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Brand communications:
Inside Out;
Through Your People
By Sharon Lim, Research Analyst, StrategiCom
Brand communications:
Inside Out; Through Your People
By Sharon Lim, Research Analyst, StrategiCom
July 2010
Introduction
The reality that all business owners must competing product offerings becoming
face is harsh. In today’s competitive markets increasingly similar2. Quality and functional
where a rising number of industries is benefits have become the minimum criteria
rapidly maturing to a state of saturation1, in the survival of a business. Instead, the roles
the success of a business no longer lies in of branding and marketing have emerged
distinguishing products or services based as twin contributing factors in enabling
on quality and functional benefits alone1. customers to effectively differentiate
Technological advances have resulted in between competing products3.
1
Whelan S. and Wohfeil M. (2006) “Communicating Brands Through Engagement With ‘Lived’ Experiences”, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 13, No. 4/5,
pp. 313-329.
2
De Chernatony, L. (2001), “A Model For Strategically Building Brands”, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 32-44.11 Berthon, P., Ewing, M & Li,
L.H. (2005). Captivating company: dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding. International Journal of Advertising, 24(2), pp. 152
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Andersson, M. and Weslau, A. (2000) “Organising For Event Marketing In Order To Change Brand Image And Increase Sales”, International Management
Master Thesis No. 2000:44, Graduate Business School, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
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Tai, J. and Chew, W. (2008) Transforming Your Business Into A Brand: The 10 Rules Of Branding, Marshall Cavendish.
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(2009) Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster.
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Kenneth R. Andrews. (1998) Resources, Firms and Strategies: A Reader In The Resource-based Perspective, Oxford University Press, USA, pp. 52-59.
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BrandBank • JULY 2010 issue
The remaining sections of this article explicate the role of marketing in the form of brand
communications.
Before we discuss the development of an point that in the B2B context, the dominant
effective B2B brand communications strategy medium of communication is personal
(refer to Figure 1), we draw attention to the contact13 through sales people.14
9
Harris F. and de Chernatony L. (2001) “Corporate Branding And Corporate Brand Performance”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35, No. 3/4, pp. 441-
456.
10
http://vista-consulting.com/marketing-b2b-vs-b2c. Sourced on 2010, May 30.
11
Efendi, J., Kinney, M.R., Smith, K.T. and Smith, L.M. (2010) “Using B2B Buy-Side E-Commerce Systems In The Supply Chain: Does It Affect Financial
Performance?”, Proceedings of the annual meeting of the Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators, pp. 61-93.
12
Phillips, C. and M. Meeker. (2000) Morgan Stanley Dean Witter: The B2B Internet Report, Collaborative Commerce, pp. 1-55.
13
Baumgarth G. (2010) “Living The Brand”: Brand Orientation In The Business-to-business Sector”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 44, No. 5, pp. 653-
671.
14
Lynch J. and de Chernatony L. (2004) “The Power Of Emotion: Brand Communication In Business-to-business Markets”, Journal of Brand Management, Vol.
11, No. 5, pp. 403-419.
15
Ansgar Zerfass. (2007) “Trends In Communication Management And Public Relations – Results And Findings”, European Communication Monitor 2007, pp.
60.
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BrandBank • JULY 2010 issue
Employees are inherently heterogeneous. As such, employees fall under the category
Individual employees’ attitudes and of dynamic channels in the context of brand
behaviours vary from one another and need communications strategy, where “dynamic”
to be orchestrated by the firm16 to ensure that is “marked by usually continuous change”.5
they are aligned with the company’s brand This is unlike static brand communications
values. Over time, employees join and channels such as the company website,
leave the company and this mandates that brochures and print advertisements that
the alignment of employees’ attitudes and require little or no change5 once they have
behaviours must be an on-going process. been developed.
• Static channels
• Dynamic channels
• Measure how well the brand communications has been done internally & externally
• Measure if there has been improvements in stakeholders’ perception of the brand
On this note, the rest of this article aims to expound on the dynamic channels in B2B brand
communications.
16
Punjaisri K. and Wilson A. (2007) “The Role Of Internal Branding In The Delivery Of Employee Brand Promise”, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 15, No.
1, pp. 57-70.
5
(2009) Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster.
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BrandBank • JULY 2010 issue
9
Harris F. and de Chernatony L. (2001) “Corporate Branding And Corporate Brand Performance”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35, No. 3/4, pp. 441-456.
17
Farquhar P. H. (2005) “Brand Alignment Across Organisational Boundaries”, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 96-100
18
Khan, B. M. (2009) “Internal Branding: Aligning human capital strategy with brand strategy”, The Icfai University Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 6, No.
2, pp. 31-32.
