How To Turn Your Employees Into Your Brand Marketers
Marketing is key to your business. You know this, we know this, and your employees know this. From digital marketing to those traditional methods of spreading the word about your business, there are many avenues you can go down. Of course, in many cases, pushing awareness about your business can be expensive without the right brand marketing strategy.
Here’s how to turn your employees into your brand marketers and an effective brand marketing strategy for your business.
Thankfully, your best source of marketing is right under your nose, and the cost to you is minimal. We are talking about your employees themselves; the people who can spread word about your business in a variety of ways.
And no, we are not talking about your marketing team. We are referring to each and every member of your staff, each of whom has the potential to share your brand with others.
Make your employees lives a happy one as your first steps to an effective brand marketing strategy
If you were a tyrant of a boss, with strict deadlines, and little care for your employee’s welfare, then one thing can be guaranteed. The word your staff spread about you, whether it’s moaning to their families or gossiping with their friends, will be a bad one.
Of course, you are a lovely boss, or team leader (assuming you are), so the opposite should be true. Provided you have created a positive work environment, your employees and team should be spreading the news about how good your business is, and how they enjoy working with you.
At the very outset, this is fundamental. Get this right, and you can consider the following.
Encourage your employees to use branded products.
You can brand almost anything these days. Cups, pens, bags, lunch boxes, business cards… the list goes on. As much as possible, provide your employees and team with these items and ask them to use them on a daily basis, in and out of work.
Whether they become a talking point for others or not, at least your brand name and logo will be out in the world in some capacity. You might even overload your employees with branded pens, and ask them to leave them in random places.
Who knows who will pick that pen up? How far will that pen travel? Who knows who might ring the number that is inscribed on the side?
Ask your employees to wear your brand.
Aside from the staff uniforms worn by your staff, you might also ask them to wear a custom name patch on a t-shirt or a cap. Again, your brand will be seen far and wide (well, at least as far as your employee or team member is willing to travel).
Your brand will be seen in the street. It could be seen on the bus. Your brand will be seen by anybody that catches an eye of your team member. Of course, there is one caveat to this. You need your team to be on their best behavior.
It will do your brand more harm than good if one of your team members is behaving badly while wearing one of your branded t-shirts. A lesson in business etiquette and responsibility may be in order before you send the troops out in branded clothing.
Create an ownership mentality in your team or employees. When they think of your brand as their own, the likelihood of them doing something foolish while representing your brand goes down.
Make use of social media.
Your employees can use their social media accounts to spread word about your business. If they follow or comment on your business posts, then other people on their networks will notice.
You could encourage your employees to share your posts too, sending them out to anybody who may find them useful. And who knows, your staff may be able to generate leads on social media, thanks to the huge number of followers/friends/random people they will have within their networks.
Ask your employees to blog.
If they are willing to set up their own blog, then they can share information about all aspects of their lives, both personal and work-related. Alternatively, ask them to contribute to your company blog, with positive thoughts on what it means to work for your business.
In either case, ask your employees to share their blog posts with others, through word-of-mouth recommendations or on social media. Of course, if your employees do create a personal blog, you will need to monitor what is written to ensure nothing has been said that is detrimental to your business, or that breaks confidentiality rules.
Again, give your employees a lesson on good and bad practice when sharing information online.
Drive your brand.
We are talking in a literal sense. If your employees are willing, encourage them to use branded decals on their cars. Your brand will be seen by anybody within reach of your team’s vehicles, even when they are parked at home.
Again, talk to your employees about good behavior – you don’t want your brand recognized with reckless driving – so make the relevant points about safe driving if you go down this avenue.
Incentivize your staff and team as a tie in with your marketing strategy
While many of the ideas in this list can be carried out within your employee’s personal lives, encourage them to make it part of their work agenda. Offer incentives to them, such as a raise in their pay packet or an extended weekend, if they can generate leads to your business from the methods we have mentioned.
From meeting people on the bus to sharing information online, encourage your staff to push the business as much as they can. When you gain new customers, and it can be evidenced that they came to you from the efforts of one of your employees, provide the reward that your employee so richly deserves.
Note: you will probably get your staff member’s family or friends coming to you as a customer, but hey, if they pay, who cares who they are!
Your employees are your greatest marketing tools, so make the most of the people you have on your team. Ask them for ideas too; they may have suggestions on pushing your brand that I haven’t thought about.
Let me know what you think, and if you have marketing ideas of your own, especially where your employees are concerned, share your wisdom with me.
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