Talent Leaders: 3 Ways to Enhance Your Team’s Internal Brand

Talent and learning teams add tremendous value to organizations. Yet, being internal, many Talent Teams do not focus on building and promoting their internal brand. As a Talent Development Leader currently in graduate school at Northwestern's Medill Integrated Marketing Communications [IMC] program, I have found two articles on brand development you will find interesting and actionable.  As the pace and scope of business continues to rapidly accelerate, Talent Leaders need to focus on enhancing their teams internal brand to better meet their clients needs and protect their value.



In a Bersin by Deloitte article, The Real Challenge with Learner Engagement: L&D Has a Marketing Problem,  published in January 2015, by  Todd Tauber and Dani Johnson outline the importance of Talent Teams to “intentionally define and reinforce” their brand. Why? Because it's increasingly difficult to capture practitioners' attention. Thus, Talent Teams should use branding tactics to ensure practitioners know the value of development and see it as quick, easy and valuable to engage in. In addition, Tauber and Johnson recommend Talent should look to beyond traditional courseware and focus on the Talent brand touch points (website, communications, etc.) throughout the entire learner journey - from awareness through post session.

 



Photo courtesy of twobeatles.com

 

Additionally, in his 2013 Forbes article, How Starbucks, Walmart And IBM Launch Brands Internally And What You Can Learn From Them, John F. Marshall, discusses leading practice tactics marketers use to launch brands internally – which Talent Leaders can take advantage of. Marshall recommends talent leaders should leverage “counter-intuitive approaches” to drive brand and talent messages.  Marshall recommends three approaches. First, start inside by creating actionable mantras and playbooks so practitioners can easily and meaningfully act. Next, employ a top down strategy ensuring brand and vision messaging is voiced and advocated by top leadership. Lastly, get creative. Marshall feels companies benefit from investing in more creative tactics to attract and retain practitioner engagement.

Based on my review of these two articles and my work as a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, there are three action items Talent Leaders should consider to improve their team’s brand:

• Think Commercially: Define who you are, brand and reinforce yourself accordingly – just like an external; commercial business.
• Go Outside the Classroom: Your client is typically not in the classroom and does not have time to be there – get your message to them a different way.
• Up Your Game: In an increasingly cynical and savvy technical consumer world, internal stakeholders have been there, seen it and bought the t-shirt - up the ante in creative tactics to engage audiences.

Branding is not just for external clients. Leveraging tactics mentioned above, Talent Leaders can engage their internal stakeholders and best communicate the value of their organization.

Francesca Ranieri is a Talent Development Leader with 13+ years of experience in changing behaviors within professional service and retail firms. She is thrilled to be adding “changing perceptions” to her tool box through her work at the Medill IMC graduate program at Northwestern University. Say "howdy!". Twitter at @frannyranieri or LinkedIn

CMOs - 3 Tips For Optimizing Diverse Marketing Teams

As companies try to understand their customers, their Human Resource departments are challenged with the task of finding the right types of personalities to hire for the marketing departments. As a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC program with an interest in marketing management, I have found two articles on managing diverse teams that you will find interesting. There are different perspectives on this topic and here, I explore two of these perspectives.

Source: www.multiplemayhemmamma.com

In the article, "Marketers: It's Time for a Millennial CMO” writer Marcus Fischer explores the potential of hiring a millennial as the CMO of a brand. He states a number of reasons why millennials would be a good fit for this role, especially as digital becomes the primary medium for marketing and communications. He claims, and rightfully so, that digital comes more naturally to millennials than it does to Generation X or the Baby Boomers. Many companies are vying for a share of the millennials mind, and Fischer thinks that the best way to understand the millennial is to hire millennials. The millennial generation is also more accustomed to the speed with which things are changing in the digital world; from platforms to content to apps, trends have a shelf-life of a couple of months at most. Fischer acknowledges towards the end that millennials are not seasoned employees in an organization so he provides a quick guide on how a millennial can take on the responsibilities of a CMO.

Source: http://www.ericsson.com

Daniel Thomas of the Financial Times stresses in his article, "The Silver Economy: Tech sector taps surge of connected boomers", that it is safe to assume that while digital is not the first language of the Baby Boomers, it certainly is not a foreign language. The silver surfers, as they are called, are increasingly using digital devices to stream entertainment, connect with family and obtain news. There are companies in the UK who are specifically targeting their products and services to this particular age group, which can be classified into six distinct user categories. But if what Fisher says is the right approach to marketing, then companies vying for the Baby Boomer’s share of mind should focus on hiring Baby Boomers. I doubt that the companies that are targeting this group are only hiring baby boomer CMOs or marketing departments. Individuals might get the job solely because they have the experience to do what is needed within the scope of being a CMO or marketing team member but not because they belong to the target market.

