Make Your Entire Company the Marketing Department in New Year
Written by PR Etc., Inc.
Published by Rockford Register Star
Monday, December 24, 2007

New Year’s resolutions are the time for renewed focus on personal and professional objectives to sharpen skills, seek new opportunities or arrive at new goals. One of the goals we encourage all organizations to do in a new year is to determine avenues to encourage all employees to be companywide marketers.

Too often, organizations see marketing as just a department – one that is in charge of the company’s brand, its external perception and internal loyalty. However, a company will stumble if it believes its and its internal and external perception is up to one department.

Marketing and perception is everyone’s role within the organization. For example, the receptionist that answers the phone or greets customers or vendors is extremely critical in how your business is perceived. Additionally, how your external sales or repair people interact with customers is just as crucial as your “customer first” advertising campaign.

There are just too many choices these days for product and service offerings in all categories. So, while your organization may spend thousands of dollars annually to market itself, without the appropriate internal customer service and employee buy-in and enthusiasm, you could find yourself in an ongoing uphill battle to gain or keep that competitive edge.

Determine avenues to bring all levels of your organization into the fold and let them know how important their role is to the overall perception and growth of the company.

Don’t send this idea out in a memo (after all, how critical is an employee going to take their role if management doesn’t have the time to talk to them?) Take it to the next step. Create or enhance employee development at team or departmental meetings by discussing the significance of their roles in the company’s overall success or failure.