Know-How Exchange : Branding

aahiaku

How many organisations do you know where Employee Engagement actually gets a distinct, discrete and separately identified (and measured) budget? I've never seen it yet, but I guess I'll have to keep looking.

Sure, firms do practise Employee Engagement, but the function (and the term) belongs inside every initiative where Employee Engagement is a driver of strategic and tactical objective fulfillment.

I think you need to rephrase your PhD topic. There's not likely to be much of value that comes out of research that only looks into the metrics as you have suggested.

But if you could come up with some ground-breaking research into what works and what doesn't in terms of techniques to increase Employee Engagement, and incorporate your measurement metrics methodology as part of that study, then you would have the business world beating a path to your door to listen to your findings.

Hope that helps.

ChrisB

Dear aahiaku,

Look, I have no beef with you and honestly, it matters not one jot to be what qualification you wind up with.

But what DOES matter is that by the tone of your response to my original post, it sounds like the part you read was the part you didn’t seem to understand, and the part you thought you understood sounds like the part you didn’t read—probably because I didn't write it.

If you're going to carry out Ph.D. research into internal branding metrics—a term that THREE people have now not heard of—be a little more scientific in your outline. This means you taking the time to:

1. clarify its meaning,
2. define who it impacts,
3. outline why it’s important,
4. and identify its benefits.

Your point about “the days when each activity that can be measured in marketing are gone” rather begs the question: why do you want to study something you claim can’t be measured?

If you're going to ask for support, you'll do well, you'll get better results, and you'll build healthier relationships into the bargain by RESISTING the temptation to browbeat the people who disagree with your premise, simply because you can.

I'm urging you to do this because otherwise, it sounds as if the main thing you're looking for is someone to stroke your ego, not someone to help you. That's how it reads to me.

To obtain results you can use it'll sometimes suit you to ACT like a researcher second and act like a person first.

This will mean treating people with a certain degree of respect.
Sometimes, this will mean getting off your academic high horse and talking to real people about the things and issues they know about because they face and deal with them every day.

It will also mean you occasionally explaining why you need to pursue a particular branch of study, how you study it, where you study it, in which sector, for what reason, with what outcome, for whom, with what value, and with which benefits.

Simply because someone appears to misunderstand one of your terms—whatever that term might be—it does not make them an idiot, nor does it give you the right to brow beat them in public.

With me?

Your original post wasn’t a question. It was a 29 word statement. In future, when you’re confronted with questions as to the validity of your statement, do as much as you can to RESIST treating people as inferiors, or as if they're idiots. It's neither cool nor good professional form to do this.

This means thinking twice before coming out with statements along the lines “Branding is an experience and every touch point makes a difference.” Again, I urge you to consider this viewpoint because here, on this forum, you're dealing mostly with people with the better part of 25 years experience under their belts.

Likewise with statements such as “If branding affects outsiders them (sic) employees who own the process must live the brand.”

Must they? Says who?

The reality of the work place for many millions of regular people—people who are just ordinary employees—the reality for them is that the brand, whatever it is, the brand often means very little.

To many employees, the brand is JUST a job, just a paycheck.
And similarly, to many customers, the brand is just a service or
a product.

Marketing people don't like this any more than you do. But they deal with it becasue often, it's part of their job to do just that. The sooner you get used to this idea the easier your life will be and the sooner you’ll make friends in the larger marketing community.

Why am I telling you this? Because sooner or later, whatever qualifications you've got and regardless of the letters you've got after your name or the letters you'll get—if you're lucky—, you'll have a problem you CAN'T answer and you'll NEED friends to help you out.

As an academic, it's easy to become isolated; it's easy to see yourself as some kind of supreme being. You're not. You're just some schmoe, just like the rest of us. Trust me on this: I've seen it happen.

I've heard it said that earning a Ph.D., simply affords one time
to spend life learning more and more about less and less. The downside here is that sometimes, this can be to the betterment of no one.

In the real world, in the grimy work place with its ups, downs, reviews and corporate BS, employee engagement often depends far more on recognition than it does on any notion of “budget”. And this rule applies universally, regardless of whether the budget is for compensation or marketing.

My initial reaction to your response above was to rip you a new one—not, mind you, that that would have helped either of us. One day, the points I've made above just might make you a better researcher. Or at the least, they might just save your ass.

Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Dear aahiaku,

Very interesting topic you nhave opebed here and it has certainly sparked some strong opinions :)

Firstly, please allow me to correct you on a certain statement.

"the days when each activity can be measured in marketing are gone".

In fact, marketing is a science, NOT an art (although it has some artistic components ).

In order for it to be legitimaytely recogbised as a science, it has to be both measurable and repeatable.

In fact today, the modern marketer has better access to measurement tools than evcer before and each new generation of marketers adds to the sophistication and acuracy of the metrics that are monitored.

THe metric that you want to monitor, may not be 'top of mind' for most companies right now, but you are correct in stating that employee engagement and acceptance of the brand can have an impact oin the business.

If you believe that your study is worthy of majot research, then go for it! This kind of work strictly belongs within the halls of acadeem.

Holding a Phd in marketing won't really help you a jot in terms of getting a job in the real world later but you may get a very nice teaching post in a good school somewhere :)

Follow your heart - just be sure that you consult your head strongly first before wasting the next 5 to 7 years of your lige on a Phd research that nobody is really interested in :)

Good luck.

Matthew