Over the past few years, the company iB4e has underperformed compared with its competitors which enjoy stronger brand recognition. In addition, lots of experienced staff responsible for key customer accounts has left the company. Even though it pays comparable salaries to its rivals, iB4e has had difficulty replacing these staff with outside appointments. This has led to some existing employees temporarily taking on customer relationship management in return for small one-off payments. This has been good for staff morale but the effectiveness of this calculates as a long term alternative to appointing suitably experienced new staff is questionable given that some of these staff has been more successful than others.

Explain the value of internal marketing for iB4e.

iB4e's new Director of Branding has been asked by the Chief Executive to review a number of issues that are felt to be important including internal marketing.

When an organisation like iB4e requires implementing a latest strategy or corporate programme, it needs to align employees' attitudes and behaviours to correspond with the overall vision underpinning the initiative. If successful, this should lead to increased service levels which, in turn, will strengthen customer loyalty.

Internal marketing influences behaviour permitting organisations such as iB4e to communicate the actions and attitudes that lead to improved corporate performance. Internal marketing is particularly important to iB4e as some of its employees have been empowered to take on customer relationships. With more of iB4e's workers assuming responsibility for interacting directly with customers, it is significant that the right corporate messages are conveyed.