Employee branding consists of allowing your team members to establish their own identity within the identity of your company. A majority of companies in todays market frown upon team members branding themselves as a part of the organization. At Majdas Touch Insurance we have the opposite perspective. Employee branding can be critical to the success of an organization. Not only in the sense of scaling and growing the company but in employee retention and talent attraction as well.
The reality is that in today’s society, most consumers have a short attention span. You cannot reach everyone, please everyone, and keep them satisfied without entertaining the different personalities of the public. With that in mind, what hooks John may turn off Jane. There is no "one size fits all" branding blueprint that works to entertain 100% of consumers or all companies would be following that blue print. Truth and transparency speak volumes. So how does truth and transparency tie back into Employee branding? Employee Branding affects how your company is perceived by talent looking to work for you, as well as your existing clients, and new prospects coming in. With social media, employee branding has the power to convey strength of the organization, social has the power to promote loyalty within branding by highlighting the different client experience methods being procured by each employees personality, and it has the ability to show the flexibility within the company, as a result, earning trust from the consumer by transparency in showing that the “one size fits all“ mentality is outdated.
In business, it is best to be honest in your conduct. Addressing the elephant in the room in regard to not being able to please everyone with one personality type is a positive thing you shouldn't run from. The “customer is always right” mentality is archaic, as are the organizations’ once size fits all business plans. People like real people. Now is the time to engage employee branding more than ever. Each one of our employees has a different personality that speaks to different clients with like personalities. Employee branding benefits are vast and produce significant retention rates amongst company clientele and team members alike.
So if you are an employee seeking to brand yourself, how do you get started? First and foremost all employees should get clearance from their corporation to market themselves according to the brand guidelines of the organization they work for. Once cleared, employees should choose a platform of their liking, suiting their personality and network, to speak about the company products considering the branding guidelines. This may be social media, local events, foot marketing, etc. The focus should always remain the same, which is to be true to themselves, with respect to the organization they work for. There are key values in all organizations that do not change client to client. Those should remain the same but the employee should use their methods of communicating those values the best way they see fit. This will engage their network of people to conduct business with them based on their equal like mindedness. The employees should remain true to who they are and if there are certain aspects that make them uncomfortable they should simply shift focus to the things that they are comfortable with. Much too often do organizations see their employees as numbers vs. real people.
On a human level, humans like to connect with other humans, not robots. From an employee level, not everyone is going to like everything about the place where they work, even if it is their dream job. That doesn’t mean that things won’t change with time. Most team members will find comfort in being able to conduct business in the way they feel most comfortable. Even if they don't like their current work environment, allowing team members to explore different communication styles within their current work environment will allow them to adjust. Starting out with smaller comfort levels that later, with experience, transition into more comfort with things that previously scared them such as networking for example. If an employee is afraid of networking the best place to start building a brand of their own is to start with the internal company clients they are already exposed to during their daily work activity. This is the best place to practice and hone in on their preferred methods.
From a client perspective, most exiting clients understand that every human has a different personality and approach. If something is to the existing client’s disliking, they will likely request to work with someone else. That comes back to leadership. If there is a clear understanding between the employer and employee in regards to the employee discovery journey, it would be okay from a corporate stand point, if a client requests to work with another team member. As long as this understanding is mutual, the employee will continue to explore what works best for them. If the employee feels threatened to explore their own branding, the relationship will never work out and it is likely that the company will have a high employee turn over or even worse, a ridged and outdated consumer perceived brand. Ultimately it is important for the employee and organization to remain true to their core values, this will eliminate employees that do not have the organizations best interest at heart and in turn, it will eliminate toxic work environments preventing the employees from ultimate career growth and satisfaction.
Does your company allow you to brand yourself through their organization? Share your experience with us below.
