A holistic definition of an organization’s brand is the sum total of its name, logo, trademarks, patents, intellectual property, knowledge, people and culture. A simpler way of describing a brand is that it defines the essence of your organization and depicts how it is different from other organizations. Your brand also sums up the unique experience you offer customers and employees—when they appreciate and relate to this, it earns you their loyalty. Branding draws the right kind of employees to an organization. Branding is just as crucial for attracting and retaining employees as it is for attracting and retaining customers.

In the past, the general focus of branding has been largely customer-centric, with most of the energy directed toward the external face of the organization to attract more clients and/or investors. While this remains a critical aspect, many organizations fail to realize that the internal focus on the employees is of equal, if not greater, importance.

Employees are the visible face of the organization, and their behavior can go far toward making or breaking the brand’s image. No matter how good the product or service, customers will remember the interaction they had with the employees— more so if it has been a bad experience. Employees bring the brand alive, and this happens best when they completely identify with the brand. Understanding and being inspired by the company’s brand is essential for employee engagement, which, in turn, greatly affects employee retention. When employees understand and are committed to the brand, they show increased productivity, feel ownership for their work and act as ambassadors for the company. Promoting the company’s interests becomes an important part of their work. Employees who cannot relate to the brand typically are not satisfied or engaged and eventually selfselect themselves out of the organization.

When managed well, the brand becomes one of the company’s greatest assets. For this to hold true, the brand has to resonate with all stakeholders and be consistent throughout. For example, an organization cannot build its brand on the promise of extreme service and, only to have its employees ignore that promise. Similarly, if an organization prides and projects itself as an innovator, the work environment within the company should encourage innovation. In other words, there should be no disconnect between the external brand being projected and the internal one demonstrated by (and to) employees.

What can leaders do?
Leaders can inspire employees and customers alike by being role models who “live” the brand. Senior leaders of the organization are usually involved in building new business and meeting clients. Therefore, their portrayal of the company’s brand image must be strong. Research has shown that an organization whose leader is a strong example of the brand, and is well regarded by others, performs better in the stock market (Scudder, 2005).

At the same time, leaders need to inspire employees to do the same. How do they go about doing this? First, they need to analyze and understand what the brand is trying to convey, and, secondly, they need to impart this knowledge to employees. This is easier said than done, and would ideally involve a process that educates employees about all aspects of the brand, thus laying the foundation for employees to believe in, and become enthusiastic promoters of the brand (Lebard, Rendleman & Dolan, 2006). While working on accomplishing this alignment process, leaders need to simultaneously weave the brand essence into every aspect of the workplace, such as values, communications and employee events, and into every nuance of their own behavior. They need to inspire, be visible, constantly articulate the brand philosophy, communicate well across the company and understand the benefits of each thing they do to promote the brand both internally and externally. The people they work with and the environment that they work in equally influence employee loyalty and productivity. If the organization has double standards— promising one thing to customers but not delivering the same to employees—then employees will be disengaged and this will reflect in their behavior toward their work and clients.

Ideally, leaders should embody the brand of their organization to the extent that they become synonymous with it. For example, when someone thinks of Apple, which is associated with being cool and innovative, Steve Jobs simultaneously comes to mind because he exemplifies these qualities in people’s minds. Similarly, the flamboyant Sir Richard Branson is inseparable from the Virgin brand, as was Jack Welch from GE. Another example is Andrea Jung, the well-groomed and confident CEO of Avon Products, the ideal advertisement for her company’s products and image. This should not stop at the top, however; all senior executives are equally responsible for walking the talk so that all stakeholders understand and are motivated by the values they embody. Leaders who have a strong presence and are well known also motivate employees. This translates into a win-win situation for all—the employees are productive, engaged and committed, the customers are happy and tend to be loyal to the brand, the organization is successful and the shareholders are happy.

As organizations begin to globalize and diversify, the brand becomes that much more important. The brand now has to maintain its individuality while also being flexible enough to succeed in different cultures and adapt to different needs. The leader as brand manager needs to continually make sure that the brand retains its essence while also renewing itself so that it remains relevant. As the organization expands its employee base, it is crucial that new employees who come on board are aligned with the values and actions of the organization from the start. And leaders who embody the brand can play an important role in attracting the right kind of employees who will fit in well. In addition, when employees are aligned with the internal brand, they serve as strong ambassadors for the organization and can both attract new employees and help integrate them into the culture.

There are two sides to every organization—a soft side and a hard side. The soft side is defined by the culture, the gratification an employee gets from the interaction with fellow employees, and the respect they have for the leadership paralleled with the desire to help achieve the business objectives any way they can. The hard side is defined by job security, compensation, benefits and company stability. When both sides of an organization are in sync, employee retention increases and the potential to hire top-quality candidates is maximized. Research shows that employees who are satisfied with the soft side of an organization are less likely to be concerned about the hard side, even if they are dissatisfied with it, because the culture is such a great fit. Defining your organization’s employment brand and using it to maximize cultural awareness within your organization will help engage current employees, maximize recruitment efforts of employees that are a good cultural fit, and provide leadership with a strong foundation of their organization from the inside out.

A good brand is much more than just the physical attributes in terms of packaging or advertising that the public sees—it is projected in the values of the organization, the employee behavior and, perhaps most important of all, in its leadership. A brand has been described as both a promise and the fulfillment of that promise—for this elegant definition to hold true, everyone across the organization should believe in the brand and it is the leader who can do much to ensure this.