Have you seen Best Buy’s recent television commercials?
They feature real, live “blue shirts”—employees of the consumer electronics retailer—talking about their personal experiences with customers. One spot shows an employee helping a blind man learn how to use his home-theater system. Another recreates a situation where a husband and wife came into a store and were in heated discussions over what kind of computer to buy.
No sales pitches, no prices, not even any exclamation points! The campaign’s theme is simply, “You, Happier.”
This is a great example of a company that understands what a brand is and isn’t.
Is: The relationships built between employees and customers.
Isn’t: The latest iThing, a sale, cool logo or fancy packaging.
As companies struggle to find ways to build relationships with customers in order to grow—or simply maintain—their business in this economy, Best Buy’s Chief Marketing Officer Barry Judge realized the inspiration for his branding strategy was literally surrounding him, in the form of employees.
In the commercials, “we try to demonstrate how it’s our people (not the stuff) that make the difference,” Judge said.
The company is on to something.
The Gallup Organization has found that 80 percent of the market value of the average S&P 500 company is made up of intangible assets like brand, customer base, innovation and talent of its employees.
This is what separates one brand from its competitors, regardless of industry. No two businesses have the exact same blend of individual styles, generations and cultures spread amongst their employee population. This unique mix becomes a differentiation that can’t be duplicated, the DNA of a given brand. That differentiation can be used to strengthen the connection to customers.
Companies with “engaged workgroups”—employees who understand and believe in the brand they work for—have several advantages over those with less-aligned employees. Gallup’s research shows the “engaged” organizations grow two-and-a-half times faster, are 12 percent more profitable and 18 percent more productive (revenue per employee).
Traditional consumer marketing methods—special promotions, points-based loyalty programs—have grown old and consumers are skeptical of them. Conversely, by growing a brand through a stronger bond between employee and customer, indications are the overall business grows as well. Consumers turn toward value and brands they can trust in tough economic times, making relationships critical to every business in every situation today.
Additionally, from a cost-effectiveness standpoint, this kind of marketing strategy leverages investments a company has already made—its employees.
The best brands do three things well:
- Help employees understand and become aligned to their brand;
- Teach employees how to communicate the brand message effectively; and
- Empower employees to represent their brand in the marketplaces they serve.
Strong brands show us that employees have the ability to impact customers and lead them toward buying more, buying more often and buying differently. In fact, many more employees in an organization are capable of this than was traditionally assumed; it’s not just for the sales team anymore—especially in these challenging economic times.
It’s about more than customer service, which is necessary but passive and reactive. It’s about proactively earning the right to develop more insight into and deeper relationships with customers. This level of engagement is simply not possible through most marketer-to-customer methods, but comes alive when the message is delivered through employees at every possible customer encounter.
Dan Day is the founder of Brandtender Marketing, LLC and author of Brandtender Marketing: True Customer Engagement from the Inside Out (Synergy, 2008). Dan can be reached at dday@brandtender.com.
