No matter how great your brand is, if your staff doesn't convey your brand feeling, your customers ultimately won't believe in it either. After all, no customer is going to be happy with a rude salesperson and grumpy helpdesk staff won't win the war either. In this blog Sebastiaan de Ruiter explains what you can do to get the brand feeling in your employees.

The people behind your brand

We wrote earlier that there are many things that influence the feeling around a brand. We are not only talking about aspects of the visual identity, the name of the brand, the products or solutions themselves and the communication around them, but also the feeling that your staff conveys. If your staff does not convey your brand feeling, you are already 1-0 behind. They are not only the ones working on your product or service, they are also the people behind the brand for your customers. Therefore, it is important that there is agreement within your organization about what you want to convey.

IKEA bunk bed

Why that matters is something we experience ourselves every day. For example, I myself was recently at Carglass. You know, the one from those ads with super-motivated employees who fix the star in your windshield in no time. Believe me, I've been by three times and I've only seen difficult faces. Next time I'll just drive on over to KwikFit with that little star in my windshield. Or imagine walking into IKEA and being welcomed with a deep sigh. Then you can go all big with your Swedish-ball days and free tea and coffee for IKEA Family members, but you'll go buy your bunk bed somewhere else. Right?

Bring the brand feeling to the kitchen table

Then comes the big question: how do you get that brand feeling from your employees? Before corona shook up the world, you might have been able to get by with a big logo on your premises, coffee cups with your logo, offices in your corporate colors and some images on the wall that conveyed your brand values. But how do you get that feeling to your employees at home at the kitchen table and in their home offices? In many companies, working from home is a must. Even at Comrads, most people work from home four days a week. One of the few times your employees are still confronted with your brand is during a Teams meeting with a nice background or in the standard signature of a business email.

Give direction to your people

That's why now, even more than for 2020, it's good to look at your corporate culture. You can sit and wait until one day we all go back to working in the office five days a week, but maybe it's better to give direction to your people now. No, you don't know what the situation will be like in five years, but rules are there to be adjusted. What do you want to project as a company? How can your employees contribute to that? A few tips.

1. Deploy your marketing tools internally

Deploy the tools you use externally for marketing purposes internally as well. If you use a Digital Asset Management system to manage your images and materials, give your employees all access to it as well. Do you use a Brand Portal as an online corporate identity manual? Then don't just use that to inform your external suppliers, make sure your employees can also read all about your brand. Where does the logo come from? Often there is a good story behind it, but do your employees know that story? For example, our company name Comrads comes from the word comrades, camaradas, camarades, kammerater or kamaradoj: comrades. The color orange is also a conscious choice: the color of warmth, energy and, of course, friendship.

2. Communicate

You fabricate the most beautiful blogs and newsletters for your - potential - clients. Rightly so. But why don't you share those same beautiful stories with your own people? And take the effort to also send a nice newsletter to your own staff about what's going on within the organization. You have the tools, use them.

3. Ask your employees for input

Invite your employees to provide input on the ins and outs of your marketing. They speak to the customers, so who knows better than them how customers experience your product or service. Ask your help desk or customer support team what input they get and what customers say about your organization. Use that input to strengthen your marketing and perhaps adjust your offerings and message. We at Comrads can figure that a DAM system is very important for consistent brand communication, but if you find out that your customers also find it very valuable to find and organize brand elements quickly and easily, you may need to pay attention to that in your communications as well. When your employees see that their input is important to you, you create more belonging.

Inspired?

Do you also want to get started with our Digital Asset Management solutions? Wondering how Comrads can support your organization in enhancing staff branding? After all, our Digital Asset Management and Brand Portal solutions also contribute to the brand experience of staff by promoting brand consistency, providing easy access to assets, facilitating collaboration and offering a personalized approach. Feel free to request a no-obligation demo. Want to talk further about the benefits of marketing automation for your organization first? That too is of course always possible! Give a call to (0)20 820 83 82 or mail to info@comrads.nl. We would love to get to know you.