When you hear the term “brand building,” what audience comes to mind first? More than likely, you thought of your core audience – your customers. They are, after all, on the receiving end of your company’s brand story. We go to great lengths to build trust and loyalty with this audience. But don’t forget about what’s on the inside — your company’s employees. This internal audience should not be overlooked when it comes to building your brand because they are the ones doing the “building.”

Building your brand from the inside out is only possible if your internal team is given the tools it needs to live the brand. Your team needs to have a complete understanding of your brand’s mission and vision, its promise to your customers and its personality and values. When your internal team fully understands your brand’s essence, it will be empowered to exemplify your brand with your external audiences, whether it be answering the phone, creating a product, selling a service or solving a problem. If your employees have a clear understanding of what it means to live the brand, every activity they engage in concerning your brand will more likely align with your overall brand strategy.

One of our clients, Thinsulate™ Insulation from 3M, recently repositioned its brand with an updated brand platform and fresh identity system. The changes were significant, but the decision makers understood the importance of addressing their internal audience first — a global network of employees. Go East helped them engage their internal audience by creating a variety of materials to communicate the changes. We created a small business card-sized “brand card” to communicate the Thinsulate Insulation story, as well as the essence of the brand platform. The card’s convenient size means that team members can easily carry it with them for quick reference. In addition, we created posters that were placed around the offices to reinforce the new identity and brand messages. We also produced a brand brochure and brand video. While these items initially launched internally, the brochure and video were designed to be shared with external audiences after the launch. Finally, when the reinvigorated brand was presented internally, energy drinks with a custom Thinsulate Insulation branded label were distributed to energize employees as they set about spreading the new brand message and identity.

The materials that were launched to Thinsulate Insulation employees were specifically designed to equip the team with the information and inspiration they needed to successfully build the brand and, more importantly, to live the brand. Today, they’re building their brand from the inside out. Are you?

Posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 by Chris Weiss