Brand happiness comes from within

External branding work may be the most fun and get the most exposure. But internal branding must be given equal love and attention. When your employees truly embrace the brand, and communicate it to your customers and prospects through their actions, the brand grows stronger.

Internal branding is deeply connected to company culture. Your goal is to focus employees on driving business success through behaviors that support the brand. It’s more than showing the staff your new ad campaign, or giving everyone a hat with the new slogan on it. You must develop brand champions.

So how do you go about it?

You need quality components to put in place. You need a plan, and a process to get everyone on the same page, and understand there’s something in it for every employee. Make sure every employee knows the brand values they’re expected to reinforce, how they contribute to the company’s success, and how they will be rewarded for that effort.

Take a full accounting of every customer touch point. Limit the number of brand pillars. Determine no more than a handful of key brand components that everyone can understand and repeat on a daily basis that will guide their behavior.

Wal-Mart has five: Caring, Authentic, Innovative, Straightforward, and Optimistic. Keep the language simple. Here’s how Wal-Mart defines Authenticity: We’re everyday people like our customers.

Internal branding has significant benefits.

Studies have shown when it’s practiced and embraced by employees, they feel more connected to the company, morale is higher, they exhibit greater loyalty and, most importantly for your bottom line, they make customers happy.