Internal branding

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The term internal branding is understood to mean all intentional company or system-internal measures that aim to involve employees or system members in the process of branding, to inform them about their own brand , for them to inspire and ultimately influence their behavior in the interests of the brand.

Definition of terms

Internal branding is a sub-area of ​​brand management (German brand management or brand management). While brand management encompasses all internal and external measures for positioning a company and / or its products and thus focuses on all stakeholders of a company, internal branding is initially only aimed at employees. In contrast to internal communication, however, internal branding is a holistic approach in which, in addition to the instruments of internal communication (e.g. brochures, workshops, storytelling), concepts from human resources (e.g. brand-oriented recruitment, training and remuneration) and findings from leadership theory (e.g. transformational leadership) are applied. The difference to employer branding , which is often mentioned in a similar context , is that internal branding measures not only aim to position the brand in the job market, but also in all of the markets it serves. "Brand-oriented communication", "brand-oriented leadership" (see Leadership Branding ) and "brand-oriented personnel management" are named as levers of internal branding (Schmidt and Krobath 2010).

The aim of internal branding

The aim of internal branding is essentially to achieve brand commitment and brand citizenship behavior of the employees and thus to accelerate the process of branding from the inside and to make it sustainable. In this way, the positioning of the brand is sharpened, especially in the service sector and in those industries in which there are close direct contacts between an offering company and the inquiring customer: Ideally, customers experience at the contact points to the brand ( brand touchpoints ) that the brand promise conveyed to you through external communication is also reflected in the behavior of the employees who interact with you. The employees become brand ambassadors.

Internal branding tools

The instruments of internal branding are interdisciplinary and therefore diverse. However, it has become accepted to divide them into 3 categories:

  • Brand-oriented communication
  • Brand-oriented personnel management
  • Brand-oriented leadership

Occasionally, the development of brand-oriented organizational structures and a brand-compliant design of the corporate culture are also mentioned as further categories .

literature

  • Holger J. Schmidt (Ed.): Internal Branding - How to turn your employees into brand ambassadors. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-8349-0514-7 .
  • Karin Krobath, Holger J. Schmidt (Eds.): Beginning inside - From internal communication to internal branding. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-8349-1678-5 .
  • Torsten Tomczak , Franz-Rudolf Esch, Joachim Kernstock, Andreas Herrmann: Behavioral Branding - How employee behavior strengthens the brand. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-8349-0634-2 .
  • Klaus Müller-Neuhof, Wolfgang Giehl: Focus on internal branding. Verlag Wissenschaft & Praxis, Sternenfels 2004, ISBN 3-89673-226-9 .
  • Heribert Meffert, Christoph Burmann, Martin Koers (Eds.): Brand Management - Identity-Oriented Brand Management and Practical Implementation. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-409-21821-1 .
  • Franz-Rudolf Esch, Torsten Tomczak, Joachim Kernstock, Tobias Langner (eds.): Corporate Brand Management - Brands as anchors for strategic company management. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-8349-0347-7 .