Meaning

• Internal marketing is an important 'implementation' tool. It aids communication and helps us to overcome any resistance to change.

• It informs, ands involves all staff in new initiatives and strategies. It is simple to construct, especially if you are familiar with traditional principles of marketing.

• Internal marketing obeys the same rules as, and has a similar structure to, external marketing. The main differences are that your customers are staff and colleagues from your own organization.

Meaning

• Internal marketing is the practice of informing employees of marketing activities and promoting it internally within the company.

• Internal marketing is also concern with marketing a company's product or services internally taking into consideration the internal customers(employees).

• Internal marketing is a means of involving staff at all levels in effective marketing programmers by enabling them to understand their role within the marketing process

Definition

• Management philosophy of promoting the firm and its policies to employees as if they are the (internal) customers of the firm

• Internal Marketing (IM) is an ongoing process that occurs strictly within a company or organization whereby the functional process is to aligns, motivates and empowers employees at all management levels to consistently deliver a satisfying customer experience .

• Internal marketing involves the creation of an internal market by dividing departments into business units, with control over their own operations and expenditure, with attendant impacts on corporate culture, politics, and power.

Definition

• Internal marketing also involves treating employees as internal customers with the goal of increasing employees' motivation and customer focus.

The Development and Emergence of the Internal Marketing Concept:

Review and analyse the past, present and future of the internal marketing.

The IM concept emerged and has been developed in literature since the 1970s

Berry and Parasuraman, George, Grönroos, Gummesson, Lings, claim that implementing IM campaigns will result in an increase of service quality

Contd…

• Essentially, internal marketing focuses on engendering marketing-oriented management.

4P’s on the basis of Internal marketing

• The product component

• The price component

• The promotion component

• The place component

Role of Internal Marketing

• Focuses on customer satisfaction

• Creating awareness about the company’s aims

• Effectively promotes your business without adding advertising risk

• Helps the service firms to compete aggressively giving the organisation of competitive edge

• Help to establish an important framework

Role of Internal marketing

• Builds corporate image

• Help to improve the company’s performance

• Help the process of knowledge development

• Help to enhance customer loyalty

• Enhances employee motivation

COMPONENTS OF INTERNAL MARKETING PROGRAMME

• Any function or activity that creates an impact on the service mindedness and discussed customer conscious employees can become a part of the internal marketing programme.

• Following are some of the components of the internal marketing programme:

1. Training

2. Continuous Interaction with the Management

3. Internal Mass Communication and Information Support

Contd…

• Human Resources Activities

STEPS IN IMPLEMENTING INTERNAL MARKETING:

• Keeping in mind the component needed for internal marketing, an active plan for implementing the same must be developed. According to Helen Woodruffe the following are the steps involved for a successful internal marketing programme:

1. Marketing Definition

2. Market Research

3. Market Segmentation

Contd…

• Marketing Actions

• Marketing Communications

• Market Orientation

• In order to effectively implement the internal marketing programs, continuous support from the top management and the managers is required. There should be an integration of marketing management and human resource management in order to develop and plan the entire internal marketing activity

Internal Marketing Fundamentals - Gaining Employee Commitment:

• Respect - give people the tools to do their jobs

• Recognition - catch them do something right

• Reinforcement - continually support a customer-focused culture.

Internal vs External marketing

• Flipo proposes that, “the more cooperative theinterrelations (customer-orientation for personnel, useful participation

for clients),the easier the marketing objectives are to meet”

It is necessary to design and implement an internal marketing strategy, because of focus on stimulating employees’ enthusiasm and on producing consistent behaviour.

Contd…

Tansuhaj (1988) developed the Services Marketing Management Modelwhich connects the concept of internal marketing with external marketing.

In short, attitudes and behaviours of front-line staffmay be affected by the pre-mentioned components, as well as the interaction withinternal suppliers

Because of this,the service quality can be enriched, i.e. a minimization of the gap between customer expectation and perception

Service management trinity

By using the Service-Profit Chain, a high level of employee retention andemployee productivity may indicate high levels of employee commitment.

Employee commitment comes from having satisfied and loyal employees

Employee satisfaction, in turn, primarily comes from high-qualitysupport services

A successful internal marketing process will producehighly motivated and well-trained customer-contact employees,

Service management trinity

For this purpose concept of “The Service ManagementTrinity” is the best approach to successfullyimplementing internal marketing practices.

Why Service management trinity is needed

1. To embrace new information technology.

2. Acquire the skills and motivation to teach online.

3. Collaborate more effectively across distance.

4. Making the stakeholders understand and appreciate what you do for them

5. Informing board members about the decisions taken to face a big challenge.

6. Forming newly merged workforce to feel like one team

IM is the way to achieve SMT

Internal marketing is one of the persuasive arts. It shares traits with both its parent, Just Plain Marketing, and with its dark cousin Propaganda.

Internal marketing is an inside job

Internal marketing should provide your people with:Information—a clear picture of your story, problem or plan Alignment—agreement on itMotivation—the desire to see your ideal future come true

If the above things are applied in place your firm achieves SMT.

Basic principles of Internal marketing:

1. People matter

2. IM drives performance

3. Anyone can make a difference

4. Employee loyalty is critical

5. Culture can be a competitive advantage

6 Best practice elements of an overall IM initiative

The six best practice elements are related to and supportive of an overall IM initiative.

They are as follows:

1:Senior Management Participation:Senior management support for IM leaders builds trust for IM

Initiatives

2:Integrated Organisational structure:A cultural identity that reflects company values helps alignorganizational efforts

Contd…

3:Strategic Marketing Approach:Implementation of formal marketing processes to cater to“internal” customers

4:Human Resources Partnership:Human Resources coordinate efforts with IM toconsistently select, train, inform and retain the best people.

