PUBLISHED BY: ONMESSAGE, A MESSAGING INFUSION COMPANY
December 2013
5Proven WAYS To BrInG YoUr CoMPAnY’S STorY To LIFe In 2014
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Start the new Year by ensuring every employee can clearly articulate your story. With up to 70 percent of brand perception based on the interactions (conversations) customers have with your employees, it’s more important than ever that you ensure they can clearly articulate you’re story: who you are; what you do; how you’re different from the competition and the value you deliver.
Start the new Year by bringing your story to life – inside and outside of your organization. This executive brief contains critical knowledge and best practices that will help you:
> Ensure frontline employees clearly understand your corporate message
> Move from just words on paper to living your story and brand
> Improve business results through a more compelling customer experience
> Secure a higher return on critical marketing communication investments
> Create more engaging customer conversations – anywhere, anytime
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The most overlooked audiences when it comes to communicating new messages and building a
brand are often employees. Yet, employees are ultimately responsible for delivering the brand
promise. In fact, one study revealed that conversations with employees make up 53 percent of the
reason customers choose a company over the competition.
One company that’s gotten it right is Weight Watchers, the weight loss management company,
who perfected its points-based diet by adding value to its points. To effectively launch this updated
product, Weight Watchers turned to its 19,000 full- and part-time employees who were on the front
line and responsible for leading member meetings. Weight Watchers invited employees to experience
the updated weight loss program for themselves and share their results. They made a big splash by
introducing the program through festive, Hollywood-themed events held in movie theaters across
the country. By giving the Weight Watchers employees an opportunity to live the brand, they could
share this enthusiasm with potential customers while delivering clear, knowledgeable messages
about the new product.
This concept of “living the brand” is central to OnMessage’s Culture Infusion Campaign, which is
a component of our Messaging Infusion Training designed to help employees absorb and embrace
the organization’s story. Whether it’s video or signage or an employee involvement and recognition
program, these on-going touchpoints empower employees with individual drive and accountability
for delivering the right message about the organization.
For messaging to truly be effective, it must be an inside out job, and that requires dedicated effort
to help your employees not only absorb the message, but also embrace it and live it. As a result, they
become brand advocates that represent authenticity and relevance – important characteristics of
messaging effectiveness.
enSUre FronTLIne eMPLoYeeS CLeArLY UnderSTAnd YoUr CorPorATe MeSSAGe
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Studies have proven that profits increase when companies move from “talking about” their brand
to “living the brand.”
What exactly does this mean? What does it entail? According to the Customer Experience
Impact Report from Harris Interactive, 73 percent of respondents say it starts with your
employees. Employees who reflect your corporate culture or who “live the brand” inspire
customers to return, do more business with your organization and grow your bottom line.
Based on this data, your new marketing materials, advertising campaigns or website in and of
themselves do not build a brand. It’s only when these vehicles are blended with compelling and
consistent conversations customers/prospects have with your employees that your brand can
come to life.
So how do you get employees to “live the brand?” It starts with corporate messaging infusion
training that empowers your employees to embrace your story (who you are, what you do and
the value you deliver). It also includes a formal process of educating all employees so they clearly
understand how your message plays a role in what they do each and every day. This is not a
one and done proposition. It requires the unwavering commitment from the executive team,
marketing department and leadership across the organization.
So don’t just talk about your story. Infuse it by conducting formal training and education programs
that enable your employees to internalize and personalize it. Only when this happens will your
messaging become more than just words on paper and become a competitive weapon. In the end,
only those companies that invest in and follow a disciplined messaging infusion process will truly
reap rewards. Increased profitability, customer retention and new business opportunities, just to
name a few.
Move FroM jUST WordS on PAPer To LIvInG YoUr STorY And BrAnd
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Numbers prove that business performance increases when your people understand your story,
internalize it and leverage it in customer conversations. According to the Corporate Leadership
Council, engaged organizations grew three times faster than their competitors. Another study by
the National Business Research Institute indicated that engaged employees are twice as
productive as unengaged employees, contributing to this growth.
Just look at Facebook. This is a success story of an organization that internalizes and personalizes
its message every day and in every way. CEO Mark Zuckerberg clearly understands the value
of creating enthusiastic brand advocates by engaging his employees directly, which, in no
small measure, has contributed to Facebook’s legendary success – specifically, 1.6 billion users
worldwide as of late 2012.
The following are the six traits of engaged employees as identified by the NBRI, as well as Zuckerberg’s
perspective on each:
• Belief in their organization – MZ: “Facebook was created to make the world more open and
connected, not just to build a company.”
• The desire to work to make things better – MZ: “We hire trailblazers, hackers and pioneers.
We want people who can solve challenging problems, make a real impact and build
something big.”
• Understanding of the business context and the bigger picture – MZ: “We believe that a more
open world is a better world. The same goes for our company.”
