I’m really excited to be developing a new program with my colleague and internal branding expert, Debra Semans.

We’re presenting Internal Branding and Internal Marketing: Strategic Integration for Market Leadership as part of AMA’s Spotlight Forum series (an “intense day focused on topics confronting marketers today”) in Houston on November 13, 2009.

Note: An earlier post comparing & contrasting internal marketing with internal branding is one of my most frequently visited posts in the five years I’ve been blogging.

In this new workshop, Debra and I will share insights and tips on how to make internal branding and internal marketing work respectively. We’ll also cover how elements of each can be integrated to better engage employees – the “face” of your brand and organization – to meet marketing and organizational goals.

The more I work on the program’s content, the more I realize how timely this topic is for marketing, HR, and business leaders dealing with these challenging times. It’s also an untimely topic in the sense that both internal marketing and internal branding should not be treated as the “strategy du jour.” Successful companies have been applying these approaches all along as an integral part of their organization culture and operations, not just an interim campaign.

Hope you’ll be able to join Debra and me in Houston in a few weeks for this exciting new learning event!