Presentations give brands internal life

In one of our recent blogs on this topic, we talked about the fine art of creating ‘brand experiences’ using presentations. In this post, we’d like to take another look at the role of presentations in company internal communications. For indeed, more presentations are held internally than externally. Think of decision documents, projects, review meetings, sales conferences, departmental meetings, and a dozen other occasions. And here’s a small word that tells you something about their ascribed level of importance. That word is ‘only’. It is ‘only’ for internal purposes. ‘Only’ for co-workers. ‘Only’ for an info-update briefing.

Brands come to life from the inside out.

You have defined your brand’s personality. You’ve set your image objectives. Perhaps you’ve even developed a key statement (slogan) that ‘gets to the point’ of who you are. Then you assembled your entire communication orchestra in position to place these attributes via all possible channels in the market and in the hearts and minds of your customers and business partners.

Brands and companies come to life through the people that represent them. They do this at the most diverse contact points ? on the phone, at reception, at client appointments, events, trade fairs, or at the goods delivery ramp or via maintenance personnel or… All these people are your brand ambassadors. Yet they can only fulfil this role if your internal marketing enables them to.

So let’s also fire up your internal communications and move your brand into the hearts of your employees, using the instruments in your communications orchestra called presentations.

Many hands make light work.

Forget ‘only’. Use presentations to make the key attributes of your brand tangible, with a smile, with charm and with constant repetition. Penetrate everything with your slogan ? use it so that it becomes a presence in every situation. Get your organization excited about itself!

Follow Strategy Compass on LinkedIn for more insights on Business Presentations.

What does this encompass?

• Ask yourself how your key brand attributes impact on internal actions and behaviors. How do characteristics such as “customer-oriented, likeable, different from the others” impact on internal presentations? How do you get co-workers to feel that?
• If you have a slogan, how does it run through the presentation? Is it implied? In wording and stories? How does it become palpable? How do you check that it does?
• What do you do for your co-workers to make presentations easier for them? Which services do you provide for them that make using PowerPoint easier? Slide templates, narratives or storylines, simple graphics, instant adaptation to corporate design and corporate identity requirements, a framework of ideas… and your brand messages always already integrated in all of this.
• Do you exemplify the top-down approach? How? Do you have management in its function as a role model on your side? Are your expectations clearly formulated? Do you give detailed feedback on the appearance and performance of presentations, entirely in the spirit of your brand and your marketing?

The wonderful thing in this is that both external communications as well as internal communications can build on each other to achieve a mutually reinforcing inward effect.

If you act consistently, check everything thoroughly and offer supporting services, then your internal presentations will be a high note in your communications orchestra, which can contribute to the overall enjoyment of the brand. Depending on your particular set up, a concertmaster such as a specialised presentation agency, for example, can contribute the right accompaniment. But only if it has three things: true brand understanding, the necessary tools (meaning: software) and a profound competence in implementation.

Allocate ‘only’ a little bit more of your time to the inner life of your brand today, and be amazed at the difference it makes.

Follow Strategy Compass on LinkedIn for more insights on Business Presentations.