• Respectful and helpful to colleagues – MZ: “At Facebook, we’re less afraid of making
mistakes than we are of losing opportunities.”
• Willing to go the extra mile – MZ: “To have the biggest impact, we need to focus on solving
the most important problems…we expect everyone at Facebook to be good at finding the
biggest problems to work on.”
For employees to embrace what your organization is all about, they have to understand and
personalize your corporate messaging. Who are you? Why do you exist? What value are you
delivering to your customers? When employees “get it” they begin to live the brand and not just view
it as words on paper. So if you want to take your organization to the next level, start with a persistent
training and education program designed to infuse messaging into your company and your culture.
IMProve BUSIneSS reSULTS ThroUGh A More CoMPeLLInG CUSToMer exPerIenCe
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It’s easy to just assume your people get it, “it” being your corporate message or story. But you know
what they say about “assume…”
Avoid that embarrassment by providing employees with the formal messaging infusion training
and education they need to deliver a clear, compelling and consistent message in the marketplace.
CRITICAL EVENTS THAT DEMAND INFUSION TRAINING
Infusing your message into your company, culture and customers results in greater messaging
continuity throughout the customer experience – and when major events take place in your
business. Here are a few events that should trigger formal messaging infusion training inside your
organization. By putting employees through a formal messaging training and education process you
can make the most of these and other communication investments:
1. Annual sales or company meeting
There’s no better time to level-set the organization and ensure everyone understands the
current go-to-market story (your corporate messaging) than when you kick off the New Year.
2. Merger/acquisition
When two companies come together, the story inevitably changes. This can be confusing to
employees if they are not trained on the new message behind the newly combined company.
3. Major tradeshow or customer conference
Face-to-face events are particularly impactful, so it’s critical that everyone engages in clear,
compelling and consistent conversations with every attendee.
4. New product or service launch
Customers always want to know more when new products or services are launched. By
training your employees on the story behind a new product/service you can make sure every
conversation delivers optimal sales results.
5. New employee onboarding
Every new employee orientation should include formal training on your company’s story.
Develop repeatable training content around your corporate messaging so employees are well-
grounded from the very start.
These are just a few events where messaging training can make the difference in success and
mediocre business results. So don’t assume your employees get “it” – take the time to conduct
formal messaging training to ensure the story sticks. If you do, you’ll maximize your return on these
and other communication investments.
SeCUre A hIGher reTUrn on CrITICAL MArkeTInG CoMMUnICATIon InveSTMenTS
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In a recent survey from SiriusDecisions, sales managers indicated that one of the most significant
barriers to achieving sales quotas was the salesperson’s ability — or inability — to communicate
value-based messages.
What if there was a technology solution that provided sales professionals with the messaging they
need to engage in more relevant and compelling customer conversations? After all, there’s an app
for everything, right? Between Apple and Google Play, for example, there are more than 700,000
apps to choose from, and new ones being developed every day. Many of which are designed for
sales. However, up until now, there was not an app exclusively designed to help sales professionals
deliver the right message at the right time.
OnMessage offers the industry’s first Messaging Infusion App that allows you to arm your
sales teams with clear, consistent messaging, marketing materials and sales tools – anytime,
anywhere. Why did a strategic messaging consultancy decide to build a technology solution?
There are three key reasons:
1. The lines between customer engagement, technology and mobile devices are blending at
warp speed.
2. For companies to deliver clear, compelling customer conversations, access to relevant
messaging and content must be significantly improved.
3. We found that customers are looking to “extend” the value of the messaging platforms
we develop so the conversations their employees have with customers can convert into
more business.
The Messaging Infusion App from OnMessage instantly delivers “situation-specific” messaging
such as the elevator pitch, customer pain points, benefits and prospect FAQs to any mobile device.
It also aggregates relevant content from sources across the enterprise to enhance customer
conversations, including case studies, white papers, technical documents, videos and more.
Developing clear, compelling and consistent messaging is critical. However, it’s only when you
provide sales professionals and employees with seamless access to the most relevant messaging
and content that you can create more engaging customer conversations. Click here to learn
more about the Messaging Infusion App.
CreATe More enGAGInG CUSToMer ConverSATIonS – AnYWhere, AnYTIMe!
About OnMessage
OnMessage is a messaging infusion company with a proven model
for helping organizations develop a clear, compelling and consistent
message. Our methodology aligns your company’s strengths and
true point of difference with customer needs to create a messaging
platform that elicits optimal engagement across all communication
channels. This methodology, when combined with our employee
training programs, sales enablement solutions, and content
marketing services, enables you to achieve the highest return on
every connection and communication investment you make.
For more information
To learn how OnMessage is helping companies change the way
leaders infuse messaging into their company, culture and customers
visit itsonmessage.com.
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