Someday, this pandemic will be over, and everyone will go back to work. When that day comes, you’ll be faced with the same labor problems that you faced before COVID-19. When you map out your new internal marketing strategy, put “increase employee loyalty” at the top of your to-do list.
Internal marketing is rooted in the idea that happy customers and stakeholders develop from the entire experience they have with your nonprofit, from the people who answer the phones to the CEO who runs the organization. When you map an internal marketing strategy, you consider your employees as “internal customers” who must buy into your nonprofit’s vision, goals, and strategies as much as the people you ultimately help.
A sound internal marketing strategy can produce these benefits, according to Marketing-School.org.
- Crafts a common understanding of what your group strives to do, and how that should be accomplished.
- Encourages and empowers employees to perform at their best and take accountability and responsibility for their performance.
- Improves employee development.
- Encourages different departments to coordinate their efforts and work cooperatively.
- Integrates the organizational culture with the employees personal and professional needs.
- Lets employees know what you expect of them.
Increased loyalty is a byproduct of sound internal marketing. Employee loyalty reduces turnover costs, boosts productivity, provides a stable work environment, and increases efficiency.
How to increase employee loyalty
Employee loyalty is popularly defined as employees who are dedicated to your group’s success and believe it’s in their best interest to work for your group.
Loyalty may be easy to define, but it’s harder to build. Here are some loyalty-building strategies you can try.
Create leadership employees want to follow
Workers need to believe that the people in charge will lead them down the right path, not over a cliff. Confidence in leadership translates into confidence in employees’ futures.
Create and highlight advancement
Nobody likes to march in place. Employees want to know that they can learn new skills and rise in your organization.
Concentrate on company culture
Ceridian’s 2017 Pulse of Talent Report found that “good relations with colleagues” was the most popular reason high-performing workers stay with their employers. Company culture ranked slightly higher than “good salary,” “interesting work,” “good working conditions,” and “job security.”
How can you foster good relations?
- Encourage open communication where employees talk to each other to avoid confusion and foster cooperation.
- Help all employees to focus on and foster the organization’s mission, which helps build team spirit.
- Promote a healthy work/life balance, which relieves stress.
- Make sure pay is fair and equitable.
Keep your eye on benefits
Although few workers stay at an organization solely because of its benefits, many say their loyalty is enhanced by great health care coverage, matching 401(k) contributions, and other company perks that make life easier and more enjoyable.
Stay flexible
Flexibility is key if a worker is to balance work with the steady demands of family. Employee loyalty is enhanced when supervisors go with the flow of life and OK work-at-home options and non-traditional work hours.
About the Author
Lisa Kaplan Gordon is a veteran content producer, e-book creator, and social media writer with two Pulitzer Prize nominations and three National Headliners Awards. Her writing has appeared in Washingtonian Magazine, Redbook, Yahoo!, AOL Real Estate, AOL Daily Finance, USA Today, and US Weekly, as well as major metro dailies. She writes several times a month for 501c.com.
