In Part Two of our series on Brand Building, we’ll look at the ways you can use the story and structure you developed in Part One: Building your External Brand, to build a powerful internal brand.

Brand is everything. It’s your logo and your website. It’s a smile in the hallway or a friendly hello when someone picks up the phone. It’s what your center values and how you show that you value it. Developing your external brand promise and expression are essential, but they can only go so far as people experience your brand day to day, and that comes down to how well you build an internal brand.

So how do you create a strong internal brand? Here are some steps to break it down.

Your internal brand is your culture, and it’s is more just a buzzword. Culture is a vital to how your team members, both new and current, view your organization and how they live out your brand in their work. Your team’s onboarding is the first, best opportunity to train your team on your culture. What better way to jumpstart their journey with your medical fitness center than by going into a deep dive of the brand values and experience you promote? Get as in-depth as you can with providing an explanation of how your teams will interact with each other and members as Brand Ambassadors. Corporate policies are one thing but providing a purpose and vision for why your center exists can help put the team on an exciting path of growth to becoming a Brand Ambassador for your center.

Creating a brand guidebook is essential for training your team and keeping them focused on a cohesive message and developing a consistent brand experience. While your marketing team will use this guide most frequently, your other teams should be trained and have easy access to it to make sure they are using the correct language, tone, logo, typography, and other elements graphics when they communicate as a Brand Ambassador. Want every team member to use the same intro (Think, “Good morning, it’s a great day at College Park Medical Club!”) when a potential client calls in? Put it in the brand book!

You want your team members to be excited about your center and its purpose. Finding ways to reward your team members for exceptional work as Brand Ambassadors is a great way to keep the team on track and boost morale. This tactic is vital as you try to expand your reach to the whole community. You want to bring in new members that may not realize the services you have to offer. Your team members can easily share your facility’s posts on social media to get their friends and family intrigued about your organization. You could offer a team referral program as well as a prize for the most referrals in a single year. The sky is truly the limit for spreading the word and rewarding your team for building the brand!

Throughout the year, your facility will be focusing on different aspects of health, wellness, and other member programs. Your marketing team will be running campaigns on your channels (website, social media, and email), but they shouldn’t be the only ones spreading the word. Keep your whole team informed of each new program in your facility so that they can help spread the word to members. With all the digital tools in the world, sometimes a face-to-face conversation is still the best way to get a potential client excited about anew program or offering.

In addition to new campaigns, team members should also receive updates when there is any change to the brand book. Knowing these changes can help them use current logos, graphics, and other branding elements for correspondence.

External and internal branding are key elements of your overall strategy. The two different types of branding build on each other to draw in your community and deliver exceptional experiences for your clients and team. Those two approaches are the key to helping you standing out from other medical fitness facilities and other health clubs as you outrival the best!