After reviewing these two great articles, here are three action items that I recommend you use when building your marketing teams:

1. Make it a balancing act.  Marketing departments can benefit from both experienced marketing professionals and digitally-savvy millennials. This is important to keep in mind when hiring new staff members.
2. Know what’s #trending.  All staff should be encouraged to be aware of recent trends and share with the entire team.
3. Cross-collaborate.  Millennials can benefit from the wealth of experience and knowledge that the Baby Boomers possess. Teams that are comprised of members from both age groups can foster a healthy learning environment.

Today, you need diversity in perspectives and experience to create strong marketing teams and maximize the success of your marketing programs. A company that values the wisdom of older generations just as much as new talent will find it easier to replicate their success and sustain it for a longer period of time.

Afroze Ali is pursuing her M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University, focusing on digital marketing, strategy and analytics. She is passionate about improving the customer experience and using data and analytics to make it happen. After graduating in the summer of 2015, she hopes to work in research and planning. In her spare time, Afroze swims, writes, and loves to explore her hometown of Chicago. You can find her on LinkedIn or Twitter.

  

Back to School: 6 Lessons Universities Can Learn From Corporations

 

We hear all too often that corporate leaders need to be aware of the latest academic research. On the flip side, university administrators could learn a thing or two from their corporate counterparts?  What you ask? Well, I’m here to tell you.

Rapidly changing technology means that the treasure trove of tools available to higher learning institutions is enormous.  The problem is, university administrators and a lot of faculty members don’t know how to use it as part of a larger goal to turn out more engaged students. Corporations have found technology to be an essential differentiator in a time when Wall Street standouts are obsessed with big data and customer behaviors. But research to better understand what is happening with education technologies, even in private education, is slow moving and heavily focused on K-12 environments.

In addition, many places of higher learning are still using the push model to share information with student bodies.  Many of the integrated solutions that are most effective for corporate giants, could be game-changing on a university campus.  As a new generation of learners comes of age, universities must embrace data-driven, student focused approaches to drive change. How can century old institutions expect to understand this up and coming group of learners?  These students will be hard-wired to learn differently. Having grown up using cell phones and tablets, touch screens and instant communication devices they will be even more accustomed to instant gratification, and will likely find traditional teaching approaches stifling and stale.  So how do universities innovate change to prepare?

Here are a few takeaways that universities can learn from innovative corporations facing the same uncertain future:

   

• Gather Data

Nowadays, data is power.  Uhh…did someone say Google? Like any smart organization, institutions should stockpile data to understand student needs and behaviors. The more schools can know about students, how they learn, how they gather information, how they behave in their dorms, in classrooms, in places of leisure, the better.  Luckily, universities are well equipped to study their closest specimen, the students themselves. 

• Focus on the Customer…err I mean student.

Where is the customer-focused approach at the University level? Schools should treat students and parents, to some extent, as customers. The number one priority should be learning and corresponding social development of the students.  

• Use Technology to Personalize & Engage

Embrace technology to serve the student body.  Allow tools, widgets and online platforms to enhance the great work already being done. Build user experiences to allow students to engage in curriculum development. Crowd source campus planning or allow every student to personalize his/her registrar page.  The opportunities here are endless.  The point is: The time for pushing curriculum and programs down the throat of students is over. 

•  Be Transparent

Some of the most widely talked about corporations (Zappos, for instance) are making changes and sharing them internally with their workforce but also with the general public.  Universities should share strategic goals with faculty, staff and students and invite them to participate in the process. Let’s ignite the student population and energize the student groundswell to help craft the college experience.

•  Consider Free Content

Sites like Khan Academy prove that universal access is the wave of the future. Stanford is also experimenting with universal access by opening up select classes to anyone with a web connection. The publishing and music industry are experiencing similar trends, with their customers demanding free content, anytime, anywhere. 

•  Measure Results

Once you gather data and implement programs, make sure to follow up by measuring results. Establish clear metrics and track university successes and failures. This step is critical to any organism that seeks to continually improve.

• Provide Structure

Universities need to institutionalize the use of technologies to encourage growth and innovation.  Just like corporations are quickly developing frameworks for social, mobile and local, universities should be exploring ways to share ideas and feedback quickly.

Given these six strategies, any place of higher learning could be more effective in their ultimate goal of fostering engaged students and developing contributing members of our society. Together, they will help universities learn from private-sector successes and be more prepared for the wave of the future.

Lesley Albright is a strategic marketing consultant and graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC marketing program.  She has spent eight years in interactive strategy, advertising and public relations.  Lesley is passionate about digital education, global brand strategy and coalition building.
Follow Lesley on Twitter @LesIoRants or on LinkedIn