Understanding internal branding

Internal branding can help you connect employees with your brand and company values. A strong brand also contributes to a positive company culture. Your culture influences everything from internal communication to job satisfaction, so it might impact your ability to reach company goals. As you’re building an internal brand, consider incorporating these elements:

• Transparency
• Authenticity
• Integrity
• Innovation
• Employee empowerment

Ideally, employer branding applies to every aspect of your human resources (HR) strategy. You can build it into your onboarding processes, training initiatives, benefits package and performance review policies.

Internal vs. external branding

Internal and external branding work together to strengthen a company. Internal branding is what you do to align employees with your mission, vision and values. External branding focuses on shaping public perception.

For example, strong external branding can help you attract quality candidates. When you hire a new team member, they start to notice elements of your internal branding, which helps them understand your company’s mission.

Both types of branding work together to build a positive reputation for your company. When they’re not at work, employees might talk to their friends and family members about their work environment. This can influence how other people think about your business.

Benefits of a strong internal employer brand

A strong internal brand might help you improve employee satisfaction, as it can help employees feel like they truly belong. Employer branding can also enhance customer satisfaction. When employees have a positive perception of your company, they’re more likely to deliver excellent customer service.

Your employer branding can even affect your sales. If employees speak positively about your company, customers might put their trust in you. This might cause them to buy additional products or sign up for support services.

Steps to develop an internal branding strategy

When building an internal employer branding strategy, it’s helpful to define your company’s mission, vision and values before you do anything else. If you know what you hope to achieve, you can create a strategy that aligns with your goals. You can also engage employees through feedback and create consistent internal communication to support your efforts.

Here are some steps to consider:

Define your company values and mission

A mission statement summarizes why your company exists and what it currently does. For example, a company that grows organic produce might have a mission statement that focuses on the desire to make healthy food more accessible. In contrast, a vision statement focuses on the future. It’s all the things you hope to achieve at some point.

Company values, also known as core values, are the beliefs that guide your strategy. When you define your values, it’s easier to make decisions about everything from hiring to product development. Values also govern the way employees communicate with each other, making them an important component of employer branding.

These are just a few examples of core values:

• Integrity
• Continuous improvement
• Innovation
• Passion
• Collaboration

Matching your internal and external messaging can make your purpose clearer to employees.

Engage employees through feedback

Seeking employee feedback might make your team members feel more valued. Involving employees also promotes a sense of ownership. When team members “own” their work, they care about what happens to your company. Consider doing pulse surveys or asking employees to submit suggestions to your HR department. This can help you understand how team members feel about their work environment and their colleagues.

If you use surveys, consider asking employees to rate each aspect of their experience on a scale of one to five or one to ten. Include questions related to how employees feel about your culture, values and overall brand. Once you collect feedback, create an action plan to help you address it. Acting on feedback helps demonstrate your commitment to continuous improvement.

Create consistent internal communication

Consistent internal communication prevents confusion and enhances understanding. Internal messaging is consistent when it’s uniform in frequency, quality, tone and style. For example, emails from managers should reflect the information in your company handbook and other policy documents. They should also align with your company’s mission, vision and values.

Consider creating an employee value proposition (EVP) to guide your internal communication strategy. An EVP is a statement listing the support, values, rewards and types of recognition provided to team members. In simple terms, your EVP is what makes you unique as an employer.

For instance, Google sets itself apart from other tech companies by offering a wide range of perks, such as fitness classes, free food and nap pods in the office.

It can also be helpful to describe your internal branding efforts and explain why they’re important. When employees feel valued, they’re more likely to support your employer branding strategy.

Encourage employee involvement

One of the goals of employer branding is to turn team members into “ambassadors” for your company. An ambassador does more than perform their assigned duties. They can strengthen your brand by sharing their experiences with your company. Authentic employee experiences might positively influence the perceptions that customers, investors, or community members have of your company.

Another way to get employees involved is to launch a volunteering program or establish goals related to social or environmental sustainability. A volunteering program can help employees feel more connected to each other and enhance collaboration. It may also strengthen your reputation in the community. Social and environmental initiatives have similar benefits, as they allow team members to work toward shared goals.

Employee resource groups (ERGs)

To enhance collaboration, consider creating employee resource groups. An ERG is a forum where employees with similar interests or backgrounds can share their stories. These groups are also known as affinity groups or business network groups. Creating ERGs might help you achieve the following outcomes:

• Improved work environment
• Enhanced teamwork
• Increased creativity and innovation

ERGs also give employees an opportunity to be proactive about identifying and addressing minor issues, which can make your internal branding strategy more effective.

Mentoring programs complement the work of ERGs by giving team members more opportunities to develop their careers. A positive mentor-mentee relationship increases inclusion and might help you retain quality employees.

It also gives you an opportunity to determine which employees have the strongest leadership skills. You can use this information to make decisions about promotions and department transfers.

