Brands are more than just visual identities - a brand is the perception in a customer's mind based on the whole experience they have with an organisation. You could have the most recognised and respected brand in the world, but unless your staff understand and operate according to your brand's values, your customers could soon become frustrated or dissatisfied with your service or organisation. In this case your brand could become a well recognised symbol for bad experiences! Real value can be gained by training and coaching your staff and having regular workshops to help share and embed your brand's ethos.
Behaviour change
Getting people to change ways they communicate and operate can be challenging, but it is vital if you want your brand to succeed.
Training
Regular training and “train the trainer” sessions help immerse an organisation in relation to “living” its brand. We plan and manage interactive workshops and training sessions, providing engaging tools to help encourage, change and manage positive staff behaviour. This should go right through the employee’s “journey”, from recruitment to staff induction packs, through to their day to day working experience and beyond. Even recruitment campaigns should be consistent with the overall brand strategy: i.e. one fluid brand journey.
Measurement & review
Processes and procedures need to be put in place to measure staff progress, review internal brand awareness and incentivise further achievement. This can be done in many ways, often aligned with mechanisms such as KPIs (key performance indicators), VIAs (values in action) and general bonus incentive schemes.
Internal communication
Internal communication plays an important role in staff brand engagement. Taking the time and opportunity to speak to staff and share news and relevant information can help improve quality and reduce risk and effort. Sharing the organisation’s values via internal channels such as intranets, newsletters, screen communication networks, DM, posters and more will go a long way towards ensuring that your employees are always “on brand”.
Brand Guardians
Empowering people to be responsible for your brand can help create a control structure which in turn should, over time, help your team not only appreciate but “live” the brand.