By Jon Kaupla, BrandConnect, a division of Core Creative, www.corecreative.com

Every company has a vision for the success of its brand. Yet far too often that vision is shared only with the customer, overlooking what may be the most important audience – employees.

An internal branding program connects employees to the organization’s brand promise. It focuses on defining the vision, then effectively communicates that vision throughout all layers of the organization so that all employees are aware and supportive of the company’s core values and the plan for success. Successful internal branding practices result in employees who hear, believe and live the brand.

Increased employee engagement in the company and the brand
Internal branding practices position the brand in such a way as to make the brand understandable and relevant to employees. “Living the brand” means that employees are engaged in the company brand values, its products and services. As a result, they become credible brand advocates, on-message to talk about the product, service and company in the same voice as the external branding message.

It is interesting to note that employees are so central to the process of brand building that their behavior can either reinforce a brand’s advertised values or, if inconsistent with these values, can undermine the credibility of advertised messages. A recent study found that up to 40 percent of the marketing investment is lost when employees do not deliver on the organization’s promises to clients. Internal branding and coaching can identify and correct misdirected employees, referred to as “brand saboteurs.”

Employee engagement also generates a sense of pride, which is a great motivator to further embrace the workplace. Employees are much more likely to feel a sense of personal accomplishment as well as satisfaction that they and their colleagues are working toward the same goals.

Increased Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
Employees who are satisfied with their role and engaged with their employer deliver higher levels of customer service. Customer satisfaction develops into customer loyalty and increased sales.

Satisfied customers are those who have a positive, consistent brand experience each time they interact with a company. The employee role is critical because it is typically employees who make that important connection between a company’s aspirations and the delivery of those aspirations. Thus employees must be fully attuned to brand messaging; when employees understand, accept and believe in the values and brand promise of the organization, they align their attitudes and behavior to those values and deliver on the promise.

Increased Workplace Productivity
Overall, employees who have positive feelings about their roles and identify with the mission, vision and values together will create a more positive work environment. Research shows that employees who are engaged in the business of the organization deliver higher levels of service to “internal” customers. Team productivity improves because employees are working toward a common goal they believe in.

Employees need to understand the mission of the company and how their individual efforts support the mission. Once that knowledge is acquired, engaged employees commit to organizational goals and the core competencies of the organization are maintained. Involved and committed employees are also more likely to contribute ideas for greater efficiencies and new, improved ways of doing business, leading to enhanced productivity

Improved Recruitment and Retention
An internal brand management initiative increases both the number and quality of applicants and reduces the turnover rate among employees, including top performers.

Practices for retention and recruitment include consistently promoting images and messages of the brand, sound business practices and employee successes that together position an organization as an attractive place to work.

Through recent canvassing of working Americans, a Maritz poll reports that a company’s brand image and reputation are critical factors in attracting and engaging employees. Nearly half, or 49 percent, of recent poll respondents indicated that their companies’ brand or image had played an important role in their decision to apply for a job at their respective workplaces.

Achieving a reputation as an employer of choice has other benefits. Since high application rates result in shorter recruitment time, recruitment costs are lowered. The decreased time spent on the hiring process can be converted into other productive activity.

Internal branding also has a great impact on employee loyalty. Employees experience greater job satisfaction because they are engaged in the company and feel they have a role to play in the overall goals of the company. In addition, loyal employees have the potential to recommend the organization as a “preferred” place to work to other potential candidates.

In summary, an internal branding program provides a true competitive advantage, developing employees who are “brand champions,” storytellers who spread the brand idea. Additional benefits will appear directly on an organization’s bottom line. Engaged employees, increased productivity and  enhanced branding strengthen a company’s future growth and success.

By John Thiel, Principal + Creative Director, THIEL Design, www.thiel.com

Total Comfort began as a heating, air conditioning and sheet metal contractor in 1968. Along with new ownership in 1988, came a renewed vision of the company as a mechanical contracting firm offering services beyond heating and air conditioning, and building on the company’s internal sheet metal manufacturing shop.

In 1996, an extensive new headquarters and manufacturing facility was completed in Pewaukee. In addition, various acquisitions dramatically expanded the company’s capabilities—Hampton Plumbing in 2002, Wenninger Mechanical Services in 2004, Downey Mechanical in 2006 and Lombard Electric in 2008.

