The ultimate internal marketing strategy

Internal marketing isn't just for the big boys. It's for small to medium sized businesses too. Sure, many companies that do not have the resources of their larger counterparts struggle to be able to do anything other than Friday night drinks, as a cultural buzz, but in this day and age, that's not going to keep your team loyal and open to participating in the growth of your company.

There are sure-ways that internal marketing can take your business to levels you never imagined, but it takes discipline, patience and creativity.

One-to-one marketing

Understanding your team is paramount to being able to one-to-one market to each individual. That means conducting psychological profiling on each individual, understanding what their dreams and desires are, and the types of people and surroundings that they believe will make them happier and more productive. What makes them tick? What makes them want to put more effort in or go out of their way to share ideas with you that may improve the businesses outcomes?

Constant reinforcement

This is hard when you are running a business to get around to every single person. A lot of leaders 'walk the floor' and that takes time, effort and a very good memory because there is nothing worse than forgetting that someone has a family at home, or has just experienced a tragedy. Even when people are not doing a good job, and a falling short, you still need to find the positive in something that they are doing so that they feel that everything they are doing isn't wrong.

Learn about mental health

This is so important with the significant increase in the number of people experiencing mental health issues. Every company should have a policy around this, to ensure that you do everything in your power to support people with mental health issues. Marketing for whatever reasons tends to have an enormous number of people who suffer from some sort of mental health issues, so without understanding where they are coming from, or how certain drugs may affect their work, you may be unconsciously creating more issues for them, or be putting them in danger of being hurt, or isolated. Be aware and without stepping over the line, try and accomodate where possible. If it becomes a long-term affect on the company and you are a small business, contact Fair Work, and give your lawyer a copy of your Mental Health Manual so that you can take fair and reasonable steps to help the person make their next step.

Communications

In most organisations we fail to communicate effectively with 100% of our staff members and this is not deliberate, but it is something that due to workload and who is around at the time, we don't get all the messages that needs to be communicated across all team members. Internal news flashes and internal newsletter or videos are great ways to inspire the team and keep them up to date with what is going on with the company.

Stand up meetings

We use this at Marketing Eye and it's great for finding out the little things about people who work in the organisation. It helps the team gel and become closer and also give you a better perspective on the people in your team. People that are introverts learn to develop their confidence which is always great, as it helps them move their needle.

Birthdays, Festive Season and other occasions

Firstly, understanding that people have different religious beliefs is very important, and accomodating this is critical. However, writing a hand written birthday card is special, and perhaps making books a thing that your organisation gives your team members on special occasions - proves to always win votes.

Your team can make or break you. It is so hard managing people and near impossible to keep every person happy. Some people may sing for the roof tops how amazing you are, and then 12 months later, when they are no longer receiving all of your attention, the tide may turn. Putting policies and procedures in place to manage people and market internally will only increase your businesses success.