The Importance of Internal Branding to Support Exceptional Customer Service
The Importance of Internal Branding to Support Exceptional Customer Service
Outside my local supermarket, the 'kiddies ride' has recently been changed. It used to be an elephant and more recently it was a fire truck. Children have always enjoyed such rides and I have always seen them as a good value treat and relatively harmless for children.
I wonder how many of the current generation of children, and/or their parents and grandparents, realise the intent of the latest ride. The fire truck has been replaced by a supermarket home delivery van, complete with corporate logo! The children are now 'delivering' your groceries direct to your door.
The use of the ride shows how large corporations use every opportunity to build their brand. Good branding requires constant reinforcement of the existence and unique offering provided.
How important is branding?
The next time you go shopping, look at what process you go through to pick a particular product. Do you think or say out aloud, or does your partner say: "that’s a good brand". I define brand in this way:
For a product, service or company, brand is the image portrayed and accepted in the market place - it is a combination of the identity achieved, the recognition gained and how people react physically and emotionally to what the product, service or company represents.
The brand informs prospective customers and customers of your value proposition and distinguishes you from your competitors. The brand should be consistent with what is delivered. It should be unique, memorable and distinctive.
Internal branding
Branding is important in the market place. Those companies with a strong branding focus also realise the importance of internal branding as part of their overall marketing effort. I define internal branding as:
A conscious and planned process undertaken within the organisation to align staff and business processes with the brand identity and values. It a focused strategy and process that aligns employee understanding and behaviour to the promises and values of the brand.
• Do your employees believe in your product and the services that you offer?
• Do they support the mission and purpose of your branding?
• Are they 'living' your brand through their thoughts, actions and deeds?
It is important that your employees are participating in new brand initiatives and strategies. Staff who are unable or unwilling to support your marketing will negatively affect results.
Internal branding and customer service
Branding is built by advertising and marketing. Most importantly it is built by customer service. The delivery of the goods and services must match the advertising and marketing promise.
Excellent branding is achieved through exceptional customer service. Word of mouth referrals come from memorable experiences. Exceptional service provides the stories that people share with their friends and colleagues.
Internal branding and customer service change programs
If internal branding is "a conscious and planned process undertaken within the organisation to align staff and business processes with the brand identity and values", then customer service training and service reviews will play an important part.
The end result is to align "employee understanding and behaviour to the promises and values of the brand". The business focus should be on delivering exceptional customer service when possible. This takes a concentrated effort by management and staff. It comes more easily and naturally if everyone believes in the company, its products and services.
Conclusion
Internal branding as a concept has grown in recent years. It has been tied with the growing realisation about the importance of branding generally.
Internal branding is one way of looking at organisational culture and climate. Change programs generally, and customer service programs particularly, should consider and include branding as part of the internal change processes. Where branding is crucial to organisation success, it is must.
The Importance of Internal Branding to Support Exceptional Customer Service - To learn more about this author, visit Derek Stockley's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Branding
Outside my local supermarket, the 'kiddies ride' has recently been changed. It used to be an elephant and more recently it was a fire truck. Children have always enjoyed such rides and I have always seen them as a good value treat and relatively harmless for children.
I wonder how many of the current generation of children, and/or their parents and grandparents, realise the intent of the latest ride. The fire truck has been replaced by a supermarket home delivery van, complete with corporate logo! The children are now 'delivering' your groceries direct to your door.
The use of the ride shows how large corporations use every opportunity to build their brand. Good branding requires constant reinforcement of the existence and unique offering provided.
How important is branding?
The next time you go shopping, look at what process you go through to pick a particular product. Do you think or say out aloud, or does your partner say: "that’s a good brand". I define brand in this way:
For a product, service or company, brand is the image portrayed and accepted in the market place - it is a combination of the identity achieved, the recognition gained and how people react physically and emotionally to what the product, service or company represents.
The brand informs prospective customers and customers of your value proposition and distinguishes you from your competitors. The brand should be consistent with what is delivered. It should be unique, memorable and distinctive.
Internal branding
Branding is important in the market place. Those companies with a strong branding focus also realise the importance of internal branding as part of their overall marketing effort. I define internal branding as:
A conscious and planned process undertaken within the organisation to align staff and business processes with the brand identity and values. It a focused strategy and process that aligns employee understanding and behaviour to the promises and values of the brand.
• Do your employees believe in your product and the services that you offer?
• Do they support the mission and purpose of your branding?
• Are they 'living' your brand through their thoughts, actions and deeds?
It is important that your employees are participating in new brand initiatives and strategies. Staff who are unable or unwilling to support your marketing will negatively affect results.
Internal branding and customer service
Branding is built by advertising and marketing. Most importantly it is built by customer service. The delivery of the goods and services must match the advertising and marketing promise.
Excellent branding is achieved through exceptional customer service. Word of mouth referrals come from memorable experiences. Exceptional service provides the stories that people share with their friends and colleagues.
Internal branding and customer service change programs
If internal branding is "a conscious and planned process undertaken within the organisation to align staff and business processes with the brand identity and values", then customer service training and service reviews will play an important part.
The end result is to align "employee understanding and behaviour to the promises and values of the brand". The business focus should be on delivering exceptional customer service when possible. This takes a concentrated effort by management and staff. It comes more easily and naturally if everyone believes in the company, its products and services.
Conclusion
Internal branding as a concept has grown in recent years. It has been tied with the growing realisation about the importance of branding generally.
Internal branding is one way of looking at organisational culture and climate. Change programs generally, and customer service programs particularly, should consider and include branding as part of the internal change processes. Where branding is crucial to organisation success, it is must.
The Importance of Internal Branding to Support Exceptional Customer Service - To learn more about this author, visit Derek Stockley's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Derek's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Delegation Workbook Purpose of Value Propositions Networking Road Warrior Coaching System Venture Capital Guide |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Niche Blogs 2009
Top 50 Niche Blogs 2009 | |
 |
Top 50 Franchising Blogs
Top 50 Franchising Blogs | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||