Culture is your best marketing department

There's a widely held assumption in business that brand loyalty is built in the marketing department and that clever campaigns, memorable slogans, loyalty programmes etc. will keep people coming back for more.

Yet, the most loyal customers in the world aren't created by a campaign. They are created by a culture. The product itself isn’t enough.

The chain is straightforward, even if most organisations refuse to follow (or acknowledge!) it. 

Engaged employees - i.e. people who are treated well and who genuinely care about the business and the service that they offer - deliver better customer experiences.

Better customer experiences create advocates. And these advocates bring more customers than any campaign ever will.

Gallup's research found that companies with highly engaged workforces achieve 10% higher customer ratings and 23% greater profitability.

It’s not a coincidence. It's cause and effect.

The Service-Profit Chain, first described in the Harvard Business Review by Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser and Schlesinger back in 1994, established the causal link between how employees feel, how customers are treated and how that translates into growth. Thirty years later, organisations are still choosing to ignore it.

Culture is the accumulation of every decision, every interaction and every norm that shapes how people show up for each other and, ultimately, for your customers. It’s a daily choice that companies make and it should be a simple one.

Treat your people well and they'll repay you in ways no ad budget can replicate.