| March 12, 2020|
Business Response to Employees During the Global Pandemic Will Impact Bottom Lines for Many Years
On March 11, 2020, I delivered my last “live” in-person speech at the Making Big Moves 2020 conference hosted by the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) to discuss how to create a culture of brand ambassadors within a company. I led the various groups through several brainstorming workshops and provided a toolkit for creating a brand ambassador program within their respective organizations.
Since that day, I have been in a home office, participating in all presentations, workshops, sprints and technology scrums remotely. Like most, I commend those essential workers and I am taking note of how companies are treating their employees.
Living in New York City during 9/11, there was a heightened appreciation for first responders. In the past few months, this appreciation has extended to nurses, doctors, grocery and other essential workers. How companies are treating their employees today is based on a changed and expanded value-set compared to the previous two months.
These are defining moments for all brands that will impact the decision-making of consumers and clients for many years to come. If there’s one important lesson leadership should take-away now and implement, it is the importance of communicating to employees the vision and values of the organization.
Remember, every employee represents the company. Engaged employees are generally happy with their organization. Put simply, they help to elevate a company’s brand and boost engagement Employees who collaborate at work tend to bring fresh ideas. If you are not already doing so, now is the time to explore that collaboration.
For a checklist on starting a brand ambassador + employee advocacy program within your company, click on the PDF provided below.
For an additional resource, it was an honor to join Jay Harrington and Tom Nixon of Harrington Communications earlier this year on their podcast, The Thought Leadership Project, to discuss marrying thought leadership and employee engagement. For more information, please listen to the podcast here: http://bit.ly/2NJWhXe
