Appendix A3 Internal Marketing Plan

Internal Marketing Plan

1

Introduction

Implementation of a marketing plan will not function properly and effectively if the idea is not

accepted internally by management as well as the staff as they are the people who will actually

make it happen. After all, the DSO may have a strong marketing strategy and active advertising

campaign, but without its employee’s support, it will not be as effective. An Internal marketing

plan is an important implementation tool. It aids communication and helps the organization to

overcome any resistance to change1. Internal marketing obeys the same rules and has a similar

structure to external marketing. It is a planned effort using a marketing-like approached directed

at motivating employees, for implementing and integrating organizational strategies towards

customer orientation2. Once the DSO has identified that its internal customers are musicians as

well as other administrative staff, and develops and implements marketing processes specific to

those employees, the organization will become more strategically and tactically prepared to

address the challenges facing the orchestra’s future. The DSO will also gain not only

knowledgeable and prepared employees, but also embedded employees3. This means that they

will feel that that they are an integral part of the DSO, exuding confidence and satisfaction in

their work and service encounters, such that patrons and other external customers become aware

and also exhibit these feeling toward the organization. Internal marketing also informs and

involves all staff in new initiatives and strategies through ongoing training, enhanced

communication, and focused personnel administration. It gives employees a sense of belonging

and helps them to care more about their organization by creating powerful emotional connection

to the products and services they sell.

Before conducting an internal marketing plan, goals and objectives need to be set. Again, similar

to external marketing plan, objectives and goals are desired and expected outcomes resulting

from the marketing plan3. Goals of internal marketing plan should also take into account DSO’s

mission statement. Objectives of our marketing plan here is to bring all employees within the

DSO in becoming one of the top 5 symphony orchestra in the United States and to provide

premier cultural events worth sharing for its patrons while increasing net profit and sales.

IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNAL MARKETING PLAN

Management Support

First and foremost, the success or failure of the internal marketing program relies on the change

in attitudes and behaviors of DSO management; this change is then reflected in the attitude and

behaviors of DSO employees. Therefore, the first target group of internal marketing plan is top

management. President and CEO of the DSO, Fred Bronstein, and other executives and directors

1 Bannon, Declan P. “Internal Marketing and Political Marketing.” Paisley Business School, University of Paisley

(2005).

2Jarvi, Pentti. “Marketing and the Commitment of the Employees When Managing the Customer-Oriented

Business.” School of Business and Economics, University of Jyvaskyla.

3 Internal Marketing – Lesson. Marketing Teach. 15 July 2005.

<http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_internal_marketing.htm>


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have to believe in what the marketing direction can

accomplish for DSO. Co-operation between employees

must be good, as they need each other in solving daily problems with customers4.

Sometimes they need help from employees of other product groups such as operation/pop

coordinator and chorus within Orchestra Operation department or even from other departments

such as Marketing or Patron Services. There must not be thresholds between departments and

product groups. Though change will improve the organization, nobody truly wants to change the

way they do things because changes create following problems for them5.

Loss of Control

During times of change, people often cannot define where the control lies. They begin to

personalize anger over the events that are happening and direct it towards particular people, often

the direct managers. People always feel the need to control their environment and resist anything

they perceive can threaten this control, even if it may bring new opportunities. When they

perceive this threat, it can affect different areas that are important to their work.

This is why it is important that the idea of change be supported by the management, so that this

type of problem can be prevented. For example, PSC coordinators might not understand why

they have to create an extra effort in providing good customer service to their value patrons.

Change in Boundaries

There is often confusion over the boundaries of people roles. Ground rules will alter and

authority tends to shift until the overall change has been achieved. It is often a time when more

risk-orientated individuals make bids for power, whilst the less assertive attempt to hold on to

what is familiar. Others will look for guidance, which is often lacking.

Change to their credibility

When changes are introduced or employees are told to operate in a new way, they sometimes

feel that the work they carried out previously was undervalued and unappreciated.