 Mis-Perceptions

In advance of the most recent acquisition in 2007, Dennis Braun, President & CEO of Total Comfort, began to recognize the need to update the company’s name, and the growing opportunity to tell a much broader story to the market. In addition to mis-perceptions, the previous name was serving as a barrier in the company’s competitive position on larger projects, and not promoting the company’s total capabilities. There was also a growing unrest with the name Total Comfort among employees, and the growing residential capabilities of the firm were not being properly perceived or promoted.

Market research confirmed the mis-perceptions around the name and company capabilities, and internal research revealed the lack of confidence of employees regarding the name and the effectiveness of existing marketing efforts and tools. Based on this research, a Brand ProfileTM was developed that verbalized the essence of the company, outlining unique firm positioning, brand attributes and personality, as well as summarizing competitive advantages.

 A New Brand

In early 2008, the new brand name TOTAL Mechanical was introduced with an updated brand identity. The brand name TOTAL Residential was also introduced to address residential capabilities with a related brand identity. The new brand is critical in explaining the total contracting capabilities of the company—HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, building automation and electrical. In addition, a new firm positioning phrase—Building Integrity—communicates a double meaning. It stands for the firm operating with impeccable integrity in all relationships, and complete mechanical systems operating with undiminished integrity.

The bold simplicity of the new TOTAL Mechanical logomark emphasizes the strength of the company, and the emphatic period at the end of the word Total adds to the meaning of the new name. A similar TOTAL Residential logomark was also developed. The phrase Building Integrity is used with both logomarks.  Please visit the company's website, www.total-mechanical.com to visualize the new brand identity. 

“We can go everywhere with our new brand identity. We look like a national firm. Our internal pride has skyrocketed, and we’re marketing the company with renewed confidence. We’re also more strategic. We use the Brand Profile in our strategic planning sessions,” says Dennis Braun, President & CEO of TOTAL Mechanical.

A DVD was included in a direct mail brand launch piece, introducing the new brand, and featuring a brief company history. The DVD was first presented at a dramatic brand launch event for employees. The brand identity program also includes capabilities brochures for both TOTAL Mechanical and TOTAL Residential, a system of stationery and electronic business papers, a customizable proposal system, an updated web site, exterior and interior signage, an updated trade show display, advertising, fleet vehicles and employee uniforms and merchandise.

 A Valuable Solution

Dennis Braun is convinced of the value of the new branding effort: “Our timing in launching our new brand, relative to the down economy, couldn’t have been better—we established a more meaningful approach. We’ve repositioned ourselves against the competition. Our brand now resonates and connects. When we leave a client or prospect meeting, the strongest thing we leave behind is our brand.”

In many ways, re-defining a brand and launching a new brand identity in a down economy is even more valuable. When companies choose to pull back and reduce their brand marketing efforts, history and research have shown that a space is created in the mind of the market, giving others the opportunity to occupy that space. The key for companies that do stay active, is to invest in developing a brand message that connects with customers and prospects, describing how their existing or new products or services are of specific value. Building the brand, and the story around the brand, helps build sales and a return on that investment.

Dennis Braun is seeing a strong and tangible ROI on their re-branding efforts: “The success of our growth and expansion is solely related to our new brand identity. The new brand means everything for our success.”

The TOTAL Mechanical brand identity program is a tangible example of the benefits of a comprehensive branding approach, built on market research and developed to better reflect the essence of an organization. A down economy doesn’t last forever. A brand update that is strategically developed around meaning, has the ability to outlast any recession, and position a company for even greater success.

By Jean Radtke, President, Phoenix Marketing Group, Inc., www.phoenixmgi.com

As public relations counsel for your company or clients, one of your jobs is to develop a comprehensive plan that will:

Web-Based PR Services

One of the greatest tools to help you reach your target audiences in the media vehicles that reach them are Web-based Public Relations Services, such as Burrelles/Luce, Cision or Vocus.

Planning

Each of the services allows you to find the journalists and media outlets you’re looking for, along with editorial calendars and outlet profiles.  You can search geographically, by media type, beats, topics and audiences.  Your lists can be saved by client or type of list, with all of the contact information you need, such as name, outlet, phone, e-mail, and address.

Social Media

Most Web-based PR services allow you to create and manage lists of blogs and social media for distribution of intellectual property.  Some are starting to monitor coverage, as well.

