PR is good for motivating your employees as well as for gaining customers

Guest blog by Pete Jenkins of e-Advantage Solutions Ltd

A recent study shows that 69% of European workers are ‘not engaged’ or are ‘actively disengaged’ by their work (Blessing White, 2013, p6). In the field of human resource management employee engagement is considered an extremely important force in managing and eliciting positive staff responses and driving their motivation. Employee engagement relies heavily on organisational citizenship, personal commitment and job satisfaction.   

The build-up of a brand by a company through its media presence and marketing/advertising affects the relationship between the employee and the company as well as the relationship with consumers. One can see an increase in the importance employees attribute to the brand. This has a positive influence on their awareness about competence, autonomy and commitment that gives them confidence to don the role of brand representatives for the company.

Any organisation today relies on PR and consumer advertising (including other methods than paid-for) as an effective marketing tool to reach as many stakeholders as possible. Though the marketing department’s main focus may be directed at the consumer, you may be surprised to learn about its cascading effects on the company employees as well. In other words, consumer marketing/advertisements and publishing have a major influence on employee performance and their sense of organisational identification (OI). 

So far, little research has gone into this area of the effect of an organisation’s PR and marketing/consumer advertising on its staff and employees. However, some recent studies are now revealing that there is positive employee reaction to these media efforts of the organisation and that this can have a telling effect on organisational identity of the employee. Studies conducted on groups of employees and their reaction to campaigns created by the company have provided heartening results on the employees’ personal bonding with the marketing and advertising and thus the company. This shows a positive side of consumer marketing on the employees.

All PR is good PR… or is it?

It would be a mistake to believe that all news, marketing and advertisements about your company can elicit the same positive reaction from the company’s employees. Their perception of the effectiveness of the campaign will be key in establishing their pride in and identification with the organisation. 

To summarise, PR, marketing and advertising are useful tools in aligning your employees with the company brand and play an important role in getting them on board. You can even get these benefits early by involving employees in campaign design and discussions at an early stage in the process and it sets the ball rolling for particularly fruitful employee participation and favourable reactions. Organisations would do well to evaluate employee reactions to press releases and adverts through an internal campaign first.

Getting news and information about a company into the local, national and online media is a sure-fire way to get their employees on board and earn their sense of loyalty, personal participation and commitment in advancing the interests of your organisation.

About Pete:

Pete is founder and managing director of gamification consultancy e-Advantage Solutions Ltd. Pete is Entrepreneur in Residence at Brighton Business School, University of Brighton and is Chair of GamFed (International Gamification Confederation) and a Researcher on Gamification in Human Resources at CROME (Centre for Research on Management and Employment).

His practical background at e-Advantage Solutions is in implementing CRM systems, and motivating staff to use them. For the last 2 years e-Advantage has been the UK Partner for Zurmo CRM, a gamified CRM, as well as consulting on gamification strategies for organisations in the financial services and infrastructure industries, along with a few smaller but interesting companies and charities.

At the University of Brighton and CROME he lectures on Gamification and Entrepreneurship, and is running the first Undergraduate and Post-Graduate courses on Gamification for Business available in the UK.

As Chair of GamFed he is aiming to spread the word about gamification and to foster best practice within the gamification industry. 

http://www.e-advantagesolutions.co.uk/

The difference between good customer care and bad

Today, as they say in footballing circles, has been a day of two halves.

I have received some of the worst customer care ever - and then, to reinforce my faith in human nature (even corporate nature), I had some first class customer care.

The first involved a matter which had been going on for almost a year. OK I have to admit I was responsible for some of the initial delay but after that the company messed it up all by themselves.

This was a case involving some really important issues so the detail on all the paperwork had to be right. It was quite a complex case but on every single piece of paperwork, something was wrong - a name here, an address there. Each time it was pointed out to them, we were promised it would be rectified and each time it was but with the addition of another error.

At one point it seemed almost impossible to believe the catalogue of cock-ups the company was making. It beggared belief in this day and age of the spell check, let alone competence and intelligence. 

Where one or two meetings were needed, five or six had to take place. As a consultant, I should have been charging them for my time!

There was a final fundamental straw which broke this camel's back and I lodged an official complaint. Nearly three months on, I think, and you'd imagine we'd have a written reply to my request for confirmation that the paperwork throughout had been done correctly and we had a full copy of each document.

But no, what I did receive today was a call from a gentleman who had been delightful at the beginning but was now patronising, rude and downright argumentative on the phone. When I pointed out that - ahem - I was the actual client who had paid their fees and (a) I was not happy, (b) I didn't like being spoken to in that manner and (c) as he hadn't been involved after the initial stage and admitted he knew nothing of what had gone on after, he was unqualified to make any comment. He said he was merely ringing up to find out how I was - most strange after nearly a year - and that I had jumped down his throat. As he didn't let me finish any of my sentences, the boot was definitely on the other foot. 

I tried to let him know that as a senior person within the company, he mus surely want to know that the service itself didn't work (thus believing I was putting some other poor soul out of similar misery in the future) but he just wouldn't hear what I was saying. A typical example of a man shouting over a woman, thinking her to be a fool. When I asked who was the principal of the company, he fobbed me off with the name of an administrator, thinking I wouldn't notice. 

A shortsighted move, for sure. Will I refer business to them? No. Will I recommend them? No. Will I ever use them again? No.

The man's answer to me was that the business had increased some six-fold in size. Actually, companies should ensure their base service and capabilities are in place and working perfectly before expanding because if they can't get it right when they're small, what chance do they have when they're bigger?

By comparison, and coming close on the first call's coat sleeves came a call from a large company. This young man had taken our query first thing this morning and needed to pass some information on to another department to get us an answer. He called around midday to say he hadn't been able to get through but he didn't want us to think he wasn't on the ball.

The second call was to tell us he'd been trying all afternoon but as today is an extremely busy day (Cyber Monday - quite understandable), he still had no news for us. He gave us a Plan B and said he'd check on our case first thing in the morning. He was at pains to say how much he wanted to give us great customer care - and it was appreciated.

So, companies of all sizes out there - please note the difference in PR profile, company reputation and downright good sense that can be garnered through your approach to customer service and dare I say it - customer care. Everything will be affected from your shares, your bottom line, your staff to your raison d'etre - your customers.