Change to their beliefs

Everybody has key beliefs in life, which give meaning to their works and actions. If work is

changed; it can sometimes be seen as a threat to their key meaning or beliefs. For example,

musicians might feel threatened when asked to move away from classical music and toward pop

or some modern music.

Successful change intervention characteristics can be listed as such:

- Clear vision of desired end result for entire organization

- This vision must be integrated into every form of change taking place

- There must be commitment to a learning mode – so that learning and doing are equally

valued

4Oetjen, Dawn, PhD; Rotarius, Timothy, PhD. “Internal Marketing: The Prescription for Dialysis Center Success.”

Dialysis & Transplantation. Vol. 31, No.10 (2002).

5 Procurement Marketing Training Consultant. PHS Management Training. 17 July 2005. < http://www.training-

management.info/Procurement/Marketing.htm>


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- Clear commitment by top leaders by making

significant personal investment and an

examination of their own effectiveness.

Continuous management support is required from every manager and supervisor as part of their

normal daily functions. A top-down flow of attitudes from senior managers through mid-level

managers to employees will allow the employees to see a clearer picture of the strategy being

emphasized. Figure 1 gives an example of how the top-down approach would work if the

management would like to improve level of coordination among departments and employees, as

well as the musicians.

Want to increase level of coordination

among departments and within each

department

Within department: Music director

brings in musicians when planning programs

for next year

Among departments: Marketing

Manager informs other departments of

new activities

Staff is aware of activities initiated

by other departments and able to perform

their job in assisting customers more

effectively

Figure 1

Human Resource Administration

Another key component in the internal marketing plan is the way in which the human resources

department serves to foster a working environment supportive to the initiatives of the external

marketing plan.

This component begins with recruiting the right individuals to be, all at the same time,

employees, representatives, and spokespeople of the DSO. The internal situation analysis of the

Dallas Symphony Orchestra gives some examples of current strengths and weaknesses of its

Dr. Bronstein & Executive level Management

Department Managers

Musicians & Staff


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Human Resources department. One of the strengths of

the DSO HR is its desire to recruit and retain passionate

people who understand the organization’s mission and vision, and who have a strong desire to

learn. Given this knowledge, the DSO is well on its way to achieving a hiring policy that will

secure a talented and passionate workforce. It needs to further extend this policy by

understanding and adopting any new marketing strategy initiatives. This will help the DSO to

achieve its goals.

Successful human resources administration continues with the responsibilities of creating job

descriptions, developing clear career paths, and determining optimal wage and benefit systems,

etc. The following list of HR practices will aid in the internal marketing plan.

• The organization has a written personnel handbook/policy that is regularly

reviewed and updated to describe the recruitment, hiring, termination and

standard work rules for all staff. This should be tailored to fit with any new

marketing initiatives that the DSO might have.

• The organization follows nondiscriminatory hiring practices. An organization that

practices nondiscriminatory hiring will attain a diverse workforce that will be

crucial to the DSO’s success given the changing demographics of the Dallas area.

• The organization has job descriptions including qualifications, duties, reporting

relationships and key indicators. All of the functions will need to be kept current

in a changing environment.

• The organization has a compensation plan, and a periodic review of salary

ranges and benefits is conducted. For certain job functions, performance based

compensation should be a part of the employee’s total compensation plan.

Offering incentives for a desired performance generates a high level of

productivity for those specific objectives the company wishes to meet.

• The organization requires employee performance appraisals to be conducted and

documented at least annually. This allows management to identify those

employees that fit well within the DSO and those that do not. DSO HR has

recently adopted the 360 degree peer evaluation form where evaluation is given

by everyone an employee works with such as subordinates, peers and superiors.

This ensures a truer analysis of an employee’s work performance. This increased

input has given the employees a greater level of accountability in their work.

• The organization has a timely process for filling vacant positions to prevent an

interruption of program services or disruption to organization operations. This is

essential in the continuity of operations in any business.

• The organization has a process for reviewing and responding to ideas,

suggestions, comments and perceptions from all staff members. The increased

communications of market activities will generate many opinions and ideas

regarding the marketing direction of the DSO. The DSO needs to ensure that it

has a medium by which it can capture and analyze those thoughts. Intranet “Idea

Banks” or suggestion boxes are a great way of providing employees a confidential

channel through which to submit such thoughts. Also, offering rewards for

utilized suggestions helps in fostering an environment inviting to change.


