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The people are empowered. Consumer is king. The power equation has shifted. You are no longer in charge of your own brand.
The town crier moves through the marketplace shouting the above. Everyone in marketing nods and yawns. None of this is news to anyone at this point. And everyone will assure you they are responding in meaningful, cutting edge ways to this paradigm shift.
But the ramifications of the shift can still surprise – sometimes in the most basic ways.
One of the interesting sidebars of the Don Imus drama of the past few weeks was employee reaction. The Wall Street Journal wrote a front-page story on Friday the 13th detailing the backroom drama that preceded decisions by MSNBC and CBS to pull the plug on the show. Entitled “Behind the Fall of Imus, A Digital Brush Fire” the story pulled together a timeline of the decision. Surprise - it repeatedly recounted stories of employees.
At one point NBC News President Steve Capus was interrupted in a meeting to take an urgent call from MSNBC’s Dan Abrams “Mr. Abrams said MSNBC executives were fielding complaints from viewers and employees who had seen a video clip of Mr. Imus’s remark…”
Later the article references a meeting that Mr. Capus called with African-American employees in the news division, “many of whom had complained to managers that MSNBC was sticking with Mr. Imus. The meeting, slated for 45 minutes, stretched for nearly two hours as employees---some emotional and frank – argued for axing the broadcast, according to two people who attended.”
Finally, the piece cites the reaction at Sprint, which decided to pull its advertising. “Sprint employees had lobbied for the move….”
It makes sense. Empowered consumers are, during daylight hours, empowered employees. This isn’t a switch people turn on and off. Think Pandora’s Box. The power shift we continually reference is not confined to the relationship between business and consumer. It also manifests, very crucially, between the employer and the employed.
This is a situation which calls for management thinking beyond simple office legislation that prohibits employees from blogging confidential information at their desks during lunch hours, or, heaven help us, working hours. You may or may not be able to stop the “tell all” juicy insider story of your company.
But, outside that extreme – and provided you are not the kind of boss who invites parody – what this represents is actually a challenge to your internal communications culture. You are what you eat. Your company is made up of empowered employees. We’re not talking about the disgruntled millennial who wants to stick it to the man. We’re talking about loyal, dedicated employees, who in their personal lives are powerful. We’re talking about citizens who are becoming accustomed to being heard, speaking up and speaking out. In short, we’re talking about the face of your organization.
What are you telling them about your brand? How are you evaluating how they communicate your ideas and initiatives? Are they on board with your ideas and initiatives?
Word of mouth isn’t just a consumer phenomenon with ROI implications. That would be too easy.
Beyond basic HR standards of you’re a good place to work or a bad place to work, what are your employees saying about you? Do they understand not only what you sell, but what you represent? Can they accurately and passionately communicate your brand position and your differentiation?
Effective strategic brand communications need a coordinated, embedded internal component. If you consider yourself a leader in respect for the environment, but your frontline employees don’t know that – or don’t know what that means - you’ve lost a critical advantage. If you believe you are a clear innovator in shortening the food supply chain for the benefit of mankind, but the majority of your employees think they’re selling sandwiches, it will take an enormous number of full page ads to communicate your brand position. If you think you’re selling community, and they think you’re just selling coffee, good luck creating the next Starbucks.
On the flip side, employees are also an important real time focus group. The employees at MSNBC and Sprint represented a certain perspective. What are your employees thinking; what are they hearing from the outside that might influence your decisions and change your direction – not only in times of crises, but day to day?
In a time of fast paced change, brand seminars are vital for staff across the board, from the most senior to the most junior.
Your next word of mouth campaign should be your own internal one.
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