What’s the skinny on getting noticed by your employees? It starts with a strong, recognizable internal brand—one that stops employees in their tracks and makes them think, “Hey, what’s this?” when they see a banner on your benefits website or a postcard in their mailbox. A standout brand can drive employee engagement and increase employee awareness of your benefits and compensation programs. And, as we all know, with benefits engagement comes desired employee behaviors and appreciation for all that you offer. We have real-life client stories to prove this (more on that later).
Do You Need to Reinvent the Wheel? Nope!
Before diving into creating an internal brand, let’s take a page from the playbook of some iconic brands. Let’s start with a short quiz. Match each clue below with the brand associated with it.
When building your internal brand, take a cue from what works for consumer marketers. By mimicking what they do well and applying it to your internal communications, you can build an identity that your people recognize and value.
How to Establish an Internal Brand
Developing an internal brand takes time, financial investment, and maybe even some sweat equity. You might need to woo internal stakeholders like your manager or leadership team and convince them that this is the right thing to do. With this level of commitment, you want to make sure you create a standout brand that feels authentic to your organization and has staying power. Follow this six-step process for building your internal brand.
1. Get nosy to understand your audience.
Learn as much as you can about your people to create a brand that will resonate with them. This includes (but is not limited to):- Demographics
- Geographic information
- Perceptions about your Total Rewards programs
- Metrics on how employees consume internal communications
- Employee concerns and priorities
- Any other data or information that you can get your hands on
2. Leverage your organization’s external brand.
You don’t need to start from ground zero. It’s possible that elements from your external brand could play well with the internal brand you’re creating. Explore whether you can leverage color palettes, photo treatment and imagery guidelines, and/or other elements of your external brand. And be sure to play nice with your internal brand and communications teams. It’s their job to protect and preserve your organization’s external identity; it’s your job to respect and honor it with an identity that focuses on the people within the organization.
3. Have a little fun as you define your brand personality.
What do you want employees to think and feel about your benefits program and working at your company? Establish guiding principles for your brand personality that drive brainstorming and the creative process. Enjoy this process; it should be fun!
4. Brainstorm until you’re blue in the face (not literally, but you get the idea).
You want your brand to have a long shelf life, so don’t leave any ideas or details unexplored. Gather a diverse group of colleagues to help brainstorm ideas for your internal identity. Every idea counts. Ruminate on your ideas, and narrow down your list to two or three standouts.
5. Bring in the creatives!
At this point, it’s time to apply a look and feel to the directions you’ve identified and develop high-level messaging to accompany each. The process usually works best when graphic designers and writers work hand in hand to develop messaging that fits the look and feel of different brand directions.
6. Share and gain consensus on brand directions.
After more than 25 years in consulting and nearly the same number of years of marriage, I’ve found that getting buy-in isn’t just nice to have; it’s mission-critical! The best way forward is to present your stakeholders (be they leaders or spouses) with options and solicit their input. People like to feel heard and listened to. It makes them more likely to accept and embrace change, whether that’s a new internal brand or updated wallpaper for your powder room.
Branding Isn’t Smoke and Mirrors. It Actually Drives Results
Strong internal brands make a difference. But don’t just take our word for it.
Our client AMD saw a significant increase in employee appreciation of their Total Rewards program a year after launching an internal brand. We’re super proud of our contributions to their new brand.
AMD's Total Rewards internal branding
For another client, FanDuel, our branded campaigns have driven significant engagement across their benefits programs. Medical plan enrollments jumped 7%, voluntary plan enrollment increased 50% on average, financial well-being vendor participation increased 15%, and 401(k) participation has increased 20% since 2022!
FanDuel's "Welcome to the Show" branded campaign
These are just a few examples of the results our branded communications are driving for clients.
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