The importance of internal marketing

What is internal marketing and what is external marketing?  Why is it important for companies to understand these concepts? Because happy internal clients mean happy external clients!

What is internal marketing?

Internal marketing refers to the process of motivating and empowering employees to work as a team for the overall wellbeing of the company and consequently, the clients. A synchronised effort within the company is essential to providing clients with services at the desired level. The interaction of employees with clients mostly influences service quality and client satisfaction to such an extent that it has become important for companies to focus on ways to influence and manage these interactions.

Internal marketing thus refers to the partnership or communication between management and employees. The employees need to form part of the company’s vision, to know what is expected of them. If the vision is clear, employees are provided with the opportunity to learn and enhance and should be rewarded accordingly. This can be done by means of recognition, benefits, salary increase, team building activities etc. The appropriate funding should be allocated to keep internal clients satisfied, so staff retention will not decrease.

What is external marketing?

External marketing is the action of promoting and selling services or products, which includes market research and advertising to clients and potential clients. In service industries, employees represent their company to clients through their interactions with them, and therefore these interactions must be positive, so clients will keep coming back.

External marketing thus refers to the relationship between the company and its clients. The aim should always be to increase the clients’ experience. The retention of clients is of vital importance. Effort should be made to gather feedback on clients’ satisfaction and this feedback should be used to improve internal systems.

The importance of internal marketing

Having an internal marketing strategy means that employees get treated as internal clients; they must be convinced of a company’s goals and value in the same way external clients must be convinced. If a company operates in an organised fashion, it will likely provide a more consistent experience for their clients.

Internal marketing can thus be used to improve service quality. There is a connection between internal marketing activities, employee satisfaction, employee engagement, service quality and customer satisfaction. In other words, look after your staff and they will look after your clients.

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your legal adviser for specific and detailed advice. (E&OE)