Your workforce is your sales team. What they say about their employer and workplace outside of the four walls of your business echoes throughout the community. Team members who are included and informed will be your most positive and vocal advocates in the communities you want to serve. Does your marketing team take an active interest in the communication that your employees receive? Does the messaging of your internal communication align with your overall organizational goals and core values?

Has your company taken the time to decipher what makes it tick? What are the shared values that hold your company together? What are the non-negotiables when hiring new team members or choosing to let go of existing ones? If your industry dried up overnight and you had to completely reinvent your company, what are the standards you would hold onto and ensure they were carried forward into your new business venture? Your marketing team should help craft the language used in your core value development process. That same language, when appropriate, should make its way into your efforts to Grow Your Audience.

One of the primary ways to drive home your core values – other than actually living them out in your day-to-day business operations – is to adorn your walls with them. Your marketing team should take the lead on the overall aesthetic of your workspace, not only for the sake of the clients and customers you’ll welcome through your doors but also for your team members who spend 40+ hours per week there. Everything from the color you paint your walls to the restroom signage should coincide with the feeling your brand is trying to elicit from your customers. Have you asked your marketing team what they think about your workspace?

Any growing business is going to be concerned about bringing on fresh talent. Many of the same tactics implemented to reach new customers can be used to reach new employees. Seeing recruitment as a function of your HR department solely is a disservice to them and your company as a whole. Include your marketing team in this process. Have them treat your HR team like a client and let the creativity run wild. Your HR team will have a lot of fun with it, and the marketing team will be reinvigorated in the process.

How does this team of yours look? Are they outfitted with some gear that prominently – or subtly – features your company logo? Do you have standards for the kinds of apparel your logo will grace? More importantly, do you have an easy way to get apparel and swag into your team members' hands? Your marketing decision-makers should have a voice in the apparel vendor selection process and should work to ensure that your brand standards carry forward onto any item your logo graces.