Marketing efforts are generally directed at a client’s customers and prospects. However, there is a growing body of thought regarding “marketing” to another one of your clients’ audiences as well—their employees.
Your job is to help marketers make more money. While they may not think of it that way, their bottom line is impacted by human resources issues, too. Profitability is impacted by factors such as...
- employee turnover
- absenteeism
- job satisfaction (or not)
- job efficiency (or not)
- quality of customer service
All of these can be positively impacted by a little creative communication (i.e. marketing). As reported by Inc.,
Human resources professionals are using consumer marketing, typically used to attract and retain customers, to make employees more happy. A school of thought is emerging that retaining the right talent requires treating your employees like your best customers.
Happy employees are more productive, make fewer mistakes, and stay in their jobs longer. That satisfaction translates into better customer service and customer interactions, which can positively impact sales, as well. In fact, if you do employee engagement well, you might even turn your employees into some of your most effective brand ambassadors.
Here are some ideas for helping your clients use their marketing skills to boost morale and keep your presses busy:
1. Take their pulse.
Use surveys, both print and email, to measure employee satisfaction levels. Ask them what they like about their jobs and what they don’t. Are there challenges that need to be addressed? When you ask their opinion, it makes people feel good. They feel even more valued when you act on what they say.
2. Keep them in the loop.
Produce a monthly or quarterly newsletter. Not lame pieces that people will throw in the trash as soon as they arrive. Content that is truly interesting. Tell behind the scenes stories. Dish silly bloopers. Keep employees up to date on company news they care about, such as renovations to the break room.
3. Motivational posters.
Be funny. Be creative. Print posters that resonate and that make employees smile. Just the fact that someone cared enough to print something “just because” conveys value.
4. Mail personalized birthday and start date anniversary cards.
Sure, announce birthdays and anniversaries in the company newsletter, but send personal cards to their mailboxes, too. It means so much more. On the covers of its birthday cards, one nonprofit uses artwork created by people in the organization. Not the graphic designers—real employees. Why not encourage your client to create a birthday card design contest? Give the winner a gift card and use their design on all of the birthday cards that year.
5. Give personalized promotional items as giveaways at company events.
Employees will measure their worth in your clients’ eyes by the value of the gift they receive. So encourage clients to think carefully about what type of gift they could give that is relevant to the occasion, genuinely useful, and that will be perceived as having value to the person receiving it.
Marketing to employees is about communication and morale. Print, email, and social media are all channels that can be used to boost both, and when done right, they can not only boost your clients’ bottom line, but give your partnership with them even more value.
