What do Olympic athletes know about internal marketing?

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Sally Duffy

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It might be that my obsession with the Rio Olympics (is anyone else staying up nightly to the wee hours?) is creeping into work, but I’ve found myself contemplating how much we could learn about internal marketing from these Olympians. Bear with me – and read my explanations below before you judge…

  1. Ultimate advocates

Athletes are the best advocates for their sport, with many spectators walking away inspired to take up something new. Out of the sporting arena, sharing the successes of your media spokesperson (or spokespeople) within the business can trigger the same response – inspiration or “I want that.” Encouraging other team members to participate in media outreach, and stirring a little competitive spirit, can help improve your share of voice among your competitors.

Not only does this help demonstrate that your media strategy is on point, but it communicates successes internally to help boost team morale and engagement.

  1. Keeping stakeholders informed

With news that the Olympic athletes have been using Tinder to stay – let’s say connected – within the Olympic village, cross-country collaboration must be at an all time high! Keeping internal stakeholders informed is a perennial issue for all businesses, and something that our company has to work on too. Here in the Doghouse we use some simple but effective measures such as holding a weekly ‘company huddle’ to discuss company news, upcoming meetings and pitches as well as HR related updates.

That’s not to say what works for us will work for you. Other methods such as filmed updates from the CEO or board members, an intranet, noticeboard, Skype calls or email updates might be better suited to your business.

  1. Where’s the evidence?

Olympic champions have one very obvious piece of evidence for all their hard work – the shiny medal hanging around their necks (and in the case of this year’s athletes – an odd colourful statuette too). But how do you evidence some of the great work you’ve been doing?

In much the same way that an individual athlete’s success should be considered an achievement for their country, individual or team successes within a business should be praised company-wide. While this will help to inspire potential spokespeople to get involved, it will also help to prove the value of what you’re doing and give people a reason to be proud. If your latest campaign boosted lead generation by 20%, or saw your Facebook page hits go up 70%, share it!

While you work on that, you can find me working a nice groove into my sofa cushions cheering on the last few Olympic events! Come on team GB!

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