Understanding Internal Communication and Internal Marketing

Early in my marketing career, I stumbled upon a blind spot that many of us miss—internal marketing. As a marketer in organizations led by non-marketers or sales-centric CEOs, I learned a hard lesson: marketing can appear as a mysterious 'blackbox.' If you've ever been asked, "What's the marketing team doing?" you're not alone. This realization highlighted the importance of internal visibility in marketing efforts. I discovered the power of consistent communication about our actions and goals to demystify our work and align with the entire company. Here are the strategies I've honed over the years: - Weekly executive updates to keep leadership in the loop. - Monthly company-wide briefings to share broader marketing achievements and plans. - Encouraging ongoing dialogues with other departments to build a cohesive understanding. By balancing internal and external marketing, we eliminate the disconnect and that dreaded question. Successful marketing is as much about engaging with your external audience as it is about harmonizing with your internal team.

“Marketing used to be seen as order takers,” explained the CMO from a $190m services firm, “but after several years, we’re now seen as business drivers.” Several years! And that’s your internal audience. Imagine how long it takes to change external perceptions. Like it or not, marketing leaders must devote time to marketing their marketing. Not once at an “all hands” town hall. Not twice via follow-up emails. Relentlessly. Fearlessly. Consistently. Across all possible channels. Personally. And via surrogates. Why is this so important? Marketing often gets a bad rap in the C-suite which trickles down to disrespect across the org. Disrespect that manifests as unsolicited advice on all aspects of marketing. Advice that can derail your well-conceived plan especially if it is centered on tactics.  Marketing is not a snowball fight. You can’t just gather your ammunition, and hurl it at your target one toss at a time. Well, you can try. But that approach inevitably fails to leave a lasting impression. Instead, think of marketing as the ball of snow rolling down a mountain, gathering girth and speed (i.e. force = mass x acceleration). Marketing is the cumulative impact of all your activities over time – starting with your internal audience. Here are several sure-fire ways of marketing your marketing internally: 🐧 Involve employees in your repositioning work. 🐧 Field and share quarterly employee surveys 🐧 Own and indoctrinate BDRs 🐧 Help employees build their personal brands 🐧 Orchestrate innovation days 🐧 Create an entertaining “this week in marketing” update Involve employees: If you expect employees to believe in the brand, make them part of the process from Day 1. Keep them updated throughout the process. Before launching publicly, create a brand certification program (easily done now with GenAI) that all employees must pass. Quarterly surveys: Don’t leave this to HR. Surveying is too important. Measure eNPS. Ask if they are proud to work for your company. Include at least 2 open-ended questions. [I’m happy to share a sample survey] Indoctrinate BDRs: Half the CMOs in CMO Huddles “own” BDRs. Ensuring that Marketing delivers qualified opportunities to Sales, BDRs also become marketing evangelists once they move up and around the org. Enable personal branding: Employees are “free” brand ambassadors and can be awesome advocates if properly trained. By teaching employees how to build their personal brands, you’re helping their careers and your company. Orchestrate innovation days: Ask your employees to work together in small teams to develop innovative solutions to your biggest challenges in one day. Have a panel of judges. Offer prizes. Implement winning ideas. Count the smiles. Update weekly: A pithy yet entertaining weekly update will educate employees on how Marketing is helping to drive the business. After a few weeks, employees will look forward to your reports.    What’s your approach to marketing the marketing?

Ensuring effective communication across an organization—particularly with frontline teams—is a challenge that internal communication (IC) professionals have been facing since the dawn of workforces. The recent “State of Frontline Comms Report” by Ocasta (https://lnkd.in/giuNJWHs) underscores persistent challenges: ineffective cascades, message systems lacking resonance or overwhelmed by noise, and a gap in understanding communication’s role in organizational culture and employee engagement. So, if we know these are challenges (and have been for decades), why aren’t we any closer to solving them? The big answer is this: lack of education and empowerment. When organizations fail to grasp the value of effective communication, they struggle to identify IC leaders who can drive meaningful change. Ill-equipped individuals in IC roles perpetuate the issue, often resorting to reactive, tactical approaches. While they can execute tasks like editing copy or sending emails, they lack the essential skills to truly connect and empower others within the organization. The findings in Ocasta’s report offer some guidance to help break this cycle of ineffective communication: ● Recognize everyone's role in IC—Regardless of job titles, every individual influences IC. By investing in training and education to enhance communication skills, we can collectively inspire, engage, and inform our workforce. ● Prioritize relevance over noise—With limited time and attention, employees crave content that matters. By understanding our workforce better, we can deliver messages that resonate and cut through the clutter. ● Understand the impact of effective IC—Effective communication isn't just a "soft skill." It's a catalyst for employee engagement and a thriving organizational culture. It directly correlates with higher productivity, satisfaction, performance, and retention rates. Let's seize the opportunity to elevate our communication practices. Together, we can transform challenges into opportunities and foster a culture of effective communication that drives success.