Marketing to Employees

Apple is doing a lot of things right in marketing the iPhone. But amidst all the iPhone hubbub, one vital marketing nugget is getting lost:

Apple is giving all its full-time U.S.-based employees an iPhone.

I am a huge proponent of companies spending marketing money on employees. It's simple. Astonish employees and they will, in turn, astonish customers. Giving every full-time employee a $600 (retail value) iPhone is an astonishing act that will only help to feed the already vibrant evangelical corporate culture within Apple. [SOURCE]

At Starbucks, we would also spend marketing money on employees. We knew if we could get Baristas jazzed, they would get customers jazzed. Our biggest marketing to employees expense was producing tens of thousands of T-shirts. For major promotions periods like Holiday and Summer, we would always send stores a box of t-shirts with some cool creative linked to the promotion.

Starbucks Baristas liked receiving a limited edition Starbucks logo'd shirt not only because it was considered cool ... but also because having another company-approved uniform shirt to wear meant less time spent washing work clothes. And Starbucks marketers liked the fact these T-shirts were advertising our in-store campaign when Baristas wore them at work and at play.

Many times our T-shirt expense was the largest line item expense in our retail marketing promotional budgets. Unfortunately, when our marketing budgets would get reduced, T-shirts would be the first to get axed.

I applaud Apple for taking a strong financial stance in showing how much they appreciate employees by giving them a super-spendy iPhone. That says a lot!

Comments

[Pete]

Man, that rocks. Sure, some employees won't be able to afford the monthly service and others will eBay their phones - but that's a great way to build employee loyalty. In consumer products companies you should be able to tell how good a place is by how many people use the stuff they sell - I saw both sides of this in the footwear industry.

[Jeff Stephens]

I'm big on multi-sensory marketing and branding (building brand equity into all five senses), and have noted Starbucks as a great example of that. Kudos to Apple and Starbucks for not only doing employee marketing, but doing so in a tangible, tactile way--letting employees touch and feel their brands...not just see them. I really believe this builds deeper engagement between the brand and the employee.

[Connie Smith]

You are exactly right: if employees are jazzed about their companies and the company's product, their enthusiasm will radiate out to the customer. I wrote a blog posting about this very topic: http://www.envisioninc.com/blog/index.cfm?commentID=94.

[Christine Hambach]

I am sick of those marketing socalled helpful email web site whatever crappy service stores and departments offer -
NONE ever work - from the White HOuse to the Pennys Stores.
How do I get a box which is read via email from Pennys dept stores.... top manager --- no marketing junk and trick offers... a human person from Pennys -

[Don]

I totally agree with taking care of your employees, but T-shirts with your employer's logo on it isn't something that overall benefits the lifestyle or functionality of your employees' lives. Great moral, but cheap swag is a bad example.

Regardless, love your blog!

[Jeff Chavez]

I really appreciated this post on employee marketing. This is a great tool that any entrepreneur can use to build strong company culture. I have featured this post on our content site: www.northstarthinktank.com in the Growth and Execution category.

Thanks again for this useful bit of information!