For most people, the concept of brand evangelism is typically associated with motivating consumers to promote a product or service among their friends and families, but its potential extends well beyond this. In fact, given that branding (by definition) includes sending a particular message through all the elements and channels related to the brand, company employees represent an important link in this chain.
Namely, encouraging employees themselves to identify with the company’s values and become brand evangelists can be a highly effective strategy for various reasons. The equation here is simple – the more dedicated your employees are, the more effectively they’ll promote your brand among both their personal contacts and consumers they’re in touch with. Moreover, they become embodiments of this particular message you want to send to the outer world.
Evidently, brand evangelism must start from the inside.
Employee brand evangelism at work: Starbucks
The idea of turning employees into brand evangelists is not entirely new and it has long been used by some of the world’s biggest brands. This is evident in the case of Starbucks (of course), which heavily invests in this type of branding, believing it’s one of the most efficient ways to both have satisfied employees and gain plenty of loyal consumers.
Namely, a couple of years ago, the company initiated a $35-million mission to turn their workers into brand ambassadors by enabling them to participate in a huge company event to feel the idea behind it. As for their motivation, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz states: “Employees are the true ambassadors of our brand, the real merchants of romance and theater, and as such the primary catalysts for delighting customers.”
Here, perhaps the most obvious advantage is the fact that dedicated cashiers can easily transmit their feelings towards the brand to consumers with whom they have personal contact. However, such a form of branding can also be applied to different other settings, including a variety of non-retail businesses or B2B companies.
How employee brand evangelism works
As pointed above, brand evangelism can bring multiple benefits for a company since it actively promotes its value using employees as a medium, which is certainly an important channel for both internal and external communication. However, apart from the fact that employees this way transfer the brand’s values to all the people they’re in contact with personally, they may also further improve several critical processes of marketing and branding.
Think about social sharing, for example. If your employees are ready to voluntarily share company updates across your social networks, this translates into a significantly expanded social reach. Hootsuite even suggests that you should pay your employees to use social media, outlining four major reasons for this. However, if your company website or blog actually deals with topics that are engaging to your team, they’ll be more likely to share it voluntarily. Considering the value of every share today, this may make the brand more recognizable in the social ecosystem.
Furthermore, by motivating people to understand the ideas behind your brand, they will be more likely to participate in different processes related to innovation, which is another important benefit. Simon Kenwright discussed this aspect in his analysis of applying Don Draper’s techniques to engage employees, which summarizes the ways managers can approach employees in the retail industry to turn them into better brand ambassadors.
Factors of employee satisfaction
Clearly, to encourage brand evangelism, you first need to ensure you have satisfied employees, which could be done in different ways. If you want your employees to breathe your vision and transfer it to someone else, you need to ensure they enjoy everything related to the workplace.
Workspace atmosphere
I recently tackled the topic of the effects of employee-attracting facilities on branding, where I suggested that motivating work surrounding directly translates into a productivity boost, which is a win-win situation in which “everybody gets a fair treatment and all these features serve as brand strengthening strategies.”
Indeed, the atmosphere in the office can greatly influence the way your employees feel about the company. This includes everything, from communication between the team members to working equipment and interior design. This is why so many companies are trying to create an open atmosphere by abandoning separate offices for the benefit of a single one, where everybody’s equal.
Personalized communication
Personalized communication across all departments and levels of hierarchy is probably the best form of team building and it can even be more effective than different company events. By taking the satisfaction of each and every one of your employees seriously, they’ll be more likely to feel like a part of the team and people who belong to the greater cause behind your brand. This means that managers need to treat every individual differently and work with each of them on their personal improvement, which would later prove beneficial to the company.
Of course, this isn’t to say that company events are ineffective in terms of engaging an employee with the brand. On the contrary, the better organized they are and the stronger the message behind them, the more likely they’ll achieve the wanted effect. Again, think about the Starbucks example. Of course, this doesn’t even have to require such large budgets, especially given that its primary goal is enabling employees and managers alike to hang out together outside the office and potentially build some more personal relationships.
Constant motivation
Understanding your employees’ needs and the best ways to motivate them has always been a tricky part for most HRs and managers, especially considering the fact that salary often stops playing a role at a certain point. Thus, a brand needs to have a mission that will justify why particular people are in the company and inspire them to share it. This is, of course, easier said than done, but supporting their personal and professional improvement in different ways is always a great way to achieve this.
Training and seminars for those who want to learn more (and you want many such people in the company) are always great options because they make the employees feel there’s so much space for their development. Incentivizing them with simple things such as days off, gift cards, or similar rewards are other ways you can make them feel happy to be a part of your company. But, first of all, make sure that the basics are covered: payment and working conditions.
Conclusions
Encouraging brand evangelism among employees starts with simple things, but it often evolves into something much bigger than just job satisfaction. Considering the potential of creating a team with shared values, this can be an efficient, long-term branding technique, which is why it should be a goal for companies of all sizes.