Your marketing department isn’t big enough.
You might have the hardest-working, most creative team developing and distributing your message to the masses — but it’s still not enough. Opportunities are going to your competition simply because someone who needed your product or service heard about your competition before they heard of you.
If you want to increase your marketing reach without increasing your marketing budget, you need to get serious about having fun, inspiring the people who are already believers in your brand and motivating those who share your mission.
Here are three powerful ways to encourage your employees to join your marketing team:
1. Include a marketing class as part of your employee orientation.
Let them know how you currently market to your target audience, who your competition is, and why you are the better solution for your prospects. Educate your new employees on the charities and organizations your company supports, and encourage their participation.
Train them on networking fundamentals and the expectations you have for those who represent the company in the community.
Have a clear social media policy, make sure they understand its scope and limitations, and make sure they opt in.
Once this important information has been clearly explained, discuss the benefits of being an ambassador for the company by becoming a “content creator.” Take interest in their talents, and discover whom the writers are, whom the photographers are and whom the videographers are. Identify the storytellers on your team, and set them free to explore these talents for the benefit of your company. The content they provide (approved, of course, by your marketing department) can be anything ranging from helpful customer tutorials, to photos of the impromptu company pizza party that demonstrates the positive culture your team members enjoy.
The positive recognition they receive from sharing their talents will help them feel like an important and appreciated member of your organization, and you get the benefit of original, branded marketing content to share across your customer communications and social media networks.
2. Pay Them to Play
Outsourcing your content creation is an option that provides positive results for many businesses. If, however, your budget requires a bit more in-house creativity, and less cash, than I suggest having an incentive program for your employees to participate in a contest whose winner is determined by the quality of the content they create and how effectively they promote that content to their own social networks.
Consider holding a monthly contest for the employee who creates the best one-minute commercial about your company. If they have a smartphone with a camera, they have all the equipment they need. Set clear ground rules for what is acceptable, and provide some examples of marketing messages you’d like to have conveyed in the
video. Open the contest to every non-manager in your company, and offer the winner a cash prize. Have all videos submitted to the marketing department for approval and for official uploading to the company Facebook page. The video with the most “likes,” “shares” and comments wins. This encourages the employee to not only create the content, but also to promote it to their friends and family. Imagine the response they’ll get when they ask their network to “Share my video and help me win $$$ in my company’s video contest!!!”
Let’s take a moment to consider a definition of a “viral” video: A video not only viewed by its intended audience but also shared by that audience to their social network — people who otherwise may never have seen the video.
With this company contest, you’ve created a fun, creative monthly event that inspires friendly competition (you can even hold a short film festival, or highlight the videos in a company meeting). You’ve expanded your marketing team, created content for your social media channels at an incredible value and tapped in to the expansive social networks of your employees. As a bonus, you’ve also organically begun a viral video campaign as part of your social media strategy.
3. Referral Bucks
When it comes to encouraging employees to actively promote your business, cash awards really do inspire a higher level of engagement than, say, a T-shirt or bobble-head candy dispenser. In his book, “The Referral Engine,” John Jantsch offers several methods of getting quality referrals, one of which being the distribution of “Referral Bucks”. These could be certificates that would be handed out to potential, or existing, customers by employees. When one of the certificates is used by a new customer, the employee or customer would also be rewarded with a cash bonus or discount. The employee perk could range from $10 to $50 per new customer, based on your industry. This idea, or one like it, can spark even the shy employee to start a conversation about where they work, and what your company believes.
Business leaders know that if you want to engage and inspire your customers, you must first do so with your employees. Marketing leaders know that social media success requires quality content distributed on a regular basis.
With your guidance, and the creativity of your employees, you can achieve both of these goals in a way that puts a positive light on your company and your
culture.
Bobby McAfee is the Marketing Director for Crime Prevention Security Systems and Custom Home Entertainment.