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Is it okay to have 400 people in your Marketing and Public Relations Department?

Yes, this does sound excessive but just think, what if you could educate each member of your organization with key concepts, mission, vision, value proposition, strategic goals, and objectives so that every point of contact with your stakeholders becomes a public relations moment? What about leveraging your organizations' human capital to expand your image, reputation, and revenue?

Do I have your attention? I should.

Often we liberally spend resources on a crackerjack, highly glossed marketing and public relations initiative, yet we fail to do the small things that can really make the biggest impact. Put another way, we do not need to strive for mountains to get our message out; instead a fist full of pebbles can be even more impactful.

Even if your organization is fortunate enough to have its own marketing and public relations professionals spearheading this critical business activity, the heart of a great communications program resides with every employee. The "Frankly Speaking" concept encourages us to target every single member of an organization. The solution is to create "PR Ambassadors."

The solution is to adopt a progressive internal or employee communications program, also known as IC program, which harnesses the power of employee engagement.

Never underestimate the power of your employees. They have the ear of at least l0 people outside of your organization. They can be champions of your organization's mission. Work towards helping them deliver the best message possible. Communicate regularly, communicate effectively, and most importantly, communicate respectfully.

Whether you are in charge of answering your organization's telephone, a member of the customer service team, or the Chief Executive Officer, you are your organization's corporate communication PR ambassador.

Here are three easy to follow tips that you can incorporate today to create change today. Why wait? Start now to build your public relations efforts from the inside out!

1.Send a Thank You note. Your employees will be completely surprised if you send a note that merely expresses your gratitude, commending them for a job well done.

Something as simple as, "I was reviewing this week's sales reports and I just want to take this opportunity to commend each of you for getting your reports to me in a timely fashion. They were well prepared and are a great reflection of our collaboration here. Thank you for staying the course with XYZ organization. I continue to be grateful to spearhead a team of consummate professionals." No need to explain the implications of this. We all want to feel valued and when we do, we greatly esteem our organization and are poised to take on our role as PR ambassadors.

Read the following example, and perhaps you can calculate the potential financial savings that may be realized with a simple thank you note.

Upper Valley Medical Center in Troy, OH, saw an 80% drop in serious medication errors after pharmacy director Thomas Bigley, RPh, MS, began sending staff thank-you notes with an enclosed $2 coupon to the hospital cafeteria in 2000, he says.

The incentives led to an increase in error reports from 15 per month to 70-80 per month, Bigley says. The increased reporting allowed the hospital to look for potential system flaws that could cause the errors, such as a lack of information on the medication administration record that leads a nurse to misread a medication administration time. Adapted from Hospital Pharmacy Regulation Report (June 2004), published by HCPro, Inc.

Can you quickly calculate the potential for savings by implementing a program like this?
2. Ask your receptionist to breakfast. Immediately he/she will feel valued and special. Be sure you help by providing a back-up receptionist. Ask the receptionist for three ways that you can help improve their performance. This is not a gripe session but a chance to gain insights into their world, and provide some actionable solutions. An example may be that your company has recently enjoyed unparalleled expansion with many new employees peppering your employer roster. Have you provided the receptionist with an updated contact list? It is frustrating to respond to callers' inquiries with an outdated list. You only have one first chance to make the right first impression. How are you presenting your company's hard earned image?

3.Take your lunch to the lunchroom. In less than 45 minutes chatting and mingling with employees, you will be amazed at some of the "food for thought" that is shared over this mealtime ritual. Perhaps you will learn that the clock in the lunchroom is five minutes slow, which accounts for why so many employees are late returning to their desk. Why is this important? Employee morale! If employees are unhappy with the way they are treated (in this case, penalized for returning to their desks late), they are likely to say less than kind things about your organization. Remember every point of contact with someone outside of the organization is a chance to be repeated again and again, just like the child's game of telephone -- news spreads quickly by "word of mouth." Be sure they are spreading a great message of pride.

If you follow these steps first thing tomorrow morning, I know you will start seeing results in 24 hours. A great PR program takes careful planning, execution, and consistency. What you start today can become a sustaining program of internal PR that will positively impact your bottom line for years to come.

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