When it comes to daily ongoing operations that are not emotionally loaded,intranet is highly

efficient. Hallowell (1999) points out that the increasing use ofe-mail and voice mail inside
companies can alienate employees from each other and from the organization: The irony is that
this kind of alienation in the workplace derives not from lack of communication but from a
surplus of the wrong kind. (p.38, Internal Marketing Directions for Management)
Using e-mail and intranet in a sensitive context, such as blaming an employee for something that
went wrong, causes personal and organizational stress. The fact that intranet is a potentially
interactive medium is no consolation. There is often delayed interaction, and written text being
completely devoid of body language is perceived differently from face-to-face interaction with
instant feed-back. (p.38, Internal Marketing Directions for Management)
A first phase the notion of employees having to satisfy the needs of each other to achieve quality,
treating each other as internal customers. A second phase is emerging from two new
management realities, total relationship marketing and network organizations. IT has added the
technical dimension of a new infrastructure for communication. (p.40, Internal Marketing
Directions for Management).
Internal marketing adds to an integrated view of marketing as it is otherwise easy to forget the
importance of the knowledge and commitment of all personnel for successful external marketing.
(p.40)
Finally, let me suggest the following guidelines for the practice of internal marketing: Use the
internal marketing concept as a perspective and a direction for marketing. An internal
perspective a pair of eyeglasses which only allows us to look inwards on nano-relationships
forces us to notice other things than when deploying an out-bound market and mega perspective.

Follow the relationship marketing credo. Collaborate with your employees; aim for long-term
relationships; propose winwin situations; create value together; and treat employees as
individuals. Use these strategies with consideration of both high tech and high touch aspects.
(p.40)
Make sure that implementation is systematic and dedicated. Marketing efforts internal as well
as external often stumble on the implementation being too superficial and weak. I have
previously claimed that The ability and strength to execute a decision is more crucial for success
than the underlying analysis(Gummesson, 1998: 242). A message should, of course, be well
thought-out and honest, and its method of dissemination be designed creatively to fit a specific
situation. The internal marketing plan is a useful tool and companies should put serious effort
into it but nothing has actually happened until the effect is shown in action and financial
results. (p.41)
Grnroos (1981) emphasised open two-way communications and effective coordination of tasks
between front line and support staff with a view to getting more motivated and customer
conscious staff at all levels of the firm. His objective was to focus the internal work effort to
meet the needs of external customers. (p.46)
Berrys logic is that organisations need employeeswho are satisfied with their job products in
order to have satisfied customers.This staff satisfaction/customer satisfaction linkis also
emphasised by George (1977, 1990) and others. Later, Berry and Parasuraman (1991: 162)
cautioned that barriers to performance occur when parts of the organisation act without cohesion
or a unified spirit, limiting contact employees ability to perform. Berry and Parasuraman (1991:
151) also emphasized treating staff the way you would want them to treat customers in the
expectation that this will encourage effective marketing behaviour. A contrasting perspective is
that staff satisfaction with theirworkwill be positively related to customer satisfaction when that
work is customer oriented (Ballantyne, 1997: 356). (p.46)
Taking another tack, Piercy and Morgan (1991) recommend the development of strategies that
apply external (4Ps) marketing techniques to internal (employee) markets. However, this would
seem to give rise to difficulty in practice, as the legitimate roles of marketing and other functions
overlap within the organisation. (p.46)
Ahmed and Rafiq (1995) propose a multistage schema built around 4Ps with three strategy levels
(direction, path, action). Using the 4Ps as an implementation method is also recommended in
Piercy and Morgan (1991) and Piercy (1995). Ahmed and Rafiq, in delimiting the internal
marketing concept as they do, seek to get back to marketing-like techniques (1995:34). The irony
is that this was a phrase used earlier by Grnroos to create more developmental latitude (1990:
223). Grnroos makes his position very clear: total management of marketing has to be an
integral part of overall managementmarket-oriented management is what its all about (1990:
152). (p.47)
Ballantyne et al. (1995) : Internal marketing is any form of marketing within an organisation
which focuses staff attention on the internal activities that need to be changed in order to enhance
external market place performance. The idea here is that internal marketing is legitimised by its
purpose, by its market orientation, not by choice of methods. (p.47)
Influencing staff motivation might mean pursuing one or both employee as customer logics.
