When people think of marketing communications, they typically imagine public-facing advertising like TV spots or internet ads. Some might think of public relations. But most overlook an equally valuable form of communication that’s staring them right in the face every day – internal communications.

When a brand develops an effective internal communications program, it creates a whole team of people who are ready to live out the brand as the external communications have promised. I’d like you to stop and think about this for a moment. No matter how good your external communications are, they’re just empty promises unless your employees back them up in their daily work. And the best way to start that is to communicate to your team how they can bring those promises to life.

Take, for example, an internal program we developed to work alongside our external campaign for FairLease. Externally, we promised FairLease customers a welcome surprise in car shopping. Internally, we rolled out a campaign that captured the sunny disposition of the external communications while relaying important information about the brand’s new messaging. We helped coordinate a launch party for the new brand where we introduced the entire company to the new logo and corporate colors, passed out SWAG like branded t-shirts, shopping bags and baseball caps, and gave a quick presentation about the new brand platform and marketing goals.

And we didn’t stop there. We helped redesign the client’s offices with art and furniture that updated the daily work experience at FairLease. We developed a Brand Communications Guide that specified which types of imagery, language and tone should and shouldn’t be used in communications. We even developed a fun tutorial to help FairLease consultants plan out their workdays for more effective customer service.

Thanks to a mix of broad, strategic communications and highly targeted, specific messages, the FairLease team adopted the role of the “anti-dealer” in very short order, fulfilling the promises of the external campaign. Enthusiasm for the brand was palpable, and the company mashed the gas pedal on sales.

Executed properly, an internal communications campaign like this can benefit any company, but they’re most effective when companies want to implement changes in branding, company policies or employee morale. Large companies and small companies alike can use them to educate, rally the troops or both. And of course, you’ll want to make sure your internal communications dovetail with your external ones, from both messaging and budgetary perspectives.

If you’ve never kicked the tires on a strategic internal communications program, we should talk. We can help develop a program that will turn your marketing promises into reality.