19
Chong M. (2007) “The Role Of Internal Communication And Training In Infusing Corporate Values And Delivering Brand Promise: Singapore Airlines’
Experience“, Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 10, pp. 201-212.
20
Nandan S. (2005) “An Exploration Of The Brand Identity–Brand Image Linkage: A Communications Perspective”, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 12, No.
4, pp. 264-278.
21
(2010) “When Branding Gets Personal: Big Names That Stamp Identity On Their Companies”, Strategic Direction, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 28-31.
22
Arruda W. (2009) “Brand Communication: The Three Cs”, Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 51, No. 5, pp. 409-416.
23
Yaniv, E. and F. Farkas. (2005) “The Impact Of Person-Organization Fit On The Corporate Brand Perception Of Employees And Of Customers”, Journal of
Change Management, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 457.
24
Thomson, K., de Chernatony, L., Arganbright, L. and Khan, S. (1999) “The Buy-in Benchmark: How Staff Understanding And Commitment Impact Brand And
Business Performance”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 15, No. 8, pp. 819-835.
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BrandBank • JULY 2010 issue
Brand Communications
Within this, internal branding has emerged as a key management process to align
the attitudes and behaviours of employees with the brand values25,26 and this can be
accomplished via three methods:
25
Tosti, T. and Stotz, D. (2001) “Brand: Building Your Brand From The Inside Out”, Marketing Management, Vol. 10, No. 2 , pp. 28–33.
26
De Chernatony, L. (2001) “From Brand Vision To Brand Evaluation — Strategically Building And Sustaining Brands”, Butterworth-Heinemann,
Oxford.
27
Welsh M. and Jackson P. R. (2007) “Rethinking Internal Communication: A Stakeholder Approach”, Corporate Communications: An International
Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 177-198.
28
Procter, T. and Doukakis, I. (2003) “Change Management: The Role Of Internal Communication And Employee Development”, Corporate
Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 268-277.
29
Yeomans L. (2008) “… It’s A General Meeting, It’s Not For Us …”, Internal Communication and Organizational Learning – An Interpretive Approach”,
Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 13. No. 3, pp. 271-286
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BrandBank • JULY 2010 issue
Revisiting the analogy of storytelling, the Without doubt, both the brand champion
central role of brand ambassadors is to and his/her army of brand ambassadors
support the chief storyteller by repeating must fulfil their roles well and work hand-
the exact same story to all customers. in-hand in order to successfully execute
Literature has identified that “successful the brand communications strategy in a
internal branding engenders employees’ cohesive and consistent manner.24
commitment to, identification with30 and
loyalty to31 the brand.”19 Employees In the closing section of this article, two
therefore need to embrace and internalise case studies will be presented to inscribe
the brand values before they are able to the importance of consistent brand
deliver consistent brand messages.32,33 communications.
Internally, employees should take the
initiative to assist in training new brand
ambassadors by sharing their commitment
and stimulating brand commitment.34
Case Studies
The two case studies are companies which of these companies are fictitious. The first
StrategiCom served within the last four years. company is “Alpha Foods” and the second,
In the interest of confidentiality, the names “Beta Weld”.
19
Chong M. (2007) “The Role Of Internal Communication And Training In Infusing Corporate Values And Delivering Brand Promise: Singapore Airlines’ Experience“,
Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 10, pp. 201-212.
24
Thomson, K., de Chernatony, L., Arganbright, L. and Khan, S. (1999) “The Buy-in Benchmark: How Staff Understanding And Commitment Impact Brand And
Business Performance”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 15, No. 8, pp. 819-835
30
Meyer, J. P., Stanley, D. J., Herscovitch, L. and Topolnytsky, L. (2002) “Affective, Continuance, And Normative Commitment To The Organisation: A Meta-analysis
Of Antecedents, Correlates, And Consequences”, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Vol. 61, pp. 20–52.
31
Papasolomou, I. and Vrontis, D. (2006) “Using Internal Marketing To Ignite The Corporate Brand: The Case Of The UK Retail Bank Industry”, Journal of Brand
Management, Vol. 14, No. 1/2, pp. 177–195.
32
King C. and Grace D. (2008) “Internal Branding: Exploring The Employee’s Perspective”, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 358-372.
33
Burmann C., Zeplin S. and Riley N. (2009) “Key Determinants Of Internal Brand Management Success: An Exploratory Empirical Analysis”, Journal of Brand
Management, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 264-284.
34
Kalla H. K. (2005) “Integrated Internal Communications: A Multidisciplinary Perspective”, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 10, No. 4,
pp. 302-314.
