Advertising on a bus can give businesses a great platform and plenty of space to make an impact.
But so often organisations don’t make the most of their opportunity. That’s why I literally stopped my tracks and smiled broadly when I saw this very effective campaign by Compassion in World Farming covering a bus a few days ago.
Designed by Elvis Communications, the campaign was the winning entry in the latest Big Bus Challenge. Beating off competition from the likes of B&Q, McDonalds and Clarks Shoes, the campaign uses familiar travel terms to highlight just how different and harrowing the animals’ experience of transport is to that of humans.
The strong graphic images create a real insight into an inhumane practice that people both on and off the bus wouldn’t normally see – one that continues to happen every day around the world.
The campaign was launched by Joanna Lumley who talks here about the importance of stopping live animal exports.
For more information on the campaign to end long-distance live animal transportation, visit Compassion in World Farming’s website.
[Pictures: Big Bus Challenge and Ecorazzi.com]
I often think that companies have a blind spot when it comes to marketing to their own staff. Even those that look after their staff well can fail to see the importance of actually “marketing” to them.
It’s one thing to provide a nice working environment for your staff, ensure they have a reasonable amount of holiday and throw them a memorable Christmas party. It’s another to actually discuss with your staff what your business strategy is, to get their input in how to improve the way the business runs and to get your staff’s support to changes you want to implement.
Whilst business owners are screaming for more work, they forget that it’s their staff who are responsible for building and maintaining the relationships and very often for creating new business in the first place. And when businesses are facing challenges times like many are right now this interaction between staff and management can do wonders to bolster moral and promote ownership.
So with this in mind, I was pleased to join a CIM seminar earlier this week about how businesses can improve their marketing to their staff.
We heard from three speakers – Marie Talliard, Professor of Marketing at ESCP Europe Business School, Scott Stockwell, Workforce & Field Enablement Leader at IBM and Head of Planning at Grey London.
And here’s my take outs from the event.
Pitching the right message to staff
Humans are programmed to resist change. So before simply forcing a change on them, it’s best to start by actually finding out what your staff think. Don’t assume you know what they’re thinking.
Chat to your staff about their take on the benefits of the company and your product and services in the same way that you would talk to your clients. This could be done in questionnaires, one on one reviews or small team meetings.
You want to identify your staff’s concerns about how the company works, what they consider you’re doing well and what ideas they have. By understanding both their hopes and fears, you can tailor your messaging accordingly.
Establishing regular marketing channels
Communicating effectively with your staff and sharing news and information with them will help them recognise the extent of changes that you are proposing and encourage buy in.
According to Scott Stockwell, at IBM, after getting feedback from their staff, they put in place a number of initiatives to help their people to become more fully engaged with the organisation and to give them an appreciation of the personal changes they needed to make on an individual basis to contribute to corporate change.
IBM created a staff magazine, made use of their internal Twitter system and sent out regular news updates by email to help their staff to understand the organisation’s strategy and feel personally motivated by change.
Now you might not have IBM’s rresources to invest in sophisticated communication tools but a company lunch once a month, a bulletin board in the staff room or a regular email from the directors sharing company news and staff ideas can get the ball moving in terms of sharing information and building buy in.
Be consistent so your staff take your intentions seriously.
Just like consumers, it’s easy for staff to become cynical when you are sending out mixed messages. Don’t start marketing to them and then get lazy and inconsistent. It’s far better to start off with something small, make it routine and then build on it.
Grey London were bold in the moves that they made to involve their staff in the running of the business.
The ad agency took their staff’s feedback so seriously that they changed the way in which the company operated. Out went sign off systems from both creative and planning directors and the creative brief. In came a new cultural approach called “Open” and empowered multi-discipline teams to solve problems together more quickly and efficiently.
By addressing their staff’s dissatisfaction head on, they rebuilt their culture from the bottom up. In doing so Grey have created enormous positive energy within the organisation and reaped numerous benefits.
They now win 90% of their pitches, their client satisfaction scores have increased, they’ve won more awards than ever and they have achieved record financial results.
But critically Grey’s continued success has been due to the fact that once the cultural changes were made, they continued to regularly review and tweak their strategy. They still listen to how their staff feel about the organisation, have kept them involved in the process and have “Open” on the agenda at monthly meetings.
Overall, the seminar demonstrated that by taking the time to chat and listen to your staff, establishing regular marketing channels through which to engage with them and by being consistent in your approach and messaging, businesses can really build stronger and more successful futures.
How have you engaged your staff to improve your business? We’d love to hear to your feedback below.