First, that staff satisfaction is embedded in the notion of receiving job-products and, second, that
satisfaction of a deeper kind comes from participating in the reappraisal of internal activities
where outcomes impact on customer perceived performance (Ballantyne, 1997: 356). A third,
and limited, alternative is to turn a marketing communications strategy inward, given
nonproblematic goals, such as new product information or routine changes in staff training.
(p.47)
Fourth, Ballantyne (1997) Internal marketing is a relationship development process in which
staff autonomy and know-how combine to create and circulate new organizational knowledge.
That will challenge internal activities that need to be changed to enhance quality in market place
relationships.(1997: 354) (p.48)
My analysis leads me to the conclusion that there are, essentially, two categories of internal
marketing activity, at two levels. They are:
Transactional level (didactic)
One-way communications (monologue)
Knowledge circulation (new product information, skills training, etc.)
Relational level (interactive, collaborative)
Two-way communications (dialogue)
Knowledge discovery (quality improvement, team-based learning, etc.)
The first level represents the 4Ps didactic methods school of internal marketing. The second
represents the relationship-based collaborative school. I have framed this second level to
exclude coercive methods more appropriate at the didactic level. A combination of activities at
both levels would run the risk of being covertly manipulative.As to the categories,
communications can be seen as a monologue, or as dialogue. As a one-way street, or two-way.
The second category is knowledge, which is circulated explicitly, or generated through
interaction as a reciprocal to dialogue. There is no strict causeeffect instrumentality intended
between dialogue and knowledge. However, I would argue that the will to create new knowledge
leads to dialogue and, in turn, the will to dialogue generates new knowledge (Ballantyne, 1999).
(p.48)
Basically, marketing happened to appear inside firms not only (and in many cases, not at all) as a
managerial philosophy, but also as a set of tools to counter the rising power of customers
(Bagozzi, 1979; Arndt, 1983). (p.64)
Internal marketing is no more than the application in the internal arena of a generalised
marketing concept, which can be applied, as everybody knows, to purchasing marketing,
shareholder marketing, and obviously to customer marketing. (p.64)
In consequence, designing and defining an internal marketing strategy today is more complex
than ever, as it reflects the external complexity of markets and human behaviour in modern
societies which, being more open and freer than ever, are more open to political, individualistic
and opportunistic behavior. (p.68)
According to Hartline and Ferrel (1996), for example, low levels of wages for a long period of
service (including unpaid overtime), revolving work schedules including nights, little prospect of
career progression, etc., break the famous relationship between job satisfaction and better
individual efficiency. The element communication, in the marketing mix, is the only one that
can compensate for the unfavourable work conditions. Then the aim is to create a positive
climate, a fun atmosphere, but which can only be triggered by employees themselves. It is
beyond managers power to create it directly, although it is possible for them to create the
conditions that enhance this climate. (p.70)
The use of the term marketing in this context does not simply mean the application or
performance of marketing activity. More specifically, it means a focus on marketing concepts
and theories that can be adopted for application to managing the organisation of efforts to meet
the needs of the internal customer (employee), so that they in turn can understand and value the
philosophy of providing satisfaction for the external customer. (p.76)
Internal marketing evolves from the idea that employees represent an internal (or first) market
within the organisation. This market needs to be educated and informed about the organisations
mission, the benefits of its products and services and the expectations of its customers. The
rationale for this is that successful marketing to this group will contribute significantly towards
achieving ultimate collective success in the delivery of all marketing activity to external
customers. Thus, the overwhelming purpose of internal marketing is to involve employees in
the organisations mission and strategic direction, and to help them understand and value the
corporate objectives. In so doing, it will achieve a balance between operational efficiency and
management objectives. (p.76)