Giving yourself a good name

Internal reputation management has become increasingly important to companies looking to retain a competitive edge – but the key lies in ensuring that employees have the same experience of your brand as the one you project so painstakingly to the external market.

By Terri Brown, Actuate

In an economic environment in which companies are increasingly looking for ways to retain a competitive edge, those that build strong brands will not only benefit by remaining top-of-mind during tough times, but will also reap rewards in the long-term. But while most companies recognise the value of investing in established, tried-and-tested external brand-building activities, many still fail to harness the vital brand ambassadorial power that exists in their employee base.

Such a failure represents more than just a lost opportunity - it can actively undermine all the hard work you’re doing to build your brand externally. As the face and voice of your company, employees are often a consumer’s only human point of contact with your brand – and if what they present is at odds with the company image that you are trying to project externally, your brand can suffer immeasurable damage. Employees deliver on their own experience of the brand. If this differs vastly from the external brand image that the company so painstakingly projects, there is very little chance that employees will be able to deliver on your brand promise.

However, when there is alignment, the results can be powerful. Take Vida e Caffe for example. This tailormade-coffee-to-go chain positions itself in the market as young, energised and fun – an image that is reflected by the energetic, motivated, up-beat employees in Vida branches around the country. The company has a good reputation for taking care of its employees, and provides them with opportunities and motivation to improve themselves.

It stands as a prime example that happy employees make for good branding. The ‘thank you’ customers get from employees when they leave a tip (usually a combination of local language and Spanish words) is unique to each Vida branch. As MD Grant Dutton explains, “A lot of our regulars and even the media have picked up on and love the fact that when you put a tip in their tip glass, they all do some kind of chant. That’s not taught – it comes from them.”

Achieving such alignment between your external brand and your employees’ internal experience of it requires a long-term commitment to authentically living your brand promise at all levels in the company. The word ‘living’ is a critical one – internal reputation management is not about telling your employees what the brand stands for; its about showing them.

Some important components that help to build a positive employee experience of your brand include the following:

Leadership behaviour – leaders who ‘walk the talk’ have a powerful impact on employees. Remember that leaders set the tone of what happens in an organisation, and every behaviour you see at the client interface is a mirror of what happens internally. If leaders make it a priority to return phone calls and emails, managers will make it a priority too and this will filter down to staff and the customer coal-face.
Employee interaction – employees have a fine-tuned “bulls*^t detector” and the tone and manner companies use when interacting with them therefore needs to be authentic, honest, straightforward and believable. Hiding behind jargon and failing to provide direct questions with direct answers is a mistake.
Frequent, consistent communication is vital. If you truly believe your employees are your most valuable asset, then invest in face-to-face engagement time with them.
Live your values – People appreciate honesty and you do your brand more harm by behaving in a manner that’s incongruent with your promises than you do by not promising anything at all. Choose how you’d like to be seen – and then live it!

For more information, contact Terri Brown at Actuate on 011 217 8860 or visit www.actuate.co.za