Do your employees deliver your brand promise?

Written by Shirley Lichti for The Record, January 17, 2007

Although people have disputed its relevance to modern day marketing, the concept of the 4Ps (product, price, place and promotion) has stood the test of time.

Yet for all its practicality, one flaw of the 4Ps concept is that its elements can often be copied by competitors. That's why it's important to consider the power of a fifth P - people.

Employees often constitute the heart and soul of a company. Particularly in services businesses, it's people who ultimately deliver your brand promise.

Think about those WestJet flight attendants who crack corny jokes on the intercom as airplanes taxi to the gate. They contribute to the overall corporate culture and the company's strong brand identity as a fun and friendly organization.

Employees shape the brand experience every time they have contact with your customers. For companies like WestJet, employees are the most memorable voice of the brand.

This can sometimes be a double-edged sword. Alberta's booming economy, for example, has resulted in a serious staffing crisis. Statistics Canada says the average pay in the province's service industry is just under $15 an hour. Yet even at that wage, many retail stores and fast-food outlets cant' attract staff.

Services businesses in Alberta are justifiably worried. If their brand promise is delivered by employees, what happens to the overall brand message when the right people can't be hired or when service is compromised by employees who are not ideal brand ambassadors?

Internal marketing is part of the answer - and something that should be in place even if you don't face staffing challenges.

Marketing has to start with your employees. As part of your ongoing marketing communication programs, you likely tell customers what makes your company great. You need to tell employees, too.

They have to believe in the company mission and live the brand. How else can you get customers to embrace your brand if your own employees don't understand and enthusiastically support it?

David Aaker, a University of California at Berkeley marketing professor, has found that in most organizations, employees have a difficult time answering the question, "What does your brand stand for?"

So when mutual fund giants AIM Funds Management and Trimark Financial Corp. merged in 2000 to become Aim Trimark Investments, management took the opportunity to ensure all employees not only understood the brand, but played a role in creating it. Employees were surveyed and many participated in working sessions to shape the newly formed company's brand.

Not only do employees need to embrace the brand, they also need to understand how they fit into delivering it. Only then can brand supporting behaviour become possible.

At Aim Trimark, videos were shown at internal meetings to share stories of employees living the brand. Coffee cups, mouse pads and posters reflecting brand values reminded them of their key role with "I am the brand" messages.

Internal marketing is not a one-way street. While outbound communication is needed to ensure employees understand the brand and new initiatives, inbound communication is essential to establish a dialogue with employees and get their feedback on issues that are important to them.

Listening to employees can provide valuable insights into external messages and avoid costly mistakes.

In early 2005, for example, WestJet gave its employees a preview of three TV ads created by its ad agency. They found the humour in the ads offensive. It didn't align with their view of the brand. The result? Management scrapped the proposed ads.

Although it meant starting from scratch, a second effort struck gold. The new campaign focused on employees as WestJet owners. It highlighted a major point of differentiation for the airline and reflected brand values.

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