Every company has a culture. You might not think about it much because you live it everyday, but it’s there. It’s in every interaction you have with your colleagues, bosses, customers and yes even every email you write. Some corporate cultures are more fun to be in than others. Wikipedia describes it as:
the behavior of humans who are part of an organization and the meanings that the people attach to their actions. Culture includes the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits.
Whether you are a starting a new venture or are one of the established organizations celebrating 150 years of business, you are apart of a corporate culture and maybe even a subculture within your organization. As you see from the Wikipedia definition, corporate culture affects all aspects of our working lives and I would argue it could even overflow into our personal lives. Did you know this could affect your daily happiness at work?
It has been shown that companies that focus on nurturing a positive corporate culture have happier employees. This usually results in less layoffs, resignations and disciplinary actions. One example that comes to mind is Zappos, the online shoe company. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, works on his employees and the environment they work in daily. He has seen first hand that by growing, adapting and maintaining an environment that employees feel happy in will in turn help grow the business. And this is the most important piece. Everyone wants their businesses to grow.
Most companies spend millions of dollars on their marketing initiatives without so much as a blip in their markets. Whereas if companies turned inward and looked at their cultures, they could start to see ways to improve without having to spend extra efforts on messaging that get lost on their audiences. Working with your employees to create that happiness effect can be the effort you need to make a real difference in your market. It doesn’t have to be big things either like putting slides in the office like Google, or full game rooms like Shopify, but little things like allowing employees to work remotely so they can spend more time with their families. One of the biggest offenders of a positive culture is the strict rules imposed by executives. This usually stems from a mistrust of their employees. But if you give your employees a chance then 9 out of 10 times you’ll find that your employees will step up to the effort.
Having happy employees can have huge benefits to the way your company is perceived by your customers. Tony Hsieh has discovered that by investing in his employees, they in turn treat their customers better by helping to continually improve Zappos reputation. In reality, your reputation is your brand. So shouldn’t your brand voice be the same as your internal corporate culture. I would argue it should. Customers are always looking for authenticity. If you have one type of messaging internally but try to share another externally with customers, it wouldn’t feel real. Your customers will recognize that and feel cheated. But if you take the time to nurture your corporate culture positively then it will reflect in how you connect with your customers. You don’t need to spend millions on separate messages through various mediums. Let your corporate culture and reputation speak to your customers. You’ve got a passion for what you do and by promoting a positive culture with your employees, they will have a passion for your company as well. Then this feeling and message all gets passed along to your customers. Your customers will feel like they can trust you and what you have to offer.
All of this goes back to having a consistent brand voice. As I’ve mentioned above, it doesn’t always have to be based on the external voice. The internal voice should be what guides your messaging with the outside world. Again, it has to be authentic. Not every company should have the same voice. In fact, even the voices between competitors will and should be different. A lot of the times this is really the only differentiating factor between their services. No matter what your voice is, your company needs to embrace this. If the voice isn’t what you want it to be, don’t go out and force something that fabricated. Review your voice, practices and internal culture to see how you can change. Corporate cultures are meant to be evolve and adapt. As an company grows your culture will change. New personalities, technologies and processes will influence this on a daily basis. This is ok. But you do need to keep an eye on it to make sure that it’s adapting the way that is promoting that positive atmosphere. Don’t force anything or set strict rules. Let this evolve organically. For example, forcing employees to write for your blog on a schedule is just bad. Allow employees to find their own voice and talent. Maybe they don’t like to write but are great when talking on the phone with customers about your company. All of your employees have a voice, but it can’t be forced into one medium, a particular style or schedule. Let them engage on behalf of your company because they want to and have something positive to contribute to your overall reputation.
Once you have found your voice internally, you can spread that voice through the various mediums that you connect with. Whether it’s your website or your social media channels, you will have consistency and authenticity in the way you deal with customers. The web is about content. It’s also about how you deliver that content in a way that connects with customers. This is all part of the brand voice. This can be especially important when focusing on a site redesign. Your redesign will be easier because you will know who you are. This question is often one of the biggest challenges for a designer or developer to find when starting a project. What the company says and how the customers view them are usually two different things, but if you have worked to nurture a positive corporate culture than those two views tend to collide making the delivery of your content superior to that of your competitors. Always think of your website as an employee that needs just as much nurturing and care as your internal employees that you are working with. Your website isn’t a tool, it is hardworking frontline customer service representative. It is the first place your customers are going to look and engage with you. You should be making the best first impression you can. So often, companies delegate their websites and this very important employee. But you can’t. Spend the time with it and analyze your analytics reports and see how customers are engaging with this employee. Just like your corporate culture will evolve over time so must your website. Make sure it’s saying the right things about your company. Let it communicate your authentic message for you.
In conclusion, if your employees aren’t engaged and nurtured within your organization then you are negatively affecting the way your customers see your company. Your brand voice is very important to how you can engage, but it starts from within. It’s not the billion dollar ad messages that fill up all the space around us. It’s the corporate culture that you have helped to nurture within your company walls. Finding that voice and using it then through the different touch points, like your website or app, can go significantly further on gaining or increasing customer engagement. Remember corporate cultures don’t happen overnight and you can’t ever force this voice. Be authentic and transparent with your employees who in turn will work harder for the company’s overall success.
Do you have a story about corporate culture or engaging customers? I would love to hear about it.