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Training

As an organization gears up for change and implementation of different strategies, it is necessary

to prepare the employees with necessary skills to help them with the transition. It is the quality of

employees that actually make an organization. In the case of performing arts, they are one of the

important touch points for a customer. Normally considered for new employees, training for

current employees helps them to adjust to rapid changing job requirements. Employees

frequently develop a greater sense of self-worth, dignity and well-being as they become more

valuable to the firm and to society. Increased productivity that results from training gives

employees a sense of satisfaction through achievement of company and personal goals.

The training process typically involves the following steps6:

• Defining organizational objectives

• Identifying needs of the training program

• Defining training goals

• Deciding whom to train

• Developing training methods

• Deciding the trainers

• Administering the training

• Evaluating the training program

Defining Organizational Objectives:

It is important that the training program aligns with DSO’s goals and objectives. Employees need

to be well-communicated about DSO’s vision so that they can relate to the training program in

giving them the required skills to achieve those goals. As a symphony orchestra, DSO offers a

rich cultural experience with a vision of being among the top 5 orchestras. Initial studies have

shown that DSO employees recognize DSO’s vision and are passionate about their jobs. DSO’s

requirement is to retain and attract more patrons along with product innovations and promotional

strategies. Training can help forge the thought among employees that it is their efforts that can

get DSO where it wants to be which is why training is important.

Identifying needs of the training program:

Before implementing the training programs, it is important to see where training is required, who

needs the training and what must be taught to increase productivity. Currently, the main area that

DSO needs to focus on is in getting patron information and developing good relations with the

patrons. Getting patron information will involve training in Tessitura software and training the

employees to get information from a patron when he/she contacts the DSO. The Patron Service

Center staff can help in promoting and marketing concerts to the callers by using Tessitura data.

Purchase patterns of a customer that indicate an inclination for Pops can be used by the staff to

inform the caller about an upcoming Pops concert. This is an important channel where the

representative can either inform or remind a patron about upcoming concerts. Currently, the

patrons come in contact with the City of Dallas staff while attending a concert. The service and

6 www.zeromillion.com


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conduct of this staff is important because patrons do not

recognize them as unrelated to the DSO. As DSO’s image

is tied to these employees, it is important that their performance be evaluated and if need be,

some arrangements should be made with the City of Dallas to train these employees to offer

better customer service.

Defining training goals:

Training goals align closely with the organizational goals and the needs as identified by DSO.

The main objective here is to train employees not only with the software and customer service

skills but train them such that their passion is reflected when they deal with the patrons. The

training program has more chance of being successful if the concerned employees are included in

achieving training goals.

Deciding whom to train:

The current need for DSO is training the staff to effectively use Tessitura software and also

collect more information on customers as they communicate with them. Hence training is

required for staff that comes in contact with the patrons and those who use the software and

interpret the information obtained through Tessitura.

Developing training methods:

The factors that need to be taken into consideration while deciding on the training method are:

o Timing

o Duration

o Flexibility

o Location

o Facilities

There are two basic methods that can be implemented:

On-the-job training is delivered to employees while they perform their regular jobs. In this way,

they do not lose time while they are learning. After a plan is developed for what should be

taught, employees should be informed of the details. On-the-job techniques include orientations,

job instruction training, job rotation and coaching.

Off-the-job techniques include lectures, workshops, television conferences or discussions,

programmed instruction and laboratory training. Most of these techniques can be used by small

businesses although, some may be too costly.

DSO can employ a combination of on-the-job training and workshops for training the staff in use

of Tessitura. Customer service skills and communication skills can be conducted using off-the-

job techniques through discussions and seminars. Training programs for the City of Dallas staff

would have to be discussed with the city officials. It is best that the employees be included in

making the decision as they know which method will best suit them.


