Human capital management is a marketing problem as many business problems are. Whether your organization is large or small, recruiting, productivity, and retention will be influenced by your marketing decisions. In this next series, we will explore each of those topics in detail, but to start, we will elaborate on a tremendously important topic, which is marketing to your employees.
When you’re marketing a product or service, you are doing so to move people to act. Think no differently about this for your employees. Your marketing is moving them to act.
Branding: does it move people to act?
There is some research out there that would tell you that customers care less about your brand than you do. In fact, there is a lot of it that would say the vast majority of brands are interchangeable. Conversely, there are some brands that have transcended into the realm of just a logo (not the name) to signify the brand, e.g. in 2011 Starbucks removed the words Starbucks from their logo.
But before they got to that point, Starbucks moved people to act not through their brand, but through their mission. Starbucks started in 1971, but adopted a mission statement in 1990:
- To establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles as we grow
That is a black coffee mission statement. The sought to be the best coffee company, and attracted the kind of employees who were genuinely attracted to that mission, who in part served genuinely good cups of coffee to its guests resulting in genuinely good reviews. What does it look like now?
- To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person one cup and one neighborhood at a time.
Way different. More like a cold brew, steeped for multiple hours. What happened?
It’s not fair to say that brands don’t matter and/or that they don’t move people to act. That said, the research on how to consider and adapt your brand is changing. Brands are increasingly articulating their values, what they stand for, and what their purpose is. It is the movement from “what you do” to “why you do it.”
Vet and Pet clinics should do this too. For one, because customers care, but more importantly because employees almost certainly care more. Before your customers can care about you, your employees need to. Think of it this way, your customer probably thinks about you a few times a year. Your employee thinks about you 40 hours a week.
Considerations for Today:
Here are some modern considerations to brand a business today:
- Move from “what” you do to “why” you do it
- Move from market driven to ethos driven
- Move from offering differentiation to offering a point of view
- Move from communication with customers to creating a community
- Move from “me” to “we”
- Be Authentic
- Use every opportunity to reinforce values across physical, social, digital communications
What’s next:
The next few chapters of this series will focus on how your brand can move people to act, with the core focus being how it moves your employees to act, e.g. marketing to employees. Here are some examples of what to expect:
- Recruiting/Hiring/Talent Acquisition: census data shows that the majority of people who took a new job in recent years weren’t searching for one. Marketing to employees impacts the recruiting process.
- Digital Presence: before your prospect (employee or customer) steps in the practice, you can be sure that they have already researched your practice, browsed your website, Facebook page, read your Google Reviews, and maybe even asked their network. You can also be sure that your existing employees feel represented by your digital presence as well.
- Retention: how you build roles, communicate roles, and facilitate interaction with employees will have a huge impact on your retention rates and employee satisfaction. We will explore common retention strategies and show how marketing is one of the most effective and cost-effective ways to retain key talent.
- Recognition: saying thank you is more than just good manners. Recognition is a part of marketing to employees and we will show empirically how this can look.
Are you ready to transform your vet & pet practice into a thriving, engaged community? Vetcelerator is here to help you create a powerful brand that resonates with your employees and clients alike. Our expert team offers comprehensive solutions tailored to your unique needs, from recruiting and digital presence to retention and recognition. Join us on this journey to elevate your practice to new heights. Contact Vetcelerator today to learn more about how we can support your growth and success. Let’s make your practice the place where passion meets purpose.
