Reevaluating Internal Marketing

8 April 2003—Recent spending cutbacks in internal marketing are understandable, according to marketing leaders in Europe, but the continued importance of this aspect of marketing suggests that a close look at the most effective approaches should be a priority.

• More internal marketing is now Internet based. Because the infrastructure has been in place for several years or more, smaller budgets are required to maintain and update content and conduct online initiatives than more traditional face-to-face activities.
  
• The current job market means less risk of losing staff to competitors and other companies. Internal marketing initiatives focused on protecting the company from employee turnover are now less critical (particularly in professional services, where staff poaching was a major issue during the boom).
  
• Internal marketing is often more difficult to evaluate and justify than some external marketing activities, so budgets in this area have been harder to defend against cuts.

Nevertheless, the impact of reduced spending on internal marketing can be substantial. For example, it is crucial to keep front-line staff motivated, able to reinforce the company's brand image, and equipped to articulate the company's value proposition and its numerous, ever-changing, and complex business solutions. A challenging task in good times, this is even more difficult in today's markets, where responses to competitor initiatives need to be fast and relationships with partners change on a daily basis.

The problem is often exacerbated by reliance on common internal marketing techniques such as Webcasts and conference calls. Senior marketers at ITSMA's dinner questioned the value of what many label "broadcast techniques." Do people really listen to Webcasts and conference calls, or are they reading e-mail or messaging at the same time? How effective are these techniques in terms of recall? Comparisons of the relative effectiveness of these techniques with more traditional "interactive" techniques are scant, but clearly, seeds of doubt exist in the marketing community.

The way forward, according to a number of senior marketers, is to put more emphasis on segmenting and profiling the internal audience in terms of their potential impact on the firm and on the ways in which they prefer to communicate. Some companies already doing this have gone back to interactive road shows for sales staff, while others have resorted to writing personal letters to senior managers!

By applying the best marketing techniques internally as well as externally, marketers can find ways to achieve internal marketing objectives while demonstrating the sophistication of our trade to our fellow professionals.

—Bev Burgess, info@itsma.com

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ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. As a membership organization, we provide research, consulting, and training to the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.