Getting started in your organization
How do you get started in your organization? How do you start recruiting and motivating your own corporate brand army?
It won't be an overnight process, but it can start today.
Ron McDaniel, an entrepreneur in Kent, Ohio, knows how to create and leverage brand armies better than anyone else I know. He's the owner of Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing, and he writes a popular buzz marketing blog.
Here, in his own words, are several simple, easy-to-execute steps that you can use in your organization to create that brand army:
Step 1: Make a commitment
Most things in life are not as easy as we would like them to be. Getting everyone in your organization to be an employee evangelist is not as simple as having a staff meeting. You will have to set guidelines, do training, provide resources and publicly recognize people's successes. The good news is you can start small and grow the effort.
Step 2: Identify candidates 1-5
Even if your organization has thousands of employees, start with a small team of people that want to be there and are enthusiastic about your products and services.
Step 3: Low hanging fruit
If your team is not very tech savvy, just start with the easier things to do like building online profiles and writing articles that can be published on your website or on other resources.
Step 4: Set goals and track
Setting goals, tracking activity and recognizing people's efforts is the difference between sustained buzz and temporary excitement.
Step 5: Have fun!
As you see what works best for you, expand your group and make it fun. Empower them to represent your company as people who are excited about your brand.
If you have brand police in your organization today, that's OK. Your quest is still valid and extremely important. Just make sure the concept of brand police is thought of as a very short-term strategy, with an eye toward the long-term plan of creating an entire organization policing, reinforcing and strengthening its collective asset.
Go create that brand army, starting today!
Matt Heinz is senior director of marketing for Verdiem and the author of Matt on Marketing. Matt also recently completed work on two books, Are You Selling Pants, or Selling A Dream? and Move The Mouse & Make Millions. Read full bio.