Published: June 2022
Well, as we know, Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) models are often described as two contrasting services. Where B2B is a process of creating products and services geared towards other businesses, B2C is the process of creating the same, but for consumers.
It’s widely recognised that the B2B and B2C buying journey is rapidly changing due to the young managers demanding more consumer-branded experiences. Due to this, businesses are adopting a new marketing approach called, you’ve guessed it, Business-to-Employee (B2E). B2E really is what it says on the tin. It refers to strategies taken by a business that focuses predominantly on its employees.
It’s not just about attracting talent, it’s about retaining a skilled workforce, keeping them satisfied, and transforming them into true brand ambassadors. B2E aims to retain. Some companies are already doing a fantastic job, but others require a complete refresh of recruiting, inducting, training courses, team networking, and delivering ‘perks of the job’ style experiences to keep their employees engaged, and value them as much as their customers.
“A company can’t buy true emotional commitment from managers no matter how much it’s willing to spend; this is something too valuable to have a price tag. And yet a company can’t afford not to have it.”
Stan Slap CEOSlap Company
When trying to establish a good B2E strategy or just new B2E incentives, a good tip is to use yourself as the case study. What would you like to see in your own employee journey? For example, you may want to...
Have personalised content delivered to you;
Receive tailor-made communications;
Have dynamic experiences;
Experience unique perks;
Feel invested in; or,
Feel listened to.
Whilst customer experience remains key in any business, your brand ‘experience’ can also be enjoyed by those much closer to home, who can also make a sizeable impact on brand challenges associated with loyalty, reputation, and engagement.
Spreading brand culture and ethos from the inside out is a strategy until recently, has been commonly overlooked. Brands are now seeking out innovative ways to deliver exciting experiences to their own employees that make them feel valued, engaged and encourage them to become true brand ambassadors.
When we provide experience services to our clients, we believe it’s integral to combine not just an impactful experience but also improve employee satisfaction at the same time. This in turn increases, almost naturally, the sense of community and sharing of the company’s values.
For one of Deloitte's onboarding programmes, we embarked on a mission to deliver something unique to their employees. Detailed employee analysis helped us deliver a totally personal and dynamic experience. From this research, we were able to create a detailed user profile and from here gauge what our audience would be interested in. From this information, we were able to choose celebrities that appealed to the age group of new recruits which reportedly helped make them feel heard, excited, and engaged.
They were not willing to compromise on their staff induction outcomes and despite the global pandemic, with our help, managed to make this year’s turned virtual B2E on-boarding the most successful yet with their happiest bunch of new recruits in years.
With any kind of B2E strategy, businesses are re-learning to communicate through messages that are as tailor-made as possible, in a user-friendly, interactive, and multi-channel way to their own employees. Whether this is simple email channels or huge experiential events, the core aim is the same – value your employees and they will value you back. Particularly brand and event managers - they're incredible. Check out our top tips on how to hire a top-quality event team here.