
Why is it that a company can create an insane experience to connect consumers to its brand story but struggle to communicate its mission, vision and values to job seekers and new hires?
We created Fabric to tackle this disconnect and help companies tell their story internally. So today, I want to help you flip the advertising and marketing lens inward to improve your company culture, employee engagement and talent management efforts — with five tactics to steal from marketing.
FIVE TACTICS TO STEAL FROM MARKETING TO IMPROVE YOUR COMPANY CULTURE
TACTIC 1: Tell Your Story
Stories make us human. They are how we connect with each other, how we build culture. What stories do you tell your internal teams? You need to tell the story of your organization — your values, purpose and vision and how you’re going to get there.
TACTIC 2: Know Your Audience
To create the right kind of experiences for your employees, you must get to know them. Make time to connect with them on a personal level. Don’t waste your energy on a company happy hour if a third of your team doesn’t drink. Don’t plan an outing to Target Field if your people prefer soccer.
You also need to put yourself in their shoes and understand what it’s like to be an active or aspiring employee of your company. One way marketers do this is through customer journey mapping. I swear by this exercise because it gives so much insight into the opportunities you have, as a company or as a leader, to impact their experience.
TACTIC 3: Build Your Brand Ambassador Roster
Brand Ambassadors (or BA’s in the marketing world) tell the story of the company and build trust. They validate the brand story by embodying the brand, which creates consumer buy-in. Start identifying the brand ambassadors in your company. Who lives out your values? Whose actions validate the mission, vision and strategy?
Once you’ve identified these people, give them the script. Marketers do this by arming the brand ambassador with talking points so they can effectively tell the brand story. Do the same for your internal brand ambassadors. For example, if you want to encourage your internal BA’s to recruit others to work for your company, make sure they know about the role and company benefits and that they can speak to what it means to work for your team.
TACTIC 4: Create Shareable Moments
The “Instagrammable Moment” has become a key element in the planning and design stages of experiential marketing. It’s certainly the goal to have consumers share their experience with the brand on their social channels, but the trick is giving them a reason to take the picture in the first place. Wow your employees. And make it easy for them to share their experiences.
TACTIC 5: Make it Personal
If you take one thing away from all of this, it should be that your job as leaders in an organization is to tie employees’ individual identity to that of your company in a way that’s emotional and influential. Connect them to your purpose in a way that makes them a central character in your company’s success story.
Bonus Tip: Get Help
Creatives in marketing and advertising generally are a highly collaborative bunch. They know the value of a good brainstorm. Don’t be afraid to engage your internal marketing department on upcoming company culture or HR-related initiatives. Or, if you don’t have an internal team, reach out to a company like Fabric for help.
