Inside Out Marketing, Part Deux

To follow up on a previous post about the importance of internal marketing, we wanted to spotlight three of our amazing clients and the steps they take to build their brands from the inside out. While each executes the task differently, the common thread is that they start with a core purpose that drives all of their actions and outputs. Simply put, shared purpose fuels shared behavior.

The rationale behind inside out branding is clear. If employees aren’t performing, then external marketing and advertising budgets can’t overcome the customer experience gap. Inversely, the stronger your internal culture and service delivery the less you’ll have to bludgeon and bribe your way to more business. And with the mix of publishing and social media tools available today to create content platforms and media (rather than buying space from others), your internal publishing team needs the editorial compass that a cohesive culture provides.

Here are three quick examples of how inspired brands work from the inside out:

WorkSpaces

WorkSpaces provides turn-key furniture and office specification, fabrication, delivery, and installation services to institutional, government and commercial clients across the country. But more than that, they are a breath of fresh air in a relatively conventional industry. The WorkSpaces team is guided by a strong commitment to remake the industry from the inside out, starting with themselves. By focusing on an innovative team-based model, they’ve succeeded in changing the industry for the better by delivering a higher level of ongoing service.

That commitment to their model and culture, in turn, provided all the direction needed for developing a new website platform. Rather than dump a list of products and services on the screen and plead for a contact, we could plant a flag and advocate for a smarter way of doing business. The WorkSpaces culture allows the marketing team to focus on what makes them different. And by emphasizing service, thought leadership, publishing, social media and innovative structure, the website simply acts as an extension of their real life experience – the next best to thing to meeting and working with them. A clear case of the internal leading the external.

Maverick Southern Kitchens

Maverick Southern Kitchens is the operating company behind a number of beloved South Carolina-based food and beverage brands – Slightly North of Broad, Charleston Cooks!, High Cotton and the Old Village Post House. While the different brands deliver different services to different customers in different markets, they are held together by a shared commitment. The Maverick experience is about more than just great food, service and environments (which they deliver on every single day), it’s about a dedication to sharing distinctive, unforgettable culinary experiences that celebrate Southern culture. That commitment involves every employee at every level as well as the farmers, fisherman and purveyors of the amazing ingredients that hit the table.

To solidify and strengthen that drive over the long term, Maverick has crafted an employee development program that emphasizes recruiting the right team members, providing orientation and ongoing training, developing custom career paths, and providing comprehensive health and retirement programs. All key ingredients for a thriving work culture, but not that common (at that level) in the industry. Maverick’s commitment to developing its business and brand from the inside out is a key factor in its successful 25-year track record, and it provides the foundation for all of their marketing programs today.

MUSC Women’s Care

As part of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) system, MUSC Women’s Care provides medical services for every stage of a woman’s life. A little over a year ago they 

embarked upon a marketing effort to energize employees (physicians, faculty, students and staff) and the wider community around a common mission. While the program was focused on the Women’s Care team, it also had to support and fit within MUSC’s umbrella brand theme, “Changing What’s Possible.”

The output is a platform entitled “Every Woman Matters” that celebrates the vital role that everyone in the department plays in delivering compassionate, patient-centered care for all women in the community. Recognizing the importance of daily behavior and service delivery, the internal MUSC Women’s Care marketing team has worked to share and reinforce the theme with employees in a variety of ways – uniforms, ID badges, employee spotlights/posters, events, training and more. To support and further the efforts, we are working with their team to feature the mission-driven theme in all of the communications platforms. Stay tuned for the launch of a new website and content platform that will allow them to share all the stories.

We hope these three examples help inspire to your inside out efforts, and congratulations to Workspaces, Maverick Southern Kitchens and MUSC Women’s Services for developing such strong cultures. We’re honored to work with each, and if you would like to discuss your brand’s purpose or internal efforts then drop us a line and we’ll talk.