Max Spiegelberg, head of business development at Principle, looks at how an effective employee engagement programme can ensure a firm is truly living its brand
Most businesses spend a considerable amount of time and money on perfecting their image before going to market. That image – or brand – is then brought to life by way of the culture it creates inside and outside of the organisation.
The real challenge is to make sure a developed brand identity is implemented without compromising its integrity. To do so, all decisions should embody a business’ values from the outset to ensure everything – and everyone – advocates those principles.
With employees at the heart of any business, creating a comprehensive employee brand engagement programme is a vital element to consider. After all, if a business’ employees aren’t living the brand, the customers won’t be either.
Engaging teams
A brand is not just a logo, a physical item or environment. It’s a feeling, a tone of voice, and, most importantly, it’s an organisation’s people. They have to embody and project company values whether they are dealing directly with customers or working behind the scenes, especially in competitive markets.
It goes without saying that a company’s ethos should be instilled in every member of its team. To do this, bring on board experts who have the experience not only to take a concept to fruition in a timely, cost-effective way, but can coach a workforce from the top down on how each element of the brand reflects the key messaging of the business.
Internal communications, such as company newsletters, stating the values is not sufficient. Instead, staff need to be educated to ensure they commit to the brand, and reflect core values in their day-to-day behaviour. They need to truly live the brand.
Consider running sessions to discuss how a new brand logo captures the fundamental parts of the business operation, or why the chosen design scheme at the headquarters provides the best physical narrative to showcase the firm’s heritage.
After all, team members are the best brand advocates, and appealing to those that purchase a product and service relies heavily on the people who have the ability and expertise to communicate it.
Build a narrative
Staff can’t be expected to tell the brand’s story without exposure to it, which is why the physical environment plays such an important role. The effort that goes into fine-tuning each facet of a speciality should be honoured by an effective education strategy to ensure the vision translates seamlessly from an organisation’s people and into the real world.
A business’ head office space is a great opportunity to embrace and display its core values. Fully realising a brand’s selling point can keep employees and customers grounded in the brand at all times. Many B2B companies do this extremely well: the headquarters of IBM has modern, futuristic furnishings to reflect its team’s position as technical innovators; while the green in BP’s logo extends into its corporate offices globally to symbolise its movement towards more sustainable practices.
It is also important that companies consider their employees’ needs throughout the day, and develop a building layout that can accommodate for this. It could be individual spaces to focus and concentrate, breakout areas for relaxation and rejuvenation, or communal meeting areas to spark creativity and innovation.
The Facebook headquarters is a great example. As a brand built on openness, the office space allows people to connect with each other. Key features include a real-life ‘Facebook wall’ with inspirational comments, collaborative meeting spaces for group working and natural wood detail to capture the brand essence – bringing people, and the world, together.
As with any story, a creative idea is conceived at the start; it is then executed in actuality and the end result brings the idea to customers and enhances their interaction with products and services.
Achieve consistency
The strongest brands are uniform. Having a clear mission, vision and values will ensure a brand’s core messaging is showcased in its physical spaces and employees alike.
Collaboration, internally and externally, will help create this consistency. In external spaces, take the design from the page and project it into the physical environment – the space where customer experiences thrive.
Potential purchasers will be exposed to this space visually and experientially, so it’s important they understand it. An inconsistent physical environment can create contradictions and send mixed messages.
Similarly, a variation in employee behaviour when dealing with business clients can affect the perception of the brand, and ultimately a firm’s bottom line.
Prepare for the future
Whether operating from one or multiple locations, it’s important to recognise that a brand’s decisions must be flexible and scalable to accommodate future growth.
With this in mind, investing in employee engagement and education from the outset can help a business ensure all team members act in line with a company’s values, and therefore play an integral role in a customer’s experience now, and in the future.
A brand’s story might change over time, so it’s essential to approach ‘living a brand’ as an organic process. Just as there is always room to reinvigorate an identity, subsequently it’s important to keep the culture it creates working as effectively
as possible.