5:Focus on Employee Engagement: Creating an efficient andcollaborative work environment where employees feel involved& motivated

Contd..

1. 6:Internal Brand Communication:Internal brandingbridges the gap between promise makers (marketers) andpromise keepers and deliverers (employees).

Some more steps are:

1.Talent acquisition and employee retention are becomingmore critical:Organizations need to take a strategic approach to attractingdesirable new talent

2. Exploration of new messaging technologies to better reach employee audiences:

the organizational managers must investigate which emerging technologies, such asblogs, wikis,and other social networks

Contd..

3.Improvement in measurement of IM tactics to better justifyfuture IM investments:

4.Need for more sophisticated communications function:

TACTICS IN INTERNAL MARKETING:

1. Develop a “Touch-Point” exercise

2. Measure Employee Awareness and Satisfaction

3. Create an internal advisory board

4. Hit the road with a salesperson

5. New employee orientation programs

Contd..

6. Offer employees subscriptions to publications

7. Provide brochure racks to educate employees

8. Designate someone to be in charge of organizational change

9. Create an internal marketing program

10. Executing coaching programs in which HR and marketing can work together

Contd..

11. Facilitate training sessions for managers

12. Tap into the power of storytelling

13. Educational seminars

14. Encourage dissemination of information by using hyperlinks

IM in Dentist field:

Internal marketing is a powerful way to increase patient referrals. In fact, Levin Group has found that internal marketing has the potential to be more effective than any form of print advertising or business phone directory.

The following internal marketing strategies can help you maximize opportunities to grow your practice:

1. Train your staff to ask for referrals

2. Place signs in the office that show referrals are appreciated

3. Start a practice building program

Contd..

4. Display testimonial letters

5. Make your practice brochure an effective marketing tool

6. Display posters of the dental services you perform

7. Create marketing events to showcase your practice and staff

8. Start a practice newsletter 9. Aim for the “WOW” response

Internal marketing in schools

As the marketing manager, you may be the face of your school, but the staff are its ambassadors.

How to deliver internal marketing

It starts with identifying your audiences’perceptions and needs.

Next you need a communication planthat engages all members in theinformation loop so all staff caninternalise the core values of theschool  

Internal communication channels:

There are multiple channels of information flowing within a school, both formal and informal and each one needs to be monitored and influenced by the marketing manager

The flow of information is given asfollows:Downward information flow.

Upward information flow.

Horizontal flow.

Along the grapevine

How to improve internal communication:

1. Bring different elements of the school together.

2. Arrange for teaching and non-teaching.

3. Listen to the staff, engage and involve them.

4. satisfaction surveys to prompt change.

5. Provide staff training in customer.

Contd..

6. Give every member of the school a copy of the school’s Style Guide.

7. Recognise good customer relations by providing incentives, such as awards.

8. Develop and open and honest culture.

9. Avoid technical, jargon-heavy language.

CASE STUDY:On IM communication

'Project 'Buddy' runner up for Best internal marketing campaign for American Express.

American Express (Amex) wanted to ensure that all 700 employees of Global Commercial Card (GCC), Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) felt that their views were recognised and valued to increase their levels of engagement in the company. It aimed to provide answers to questions raised in an employee conference earlier in the year, and to maintain a constant two-way flow of information.

Amex also needed an innovative communication tool to develop key points to the sales and account development community on the new Platinum Card which would come directly from Brendan Walsh, EMEA's senior president

Contd..

The audience included many European nationalities and an array of job functions.

Communication needed to be entertaining and serious. It also needed a safe, anonymous channel for employees to put awkward questions to management. So, to address these, three fictional employees - Gertrude, Roger and Serge - were created to represent the employee voice.

Animated charactersFor communication to be engaging, innovative and easy to digest, film was chosen as the best media and a five-minute video-cast was hosted on the intranet and emailed to employees. The internal communications budget was very limited but Bright Light's involvement from the concept stage enabled three animated videos, newsletters and other activity to be produced within budget.

Contd..

The video was viewed by 63 per cent of GCC employees, mostly on the day it was dispatched. It was still being viewed for the two weeks following the email, indicating that employees went back to the email to look at the video at a later date, with some employees viewing the video multiple times.

"In the past two years, the team have transformed and internal communication from ad-hoc emails into a strategic approach aimed at engaging employees and motivating them to deliver," says Brendan Walsh, and adds: "The feedback I have received both from within the business unit and from other areas of the company has been overwhelmingly positive. Through a smart execution the team have raised the bar and set new standards for internal communications."

Examples of companies doing good internal marketing:

Apple:Apple has a strong focus on internal marketing, especially with employees in their Apple stores.

Apple works hard on getting their message in rather than out

Apple sells Apple to its employees as strongly as it sells Apple to its customers.

Getting the message in is about feeding the culture. It’s about making people proud of the work working on it

Contd..

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants:

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants has, for years, focused on ensuring that its employees understand what it means to deliver a Kimpton Brand experience. One of the many things that are noticeable are the similarity in the company's top executives and in front-line employees working in the hotels, as in “all are equal” concept. At all levels, and at all locations, Kimpton team members had clear, shared beliefs about Kimpton, and what Kimpton is trying to become.

Conclusion:

The notion underlying the internal marketing strategies, is that marketers have toconcentrate on the internal market as much as on the external market, if they wantmarketing plans and strategies to be successfully and effectively carried out withintheir organisation.Because if your internal customers are left dissatisfied they will not give their 100%,which will result in the dissatisfaction of your real customers. Therefore, it is very important to build the right and appropriateinternal environment to reinforce customer-consciousness.

In doing so, the 4P’s marketing component in IM, Human Resource and Operational departments have to work together, by means of internal marketing practicessince it is an effective strategy for ensuring that those departments keep working with the marketing department.