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Guest Column
Ten years later: Companies still arenât communicating.by Bill Obermeier, STRATECOM
While many things have changed in 10 years, others, unfortunately, have not. Communicating with each other is one example, and itâs costing businesses effectiveness, efficiency and, ultimately, success. For instance, in 1992 we were helping our first client develop a direct-mail, customer-relations program. This Fortune 500 companyâs marketing department was trying to help the sales force reduce customer churn. Things were moving forward when it happened ö the dreaded communications breakdown between marketing and sales. Sales was on one page, marketing on another. Both were well intended, but in direct conflict. If not for a
determined marketing manager who forced the groups to communicate and agree on the strategy, the program would not have been implemented. Fast-forward 10 years to 2002. We recently met with a clientâs marketing team to discuss a lead-generation program. Then, we interviewed salespeople to gain their perspectives. Once again, the failure to communicate reared its ugly head. The sales and marketing teams were following separate game plans, wasting time and money as well as delaying entry into the market. As in 1992, a single strategy was able to be developed when both groups improved their communications and aligned their approach with the companyâs overall brand promise and positioning. Today, just as a decade ago, many companies actually foster dysfunctional relationships between departments, challenging their ability to be effective as a whole. The root of these dysfunctional relationships is usually not the people, but rather corporate cultures and communication infrastructures that donât value the power of employee communications and internal branding. So often we hear, ăWe donât need to put any effort or budget toward communicating with employees. Itâs just not a priority.ä Thatâs a statement that still amazes us every time we hear it. After all, a brand is really nothing more than its public perception, based largely on customersâ experiences with the employees who answer the phone, deliver the service, install the product and send the invoices. Yet, time after time, communicating with employees, investing in making certain they understand the brand promise, and aligning their behavior with the marketing strategy are viewed as nice things to do, but not taken seriously and included in the budget. Emphasizing internal branding and employee communications is not only a smart thing to do, itâs essential for a brand to reach its full potential and success. Companies that continue to ignore this fact continue to waste time and money on their way to mediocrity. Thatâs why we encourage every client to prioritize internal branding and employee communications. This requires an investment in tactics and tools to ensure employees not only understand the brand promise and key messages, but also internalize them and put them to work in their daily jobs. It means integrating departments and business units around a common brand strategy, so they arenât pursuing disparate, and often conflicting, goals. And, of course, companies must also make certain their
business processes enable the desired employee behaviors. An example of internal branding is a business that bills itself as ăthe company that smiles.ä To be truly successful, this company must make sure every employee understands that positioning and incorporates smiling into his or her work. It means hiring people with great smiles, training people to smile even in difficult situations, designing reward and recognition programs to include smiling, and so on. This holistic view results in
building a brand internally so it can be supported externally. Simply stated, putting a high priority on internal branding and employee communications is all about ăwalking the talk.ä And, itâs often all that matters when it comes to winning market share. That hasnât changed in the last 10 years, and it wonât in the next 10 either. --- Bill Obermeier, founder and chairman of STRATECOM. STRATECOM is an advertising, marketing and public relations firm located in Boulder Colorado. Here is a little bit more about our company: STRATECOM specializes in helping companies develop and implement marketing and communications strategies. Recent projects have included: product launches, brand identity establishment, internal branding, e-business initiatives, corporate mission and vision development, integrated sales, advertising campaigns, public relations programs and multimedia production.
3000 Center Green Drive, Suite 210 Boulder, Colorado 80301
Phone: 303.440.2901or 1.800.398.
Website:
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Ten years ago, people scurried to fax layouts and send mock-ups Fed Ex. Now, we tap our fingers with impatience when e-mailing a PDF file. Ten years ago, there was no such thing as a dot-com or a "dot-bomb."
