By Brandon Lewis
A great marketing strategy is the best way for small businesses to attract and retain customers. And while some strategies have changed through the years, the constant is how we approach the customer experience. We can no longer just draw in customers through special sales events; instead, the focus has become making strong connections and providing a personalized experience.
These same kinds of practices can and should be implemented by businesses when it comes to the employee experience. By using a marketer’s guide to acquiring and retaining customers, leaders will be more successful hiring and retaining employees who will grow, excel, and even love working at their company.
Here are a few marketing tactics that can be applied to employees to create a positive employee experience:
Know your audience
You wouldn’t expect a marketer—not a successful one, at least—to throw darts at a board and hope their communications strategy sticks to a particular consumer type. Understanding who their audience is and what their audience wants or expects is where every successful marketing pro’s job begins. Similarly, employers should view employees as their audience and know exactly what they are looking for in their employee experience.
In fact, according to a recent Deloitte study, 71% of all organizations believe people analytics is important. In a highly diverse world and workforce, where detrimental memos can go viral, analytics and information has never been more crucial to retention and engagement strategies.
How to apply it: Be patient and creative as you get to know your team. Take advantage of surveys, data, and meetings to find out what your employees need. As you begin seeing what actions are needed to enhance the employee experience, bring your entire team together to make the changes.
If your team wants a more collaborative working environment, get them to help redesign the office space. Or if they want better wellness benefits, make a list of what is reasonable for the company’s budget and ask them to narrow it down to a few choices. The key is knowing what your team needs to stay productive and keeping them involved in the planning and processes.
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Use technology to your advantage
With analytics, marketers know exactly what their audience responds to, how they want to communicate, and what their interests are. With constantly evolving HR technology and data, employers and company leaders are slowly catching onto this same trend. Even though the Deloitte survey found most organizations believe people analytics is important, only 8% of companies say they’ve collected usable data.
The key is tying the data to your employees. They are people. While the numbers will give you a better idea of what they’re feeling, never forget that the averages and percentages correspond to individuals.
How to apply it: Make a list of what you’d like to learn about your employees before investing in an analytics platform. For example, do they feel leaders’ communication efforts are effective? Are they connected to the company mission and vision? What learning opportunities would make them excel in their roles? Do they feel valued and understood? Knowing where your team struggles most will help you decide on the best system for your organization. And as the data pours in, you’ll better understand your employees and how to create the ultimate employee experience.