Distribute Releases

When your media lists are done, you can create professional news releases and other intellectual property, and distribute them with just a click of the mouse.  But beware: Some services limit the number of releases you can distribute within a given year, or they’ll charge you if you exceed the limit.  Some services allow you to insert your logo, photos and videos, but often charge more for these services.  Burrelles/Luce allows you to create a multimedia news kit for distribution to your media contacts.  You can even download the news kit to a CD for distribution to media at a tradeshow.

Release Tracking and News Wire Distributions

The services will keep track of all of the intellectual property that you’ve distributed by date, title of release, and media lists you’ve distributed to.  In addition, Business Wire offers distribution to 3,500 high-traffic news wire feeds for a cost of about $995 per release.  They charge a little more to help you Search Engine Optimize (SEO) it.  If you subscribe to Cision, they contract with PR Newswire, a similar news wire feed distribution that costs $695 for a four-pack.  That’s quite a savings, but it must be used in a one-year period.

Monitoring Your News Coverage

Monitoring the news coverage for your company or client is important to demonstrate the value of your efforts.  Most services send you electronic clips as they are published, and allow you to create monthly or quarterly Clip Reports that include the name of the media, a copy of the coverage, and may even provide the dollar value of the space.

One of the key issues here is to choose the clipping service that tracks most of your media.  My suggestion is to provide all of the clipping services with a copy of your media list and ask them to report back to you which media they read and which they don’t.  Select the service that reads most of your media and has a favorable reading and clip cost.  For example, Cision charges $338/month for national print clipping service plus $2.89/clip, while Burrelles/Luce charges $255/month for their reading service plus $1.95/clip.

Media Relationships

Another benefit of using these services is that they provide the opportunity for you to develop and maintain positive relationships with key editors and reporters of publications that are important to your company or your clients.

You can take a proactive approach to working with key media by reviewing their editorial calendars, pitching them with story ideas, and keeping track of your communications.  Having a successful PR program is predicated upon having a solid media database, a clear message strategy, trusted relationships with the media, and a way to measure results.

By Amanda Williams, Account Executive, Branigan Communications, www.branigan.biz

It’s 5 p.m. and 10 below on a Wednesday evening. You bundle up, leave the office and start the car. You exit the parking lot and your gas light turns on. Undeterred, you head to your local station, pull up to the pump and turn the ignition off. You roll down the window and call out, “Fill ’er up, please,” to the station attendant. “Premium or unleaded?” he asks.

Those were the days of unparalleled customer service. It’s a rarity in today’s fast-paced world. It’s also becoming increasingly extinct in the PR industry. Between tweeting and friending, texting and e-mailing, PR has evolved from a snail-mail pace to a buzzing social media sprint. Who has the time to waste on good, old-fashioned PR techniques and exceptional client service? The answer should be you.

To create a successful marketing campaign today, the traditional rules of full-service PR still apply, even amidst a myriad of Web-based communication vehicles. To help you manage industry trends without sacrificing your solid PR groundwork, I’ve provided a guide to five established best practices.

Though the landscape of the PR industry has changed, the foundation remains the same. Solid, traditional PR practices are at the heart of any new social media campaign and should remain the basis for all PR-focused marketing activity. When faced with hitting the send button on your next e-mail transaction, consider the difference a phone call or handshake would make. And when your client tells you to “fill ’er up,” you can confidently smile and reply with, “premium or unleaded?”

MK Direct, Pewaukee, has recently added Karin Conway to their sales team to assist in establishing new client relationships. She has more than 20 years of sales and business marketing experience; including retail marketing, long-term healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and B2B marketing.

Z2 Marketing, Pewaukee, recently hired Dawn Finnegan as vice president of client services.  She previously served as vice president of sales and partnerships at Hanson Dodge Creative in Milwaukee for eight year prior to joining Z2.

GRAEF recently announced the election of Terry Foster, Bryan Mentzel, Joe Pepitone, and Steve Schowalter as associates in the firm’s Milwaukee office. Randolph Videkovich, also joined the Milwaukee office as the land and water resources team leader.

Tom Palzewicz of ActionCOACH of Elm Grove, recently received the “Action Man” award for the ActionCOACH North American Region. The award recognizes top achievement in the promotion, growth and implementation of ActionCOACH, and represents achievement through results not only in ActionCOACH but in their clients as well.

Kent Paterick recently joined Mueller Graphic Supply, Inc., Milwaukee, as an account executive for wide-format sales and consultation. Paterick has 23 years of experience in the wide-format arena.