Many companies understand the importance of building customer loyalty for a brand. They make extraordinary efforts to show their customers a meaningful and synchronized series of communications. Some go even further by creating truly consistent experiences for building the brand. These companies define and segment their customers. They lovingly target them. They believe that a brand exists to provide value in the lives of their customers.

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Interestingly, these very same companies often do not focus the same level of consistent communication and attention on the most intimate customers and ambassadors of their brand — their employees. Indeed, they take for granted the hardworking people at the very core of their business.

Your employees are the people who create your brand and take it into the world as advocates every day. They spend more waking hours at the office than in their homes. They spend more time on their computers than they do talking to their children. They need to feel that this time is devoted to something more meaningful than filling the company coffers.

How can you provide what your employees truly need? Consider a few simple truths:

1. Strive to understand your employees’ motivations and behaviors just as well as you know your customers’ traits.

2. Recognize that paychecks and benefits are not inspirational to most people. People need to feel their work matters.

3. Help each individual identify their unique abilities and contributions. Properly channeled, they can have a profound impact on success.

4. Understand that there is no better brand advocate than an employee who feels valued and valuable. Reward leaders who instill this in their people.

5. No matter how much someone loves their job, everyone likes to be recruited.

Everyone likes to feel known and understood. When you feel this way you feel connected. You feel like you are a part of something larger than yourself. You share a common bond and you have a willingness to collaborate and contribute to a group that truly understands you and accepts you for both who you are and what you can offer to the group.

You need to understand the reasons your employees are willing to come into work with a group of people they might otherwise not have a connection with. Don’t be misled; these acts are not entirely selfless. When you show people the path to impact, they will take it. They will relish the opportunity to use the best of themselves to make your organization better. They will feel appreciated. And they will be the most productive workforce you could ever dream of employing. It’s the best brand-building strategy there is.

— Emily Haunz, director and senior strategist for HyperQuake.

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