Recognize and reward contributions

Regular recognition helps motivate employees and makes them more committed to your company. A culture of recognition also promotes continuous improvement and enhances morale. Continuous improvement involves learning new skills and finding ways to improve your company’s products, services or processes.

For example, you might encourage employees to take online classes or participate in job-sharing programs. These activities help team members gain new skills and strengthen the quality of your workforce.

Morale describes how employees feel about their work environment and their individual roles. Regular recognition might increase morale by showing employees that you value them. It can also help team members believe their work is important. Consider recognizing employees when they receive promotions, obtain new certifications or reach key anniversary milestones.

Invest in employee development

Providing development opportunities shows employees that you’re invested in their growth. To strengthen your internal brand, consider giving team members plenty of opportunities to learn new skills or gain knowledge. Here are a few ways to promote employee development:

• Develop new training programs.
• Pay for online courses.
• Offer tuition reimbursement.
• Sponsor lunch-and-learn sessions.
• Encourage employees to join professional networking groups.
• Start a business book club in your office.
• Create a mentoring program.

Learning new skills can help team members feel more confident and improve the employee experience. It might also help employees qualify for new roles in your organization. When you support team members in their career development, they’re more likely to feel satisfied with your employer brand.

An added benefit is that you have an opportunity to create an effective succession plan. Helping team members learn new skills today can make it easier to fill future openings.

Training and mentorship programs

Training offers several potential benefits for employers. One of the main benefits is that it helps employees improve their performance. For example, you can have a training program designed to increase productivity or reduce error rates. It also helps you create a more flexible workforce. Industry changes can quickly increase the demand for certain skills, so a comprehensive training program might help you respond faster to these changes.

Mentoring helps team members align their goals with the organization’s objectives. This benefits all parties. Mentees increase their confidence, mentors gain the satisfaction of sharing their wisdom and your company might achieve higher levels of morale and engagement.

Consider tracking training participation or completion rates to determine if team members are responding positively to your efforts.

Career development paths

When team members know that your company provides opportunities for advancement, they’re more likely to stay in their jobs. Consider developing clear career paths for employees at all levels.

For example, you might have an accounting path that starts with Accounting Clerk and advances to Accounts Payable Specialist or Accounts Receivable Specialist. If an employee wants to stay with your company, they might learn the skills necessary to become an Accounting Supervisor or a Staff Accountant.

Clear career paths give employees a sense of purpose. They can also help employees set relevant goals and track their progress.

Promote work-life balance

Work-life balance allows team members to succeed in the workforce while maximizing their personal well-being. No two people have the same needs, but implementing work-life balance initiatives might help you build a strong employer brand. Consider offering flexible schedules or remote work opportunities to allow employees to fit their work around other aspects of their lives.

Good work-life balance can help your company achieve these outcomes:

• Increased productivity
• Stronger commitment from employees
• Improved alignment between employer branding and company values
• Enhanced job satisfaction

Measure and adapt your strategy

Once you implement an internal branding strategy, it’s helpful to assess it regularly. You might discover that you need to update it due to changes in your company or your industry. For example, many employers are embracing artificial intelligence (AI), so you might want to shift your focus to having employees use AI tools.

Setting clear goals and metrics can help you assess your employer branding strategy accurately. Consider using both qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data.

Quantitative data is information you can count or measure objectively. Qualitative data is non-numerical and can include subjective information like employee opinions or perceptions. If you want to survey employees, consider using multiple question types to gather both types of data at once.

You might want to compare your results against industry benchmarks to determine if the strategy is a success. It’s also helpful to refine your strategy based on the data you gather during the research process.

Showcase employee stories

Consider showcasing employee stories in meetings, newsletters and other internal communications. Readers often perceive these as more authentic than paid testimonials or company marketing materials. Employee stories also help team members stay motivated. When someone realizes that it’s possible to build a rewarding career with your company, they’re more likely to stay.

You can adapt these stories for multiple channels. For example, you might ask employees to speak at a conference or take over your internal messaging platform for one day each week. Authentic narratives give other employees more insight into your company’s culture.

Leverage social media platforms

Internal and external social media campaigns give team members even more opportunities to get involved with your employer branding strategy. If you have an internal social network, consider asking employees to share their achievements in a dedicated thread. Employees can also amplify your brand by posting on your public social media channels.

Align internal and external branding

Employees are more likely to remain committed to your mission and values if your internal messaging matches your external messaging. Consistency builds trust and encourages employees to act as brand ambassadors. However, focusing too much on alignment might cause some team members to feel like they can’t share their true opinions. Asking for regular feedback can change this perception and increase morale.

A strong internal employer brand aligns employees with company values, boosts engagement, satisfaction and retention while enhancing external reputation through authentic advocacy. By prioritizing transparency, consistent communication, development, recognition, and work-life balance, you can create a culture that drives both employee loyalty and business success.