Did you know there is an irrefutable link between marketing and company culture? If your answer is no, then you definitely haven’t been reading our blog posts over the last few weeks! The structure of your company culture can significantly influence the effectiveness of your marketing plan. I already discussed how your corporate mission statement serves as the foundation of your company culture, and since a well-defined mission is the basis for a successful company culture, don’t forget the importance of creating one or revisiting your existing version to ensure it truly represents your company.
To recap some of our blogs from the past few weeks, a commitment to a meaningful company culture creates happy employees. Happy employees deliver better service, and better service can be a strong marketing message in and of itself.
But to take that a step further, an awesome company culture can and should be marketed to your audience. It’s a powerful message and you should be rewarded for being a company that’s committed to culture!
If your employees don’t love working for you, you’re already failing at marketing. The title of a recent Adweek article says it all: “Corporate Culture Has Become the Most Powerful Force in Forging Partnerships - Research shows authentic values even trump innovation.” What type of research? Of the 500 executives polled, 60% consider what a company stands for to be more important than innovativeness (21%) and market dominance (20%). An even larger percentage (81%) of those executives believe that successful companies correlate their beliefs and business practices.
In B2B environments, where relationships are often forged through lengthy sales cycles, your culture may be the differentiator that gets you the deal. But how can you incorporate culture into your marketing plan?
Happy Employees Shine, So Let Them - If your employees love what you represent, it’ll show to your prospects. In fact, one study found happy employees generate, on average, 37% higher sales.That’s a very noticeable impact, and will be just as noticeable on your bottom line. Incorporate your employees into your marketing (try videos to really build that personal connection), and get them in front of your audience.
Give Back, and Let It Be Known - Be a part of your community, and give back to society. Not only will it make your employees feel great, but is shows to your prospects as well. Tie your social initiatives to your corporate mission statement, and incorporate it into your advertisements. Some companies, like Toms (which began by matching a customer’s purchase of shoes with a donation of shoes, and has now expanded to other services), can contribute much of their success to giving back and using this message as the foundation of their marketing.
And if charity doesn’t sound like something your prospects will be interested in (and if that’s what you think, then you should reconsider), then take a look at your hiring initiatives. Millennials are quickly becoming a dominant force in the workplace. The 2015 Millennial Impact Report found that 84% of millennial employees made a charitable donation in 2014, and 70% spent at least an hour volunteering - not only can you can utilize this interest for recruitment, you’d be remiss not to if you want to attract the cream of the talent pool.
Tie Your Culture to Innovation - What do companies like Google, Facebook, and HubSpot have in common? Besides being industry leaders in delivering forms of digital services, they’re all known for having awesome corporate cultures and delivering top-tier innovation. And they don’t hide it - they actively promote their culture as being a leading source of innovation.
An innovative workplace culture leads to innovative ideas, and prospects and customers like to see the link.
Your company culture should be something you’re proud of, and a secret weapon in your toolbox of marketing strategies. An awesome company culture will be the basis of an effective marketing plan - happy employees make happy customers - if improving your culture isn’t one of your top initiatives for the new year, it should be.
At Stratus, we take pride in our own company culture as being a leading source of innovation, client acquisition, and client retention. If you’re interested in learning more about company culture, check out our free How-to Guide for Creating a Company Culture that Can Win You New, Better Business.
