At the beginning of the year, we shot this video with our team. In it, we spoke about how we've all found the feeling of what it means to work for a company where you can see the products you create impacting people every day. We've seen our products become a part of not just our lives but also the lives of those around us – customers, and businesses.

Kelvin, who’s on the User Experience team, spoke about how remarkable it felt to see his wife using a product that he had designed. He remembered how she used to shuttle between accounts for her maternal care business before she switched to Moniepoint. Seeing the product he worked on improving her experience was fulfilling.

Almost everyone on our team has a story about someone they know who either uses a Moniepoint product or has been influenced by its impact. And this brings me to why I wrote this short piece about marketing from the inside out.

Typically, organisations think about Marketing from a “how to reach new customers” perspective, or from a “selling to new and recycled audiences” perspective. However, thinking about marketing solely from this point of view can be quite limiting and keeps you thinking inside the box. There may be a huge audience you’re not paying attention to - your employees.

In this short article, I’ll attempt to paint the picture of our Internal Communications at Moniepoint. Beyond just conveying information, it is a combination of communicating and marketing to this very valuable group of customers. 

What is Internal Marketing?

Internal Marketing refers to marketing communications directed at the internal stakeholders of an organisation, i.e. the employees. Here, the customers are the employees themselves. Yes, those who build the product, sell the product, help the organisation run efficiently and everything in between - the people who help shape the what and how of the organisation itself.

Why are we crazy about Internal Marketing at Moniepoint?

Information Flow

As a growing company, focusing on Internal Stakeholders helps us move fast without leaving anyone behind. By allotting attention to internal marketing, we make room for information holistically. Company updates, employee activities, processes, and new goals are communicated not only with a view to “just let people know what's going on”, but also to get their buy-in. And getting their buy-in means helping employees understand details about decisions and activities, and what it means for them on an individual level, and for the organisation as a whole.

Engaged employees

We are a bunch of curious, technically adept people at Moniepoint, and we play with these characteristics in internal comms/marketing. We leverage our internal comms to keep employees engaged with one another, especially because we are a remote company—from games where people win prizes and tickets to frequent company hangouts.

For example, we use Workplace to give employees reason and corners to bond over diverse interest points and then hangout based on these interests - we’ve had pockets of movie corner hangouts; we also had a football match in July.

Internal marketing is our surefire way of driving genuine enthusiasm about the company’s products, and activities amongst our employees. We are keen on involvement, so we ensure everyone knows what’s going on, what it means for them as internal stakeholders, and how they can be involved.

Employees and Stakeholders as Influencers

Another reason we take internal marketing to heart is to *whispering* give employees an innate reason to be voltrons of the company's work and culture. Eh, if you’re too young to remember Voltron, think of them as the Avengers instead.

We definitely want our people to talk about the various impact the work they do has on people, communities, and society at large. This is why you see employees excitedly talk about how they feel when they see Moniepoint POS at a Merchant’s store.

Employee branding

We are big on employees being outspoken about their technical depth. An internally engaged employee naturally wants to share their genius with the world. With increased brand awareness, employees are better equipped to do their work.

How we approach Internal Marketing

We use a 2 pronged approach to internal marketing - Content and Policies

Content

We leverage a vibrant content production strategy. We create stories that help people get to know one another, address engaging topics, create interactive activities, and create ways for information to flow. We come up with the most creative ways to convey even the most boring topics and information and get people involved.

Policies & Programs

We have programs in place to nudge our internal customers into the most satisfied group. For example, we started a performance bonus program that ensures employees are rewarded in addition to their salaries based on performance. We also have a policy that inadvertently encourages and cultivates collaboration across levels and departments.

What can you take away from this?

Caveat: We’re not perfect. But the ways we’ve mentioned above ensure that our employees are at the centre of everything we do.

Creating a well-engaged community of employees takes intentionality, especially as the company expands and grows - You want to ensure that there is a constant air of ownership, and a culture of team spirit - a great way to kickstart this is through your internal communications; make it enjoyable, cultivate the values you want on display with the right triggers, and create good policies that ensure the love of your employees. ;)