Business

5 Internal Marketing Elements for an Effective Campaign

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Mar 23, 2022 • 3 min read

Internal marketing targets a company’s own employees, rather than external customers. Learn how internal marketing approaches can lead to well-rounded teams and confidence in the company’s brand.

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Internal Marketing Definition

Unlike customer-facing, external marketing tactics, an internal marketing campaign aims to “sell” its mission to staff members. If employees can buy into the company’s vision, they will feel motivated to spread a positive brand message to their internal network.

What Is the Purpose of Internal Marketing?

Successful internal marketing tools can increase companywide communication and promote employee feedback on new products or services. Internal marketing can also supply employees with the means to broadcast their brand advocacy to the greater workforce.

Some internal marketing efforts put the company’s products or services in the hands of its employees. In this type of scenario, the employee experience becomes a customer experience. This kind of internal marketing plan can provide the marketing team with data—feedback it can use to establish marketing metrics, budgets, and marketing messages. Information like this can ultimately help a brand meet its company goals and improve its external marketing programs.

Internal marketing might also allow for the development of internal brand advocates or brand ambassadors. These individuals will become well-versed in the customer experience and, therefore, have a working knowledge that enables them to better connect with customers.

5 Elements of an Effective Internal Marketing Strategy

Consider implementing these elements in your internal marketing plan to see improvements in talent retention, brand awareness, employee productivity, and other areas:

  1. 1. Employee engagement: A passionate team of engaged employees will be more inclined to share their feedback on marketing messages than an apathetic group in a strict hierarchy. Ensure you create an environment of open communication so your employees feel comfortable sharing honest feedback that can help your team market goods and services externally.
  2. 2. Employee enthusiasm: If your team members are enthusiastic about a new product or service, that energy can translate to more positive and productive customer interactions. A brand ambassador who uses a product or service and believes in its utility is more equipped to help customers than an employee familiar with the same product or service on only a surface level.
  3. 3. Employee satisfaction: If an employee is proud to work for a company that provides as much value to their lives as it provides to its customers, they will be more likely to endorse the company in their social circles. It’s possible for this type of organic brand awareness to reach more potential customers than any paid promotion could. Additionally, when you treat your project teams like the stakeholders they are in the company’s success, employees become more collaborative. This makes it easier for you to coordinate cross-team efforts to reach shared marketing goals.
  4. 4. Internal communications channels: Company leadership should provide time and space for all employees to share their thoughts in a judgment-free environment. The more diverse the ideas and comments your marketing team can gather, the more impactful external marketing efforts will be to a broad customer base. Intranet platforms and instant messaging software allow teams to engage in a two-way dialogue so they can brainstorm and implement creative solutions to complex problems.
  5. 5. Supportive workplace atmosphere: A company’s human resources (HR) department might benefit from an internal marketing plan that results in good talent retention. Human resource management professionals have to expend less energy in the onboarding and offboarding process if employees want to stay with a company that provides them with an open and supportive workplace atmosphere. Less turnover gives an HR team more bandwidth to seek out better incentives and benefits packages so they can retain all-star contributors and attract talented candidates as the organization grows.

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