Internal Branding

'Living the brand' has already become a rather well-worn expression on the corporate conference circuit, and increasingly marketing agencies are setting up 'Brand Engagement' offers. What factors are driving this increased focus on internal branding?

There are some clear forces of change driving this momentum including the:

• number of organisations undergoing some form of transformation (a merger, or re-branding for example);    
• reduction in reciprocal loyalty between employer and employee;    
• shift towards more contract and less full-time employment; and    
• empowering of staff by companies to take on increased focus in the customer relationship.

Each of these forces points to the need for ongoing communication with key stakeholders including staff. And for a means to create an understanding of business goals and brand values and build commitment and motivation amongst full-time and contract staff. In other words the need for internal marketing.

Best practice, tools and techniques

What are the rewards of adopting internal branding procedures? To what extent are large companies committed to developing their people as a means of building the strength of the brand? And, how do you build 'buy-in' amongst staff?

CIM is looking to build on the knowledge in this area. Please contribute and share your research, marketing tools and articles, using the 'submit your research' form - which you can link to below.

• The brand inside, CIM/Maritz. Reveals the practices of companies who achieve a good fit between their brand promise and the way in which their employees think, feel and act.
  
• Getting the buy-in. This article builds the case for getting both intellectual and emotional buy-in.

 For further information

If you would like to talk to someone about CIMs work in this area, or would like to find out more about the key issues facing marketers today, please contact library@cim.co.uk or call on +44 (0) 1628 427333.