Marketing is More Than Just a Department

Add comment May 7th, 2008

Too often, organizations see marketing as just a department – one that is in charge of the company’s brand, its external perception and internal loyalty.

True, companies do have marketing departments that are charged with developing the marketing strategy and executing the work for the organization through wide-ranging responsibilities that can include such activities from advertising to internal communications, public relations to collateral and product marketing.

However, a company can completely stumble if it believes the company’s brand and its internal and external perception is up to one department. For example, what happens when you call a long-distance phone provider that has a bright brand name and incredible advertising campaign yet the customer service rep treats you shabbily when you take the time to call in to order or change your service? The brand just lost some equity with you.

There are just too many choices these days for product and service offerings in all categories. So, while your organization may spend thousands of dollars annually to market itself, without the appropriate internal customer service and employee buy-in and enthusiasm, you could find yourself in an ongoing uphill battle to gain or keep that competitive edge.

One approach to reversing the potential downhill slide and to enhance the brand equity within an organization is to hold quarterly employee “town hall” meetings. As the name suggests, these meetings should be informal in nature and seen as an opportunity to allow management and team leaders to update employees on the company’s long- and short-strategy. These meetings also should enable employees to interact, question the strategy without fear of negative repercussions, and gain a better understanding of the company’s philosophy.

Taking it to the next step, smaller, team or departmental meetings should be held to help individual employees understand their role in the company’s overall success or failure.

This simple type of interaction can help ensure employee buy-in, enthusiasm and understanding of the company’s goals and make them a part of the overall brand equity rather than a bystander to it.

What’s Your Message?

Add comment May 5th, 2008

Often marketing is seen as something that is “created” by that specific department rather than a necessary attribute essential for all of an organization’s employees. But because every individual in your business manages a different aspect of your business they may have a hard time seeing - and communicating - the big picture. That’s when a Message Map comes in handy. A Message Map is a training and support tool designed to empower employees to market your organization as part of their daily job.

Initially a training tool, a Message Map helps employees understand the interrelationships between your organization’s mission statement, value proposition, services, products, partners, and customers. It gives them guidelines for identifying marketing opportunities, articulating key messages, and navigating among each aspect of your business during a conversation. After training, it serves as a quick reference to help personnel naturally convey key messages regardless of where a conversation starts.

Developing a Message Map is also a great exercise for the executive team. Many of the executives that we’ve worked with have found that they needed to fine tune their own understanding of the organization’s core value proposition. While they initially thought the exercise was simply to develop a tool for the employees, they quickly see the value of establishing a common reference for everyone in the organization.

With a Message Map in place, your organization is assured that all employees, including the executives, accurately and consistently represent your organization through their daily touch points with prospects, clients, the media, and the community. A Message Map is the basic training that turns your organization’s staff into a marketing infantry, exponentially multiplying your marketing power.