Internal Engagement

Always think of yourself first.

Almost everyone is familiar with the advice given when you’re on an airplane and the cabin pressure drops, causing oxygen masks to fall from the overhead compartments. The advice is to put on your own mask first before helping your children. The rationale behind this is that if you’re not stable, you won’t be able to help anyone else.

This wisdom applies as strongly to something seemingly mundane as marketing communication. Before you step out into the world, first consider your own organization. Ensure that you are truly aligned internally before launching a campaign. In other words, never communicate externally without first communicating internally.

This principle applies not only to short-term promotional campaigns but especially to long-term brand campaigns. It’s essential that these campaigns are internally aligned. Failure to do so can result in a brand image that disconnects from its identity – a mismatch. No matter how excellent the communication may be, it can exacerbate this problem by making the mismatch more apparent. As Bill Bernbach famously said, “Good advertising makes bad products fail faster.” You can substitute “brand” for “product” in that statement, in my opinion.

However, aligning external communication with internal identity and culture goes beyond just product and brand campaigns. It applies to every company and organization, and it’s even more critical in companies undergoing transformation, as their identity is in flux.

It all starts with your positioning – your identity in relation to your competitors and the mental space you want to occupy in your customers’ minds. This must be well-established internally. Terms like “Employer Branding,” “Internal Engagement,” “Brand Ambassadors,” and “Living the Brand” are familiar, but what do they really mean?

It means that every employee in your organization, regardless of their role, should embody your values in everything they do. Every action they take should align with your company’s brand essence, such as CoolBlue’s well-known customer-friendliness. It means that everyone in the organization understands and genuinely believes in what you promise.

While everyone having basic knowledge of your mission, vision, and values is one thing, truly understanding and internalizing them is another challenge. Especially when employees at headquarters receive regular memos with new versions.

Because an organization is made up of living, imperfect people, you can’t simply impose this alignment. You can’t think that one article in a newsletter or one polished video in a Teams meeting will suffice. More is required.

Do we remember the essential conditions for successful change management?
• Leadership – because without it, nothing happens.
• Vision – because without it, people become confused.
• Importance – because without it, resistance arises.
• Plan – without which, chaos ensues.
• Resources – without which, frustration builds.
• Competence – without which, people become anxious.

Effective Internal Engagement takes these factors into account.

An effective internal campaign establishes a clear positioning (the vision). What you can include in this is the subject of another article, but ensure it’s Relevant, Distinctive, and Credible. Tell your story consistently, simply, and accessibly. Also, explain why it’s important (the significance) and align it with employees’ needs.

An effective internal campaign should also be recognizable (repetition is the power of advertising). Develop a tight and recognizable format. Roll it out systematically and make it a routine for the recipients.

Furthermore, what you communicate should be insightful – it shouldn’t just be empty words; it should be authentic. After all, it’s about the people in the company itself. This means you must delve deep into the organization’s veins. Conduct research, go into detail, seek out the best practices and hidden gems within your company that best demonstrate what you stand for. In practice, this is often the most challenging part and consumes the most time.

This immersion in your own organization is crucial because it should be evident that everyone within the company, regardless of their role, has the competence to contribute to the company’s vision and mission. Think of the famous example from the 1960s: the janitor at the rocket base who rightly claimed to “help put people on the moon” when speaking to President Kennedy.

Fourth, your internal campaign should always be action-oriented. Are we going for Storytelling or ‘Storydoing’? People not only want to know what the vision and mission are but, more importantly, what they mean concretely. What can I do, and how does that mission affect my daily work? Provide actionable insights and the necessary resources. Two-way communication is essential here. Feeling connected to the company you work for truly works when you can be part of something you have an influence on.

Finally, just do it. Show leadership. Because without it, nothing happens. Growth comes from within.

Total Design has developed an internal platform for ING Wholesale Banking titled ‘Show Me the Difference.’ This format conveys the narrative of ING WB and brings it to life through examples from ING’s practices worldwide. It ensures that viewers can relate to and feel part of the ING family. Several episodes have been produced and distributed worldwide among employees through viewing parties and a well-thought-out internal communication plan, and they have been well-received.
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Moral of the story: Internal engagement is more than just ‘likes, shares, and comments.’ It’s about ensuring that external campaigns will only work effectively if the image they project is accurate and lived internally.
The result is that what you convey internally will also work externally. So, when you talk about your company at a birthday party, perhaps you’ll be approached about a new advertising campaign, a news article, or an experience with customer service? It’s great when an employee can proudly talk about where they work and why it’s so great. No advertising campaign can compete with that!

Author: Milo van der Meij