Making Internal Branding Work for Small Businesses

Your employees are your greatest asset and if you play your cards right, they could be your most fervent brand ambassadors. 

In order to achieve this, it’s essential to sell them on your brand and have them on board. By helping every single employee understand what your brand goals are, you can make sure that they know how to contribute to your branding efforts. 

Given that small businesses usually have a tight marketing and branding budget, internal branding can be just what it takes to influence the way your customers perceive your company. 

Let’s discuss how to put up a united front externally with the help of internal branding. 

Why Is Internal Branding Important?

First of all, in order to succeed you need to believe in yourself and your brand. And the same goes for your employees, especially if we’re talking about small businesses. 

Internal linking is one of the best approaches if you want to help your employees build a strong emotional connection with the products and services you’re selling. Otherwise, they can undermine your branding efforts without even being aware of that.

In some cases, when the lack of connection and communication leads to employee disengagement which can result in their less than inspired disposition and attitude towards your brand. Needless to say that this can damage the reputation of your brand. 

Let’s not forget that social conversations and word of mouth drive a great deal sales – according to some stats we’re talking about 19% and that somewhere between $7 and $10 trillion a year in the US alone. That’s why it’s essential to educate your employees about your brand and its value, purpose, and mission so that they can properly represent it in public. 

Establish Your Internal Branding Strategy

You can’t expect your employees to stand behind the brand unless all of them are on the same page with your ideas, values, and initiatives. 

Establishing your internal branding strategy requires you to define your values and mission, and help your employees understand all the important aspects of your brand as well as the “why” behind it. 

Having a sense of purpose is a crucial factor that will transform your employees’ perception of their roles - instead of seeing their job only as a means of earning a paycheck, their mindset will switch to the idea that they’re contributing to something greater than themselves. 

Reinforce Brand Values and Behaviors

Your brand promise should be reflected in your employees’ behaviors. 

Naturally, for this to work, you should practice what you preach. So, make sure that your external and internal branding are aligned, as well as consistent. For example, if your brand is all about going green and protecting the environment, it would be pretty inconsistent to outsource your manufacturing to some countries with questionable ecological regulations in order to cut your costs. 

Such a discrepancy would compromise your integrity and make your employees disillusioned, confused, and not particularly willing to participate in the scheme. 

By introducing strong brand guidelines and encouraging a matching office culture, you’ll strengthen this consistency. 

Even the physical setup of your office and its décor should personify your brand. The same goes for company perks, training, and outings. Given that good communication and trust between your employees are essential for boosting their engagement and morale, team building activities are a worthwhile investment. 

But it’s important to include the element of fun into the entire internal branding and team-building thing, so occasional office parties, after-work drinks, or renting a trolley and going on a picnic can be great for team spirit.   

Incorporate Internal Branding Into Your Recruitment Process

Successful internal branding can help you hire the right people who share your brand values. 

Candidates who are interested in working for your company are most likely familiar with your external branding and find it appealing. If your internal and external branding are aligned, it’s very likely that someone who’s attracted to what your brand represents will be a good fit for your company. 

It’s a good idea to vet applicants not only based on their experience and hard skills but also on their personality and soft skills. 

This means asking questions that will reveal more about their character as well as how it fits your internal branding guidelines and values. 

Recognize and Incentivize Successful Efforts 

According to stats, peer-to-peer marketing, which includes employee recommendations, drives 20-50% of all purchasing decisions, and if we bear in mind that employee advocacy programs cost only 1/10 of paid advertising, it’s clear how valuable internal branding can be. 

The best way to translate this internal branding concept into practice is to recognize and incentivize your employees’ successful external branding campaigns. 

In other words, when your employees see that their actions are meaningful and that they bring results, they’ll be even more engaged and motivated to try even harder. 

You can additionally encourage this by rewarding the employees who embed the principles of your brand and successfully implement the living-the-brand approach. Use internal communication channels and meetings to give them shout-outs, and introduce appropriate awards. 

Internal branding is one of the core strategies that can help small businesses break out of obscurity and build a steady customer base. That’s why it should be planned and executed right from the start, together with other marketing and branding initiatives.