The most important asset of your company’s brand to your customers and prospects is your employees. The number one reason a person will change vendors is the interaction he/she has with the personnel of your company. If your employees are not strong advocates for what your company stands for, your company is in jeopardy of losing business.

Every company needs to strive to build a brand-based culture. The reasons to build a brand-based culture are the following:

• It provides a tangible reason for employees to believe in your company, which keeps them motivated and energized.
• It allows each employee to see how he or she fits into the grand scheme of delivering the brand vision and promise to its customers and the effect of these efforts on the business goals.
• It develops a level of pride tied to fulfilling the brand promise.
• It provides a great recruiting tactic as well as a powerful retention tool.
• It confirms that the customer and the brand are the things to focus on.

Whether your business sells to consumers or whether it is a B2B model, getting your employees to understand the company’s brand promise is an essential part of building a brand driven business that delivers sustainable, profitable growth.

Southwest Airlines is an excellent example of carrying its brand of friendly affordable air carrier service through its employees to its customers, which is clearly stated on the Southwest website:

“Our Culture is unique because of the SOUTHWEST SPIRIT of our Employees. Defining SOUTHWEST SPIRIT is difficult, but one of the important components is an altruistic nature that places others before self. Our Employees are famous for their warm hearts and giving nature, which is what makes Southwest a Company with a conscience. The Employees of Southwest are committed to ‘doing the right thing,’ which is why giving back to the communities we serve and contributing positively to our environment is simply the way we do business.”

How do C-level managers keep employees informed and engaged in the brand’s evolving story and what it means to them? Does there exist inside the company an internal marketing effort to increase employees understanding of the brand while eliminating any perceived barriers to embracing it?

We propose that a company needs to look inside itself and perform an internal assessment of how employees, including management and channel partners perceive the corporate brand and how it delivers its brand message to its customers. A coordinated internal understanding of the brand is just as important as a good external marketing initiative.