Why HR is the New Marketing

In a 2012 HBR article titled An Unlikely Partnership: When HR and Marketing Join Forces, contributors Patricia Nazemetz and Will Ruch make the following statement:

“How much more effective could a CMO be if he or she knew for certain that talent would deliver on the brand promise made in every external marketing message?”

The article was targeted to Human Resource managers, suggesting HR has a critical role to play in the success of marketing and building great brands. Why? Because they can have the greatest impact on both existing and new talent who deliver the goods and services a company provides.

You see, great brands build brand equity. And to increase brand equity there are two parts:

• Brand Promise – this is all the advertising and promotional efforts, which ideally support the company’s key Differentiating Values. Marketing is generally responsible to create and deliver this.
• Brand Experience – this is the products produced and services delivered by all the people (full-time and part-time employees, contractors, freelancers, etc.). HR is generally responsible for the recruitment process of all the people.

Here’s how this works, using a mathematical model:

Brand Equity increases when
Brand Experience = Brand Promise

Looks easy enough.

Unfortunately for many companies, the Brand Experience does NOT equal the Brand Promise. When customers are left feeling disappointed, let down, or confused, it means there was a disconnect between what was promised (expected) and what was delivered (experienced).

Sometimes the problem is marketing, when they craft a Brand Promise that is unrealistic or wishful thinking. This can be fixed by adjusting the brand promise to align with what the company can actually produce.

However, sometimes, the problem is people–related, when employees are not aligned with the key Differentiating Values and the brand experience suffers.  This can be addressed by hiring talent that is aligned with the values and providing proper training to help each person understand expectations and priorities.

Not surprisingly, this is where HR plays a critical role.

In other words, HR is the new marketing because they have the greatest impact on the brand experience.

5 Ways HR can Impact the Brand Experience

1. Hire and Reward for supporting Differentiating Values. When it’s crystal clear what is most important, it makes it easier to identify and hire the right people. For example, I would hope that Mattel hires people who love to play; 3M hires people who desire to innovate; and Volvo hires people who are passionate about vehicle safety.
2. Fire or reprimand for violating Common Values. If “Uncompromising Integrity” is listed as a core value (as it is at HP), then people need to be fired – or at least reprimanded – if they violate it. This equally applies to all senior leaders of a company. For example, this is the reason the former CEO at HP, Mark Hurd, gave for resigning, when he stated, “I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP”.
3. Include values in employee reviews. HR can raise the importance of a company’s values when they are part of every employee’s regular review. Not only does this reinforce the importance of values, but it also opens the door for conversations with managers about problems in delivering the brand experience.
4. Incorporate values into reward and recognition. The famous saying still stands, “what gets rewarded gets done.” For example, if Happiness really matters at Coca-Cola (the Brand Promise), then employees should be rewarded for delivering on this promise. And if someone has an idea on how to improve on the brand promise, they should be recognized and honored for all to see.
5. Encourage and collect employee stories. Over time, companies need to capture and formulate their own corporate mythology, where heroic employee stories are circulated inside the company – and even outside – that support the company’s key Differentiating Values. For example, the story about the invention of 3M’s Post-It Notes is so widely circulated, it almost single-handedly represents both the brand promise and brand experience for 3M. Such stories can carry the brand past a lifetime.

 

What are other ways HR can impact the brand experience?