The Story

Here’s my 2 cents on Jesse’s excellent post about the corporate brand and “they” vs. “we”. In order to get your employees on board with the “we” mentality, you have to give them something that makes the brand worth investing in mentally. That is, word-of-mouth marketing applies to internal culture at a company as much as it does to external brand perception.

At at recent trip to Burgerville, a Pacific Northwest fast-food chain, I was stunned at how well I was treated by the teenage girl behind the register. She made menu suggestions and shuffled around my order to get me the best deal. Why would she care so much about my Burgerville experience? The answer is simply because her Burgerville experience was a good one. The chain’s business model includes an award-winning comprehensive health care system for all employees, unprecedented in the fast-food industry. Says company president Tom Mears, “We have always believed that investing in our employees makes good business sense.”

New Seasons is a grocery chain here in Portland that focuses on sustainable and organic products. There may be little glamor in grocery store cashiering, but the chain has people lining up to become a part of its team. It’s local lore around here how hard it is to get “in” at New Seasons, but if you are lucky enough to join their team you become eligible for excellent benefits and, my fave, you are given the authority to make “whatever decision necessary to keep the customer happy”. (Check out their Fine Print pledge of friendliness). That “authority” really works, I’ve never left a New Seasons store unhappy.

What does your bank do to make your employee experience memorable? Do you let them choose music in the branches? Do you encourage them to innovate and make your processes better? Do you plan meaningful employee trips?

Another essential ingredient to gaining employees who will support your bank’s brand is telling the world about your buzz-worthy internal culture.

I recently had an old acquaintance contact me after finding me online through CBC’s blog. She wrote to me that she’s been reading our posts and what a great place to work this must be and do we have a job opening for her? All that from reading a blog – a free and simple marketing tool!

As they say, beauty comes from within. Excellent bank branding starts by getting your most important resource - people - to invest in your brand. Gaining employees who are excited to work for your financial institution is the first step towards a cohesive message that leads to one solid brand impression.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 9:50 am and is filed under Bank Branding, Credit Union Branding, Bank Marketing, Branding, Credit Union Marketing, Corporate branding, Word of mouth marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.