A Direct Marketing Agency - Helping Brands Acquire and Retain Customers

Let's say you're ready to announce a new brand initiative…introduce a new product…announce a major corporate change…or perhaps you have a communication crisis that needs to be addressed now. In the flurry of activity that follows in developing talking points, strategies, and channels for delivering the message, too many organizations forget one critical audience in the communications tree—their own employees.

Often times it's not an intentional omission—when things are happening fast and having a competitive edge requires keeping tight lipped until the 11^th hour—containing information can be important. But before you share your news with the world or even your customer base, it's critical to make sure you have a clear internal communications strategy and that you've shared the right information with those nearest and dearest to you. Nothing makes an employee more frustrated than being blindsided by an outsider asking about internal happenings heard through the external grapevine or general media.

Giving your internal audience the facts up front can help ensure that they have the information they need to address questions from the outside once the news hits outside of your walls. If you're announcing a price increase, for example, coaching your staff on how to address complaints and questions can not only relieve their anxiety, it can help them explain the logic behind the increase. Maybe it's due to an increase in raw materials, a product upgrade that customers will rave about, or the result of external economic factors. Giving your employees talking points to use in their conversations prevents them from giving a "deer in the headlights" response to a simple question.

Your employees should be your biggest cheerleaders. In his brandautopsy blog, John Moore cites Apple's efforts in giving all US-based full time employees iPhones to build on the remarkable brand evangelism that's prevalent in the company. In another example, a healthcare client that offers an innovative treatment method offers that treatment at no cost to employees and their immediate families. That can turn into a large mass of foot soldiers telling your story in a very positive light. Nothing speaks to customers better than an employee who can speak about the benefits of your product from their heart and soul because it's made a difference in their lives. That passion can't be faked.