You’ve got your tangible marketing materials—mailers, letterhead, signage and billboards. You’ve got your intangible (but still measurable) marketing materials—digital ads, SEO, blog and email campaigns. But what about your walking, talking marketing materials? That’s right—using employees in your marketing strategy is a thing, and one that you should pay attention to.
Branding your staff
Branding your staff—what exactly does that mean? As employees of your business or associates of your brand, your staff has the ability to promote your brand in ways that only an actual human being can. A customer reading about a product is one thing. But hearing a staff member talk about it, watching a staff member demonstrate it or otherwise just getting an honest opinion from said staff member means more than words on paper.
While using employees in your market strategy can mean considering them walking, talking representatives of your brand and services, there is also another angle.
Giving customers and clients a peek into your staff members’ day-to-day lives—in terms of hobbies, family, passions, talents, quirks—the list goes on—is another strategy for branding your staff. Your brand followers want to be able to make a human connection with you, and the best way for them to do that is for you to expose them to the humans behind the brand itself. Luckily, social media gives us a quick and easy way to do just that.
The idea is, if they like what they see, then they will start to associate that human connection with your brand, making it more probably that they will patronize your business.
Tips for using employees in your marketing strategy
Highlight your staff on your business’ social pages.
Don’t hide them in the corner. Show off your staff front and center on your business’ social media pages! This content can include employee spotlights, quick videos talking about what they are doing that day, a funny thing that happened to them on the way to work—anything that gets their faces and names out there! Nothing is too small.
You should also encourage your employees to invite their followers to like your brand’s pages as well.
Share content between your brand’s pages and staff’s personal pages.
If your employees are willing, intentionally overlap their personal pages with your business page. If employee “Will” did something really cool over the weekend and posted about it on his Facebook, share it to your business Facebook page or if staff member “Amy” just had a baby, share the baby announcement she posted from her Insta story to your page’s story. These are the things that help customers and clients get to know the faces behind the brand, which is so important. Just be sure to keep things professional, and ensure that your employees are comfortable sharing.
Have them physically represent your brand.
We’re not saying your employees have to wear your brand’s swag everywhere they go. But a hat or bag here and there doesn’t hurt! Equip your team with branded items they’ll want to use.
Encourage community involvement.
Word of mouth is one of the strongest marketing strategies at your disposal. That includes having potential clientele hear about your products or services directly from the people that work with those products and services on a daily basis. Using employees in your marketing strategy includes encouraging them to get out and about in the community as representatives of your brand, whether it be via chamber of commerce events, community festivals, lunch and learns and beyond.
Let them express themselves on your blog.
Some business blogs choose to write from an omniscient perspective. But there’s no rule saying that you can’t have multiple individuals contributing to your brand’s blog in first-person. This week’s blog might be by “Will,” while next week’s blog entry is from employee “Amy.” Each can write from his or her unique knowledge base while incorporating subjectivity as well. Again, this gives clients the opportunity to make that personal connection.
Summary
Your employees are essentially your brand’s spokespeople. The reputation they cultivate can therefore reflect your brand itself. Using employees in your marketing strategy is a tool that can give potential customers a direct line to the faces of your business—their link to making that personal connection that all human beings crave.
McNutt & Partners is a full-service advertising and digital marketing agency. Contact us today for your marketing needs! Call 334-521-1010, or visit our contact page.
