As a HR professional, how well do you really understand how your company’s brand, culture and values are portrayed to the outside world? What are the mechanics of projecting the corporate image? In in tune with your brand message are you and your colleagues in HR?
In today’s interconnected digital world of social business and virtual environments, HR pros are better connected to their company’s marketing efforts than any generation before you. There remains, however, too large a disconnect between the internal company champions (HR) and those espousing the company’s value propositions to the masses.
Its Time HR Got To Know Marketing Better
Determining what business you’re actually in, where you operate, how your products will be sold and delivered to customers, and how you brand the organization and its products and differentiate yourself from the competition all come under the purview of the marketing function. It’s no accident those considerations are also part of an organization’s overall corporate strategy.
There’s actually a lot of cross-overs between Marketing and HR. For example, Marketing, like HR, concentrates on the people side of the business — albeit customers and prospects rather than employees.
Like HR, an effective marketer needs to have an understanding of how people think and behave. Both disciplines therefore have strong connections with psychology and sociology.
HR And Marketing: Developing A Closed Loop Employer Brand Experience
Both departments also share the goal of creating and maintaining a closed-loop company culture experience.
This closed-loop captures the internal and external development/management of the corporate brand:
- Recruiting top talent
- Keeping the best talent by offering a workplace culture based on meritocracy, performance and mutual respect
- Developing brand ambassadors and internal champions – a.k.a happy employees and customers who eulogize on behalf of the brand
- Utilizing ambassadors within client services, marketing campaigns, press releases, case studies, ads and brand development
- Showcasing an awesome brand and culture which is attractive to customers and potential high calibre employees… which takes us back to recruiting top talent
There’s obviously other elements in the loop but you get the idea. Making and maintaining a healthy, attractive company culture comes from within and by pulling others towards you. Why not take a walk down the hall today and get to know your Marketing team a little better. Perhaps there are some new wins, processes and corporate goals which they can help you share with the company and the rest of the world.