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Deciding the trainers:

Trainers can be employed in-house or through outside training specialists. Training in Tessitura

would probably require an outside trainer while training in customer service can be done either

way. It is important that the goals and objectives of the DSO be clearly explained if an outside

professional is employed for training.

Administering the training:

After planning the training program, it is important that the training program be conducted

smoothly. Operational details and balancing of normal work schedules need to be evaluated as

the program proceeds.

Evaluating the training program:

Ongoing and post evaluations of the training programs is necessary to evaluate the success of the

initiative in achieving the set goals. Employees should be evaluated by comparing their newly

acquired skills with the skills defined by the goals of the training program. Any discrepancies

should be noted and adjustments must be made to the training program to enable it to meet

specified goals.

Communication7

Communication is essential to successful implementation of the internal marketing plan. It has

been said that there can’t be too much communication. A specific communications plan is

essential to the internal marketing plan. There are five important things to consider when looking

at a communications plan:

1. Common causes of problems in internal communications

2. Key principles to effective internal communications

3. Basic structures/policies to support effective internal communications

4. Supervisor and employee communications

5. Develop a basic communications plan

Common causes of problems in internal communications

• If I know it, then everyone must know it. Managers often believe that if they know

about something going on in the organization, everyone else knows too. However,

they must make an effort to make their employees aware. For example, if the DSO is

implementing a promotion, such as something for group sales, they need to make sure

everyone knows what is going on. Currently different people in the organizations may

be promoting different discounts for the same event. It is important to be consistent,

and let everyone know what the one promotion is. They can’t assume because they

know, that everyone in the organization is aware.

• We hate bureaucracy -- we're "lean and mean." Many organizations view a lot of

written polices as burdensome, and therefore elect not to write everything down.

7 http://www.mapnp.org/library/mrktng/org_cmm.htm#anchor470301


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However, it is important to keep a written

record of polices in the organization for

employees to refer back to. This should be above and beyond the employee

handbook. It is also important to keep the written communication up to date when

changes are implemented. For example, with the DSO, this could include information

on how employees in the Patron Services Center should interact with patrons who call

in.

• I told everyone, or some people, or ...? Many managers assume communication in the

organization just happens, so there is no need to make a conscious effort to make sure

everyone receives the information. However, if this approach is employed, one can

never be sure that everyone in the organization has received the information.

• Did you hear what I meant for you to hear? Another issue is miscommunication.

Mangers have to be sure that their message is conveyed in the manner it was

supposed to be. This is especially true if the information is technical. Some of the

employees might not have the background information that managers have; therefore,

they aren’t as clear about what is going on. They have to be sure to explain the

information in a way everyone can understand. For example, if the DSO is explaining

how to use a feature of Tessitura, it is essential that employees are aware of all of the

aspects.

• So what's to talk about? Many managers feel that if there aren’t any current

problems, that there is nothing to talk about. However, it is just as important to spread

positive communication, as it is to spread negative communication. It is essential to

let employees know when they are doing a good job. Along with this, managers

should value the opinions of employees. They shouldn’t assume that because they are

management, the ideas of employees are worthless. For example, the DSO could open

an employee suggestion box to hear their ideas. This could be anonymous, or include

their names. They could even implement a rewards program if their ideas are

implemented.

Key principles to effective internal communications

• Unless management comprehends and fully supports the premise that organizations

must have high degrees of communications (like people needing lots of water), the

organization will remain stilted. Often times, management doesn’t realize the need for

communication until they have sunk below a point where it takes a lot of effort to get

back. They key is to start with a high degree of communication from the beginning.

The DSO may have to do backtracking to get caught up, but from this point forward,

they can ensure effective communication. For example, if new programs are going to

be implemented, they need to make the employees aware.

• Effective internal communications start with effective skills in communications,

including basic skills in listening, speaking, questioning and sharing feedback. These

can be developed with some concerted review and practice. Perhaps the most

important outcome from these skills is conveying that you value hearing from others


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and their hearing from you. The management

of the DSO not only needs to know how to

give feedback, but also how to receive it. Employees should feel comfortable

approaching management.

