A successful brand rings true with customers and employees

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"I enjoy my job," said Reinders, human resources manager for Mortenson, Matzelle and Meldrum (M3), an independent insurance agency in Madison. "I constantly explain to candidates or new hires that there isn't another company I'd rather work for."

Reinders attributes her staying power to M3's ability to take the company brand promise ? "Innovative. Committed." ? directly inside the workplace, and right down to its employees.

"In order for us to live our innovative-committed tagline, we need to attract people who are innovative and committed," Reinders said. "Our biggest asset is our people, and our success depends on those people."

And according to human resources professional Eve Scheffenacker, M3 has the right idea. Scheffenacker, owner of the Madison-based communications consulting firm ByWord, regularly works with companies to help them understand that when it comes to business, what they're portraying on the outside must match what's going on inside the workplace.

A brand promise ? such as McDonald's slogan, "I'm Lovin' It!" ? is a key phrase that companies send to their customers to convey a positive image of the business, Scheffenacker said.

"In a nutshell it's the perception in your customer's minds about what it means to be your customer ? and that's based on their experiences with your product, your service or your people in the company," she said. However, if employees aren't experiencing that same positive brand promise, then they can adversely affect how customers see the business.

Scheffenacker said the key for successful companies is to "internalize" their brand. She said human resource professionals can do that by going straight to their marketing officers and making sure the brand is aligned with the company's mission and values.

If McDonald's brand is "I'm Lovin' It!" then the company needs to make sure that it is not only making terrific food but also paying attention to internal concerns such as compensation, fair benefits, flexible scheduling and feedback. Those are keys to making sure employees are "lovin' it" as well.

"Your employees affect what your marketplace brand is either because they make your product or they provide customer service," Scheffenacker said. "If they aren't happy, they're likely to provide bad service ... so just as what you say needs to match what you deliver, the same thing has to happen internally. The two things have to match."

For M3, Reinders said, the brand promise and the company's mission and values are on target with each other ? even down to the employees' work spaces.

"We actually have desk mats that have our statements on there and our business strategies," Reinders said. "Our recruitment brochures talk about the brand and we've even tied our innovative-committed brand into our survey for employees."

Reinders said yearly progress reports include categories to assess whether the employee is innovative and committed.

"I think this is important so that every employee can tie back to the mission and ultimately the vision, so they understand how their role fits into the bigger picture," Reinders said. The company's message has translated into a low turnover rate, she said.

Scheffenacker said M3 is an excellent model of a company that's internalizing its brand and doing an excellent job of showing its employees that they matter.

"Loyalty is the bottom line," Scheffenacker said. "(Loyalty) is what you're building when you complete that circle and bring that brand inside."