06
BrandBank • JULY 2010 issue
Investigating further, the main cause for terms of its direction and naturally, employees
the general worsening of stakeholders’ did not know how they could contribute to
perceptions of Alpha Foods was deeply rooted it. Customers too, were not aware of the
in the absence of the owners’ commitment change in the position of the corporate
to implement the changes to reposition the brand. Evidently, the lack of leadership
company, as well as the high turnover of from the brand champion gave rise to the
employees. Without the brand champion lack of employees’ buy-in. This in turn was
passionately leading the company through a direct contributing factor to the decline in
the repositioning phase, internal branding to customers’ perceptions.
align employees’ attitudes and behaviours to
the company’s new brand values was as a Amongst other recommendations, it was
result, starkly lacking. The people within the encouraged that Alpha Foods set up an in-
company did not feel the change and this house training department to ensure that the
was clearly reflected in the audit findings. company’s new brand values was properly
communicated. Six months later, the results
Although Alpha Foods’ employees could of the fourth brand track audit showed a
regurgitate the company’s new corporate marked improvement in employees’ and
position statements, they were not informed customers’ perceptions of Alpha Foods.
on how the company intended to change in
Conclusion
As competition across all The next important component is
industries escalates, business to ensure that there is a structured
owners can no longer afford to method of internal brand building.
run away from the reality that Apart from conducting regular
success today lies in effectively training, some common tools that
differentiating their businesses can be employed to consistently
through the twin functions of and repeatedly communicate
branding and marketing. As a brand values internally include
result, brand communications devoting time for frequent
merits close attention for its dialogue sessions, displaying
extensive contribution to posters with the corporate position
the role of marketing. statements, utilising notice
boards , and circulating internal
16
In order to build a strong brand
newsletters, emails and written
successfully from inside out, the
memos35. Furthermore, non-
Sharon Lim joined StrategiCom in first step that B2B companies
verbal communication elements
2009 as a Research Analyst. Formally must work towards is to ensure
such as dress-codes and the way
with FT Consulting, Sharon was the complementary presence of
employees are addressed36 are
actively involved in various franchise a brand champion and an army
subtle techniques that may have
development, intellectual property of brand ambassadors. As the
an effect in encouraging brand-
management and branding projects ultimate brand champion, business
supporting behaviours.
for clients such as Old Chang Kee, owners must stand at the forefront
Fragrance Foodstuff and Griffin Kinetic. of the company and take charge The two case studies on Alpha
In StrategiCom, Sharon specialises in of developing and executing the Foods and Beta Weld have served
Brand Communications and her list brand communications strategy. to illustrate the importance of
of clients includes Hu Lee Impex, Shao Besides developing a “good effective brand communications.
Fook Engineering and Chemilink story”, the brand champion needs Achieving the three Cs of effective
Technologies Group, amongst others. to convince employees that as brand communications - clarity,
She is currently involved in a national brand ambassadors, they need consistency and constancy – is
Employer Branding Correlation Study to play their part in repeating undeniably no mean feat; the
conducted jointly with the Singapore this same “story” to all the reward for successfully achieving
National Employers Federation. company’s external stakeholders. this, however, is far-reaching.
She can be contacted at
sharon.lim@strategicom.com
16
Punjaisri K. and Wilson A. (2007) “The Role Of Internal Branding In The Delivery Of Employee Brand
Promise”, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 57-70.
35
Vallaster, C. and De Chernatony, L. (2005), “Internationalisation Of Services Brands: The Role Of Leadership
During The Internal Brand Building Process”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 22, pp. 181-203.
36
Vallaster, C. and De Chernatony, L. (2006), “Internal Brand Building And Structuration: The Role Of
Leadership”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 40, No. 7/8, pp. 761-784.
about strategicom
StrategiCom is a global B2B brand strategy consulting firm headquartered in Singapore with 11 offices and 110 consultants & researchers
around the world. The industries it serves include Information Technology, Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, Commodities Trading, Business Services,
Pharmaceutical, Medical & Healthcare, Transport & Logistics, Construction & Real Estate, Precision Engineering and Electronics Manufacturing.
StrategiCom’s consultants, researchers and proprietary methodologies provide the catalyst for companies to transform from traditional
businesses into differentiated brands.
contact us
StrategiCom Pte Ltd 371 Beach Road #19-08 , The KeyPoint , Singapore 199597
Tel: (+65) 6220-2216 Fax: (+65) 6220-2116 Email: publication@strategicom.com
© July 2010 StrategiCom Pte Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by StrategiCom Pte Ltd.
An imprint of StrategiCom Pte Ltd: 371 Beach Road, #19-08, The KeyPoint, Singapore 199597.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
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Tel: (65) 6220 2216 Fax: (65) 6220 2116 E-mail: publication@strategicom.com Website: www.strategicom.com
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