How can you increase emotional connection between employees and your brand?

Corporate communications needs to be totally aligned to vision and outlook of top management. Top management should interact and engage with corporate communications regularly to ensure this. This information must be packaged into a program and delivered to existing and new employees when they join as well so that it guides the work culture. What is the company's vision and values, how it was set up, who does it serve, what larger purpose does it aspire to, causes it supports, etc. All these critical questions must be answered for employees. In fact, this can also be briefed during job interviews so they are more aligned to these critical aspects of your brand personality.

To enhance emotional connection between employees and the brand, foster a culture of transparency, empathy, and recognition. Encourage open communication, actively listen to employees' feedback, and involve them in decision-making processes. Promote shared values and goals, creating a sense of belonging and purpose. Offer opportunities for personal and professional growth, and celebrate achievements together. Recognize and reward contributions, fostering a positive work environment that inspires loyalty and commitment to the brand's mission.

Decide what it is you stand for and then stand for it 100% of the time. The advice of Clayton M Christensen sounds simple but is remarkably difficult to achieve. Your values don’t live in a PowerPoint deck they are in the everyday experience of your staff. An experience which begins with the recruitment process. This is why employee engagement is so important, the average employee has no idea what the values of their company are. Values aren’t just positioning statements they can be a powerful anchor to measure actions, or lack thereof, against.

Ensure that your company's values are well-defined, clearly communicated, and consistently demonstrated by leadership and employees alike. Aligning organizational behaviors with these values helps create a sense of purpose and identity, strengthening the emotional bond between employees and the brand.

To deepen the emotional connection between employees and your brand, focus on cultivating a sense of belonging and purpose. Share stories that highlight the impact of your brand on customers and the community making employees feel part of something bigger. Involve them in decision-making processes, giving a sense of ownership and contribution to the brand direction. Recognize and celebrate achievements that align with brand values, reinforcing thir importance. Offer opportunities for employees to engage with your brand outside of work, like volunteer initiatives that embody your brand's ethosCreating workplace culture that mirrors your brand values ensures employees not only understand but also live and advocate for your brand passionately

The best way to tell your story to employees is to make them part of it. How do they impact it regardless of their job title? What stories are you telling your employees about their agency in your company? How diverse are the leaders you are elevating as thought leaders and role models? All too often brand storytelling doesn’t do enough to connect with employees emotionally.

Share authentic and compelling stories that illustrate the impact of your brand on employees' lives, communities, and the world. Highlight employee accomplishments, community involvement, and the ways in which your brand makes a difference beyond just the bottom line.

Being authentic in crafting and sharing your story with infusion of strong relatable emotions to resonate with employees in a deeper level is no doubt a great way to heighten emotional connection of your staff to the brand. Also, inclusion of the heart-warming stories of those people who joined you when you first started is more impactful and definitely stir the soul.

Having a clear EVP / brand message and conveying your company values in a way that galvanises employees and really involves them is a must. It is win win for both employer and employee, having belief and trust in company values and living up to them allows your employees to not only speak of their employer with complete authenticity and belief it brings integrity to a brand, and that is gold. A company will go far with integrity. Tell the full story.

Empowering employees means not only giving them responsibilities but also actively listening to their voices. Their feedback is invaluable for shaping the work environment and enhancing their sense of ownership. Sociabble, an internal comms solution, plays a critical role in this regard. It offers unique features like User-Generated Content (UGC), surveys, and polls, which encourage employees to express themselves and provide valuable insights. This two-way communication - both downward and upward - is pivotal for genuine empowerment. Moreover, Sociabble's engagement framework, including points and badges, recognizes and rewards employees' contributions, reinforcing their motivation and commitment to company values and goals.

Celebrate tenured staff by creating a folklore around them. Feature them in your videos and encourage them to tell stories around how they overcame challenges to achieve success. Use the power of a character narrative to build your employer brand.

Creating emotional connection about brand is creating a sense of belonging, purpose and shared values. Employee Engagement, Training & Development, Feedback & Communication, Employee Well-being all these are the ways of doing it..