Internal branding: examples and strategy!

To start off, what exactly is the meaning of internal branding? You may have come across the term before, but we’ll break it down for you below.

What is internal branding?

Internal branding or internal communication is a key tool for improving your company image. The goal is to turn your employees into ambassadors who boost your company's credibility.

The intention is for your employees' behavior to perfectly align with the image you want to project as a brand. And not just that. Your employees are the brand. They 'live' the brand. They fulfill every promise you make to your customers as a brand. It therefore contributes to your authenticity and transparency. In 2022, these are concepts that consumers value highly. Keeping it real.

Internal branding examples

It might be helpful to get an idea of what we really mean by looking at an internal branding example. Take Coolblue, for instance. They do everything for a smile, both outside and inside the organization. For example, not only do their products have fun names, but employees are also given job titles that fit their branding. It makes sense that the smile of the ‘package hugger’ and the ‘talker’ extends far beyond the company walls, right?! ;-)

It’s not just Coolblue that takes good care of their employees; bol.com is also quite good at it. Curious? Then read this blog with a concrete onboarding program example.

Internal branding strategy

Actually, an internal branding strategy should be implemented from the very first moment new employees come into contact with you. That means starting with job descriptions and onboarding. Only select people who fit the brand and for whom the current branding feels natural right from the start.

Do you want to start with internal branding later on? Then keep it close to the existing organization. Focus primarily on the branding that is already in place and use that as a foundation. Your starting point is that your brand promises must come across as credible. You can only achieve this if your team is motivated from the core to deliver on those promises.

So, it requires some careful thought.

• What are your organization's core values?
• How can that be captured in a promise?
• Does that promise align with the origins of your organization?
• Is that promise in the DNA of your employees?

Also interesting: How to work on the onboarding of new employees.

But internal branding is more than just internal communication. In this blog, we give you tips to truly take your internal communication to the next level.

Tips for internal branding in practice

Internal brand launch

As you’ve probably already figured out, your employees are a crucial part of this. But don’t be mistaken. You might be even more important yourself! Your employees first need to get to know the brand style, tone of voice, and brand promise before they can carry them out themselves. This is where you come in.

Give your employees a good explanation, a festive moment, and something to hold on to. You can do that last part with a brand guide.

A brand guide is a (digital) guide that explains the brand. You can post it on the intranet or hand it out as a physical book. It contains the important information about internal branding, namely how the brand promise is applied. This way, everyone knows how to handle the brand. The first step toward employee advocacy has been taken. More on that later...

Did you know that company culture can make or break an organization? Read more about a winning company culture.

Internal branding vs. internal communication

We said earlier that internal branding goes beyond internal communication. That doesn’t mean, however, that you no longer need to look at internal communication. In fact, it can make employees connect emotionally with your brand. And that’s what you want! 

A good example of strong internal communication is an e-learning that contributes to your employees’ personal development.

First, you can align the brand experience of the training with the design and tone of voice of your internal branding. In addition, it can of course also be about (applying) the brand experience in terms of content. Remind your employees of the reasons why you do what you do. Refresh their knowledge of the organization’s products and services. All of this is very valuable for ambassadorship.

You can easily achieve this with an online learning environment. Here, as an organization, you can launch internal (or external) trainings yourself. Pluvo is an extremely suitable learning platform for promoting your internal branding or improving your internal branding strategy. Here you can not only develop trainings, but also put them in your own brand style and fully align them with the brand experience.  

Carry internal branding through to the last detail

Leave no gaps. Our golden tip is to literally provide everything outside and inside your organization with internal branding. You want to make the distance between the internal and external brand experience as small as possible. Even the intranet and internal memos align completely with what you want to project as a brand. Don’t forget the microcopy either. Consistency is the way to go.

Microcopy is the small amount of text you find everywhere. On websites, forms, internal flyers, and so on.

Internal branding on a daily basis

Keep the soul alive. The new internal branding is a fact, and this ‘soul’ needs to be fed. After the launch, it’s smart to invest energy in keeping the brand alive. That way, you make sure the brand becomes anchored in every fiber of the company.

This is where that consistency comes into play again. Implement the brand experience and the brand promise in daily work. A fun tip is to interview your employees about how they bring internal branding to life. Share the recordings in the company magazine or on the intranet, so employees inspire each other!

You surely understand that employee motivation plays a role here too. When they see that the practical translation of internal branding delivers results, that motivation soars even higher. To make this happen, it’s advisable to share results on customer satisfaction or the number of social media followers internally. Celebrate your successes together!

Make your employees feel that they are part of a group. Of the whole. They need to feel that their contribution matters. Also don’t forget that employees and consumers are cut from the same cloth and that both respond better to stories than to numbers. Apply storytelling internally, and do it the same way you would for customers.

Let your employees communicate

Actively carrying the brand outward should be encouraged. So make sure everyone knows how they can contribute to increasing reach via social media. We call that employee advocacy. 

Your employees might not initially participate in caring and sharing. They are sometimes afraid of doing something wrong. Give them the right tools to tackle this. You can, of course, do this again in a fun training session or e-learning. Once again, this contributes to the awareness that employees are a crucial asset when it comes to internal branding.

Mention examples of other organizations that managed to increase their reach. The numbers often speak for themselves! That lowers the threshold for a fun selfie at drinks. Anything for the success of the company.

Speaking of which, there naturally needs to be something fun to share. People don't just share good company results or a customer satisfaction survey. They prefer to share how much fun they’re having with colleagues during company outings or on their break.

Reward your company ambassadors

And we don't mean bribing them with a material prize. Wasn't it supposed to be about the authentic translation of the company story? Perhaps "reward" isn't the right word here. Recognition is better. This is the most important motivator for ambassadors to get involved.

Recognize successful internal branding!

It works much better in the long run than handing out a new laptop. If someone in the organization emerges as a corporate influencer, you can also provide recognition by giving that person a (branded) stage.

Let your employees have their say in internal communications. Here are a few ideas:

• In the form of an article on the intranet
• Live during a meeting
• An interview
• A list of tips
• Create a microlearning together!

All, of course, completely finished with a layer of internal branding.

Internal branding & e-learning

As we have discussed, it is important that everything related to your company matches what you want to project. We have discussed a good internal branding strategy and provided some internal branding examples. Logically, this also means that you should transform your online learning environment into one that is immediately recognizable to your employees and customers. Pluvo offers numerous possibilities for this, including adding your own logo, photography, fonts, and brand colors. You can take this as far as you like!

Feel free to contact us to discuss the possibilities further.