Creating company culture can sometimes feel out of your control. You may have an idea of the culture you want in your business. Maybe you’ve even gone so far as to come up with a culture-first employee handbook. But something has gotten lost along the way, and now, you have a culture problem.
There are a few signs that indicate a culture problem within an organization. Struggling to attract and retain talent is a strong indicator that your culture needs to change. A merger or acquisition can create a culture problem, too.
The confusion of what (and who) stays or goes can lead to a culture of uncertainty and mistrust.
And sometimes, companies encounter a culture problem as a result of rapid growth. You didn’t have time for creating company culture deliberately, and just fell into one as a result of whoever was leading the teams day-to-day.
So how do you solve your culture problem?
Branding.
Most of the time, companies view branding as external – the way you communicate with your customers. However, branding is just as crucial internally. A well-crafted brand will inform the way you communicate with your employees and the culture you create with them.
Why does rebranding affect company culture?
Since internal branding is often an unfamiliar concept, let’s unpack the effect that branding has on creating company culture.
The benefits of branding are rich and varied. Benefits like more revenue, increased customer loyalty, and a stronger connection with your customers tend to take center stage. And that makes sense, but branding doesn’t end there.
Internal branding boasts often-overlooked gems – like higher retention rates, seamless mergers and acquisitions, and a mental and emotional boost to your employees.
Your brand communicates who you are as a company. Your customers care about that, absolutely. And so do your employees. They want to know who they’re working for, and they want to know what it means to work for and with your company.
Creating company culture through branding gives your culture focus, direction, and an avenue to connect with your employees in a truly meaningful way.
What are the benefits of creating company culture?
So what are the benefits here? What does creating company culture look like on a day-to-day basis?
The steps your company takes and the benefits you reap can cover a wide spectrum. Your rebranding agency can help you determine which steps you should leverage to bring the most value to your company.
You might add work perks – like a coffee bar, ping pong table, and/or company-funded after-work events. From there, you could take it up a notch and increase benefits, put policies in place to ensure everyone takes vacation time, and/or create learning events to help employees grow.
At the highest level, you might re-examine and revamp your leadership style, team communications, and mentorship or internship programs.
Taking these steps leads to both tangible and intangible benefits. The tangible benefits are easy to measure – higher productivity, low turnover, and a boost in revenue as a result.
But the path to those tangible benefits goes right through the intangible ones, so let’s take a closer look at those.
Attracting and retaining top talent
Employees, now more than ever, want to feel that they align with the company they work for. Without a clear internal brand or a strong culture, there’s no way for your employees to know if they align with your company.
A thoughtful internal rebrand can help with this. Your rebranding checklist should include announcements and company-wide meetings. These meetings will bring your team up to speed with the new brand – including what you keep.
After the rebrand is over, your brand position and brand identity will shine through many different touchpoints. Every time your employees see branded material, they’ll be reminded of what you stand for.
And it’s not just current employees, either.
Great companies are almost as hard to find as great employees. So when a business puts in the work of creating company culture, word travels fast. Your business will be recommended to friends and family as a great place to work, and you’ll have more high-quality applications than you’ll know what to do with.
Boosting employee happiness (and productivity)
Your employees will be able to recommend your brand because they align with your beliefs, but there’s more to it than that. Understanding why your company exists, what’s unique about it, and who it serves adds meaning to their day. That meaning boosts employee happiness.
Your employees won’t be showing up just for a paycheck anymore. They’ll be showing up to champion a cause they believe in. Who wouldn’t be happy to do that?
The work of creating company culture adds to that fulfillment even more. Your business is no longer just a company, it’s a community. As humans, we thrive on community. We crave it. Creating it within the workplace makes your employees not only happier, but more productive.
Productivity goes up as a result of understanding that our work has meaning and value. Your employees become invested in the success of the company. They understand that the work they do directly impacts that. Then, they want to do more of their work – and do it well.
Creating high-energy, high-impact teams
Everyone envies high-energy, high-impact teams. There are books, seminars, and entire conferences on how to create teams that move the needle without burning out. Internal branding can help with this.
Why do companies rebrand in search of high-energy, high-impact teams?
Strong brands create passion. Passion creates relationships.
Your employees don’t want to feel like they’re cogs in some huge, mysterious machine. A rebrand can take the mystery out of your company. You’ll educate your employees on the problems you solve and why you solve them. And employees can get to know their co-workers on a personal level through the events that are part of company culture.
Creating company culture with your brand allows each individual to feel like they’re actually on a team. This opens up communication, creativity, and problem-solving within your teams. They’re all on the same side. They’re all solving the same problem, and it’s a problem they want to solve.
Ensuring seamless mergers and acquisitions
Wondering how to rebrand your business during a merger, sale, or acquisition is completely normal. It’s a sticky situation, and there are countless factors to manage. Your external brand may undergo few changes, if any. On the other hand, you might need to create something totally new.
Either way, your internal brand will need a lot of attention.
A solid brand strategy process will make sure your brand does everything you need it to – both internally and externally.
Internally, your rebrand needs to communicate the value of employees on both sides and unite them under the new brand. Without this, an “us vs. them” attitude can creep in. This attitude makes the merger and acquisition process much more difficult.
Creating company culture and leading with a strong internal brand allows your employees to find curiosity about their new co-workers. They’re all seeing the brand with fresh eyes, learning new things at the same time.
And when the rebranding is guided by a third party – like an agency – even the highest levels of management can learn about and explore the brand as a team. An impartial third party will ensure everyone’s voices are heard.
An expert-level agency will know how to guide different values into the final brand. They’ll weigh everyone’s wants and needs carefully when assisting in creating company culture. And lastly, they’ll determine what to incorporate and how to incorporate it for the highest level of success.
Internal branding: how to make your employees love your brand as much as your customers do
If all of this sounds like you need to sell your employees on your brand, you’re on the right track. You do need to sell your employees, but not on your products or services. You need to sell them on your identity, your personality, and mission.
Internal branding is especially tricky for that very reason. Paradoxically, internal branding is also especially liberating. It allows you to rediscover why you fell in love with (or even created) your company in the first place.
Creating company culture translates that love for your company and its mission into everyday life in your company.
When your mission and values are clear in everyday life for every person in your organization, it shows for your customers, too. In better customer service. In higher-quality products. In problems that get solved more efficiently than ever.
Internal branding and creating company culture are difficult. There’s no question about it. But there’s also no question that the work is worth it. Choosing an excellent brand identity agency will take most of the work off your plate while allowing you to take in all the benefits.
Get in touch to start creating company culture with an intentional rebrand today.