Good Marketing Starts In The Staffroom

When most people think about marketing, they immediately think of the public stuff — advertising, socials, billboards, events etc etc. All the ways we “put ourselves out there”. But there’s one audience that often gets overlooked in the marketing conversation: your internal one. Aka, your team.

During my degree, one of my FAVE topics was internal communications – which I kind of think of as marketing to your employees. Not like in a brainwashing way, but in an open/transparent comms kind of way.

Let me explain 😉

Your employees are often your brand’s first (and loudest!!) mouthpieces. They talk to your customers, they talk to their friends, they’re in your socials, they are your brand when they show up in uniform or answer the phone. If you want your team to represent your brand with clarity + confidence, they’ve got to know what’s going on. Seems simple, but it’s something that I see businesses fall down on all the time.

Internal marketing is about keeping your team in the loop, building belief in the direction of the business + helping them connect to the brand in a meaningful way. That could be as simple as asking your crew for input on a new campaign or getting them involved in a launch. It could be creating internal posters or cheat sheets with customer messaging. It could even be celebrating wins publicly so your team knows what’s working – and that their work contributed to it.

And there’s a sneaky little bonus to all this: staff retention.

When people are informed, included + know that their contribution is mega valued, they’re more likely to stick around. They’re not just clocking in and out – they’re connected to the purpose of the business, they know where it’s headed + they feel like they’re along for the ride (not just hanging off the side trying to guess what’s going on).

So yes, marketing matters for growth. But don’t forget it also matters for culture.

Make sure your team knows what’s going on behind the scenes, why you’re doing what you’re doing, and how they’re part of it.

Because a team that’s across the message?

That’s the kind of marketing money can’t buy.

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