Is your company struggling to deal with disengaged employees? Those who don’t feel connected to the organization? Internal advertising may be your solution!
When we talk about internal advertising we don’t refer to recruitment or HR, but to marketing. Specifically internal marketing which targets your own employees. By definition, it refers to a set of activities that showcase the mission, vision and values of an organization with the purpose of making employees feel like a part of the organization, and in return, more engaged.
Use your employee app for internal advertising
But how can you do that? Chances are you’ve been doing it without realizing it, by using social media and internal communications. But if you want to take it one step further, your option is an employee app - the perfect environment for engaging with your employees and testing out internal marketing practices, such as internal advertising. Not to mention you can have a branded app that strengthens brand recognition among your employees.
This theory of internal advertising and its effects on employee connection to the organization was challenged in a recent study run by Sara Rosengren, from the Center for Retailing at the Stockholm School of Economics, and Niklas Bondesson, from the School of Business at the Stockholm University. The study showed that employees better identify with their organization after being exposed to internal advertising. Six different examples of advertisements were shown to the employees of a Swedish retailer. What they discovered was that identification was lower for employees who were not exposed, than for those who were. The more the employees considered the advertisement to be effective, the more they identified with the organization.
Internal advertising aligns and motivates employees
Rosengren and Bondesson call upon companies to share advertisements internally, in order to align and motivate employees. They write:
“Organizations can align and motivate employees, but typically focus on activities directly targeted at employees, such as training, education, internal communication and reward systems, while rarely mentioning advertising and other communication targeted to consumers. Advertising deserves to be added to the list of activities. Advertising can be used to encourage employees to behave in line with corporate values or branding goals. The latter should be of particular importance in companies where employees are facing customers and need to ‘live the brand’.”
Transform your employees into ambassadors
Exposing your employees to constant internal marketing will not only strengthen their image of the company, but also help them connect to the company in ways that would otherwise go unexplored. Once they understand the company’s philosophy and identify themselves with the organization, they are ready to become brand ambassadors.
This is particularly important for customer facing employees. Having the embodiment of your brand, your frontline employees that is, in direct contact with your customers brings incredible benefits to a company:
- Create and raise brand awareness and brand recognition
- Shape and influence public perception of your brand
- Attract talent in an organic, casual way
- Improve your employer branding
Lastly, turning employees into ambassadors calls for greater cooperation between Marketing and Human Resources. The internal marketing activities need to be aligned with HR plans and communication between the two needs to be on point. We know a thing or two about communication troubles in the workplace and our advice is to make sure that you have the right tools and practices in place to support your initiatives. That’s why we offer you to talk to one of our specialists and identify how our product can help you out.