• Sound meeting management skills go a long way toward ensuring effective

communications, too. Meetings should not be scheduled just for the sake of meeting.

An agenda should be clearly outlined and followed. Time should be used wisely, and

there should always be time for questions.

• A key ingredient to developing effective communications in any organization is each

person taking responsibility to assert when they don't understand a communication or

to suggest when and how someone could communicate more effectively. An

employee should not be afraid to ask questions when they don’t understand

something. If people do not understand, they could react in the wrong way. It is also

essential to limit the amount of emotional responses.

Basic structures/policies to support effective internal communications

This communication can be looked at as communications downward and upward. Downward

communication is from managers down to employees. Upward communication is from

employees up to management.

Downward Communications:

• Ensure every employee receives a copy of the strategic plan, which includes the

organization's mission, vision, values statement, strategic goals and strategies about

how those goals will be reached. If any of these changes, it is important to send out an

updated copy. It is not sufficient to send it out once and assume this is sufficient for

the rest of the life of the organization.

• Ensure every employee receives an employee handbook that contains all up-to-date

personnel policies.

• Develop a basic set of procedures for how routine tasks are conducted and include

them in standard operating manual. This is very essential for the DSO, especially

once features of Tessitura are uncovered, and the DSO is ready to start implementing

more of the aspects. Each employee should know how to utilize the features of

Tessitura that fall under their job heading.

• Ensure every employee has a copy of their job description and the organization chart.

This is very important with all of the organizational changes that are being made in

the DSO.

• Regularly hold management meetings (at least every two weeks), even if there's

nothing pressing to report. If you hold meetings only when you believe there's

something to report, then communications will occur only when you have something

to say -- communications will be one way and the organization will suffer. Have


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meetings anyway, if only to establish and

affirm the communication that things are of a

status that there is no immediate problems.

• Hold full staff meetings every month to report how the organization is doing, major

accomplishments, concerns, announcements about staff, etc. This could serve as

another opportunity to solicit employee feedback and ideas.

• Leaders and managers should have face-to-face contact with employees at least once

a week. Even if the organization is over 20 employees (large for a nonprofit),

management should stroll by once in a while. It is important that each employee feel

needed in the organization. Personal feedback from high-level management makes

employees feel important. With the DSO, Fred Bronstein, and other high level people,

should make an effort to know the employees and know what they do.

• Regularly hold meetings to celebrate major accomplishments. This helps employees

perceive what's important, gives them a sense of direction and fulfillment, and let's

them know that leadership is on top of things. For the DSO, this could include special

meetings to kick off the introduction of new products or special events.

• Ensure all employees receive yearly performance reviews, including their goals for

the year, updated job descriptions, accomplishments, needs for improvement, and

plans to help the employee accomplish the improvements. If the nonprofit has

sufficient resources (a realistic concern), develop a career plan with the employee,

too.

Upward Communications:

• Ensure all employees give regular status reports to their supervisors. Include a section

for what they did last week, will do next week and any actions/issues to address.

• Ensure all supervisors meet one-on-one at least once a month with their employees to

discuss how its' going, hear any current concerns from the employee, etc. Even if the

meeting is chitchat, it cultivates an important relationship between supervisor and

employee.

• Use management and staff meetings to solicit feedback. Ask how it's going. Do a

round table approach to hear from each person.

• Act on feedback from others. Write it down. Get back to it -- if only to say you can't

do anything about the reported problem or suggestion, etc.

• Respect the "grapevine." It's probably one of the most prevalent and reliable forms of

communications. Major "movements" in the organization usually first appear when

employees feel it safe to venture their feelings or opinions to peers. However, it is

also important to remember that important communication should be officially

communicated by management to each employee.


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Supervisor and employee communications

Supervision is often considered to include designing the job, hiring someone to fill the job,

training them, delegating to them, guiding them via performance reviews, helping them develop

their career, noting performance issues, and firing them, if needed. Obviously small nonprofits

may not be able to afford full attention to all of these activities.

However, there are several basic and regular activities, which provide a solid foundation for

effective supervision. These basics ensure that everyone is working together -- as important, that

staff feel they are working together -- towards a common cause.

