HR & Marketing: A perfect blend (Part 2/2)

Following on from Part 1 of my blog, HR & Marketing: A perfect blend, this post discusses aspects around HR and Marketing working together to promote colleague communication, recognition and feedback.

Promoting employee performance
Through HR and Marketing, you can promote internal success and employee achievement to greater extents. HR can pinpoint outstanding employee performance and Marketing can spread these positive actions through internal communication channels.

For example, when we identify our Colleague of the Month not only is this announcement made internally, but it is shared across social networks so our employees can share with their peers, friends and family outside of work. Broader employee recognition helps reinforce positive behaviour and keeps employees motivated.

Colleague and Customer Feedback
Employees who feel appreciated and respected for their contributions can serve as perennial brand ambassadors. The positive experiences of former employees at the company serve as the ultimate endorsement and a recruiting chip for both prospective clients and new hires alike.\n\nIt is vital that employees' ability to shape the reputation of the business is taken more seriously and it's imperative to take exit interviews seriously. Employee feedback can be the best lens in which to view an organisation, and much of the data they provide is directly actionable.

HR must take that information, analyse it and share findings with the Marketing team. In parallel, Marketing should communicate any data gained through customer satisfaction surveys from clients. If a customer identifies an area where improvement is necessary, it's essential that Marketing shares it with HR for staffing and training purposes.

Frequently, interactions between employees and potential customers are the most influential factor in shaping how the market views a brand. At SD Worx, Marketing, HR and our operations teams work together to understand and take action on our customer feedback, and as a result we have seen our scores increase quarterly for the past two years.

Communication
Marketing and HR should think about how to use techniques from external marketing, internally. Perhaps use social channels to create a more relaxed network in which your colleagues can communicate with each other.

Question yourself, are there more internal campaigns you can run that target specific work groups at different stages of their work life cycle? Clear internal communication leads to stronger external communication, as your brand ambassadors are not only able to articulate the values but they live them daily, and so believe in them too.

Conclusion
Ultimately, HR and Marketing working together will contribute to a positive bottom line and brand reputation; it's a win-win situation.

What are you waiting for? Embrace your new extended team members. In fact, I challenge those of you not already working closely together to set up a meeting this week!