The word “branding” generally refers to “external branding,” which permeates the company’s corporate value and brand image to external customers. In order to succeed in external branding, “inner branding” performed internally is essential.
Therefore, in this article, we will focus on this inner branding and introduce its overview, benefits, methods, and success stories.
What is inner branding?
In the first place, branding refers to a series of activities to build the brand of a company’s products and services. Of these, inner branding, which is performed especially for internal employees, is a term that refers to a company sharing its corporate values and corporate philosophy with its employees and unifying its values and vision.
The main aims of inner branding are to change the mindset of employees and reform the company from the inside, and to improve company and brand value, as well as employee satisfaction
It is difficult to improve the quality of employee behavior and productivity with external branding alone. For this reason, we aim to share corporate values through inner branding, and to make all of our employees become “evangelists,” specialized human resources who will take on new roles for our products and services.
Benefits of inner branding
From here, let’s take a closer look at the specific benefits that can be obtained by doing inner branding.
Increased employee engagement
By clarifying and sharing your company’s corporate philosophy, mission, vision, and business purpose, you can make employees recognize that you are part of the company. If you can recognize what your company is aiming for, you will be able to clarify the purpose of the work you are in charge of and the significance of your work, and you can expect to improve your motivation for work.
It can also increase your attachment and satisfaction with your company. In addition, if the motivation of employees is improved, it will be possible to improve work efficiency and productivity.
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Creates a sense of solidarity among employees
If you can share your vision and values through inner branding, your employees will be able to work in the same direction, which will naturally create a sense of solidarity. Each one will follow each other and develop a relationship that can be enhanced.
In addition, by knowing the company’s policies and clarifying the goals, the number of employees who act voluntarily will increase. The quality of each action will improve, and as a result, you can expect an increase in customer satisfaction.
Become an appealing point in recruitment activities
Increased employee engagement and solidarity can also be expected to reduce turnover. In recruitment activities, it will be a big appeal point to job seekers.
In addition, the basis of inner branding is to share the corporate philosophy, corporate values, action guidelines, etc., and clarify the vision and business purpose. If you can share your vision and values correctly, you will be able to appeal to people who sympathize with it, and you will be able to reduce mismatches in hiring.
inner branding method
There are many ways to approach the company. Here are some of the main techniques you can use when doing inner branding.
Credo
“Credo” is a Latin word that means “belief”, “ambition”, “promise”, etc. In the business scene, it refers to “the written beliefs and principles for conducting corporate activities”.
A credo card that can be carried around is called a “credo card” and is often used as an inner branding method these days. Specifically, by distributing and distributing cards so that employees can look back at them at any time, the company’s philosophy and other information will be permeated.
In addition, it is important to keep the credo card simple so that the contents can be understood at a glance, rather than giving a lot of information in small letters.
company newsletter
An in-house newsletter that conveys information and thoughts from management is one of the effective means of inner branding. You can share the company’s MVV (Mission, Vision, Value) and deepen mutual understanding.
When using in-house newsletters, it is a good idea to include not only one-sided messages from the company to employees, but also employee interviews and customer feedback. By posting information that is difficult for employees to obtain on their own, they can read it with interest.
In-house newsletters have a strong image of being distributed on paper, but recently they are being digitized. It would be a good idea to devise an operational aspect, such as publishing it on an internal portal site or issuing it on an internal SNS.
workshop
Credos and in-house newsletters are mainly sent by management, but workshops are an effective way to involve all employees. Even if employees talk about their work, they rarely talk about how the organization should be.
Through workshops, if you discuss your thoughts on the organization with the employees around you, you will be able to see topics other than your direct work as “personal matters.”
In addition, workshops not only clarify the thoughts of each individual, but can also be used as a “suggestion box” for project members and management. If you can clarify your goals and incorporate workshops well, you will be able to strongly promote your inner branding.
poster
You can also reach out to your employees by displaying posters with your inner branding objectives.
Instead of just posting posters, it is also important to use creative ideas such as using designs that catch the eye of employees and using easy-to-understand messages. In addition, while using photos and illustrations, let’s make people feel attached to the company from visual information.
Summary
Inner branding is essential when conducting corporate activities. If you do effective inner branding, you will be able to improve employee satisfaction, improve customer satisfaction, and secure human resources.
As introduced in this article, there are various methods of inner branding, but at our company, we carry out branding comprehensively, taking into consideration the impact on management.