Ironically, these basics are usually the first activities that stop when an organization is in a crisis.

Consequently, an organization development specialist, when "diagnosing" an organization, often

first looks to see if these basics are underway. While a lot of this has been covered in previous

sections (examples for the DSO can be seen above), the employee’s supervisor should conduct

the following activities:

• Have all employees provide weekly written status reports to their supervisors. Include what tasks were done last week, what tasks are planned next week, any

pending issues and date the report. These reports may seem a tedious task, but they're

precious in ensuring that employee and their supervisor have mutual understanding of

what is going on, and the reports come in very handy for planning purposes. They

also make otherwise harried staff and managers stand back and reflect on what they're

doing.

• Hold monthly meetings with all staff together - Review the overall condition of the

organization and review recent successes. Consider conducting "in service" training

where employees take turns describing their roles to the rest of the staff. For clarity,

focus and morale, be sure to use agendas and ensure follow-up minutes. Consider

bringing in a client to tell their story of how the organization helped them. These

meetings go a long way toward building a feeling of teamwork among staff.

• Hold weekly or biweekly meetings with all staff together if the organization is small (e.g., under 10 people); otherwise, with all managers together. Have these meetings

even if there is not a specific problem to solve -- just make them shorter. (Holding

meetings only when there are problems to solve cultivate a crisis-oriented

environment where managers believe their only job is to solve problems.) Use these

meetings for each person to briefly give an overview of what they are doing that

week. Facilitate the meetings to support exchange of ideas and questions. Again, for

clarity, focus and morale, be sure to use agendas, take minutes and ensure follow-up

minutes. Have each person bring their calendar to ensure scheduling of future

meetings accommodates each person's calendar.

• Have supervisors met with their direct reports in one-on-one meetings every month - This ultimately produces more efficient time management and supervision. Review

overall status of work activities, hear how it's going with the supervisor and the


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employee, exchange feedback and questions

about current programs and services, and

discuss career planning, etc. Consider these meetings as interim meetings between the

more formal, yearly performance review meetings.

Develop a basic communications plan

It is important for the DSO to take this information and develop a communications plan. When

developing the communications plan, the DSO should consider the following questions:

• What key messages do you want to convey?

• To what key stakeholders do you want to convey the key messages (e.g., consider

clients, donors, community leaders, service providers, etc.)?

• What is the best approach to reach each key stakeholder, including who/how should

the message be conveyed?

• How will you know if you are reaching these stakeholders or not?

Marketing activities

Marketing support is intended to inform all DSO’s employees, including musicians, of the

products of DSO, for example, the programming of symphony orchestras and other series prior

to the performance. These market activities are often accomplished through advertising

campaigns and brochures geared to employees who have an intimate knowledge of the inner

workings of DSO. These internal advertisements and related materials, however, are very

different than the types of materials that will ultimately be used when marketing to the public. Of

crucial importance is the identification of marketing's various internal customers, and how their

needs can be addressed successfully.

Marketing starts from the inside out. Often, for internal market activities, references will be

made to the mission statement and the organizational vision in order to show that senior

management is fully committed to both the DSO’s product and to the concept of service

orientation.

Some of the questions that DSO’s management can try to answer include:

• Do DSO’s employees and musicians believe in the product that DSO offers?

• Are the employees and musicians standing 100% behind its mission of DSO’s brand?

• Are they living DSO’s brand? It is important that DSO’s employees and musicians be

informed and involved in new initiatives and strategies that are taking place within DSO.

If they are unable or unwilling to support the marketing efforts it can have detrimental

results.

How can DSO begin its internal branding campaign within DSO?


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• Step 1: Synchronize brand personality,

values and corporate Culture DSO’s marketing team should work closely with the Human Resources team to

ensure that the common values of DSO internally and externally are in

synchronization.

• Step 2: Get the employees and musicians behind DSO’s brand Criteria for recruiting and rewarding employees should be aligned with the criteria of

the brand value. The right skills should be looked for and aptitudes that will represent

DSO’s brand promise effectively.

