Cultivate lasting change. The most powerful channel for creating a differentiated customer experience resides within your company.

You have heard it a million times: Your brand is your greatest

asset. You have also, no doubt, heard that your employees are your

greatest asset.

So which is it: your brand or your employees? To answer that question,

it is necessary to understand their interdependent relationship.

While it is certainly true that your brand is one of your most valuable

assets, how your brand comes to life is based on the connections and

conversations conducted between your employees and customers.

To ensure the messages conveyed throughout the customer journey

are clear, compelling and consistent — every employee must sing

from the same sheet of music.

Yet, a recent Gallup Poll found that only 41 percent of employees understand what their companies stand for and what differentiates them from the competition. This fact should alarm every member

of the executive team.

Customers cannot engage directly with your brand. They are only able

to experience your brand through the conversations they have with

your employees. And if only 41 percent understand what you stand

for and what differentiates you from the competition, then these brand

experiences will be inconsistent and hinder your ability to deliver a

clear, compelling and consistent message.

Only 41% of employees understand what their companies stand for and what differentiates them from the competition. — Gallup

4 Cultivate lasting change. | The most powerful channel for creating a differentiated customer experience resides within your company.

According to Enterprise IG, 70 percent of

customers’ brand perception is determined

by conversations with employees. So, while

the brand may be nurtured and managed

by the marketing department, bringing

the corporate message to life is the

responsibility of every person within

the organization.

Jack Welch, former CEO of General

Electric once wrote, “Any company trying

to compete with competitors should figure

out a way to engage the mind of every

employee.” So, while your brand strategy

and corporate messaging work in tandem

to differentiate you in the market, your

employees bring that differentiation to life.

To be successful, one must rely on

the other.

In other words, your brand is only your

most valuable asset when you have

infused the corporate message throughout

your organization by empowering every

employee with the knowledge and tools

they need to share your story consistently

throughout your customer experience.

In this 24/7, omni-channel world, customers

and potential customers access information

about your organization through numerous

channels: your website, paid and earned

media, face-to-face marketing, selling

conversations and social media. And

while brand-owned and brand-sanctioned

communication platforms and delivery

channels are critical to your marketing

strategy, it is the conversations your

employees have with customers that make

the greatest impact.

70% of customers’ brand perception is determined by conversations with employees.

Employees are the most underutilized and underrealized marketing channel.

5Cultivate lasting change. | The most powerful channel for creating a differentiated customer experience resides within your company.

Organizational change programs ensure

your employees understand and can

effectively translate your corporate

messaging into more powerful and

differentiated customer conversations.

According to a Harvard Business Review

article, companies that excel in delivering

a consistent message throughout the

customer journey can increase revenue

growth by 10–15 percent and lower

costs by 15–20 percent.

To optimize your most valuable marketing

channel — i.e., empower your employees

to bring your corporate message to life

throughout every stage of the customer

journey — companies must ensure every

employee understands who you are, what

you do and the value you deliver at the

enterprise level.

When employees understand the

importance of corporate messaging

and how to incorporate it into their daily

activities, it’s not about changing what they

do; it’s about changing how they talk about

the company as a whole and treating each

customer interaction as an opportunity to

share how you are unique and better than

your competition. This strengthens the

customer experience, differentiates your

company and cultivates lasting change that

pays impressive long-term results.

To ensure the conversations your employees have with customers and potential customers accurately reflect your brand and are aligned with your corporate messaging, an intentional and disciplined approach to bringing your story to life must be deployed via organizational change programs.

Companies that excel in delivering a consistent message throughout the customer journey can increase revenue growth 10–15% and lower costs 15–20%.— Harvard Business Review

6 Cultivate lasting change. | The most powerful channel for creating a differentiated customer experience resides within your company.

With employees being the single largest expense, but also the single largest influence on customers’ perception of your brand, they represent a huge untapped resource and a key area of opportunity for sustained growth.

Products alone cannot create trust or gain and retain customer relationships. People do.

Differentiating yourself from the competition is difficult, and companies often get just one chance to connect with a prospect. Therefore, it is imperative that organizational change programs have the unwavering support of senior leadership so that employees have the opportunity to internalize and personalize what the corporate message means to them and their roles in the company.

With the customer experience now a primary focus of marketing, it is critical thatthe message or story customers consume is consistent across all channels. Consistency amplifies your messaging and increases marketing and sales ROI. Inconsistency dilutes your messaging, confuses customers and hinders financial performance.

Additional investments in technology havemultiplied the number of delivery channels,but in companies where messaging remains inconsistent, it has negatively impacted the customer experience and financial performance. Successful companies know their employees are the most important delivery channel because they touch every marketing and communications channel across the organization. In short, your employees are the origination point of all communication.

Cultivate lasting change. Your brand is one of your most valuable assets, but only if there is a corporate messaging platform in place that allows your employees to deliver clear, compelling and consistent communication across all touchpoints of the customer journey.

You are investing in numerous delivery channels; don’t overlook the most powerful channel for creating a differentiated customer experience that resides within your company.

Organizational change initiatives require the support of senior executives.

Organizational change initiatives amplify marketing efforts.

“Any company trying to compete with competitors should figure out a way to engage the mind of every employee.”— Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric

About OnMessage

OnMessage is a messaging infusion company with a proven

model for helping you develop a clear, compelling and consistent

corporate message. Our methodology aligns your company’s

strengths and true points of difference with customer needs to

create a messaging platform that elicits optimal engagement

throughout the customer experience. This methodology, when

combined with our organizational change, sales enablement,

content development and brand integration services, enables

you to achieve a higher return on every connection you make.

We do this through five highly integrated service offerings

that enable you to:

> Develop and deliver a clear, compelling and consistent

corporate message

> Train employees so they can bring your corporate

message to life

> Provide sales with engaging messages, stories and tools

> Extend and amplify your story with compelling content

> Integrate your corporate message with captivating

brand creative

By partnering with us and infusing consistent messaging

in all five of these areas, you can create a differentiated

customer experience that will accelerate business growth.

© Copyright OnMessage, Inc. 2015 | All rights reserved.

For more information

For more valuable and informative resources

that can help you improve your customer’s

experience, go to: itsonmessage.com/resource

Follow us on

Chi Nguyen Managing Director / Cororpate Messaging

and Organizational Change

As managing director of corporate messaging and

organizational change, Chi provides clients with the

strategic insight and direction required to competitively

position their company and develop a clear, compelling

and consistent corporate messaging platform. In addition,

Chi leads our organizational change team to implement

messaging education and internal communications

programs that provide clients with the knowledge they

need to ensure messaging continuity in all customer

conversations. Leveraging years of experience in brand

research and positioning, Chi provides clients with the

leadership and expertise required to utilize corporate

messaging as a strategic weapon in the marketplace.