07/11/18

Employee Brand Equity — 
how brand can help motivate and drive your employees

We’ve put this simple question to business owners many times: ‘How do you market to your employees?’ Surprisingly, I’ve had answers such as: “We don’t.” Wrong answer! You need to – every hour, of every day, seven days a week, 12 months of the year.

As a business you need to be able to rely on a team and that team is comprised of individuals, all with targets and goals to help you achieve success. It can’t be the responsibility of one person, the boss, to kick all of those goals, particularly if you’re looking for scale in the marketplace.

It was entrepreneur Richard Branson (self-described tie-loathing adventurer, philanthropist and troublemaker!) who said “a company’s employees are its greatest asset and your people are your product”.

The reality is you need good and talented employees to create a team and you need that team to kick goals to help you grow and win. But to attract them and keep them they need to buy into your “vision, mission, purpose — belief system” in the same way as external customers.

 At DOB we believe this occurs in two simple ways –
through communication and reputation.

Firstly - communication. You need to show and tell people what you are about. And that’s your internal as well as your external market (your employees as well as your customers). You need your staff to be engaged in your brand so that they are unified behind your offering. If you can create an emotional connection between your employees and your brand you’ll find that they are passionate about what it is you’re doing and inspired by the same sense of purpose as you.

How do you do this? Through design-led communication. You’ll hear this from us a lot, but design should be ‘love at first sight’ for a brand. I’m sure you’ve heard a picture is worth 1000 words? The phrase invented by UK advertising executive Fred R. Barnard back in 1921 still holds so true today.

Design matters. Good design sells your product or service, makes your brand memorable, creates a good and lasting impression and sets you apart from the crowd. And so much of that is about the visuals. Think Coca Cola, Nike, Google, Apple. Bold, iconic, instantly recognisable.

The human brain can process images up to 60,000 times faster than text. In terms of brand, design controls the words and opinions that will follow in an instant. Think about it. You see the Apple logo and you think of your smartphone or maybe your iPad and how the brand has helped you reach your desired goals, right?

You attain those brands visually and retain them visually. Design plays a key role in this and we believe it to be THE key role. It’s what we believe in and what we are good at.

Secondly – reputation. Once people have your brand inside their head and heart, what’s the magic that drives them to talk about your business offering? Sharing is caring and people love nothing more than to share experiences with their community but they’ve got to be convinced.

Communication leads the reputation of your brand. The people you employ, who after all are probably at the frontline and interacting with customers much more than the CEO, can be the greatest brand ambassadors and reputation drivers you have. But you can’t assume they’ll automatically understand your brand and what you do. You need to design that journey and take them with you.

Design your brand, form an identity, create a purpose.

At the end of the day, it’s all about forming your own community of talented staff and loyal customers to keep your business and its purpose alive.