Building Brand Ambassadors Within Your Company | Business 2 ...

As a business owner, you?re dedicated to your company. After all, it?s your baby and your sweat and tears built it. While you started the brand, you probably rely on a public relations manager and a variety of advertising mediums to share it with a wide audience. You may even rely on your customers to promote your business through word of mouth advertising. These techniques are effective, but you might be overlooking a few important brand ambassadors: your employees.

Think about it. Your employees? success is tied to that of your company. They have a lot to gain from ensuring your company grows and maintains a positive reputation on the Web and in the community. Meanwhile, customers can be fickle. Their brand loyalty can disappear after a bad customer service experience or a single price increase. Cultivate your army of free advertising agents and equip your employees to be brand ambassadors.

Encourage social networking

Some companies forbid their employees from sharing social networking posts about their jobs. With the prevalence of social networking, this policy can backfire as it leads to employee frustration and mistrust. Instead, be wise and take advantage of this important resource.?Give your workforce permission to post on their favorite social networking sites. In addition to?promoting employee goodwill, these posts increase your company?s brand recognition with a host of potential customers. From Twitter to Facebook to LinkedIn, allow your employees to share what they love about your company while expanding your business?s brand recognition. Encourage them to post all kinds of relevant content, from status updates about a fun activity at the office to tweets that end with a hashtag whose social shares you can track.

Provide training

It?s not enough for your employees to share what they love about your business. They also need to know how to answer customer questions, recruit new team members and respond to bad publicity.?With your public relations ?coordinator, make sure your employees have the resources they need to share your company?s brand accurately.?Provide training?during monthly lunch meetings, at afternoon retreats or through company newsletters. Use tools like T-shirts, magnets or other trinkets to remind employees about your company?s core brand message. Armed with the right materials, each employee receives the opportunity to be part of your brand ambassador team.

Provide a positive work environment

Your new brand ambassadors will be more enthusiastic about sharing positive reviews when they feel positive about their work environment. To create a company your employees want to brag about, promote and defend, develop a personal interest in your employees. Make every effort to value each team member and be approachable. Treat everyone with respect and promote workplace honesty and trust. Few employees can complain when they respect company leadership and know they are valued.?In addition to the value you place in each employee, have fun together. Incorporate contests and team-building events that build social connections and unity.

Consider cutting down on paperwork. Employees often complain about the frustrations of filling out forms for every little request. Instead,?sign up for an electronic service?that allows employees to schedule days off, track payroll deductions and receive electronic copies of their paystubs. Without visits to human resources, your team members can even access the information they need directly on their PC or mobile device.?Less paperwork combined with a fun and unified work environment contributes to a?positive employee experience. When employees are satisfied and valued at work, they?re more inclined to share positive posts about your company?s brand.

Are you ready to build your brand? Start with your employees. When you equip your workforce to be brand ambassadors, your business grows, your employees feel valued and your business vision becomes reality.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/branding/building-brand-ambassadors-within-your-company-0312320

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