I love Shel Holtz’s post entitled “Employee communications is the chicken, marketing is the egg” in which he addresses communication’s critical role in effectively engaging employees in the context of internal marketing & branding. He notes: ” … companies are putting their reputations more firmly in their employees’ hands, not only as producers of products, but as touch points for customers.”
What’s interesting to me, however, is to hear it from a business communicator’s perspective. Shel builds his case (including citing GlaxoSmithKline’s initiative of turning its sales force into PR ambassadors) as a platform to garner management’s “renewed attention” on the importance of internal communications.
Why does management need to listen? Because, as Shel so aptly puts it: ” … throwing employees into the public spotlight without the benefit of a strong internal communication effort is beyond risky. It’s stupid.”
As a marketer, I’m with you 110%.