Internal Branding and Intranets (and vice versa)

Published November 25, 2009 by Stephan Schillerwein

The first book on Internal Branding in German language has recently been published. It’s titled “Innen beginnen: Von der internen Kommunikation zum Internal Branding” (~”Beginning inside – from Internal Communication to Internal Branding”). I was asked to write an article about the role intranets can play in internal branding and feel honoured to have been able to contribute to this great book.

Some key points from my article:

1. Branding in relation to an intranet is so far only thought of in a very limiting way: using basic visual brand elements in the intranet design and/or creating a separate brand for your intranet. The by far richer possibilities of using an intranet to support turning employees into brand ambassadors are usually not even considered.
2. Organisations that take their brand and brand values seriously should have this also being reflected by their intranet. A good point to start is the intranet strategy. Internal branding should become a strategic dimension of every intranet, just as e.g. publishing information, fostering collaboration or employee participation (Social Media) are.
3. A fundamental requirement for successful internal branding activities in the intranet is that employees feel welcome and respected in using the intranet. Major flaws and failures in design, usability, readability, findability and accessibility make users feel “unwelcome” and thus usually create a sharp contrast to the positive aspects brand values are trying to convey.
4. Evolution of an organisation’s culture is an important success factor for internal branding programmes. The intranet can help to make visible and experience the desired future state.
   I use prediction markets as an example of how organisations can dramatically change the way they work and which role each person has in a organisation.
5. There is a multitude of options for campaigning your internal branding activities via the intranet, from “learning worlds” to video-based story telling approaches to value indicators (that e.g. show how well a certain content represents the brand values of the organisation)

“An organisation has as many marketing departments as it has employees”
Internal Branding can be regarded as a whole new area of expertise that puts an organisation’s brand in a much broader concept and enables employees to actually identify with and live by the brand values. For intranets it offers a further chance to be put to the heart of an organisation by supporting internal branding activities in a substantial way.
Further info:

• Press release: Marken strahlen von innen nach außen (German)
• Order the book at amazon: Innen beginnen: Von der internen Kommunikation zum Internal Branding (German)