Internal Marketing

What is Internal Marketing (IM)? This has been question has been in my head for quite some time now. I know very well the term called Marketing, but internal marketing?! Now allow me to explain my understanding on this particular term.

Marketing is explained as identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs. Why on earth should we satisfy customer needs? Simply because in return, the customer will pay the organization for meeting their needs and than the organization is able to generate sales which becomes profit. Marketing has evolved through times and i could write a report on the evaluation of marketing itself. But that is out of the topic. So, with the understanding of marketing. Here comes internal marketing. In an organization, managers are always finding new innovative ways to market its products. After developing an appropriate strategy, it is than passed down to the employees to be carried out and implement it to the market. Therefore, the contact point between the organization and customers falls on the employees. Now just imagine if the employee is to communicate wrong information to the customers or had a bad day and end up arguing with the customer, or is not satisfied with the organization and decided to tarnish the organization brand image by offending customers or even expose the company marketing strategies to its competitors. The organization will suffer badly or may even collapse if relationship between employees and the organization is not well established. Therefore, internal marketing is an important element that should not be overlooked in an organization.

Internal Marketing is defined by Berry (1980) as the means of applying the philosophy and practice of marketing to people who serve external customers so that the best possible people can be employed and retained and they will do the best possible work. Keeping customer satisfied and happy is extremely important, but keeping employees satisfied is also equally important. Therefore internal marketing are strategies that should be taken to keep employees happy and satisfied for the company to prosper and achieve new heights. Employees are now the primary builders of a profitable company. The quality of an organisation’s employees directly influences its ability to gain and sustain competitive advantage. In an uncertain economic climate, talented employees are a critical corporate resource.

In regards to importance of internal marketing, some companies does not practice such beliefs. Take for example one of the worlds most successful retailers - Wal Mart. With a staggering of 1.2 million employees in America alone, it is USA largest private employer. Wal Mart has been generating profits up to $9.1 billion in a year and is regarded as the the world`s most admired company. Although with such a huge success, Wal Mart faces critisim regarding its human resource practices. It is reported that employees are often pressured into working unpaid overtime, and faced actions for alledged sexual discrimination towards female employees. Wal Mart has been accused of practising unethical labor practices such as low pay, infringement of workers` right, poor work safety and etc. But Wal Mart needless to say denies all this allegations. Now think about it, if all this allegations are true. It is obvious that Wal Mart does not practice internal marketing which place employee relations at the heart of good services marketing management. Evenso, the company is still enjoying outstanding profitability and growth. So the theory of internal marketing is questioned. What do you think?