Internal Marketing: Engaging and Empowering Employees for Success

How many times a day do you think about your customers? Probably 24 hours a day. That's not bad, the problem is when you forget about the most important members of your company: your employees. 

Of course, it's important to win over customers and find ways to get their attention, but you also have to win over your employees and this is known as internal marketing. 

It’s about strategies to motivate and retain our work team to achieve their full potential. The idea is to create that affinity so that they feel like they are in their second home, since in most cases they spend more time in the company than at home. 

Would you like to see how you can make the most of it?

What is internal marketing?

Internal marketing is the set of strategies focused on improving the quality, performance and well-being of a company's employees. It’s very interesting because it’s based on the premise that the better the conditions of the workers, the better their day-to-day performance will be. 

By improving the business activity, the relationship with customers will be much more optimal and the probability of increasing sales in the short and medium term will increase. 

This is also known as endomarketing and has a motto that says: "The most important customers of your company are your workers", meaning to put the human capital as a priority and then to focus on everything else. 

This type of marketing is found in service companies that are in constant contact with users. They do everything they can to keep the staff motivated so they can solve the challenges of customer service. 

Therefore, the idea is to have a committed team to transmit this positivism to the users, so that they feel attracted by the offers that the company has today. 

Steps to organize internal marketing

To organize internal marketing it’s essential to take into account certain guidelines that will increase your chances of success. 

It’s very important to follow them to the letter, since customer contact is the last link in the chain, but not the least relevant. Let's see: 

1. Manage information within the company

Information is one of the treasures of the 21st century, as we’ve already mentioned. However, the important thing here is that the data handled by one department reaches the other members of the organization so that everyone knows what needs to be done in a given procedure. 

How do we achieve this? Through communication policies that are as effective as possible so that the information reaches those who need it. It’s also very important to establish common goals that are above any individual interests in the team. 

2. Manage the attitudes of your staff

Secondly, we need to manage the attitudes of the whole team in general. To do this we can encourage different activities that involve everyone with the company's goals. 

Many people aren’t encouraged within a company not because they are upset, but because they feel left behind in the organization. 

Focus on giving individual support to each person so that there is a better attitude throughout the team. This will translate into better customer service. 

Internal marketing objectives

There are many objectives of internal marketing. Let's look at some of them below: 

1. Orienting operations towards the target audience

Yes, the main objective of internal marketing can be none other than to orient the company's activity towards the target public. The idea is that the user recognizes us from the values and the message that we transmit on each post on social networks. 

To achieve this, sufficient time must be spent on convincing everyone that this strategy is the right one to succeed. Therefore, if the company is doing well, so are the employees.

2. Creating an organizational strategy within the company

To execute a proper internal marketing strategy, it’s essential to look inward to determine where the company really stands. 

Many managers focus on what the customer thinks, but leave aside the internal procedures that ultimately generate results. 

In this sense, it’s a good time to review each one of the teams, to discard those policies that are not efficient and to adapt to the needs of employees and customers.

3. Convincing the team in general

It’s very likely that within the organization there are people who doubt the effectiveness of the strategies you are currently implementing. This is normal and even positive because it shows that you have real professionals in your team who want the best for the company. 

With internal marketing you have the possibility to take the necessary time to convince all members that this is the right way to achieve the objectives that were set at the beginning of the year. 

4. Defining values and mission

You can't imagine how important a company's values and mission are. It’s true that the product is what solves the needs of customers, but values are what allow us to transcend over time. 

Define well what defines you as an organization and how you want to be remembered 10, 20 or 30 years from now. Believe us, it's worth it. 

Elements of internal marketing

To be able to apply internal marketing effectively, it’s necessary to take into account the elements involved in order to execute it in the best possible way. 

Pay attention and discover these elements the following list: 

1. Employees

We couldn't start in any other way than with the employees. For customers to accept the products we have in our portfolio, we first have to convince employees that this is the right option. 

As stated in employee branding, our human capital has to be the first brand ambassador and to achieve this we have to give them the importance they deserve. 

Therefore, with our internal marketing we have to focus on explaining all the benefits of the project to the employees so that they know how to communicate them to the clientele. 

2. Sales teams

Secondly, we have the sales team, which is made up of the company's managers and middle management. 

Through internal communication they have the objective of selling the idea of the company to the workers, that is to say, they try to convince them of the goodness of the product so that they can go out to the streets with greater conviction. 

It’s necessary to take the time needed to ensure that the sales force is sufficiently prepared. This way they will be able to discuss every objection they receive along the way. 

3. Company

Yes, the third element is the company. It’s true that every business sells a product or service and markets it in the marketplace to make a profit and thus subsist.  However, when it comes to human capital, what we have to sell them is not only the product but the company itself. 

Then, managers have to focus on showing the benefits of the project, values that differentiate them from the competition and the objectives they want to achieve in the medium and long term. 

Once you manage to sell your company to your employees, the rest will come almost automatically. 

4. Internal communication

Last but not least is internal communication. Nowadays it’s not a matter of everyone fighting for themselves, as this is a recipe for failure. 

Nowadays, communication must be crystal clear, i.e., as clear and precise as possible, and it must reach everyone equally. If a department has an important message, the best thing to do is to share it through a one-way channel so that everyone is notified in the shortest possible time. 

Advantages of internal marketing

Let's now take a look at some of the advantages of working with internal marketing in your company. We are sure that once you read them you will get down to work:

1. Satisfaction and sense of belonging

It’s important to understand that internal marketing cannot be cold or distant, it has to be powerful enough to get the employee's attention. 

If we focus on connecting emotionally with users, why not do it with our employees? This will generate a sense of belonging that will make them believe they are on the right side of history. 

There’s nothing better than having a team committed to the brand and this can only be achieved with an emotional connection, something we can achieve with internal marketing.

2. Better transmission of the mission and values

With internal marketing we will be able to better transmit the mission and values to all our staff, which will result in greater commitment to the project. 

Think about it: in most cases it’s the managers who appear in the news and social networks when there’s positive news about the company. However, lower mid-ranking employees often go unnoticed. 

However, they are the ones who are in contact with customers, so if they have internalized the company's values they will be able to communicate them to the customer. 

3. Increased productivity

Everything we have talked about in the previous paragraphs translates into higher productivity, because if the staff is happy, it’s very likely that they will work in harmony in order to achieve the objectives that were set. 

Productivity is a key indicator and with internal marketing we will be able to increase it to a great extent. It’s only a matter of selling the company's image and vision so that everything starts to improve. 

4. Professional and career development

For internal marketing to have results, it’s essential to invest in the training of our work team. It’s not just a matter of selling a message, but of really caring about them so that they can raise their standards in the multiple areas involved in their work. 

Therefore, with this marketing you will have much better trained workers to solve each of the problems that arise on a daily basis. 

5. Attracting and retaining talent

Finally, with internal marketing we will have the possibility of retaining the talent that is in our ranks to prevent them from leaving to other companies. 

Yes, competition is so complex that nowadays other companies are not only looking to take away part of your customers, but also your most outstanding employees. 

What can you do to retain them? In addition to offering them a good salary package, focus on making them feel part of a cause beyond money and you will see how they will be delighted to work with you. 

Now you know how important it is to attend to the needs of your employees, and not only to those of your customers, because no matter how relevant these last ones are, without your employees it’s very unlikely that you will reach a safe harbor with your products. 

It's time to care about them. Put yourself in their shoes and make sure you sell the values of your project to the maximum so you can see how they will take care of the others. 

Have you already implemented an internal marketing strategy? Show us in the comments, we are sure we will be able to execute it at our school as well.