Mitchell Colin
Ogilvy & Mather, New York, USA.
Harv Bus Rev. 2002 Jan;80(1):99-101, 103-5, 126.
When you think of marketing, chances are your mind goes right to your customers--how can you persuade more people to buy whatever it is you sell? But there's another "market" that's equally important: your employees. Author Colin Mitchell argues that executives by and large ignore this critical internal audience when developing and executing branding campaigns. As a result, employees end up undermining the expectations set by the company's advertising--either because they don't understand what the ads have promised or because they don't believe in the brand and feel disengaged or, worse, hostile toward the company. Mitchell offers three principles for executing internal branding campaigns--techniques executives can use to make sure employees understand, embrace, and "live" the brand vision companies are selling to the public. First, he says, companies need to market to employees at times when the company is experiencing a fundamental challenge or change, times when employees are seeking direction and are relatively receptive to new initiatives. Second, companies must link their internal and external marketing campaigns; employees should hear the same messages that are being sent to the market-place. And third, internal branding campaigns should bring the brand alive for employees, creating an emotional connection to the company that transcends any one experience. Internal campaigns should introduce and explain the brand messages in new and attention-grabbing ways and then reinforce those messages by weaving them into the fabric of the company. It is a fact of business, writes Mitchell, that if employees do not care about or understand their company's brands, they will ultimately weaken their organizations. It's up to top executives, he says, to give them a reason to care.
当你想到营销时，很可能你的脑海中立刻就会浮现出你的客户——你如何才能说服更多的人购买你所销售的任何产品呢？但还有另一个同样重要的“市场”：你的员工。作者科林·米切尔认为，高管们在制定和执行品牌推广活动时，大体上忽视了这个至关重要的内部受众。结果，员工最终会破坏公司广告所设定的期望——要么是因为他们不理解广告所承诺的内容，要么是因为他们不相信这个品牌，感到与公司脱节，或者更糟糕的是，对公司怀有敌意。米切尔提出了执行内部品牌推广活动的三条原则——高管们可以运用这些技巧来确保员工理解、接受并“践行”公司向公众推销的品牌愿景。首先，他说，公司需要在经历根本性挑战或变革的时候向员工进行营销，也就是员工正在寻求方向且相对容易接受新举措的时候。其次，公司必须将其内部和外部营销活动联系起来；员工应该听到与向市场传递的相同信息。第三，内部品牌推广活动应该让品牌在员工心中鲜活起来，建立起一种超越任何单一体验的与公司的情感联系。内部活动应该以新颖且引人注目的方式引入并解释品牌信息，然后通过将这些信息融入公司架构来强化它们。米切尔写道，商业中的一个事实是，如果员工不关心或不理解他们公司的品牌，他们最终会削弱公司组织。他说，这取决于高管们给他们一个关心的理由。