• Step 3: Reinforce and repeatedly explain brand values and behaviors Internal communication should be used to reinforce and explain the values and

behaviors that reflect the brand promise.

The process of involving DSO’s employees is important because they meet, greet, and assist

DSO’s customers in many different ways. They are the face of DSO’s brand. They should be

engaged right from the start and encouraged to make individual input. They should be used as a

focus group - after all they know the customers much better especially those employees in the

Patron service center and marketing. Internal focus groups can be moderated by outside

facilitators with a guarantee of strict confidentiality. This qualitative diagnostic tool is

guaranteed to unearth latent concerns and discontent and can provide effective feedback for the

development of new corporate programs. DSO’s employees and musicians are a great resource

of information on the product. DSO can use their perceptions, their experiences, their

interactions with customers to research and hone the product. The advertising message for the

product can be refined and improved when it is reflective of employees’ attitudes and

experiences. After all, the employees are the very heart of the DSO, who better to offer valuable

input into the product and the resultant experiences?

By doing this DSO will not only get support from its staff but will also be given insight and ideas

that the management may not have otherwise have considered. The value of internal marketing

activities derives from the opportunity that DSO’s employees have to express ideas, ask

questions, and offer comments about the new programs prior to the public offering. For example,

when DSO decides to bring in a new band from out of town prior to performing to the public

through an extensive external advertising campaign, the employees are informed of the new kind

of music that will be played and are offered an opportunity to provide valuable insider

information to management.

These traditional external marketing activities have been successfully used internally where there

is strong coordination of the internal and external marketing programs. Market research, both

internally and externally, can be used to find out what customers and employees think of the

DSO’s performances. Employee surveys and customer satisfaction questionnaires are two market

research methods that can DSO can use to understand the concerns within and outside the

organization. Employees can fill out surveys and questionnaires.

In many ways, more important than selling the product on the outside is selling the product on

the inside. There is no shortage of reasons why DSO should embrace the concept of internal

marketing: it leads to increased corporate loyalty and job longevity; employees are better able to

serve customers because they understand the product; employees who believe in the product


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work harder, and better. But most importantly, when

DSO’s employees become product champions, they can

create product differentiation for its customers; something hard for DSO’s competition to

replicate. This differentiation becomes part of DSO’s product edge on the competition, and

employees add the edge.

By giving the DSO employees a chance to express their ideas and contribute to the programming

of the orchestras, for example, empowers them and makes them feel appreciated and that they

are making a contribution directly to the creation of DSO’s product besides being support staff.

Employees who like their jobs usually have a strong opinion and knowledge of the product, and

they communicate this to customers. Rather than telling the employee what the brand is, DSO

should use dialogue with employees and allow the employee to feel ownership towards the

product, to be part of the defining vision and creation of the product, and interpret it as it applies

to their job function. This creates a win-win scenario for DSO. Employees feel they “own” the

product, and the customers feel like someone is really delivering the product in the best way

possible. This empathy and empowerment of DSO’s employees and musicians can go a long way

towards creating a better product for the customer. If DSO can successfully market internally,

and truly convey the product benefits to its employees and incorporate their feedback, it will

succeed in the external market.

Internally marketing to DSO’s employees also ensures that the employees and musicians will

have adequate knowledge about DSO’s customers, including things like:

• who DSO’s customers are (e.g., general customer profiles and attendance)

• what’s important to them in dealing with DSO

• how they feel about DSO (from customer satisfaction surveys, complaint tracking)

• what competitive options they have

The management should share with the employees and musicians as much information as is

permissible. Excluding proprietary and confidential data, the more DSO employees know about

their customers, the better they can serve them. DSO’s employees should also be given a quiz

sometimes about their customers.

It is essential that any brand and business building effort for DSO starts by identifying the gaps

between what the employees believes the essence of the business is, versus what management

wants it to be, versus how customers presently see DSO. This process helps drive better internal

marketing. The programs aim literally at the heart-they start inside with a client’s top

management and staff.

Documents

Appendix A3 Internal Marketing Plan