Welcome to part one of this three-part series on how to promote your ISO certification or re-certification. In this article we’ll focus on how you can share the news of your successful ISO certification within your own business. Part 2 explores how you can get the message out through business as usual activities and Part 3 looks at ideas for telling a wider audience. We hope you find these pointers useful.
Congratulations – you’ve successfully gained ISO certification or recertification! Now the whole world can hear about how credible and dependable your business is. But where do you start? We’ve put together some of the most effective ways for how to promote your ISO certification to both your existing and potential customers.
But before we begin with the marketing, make sure that you keep coming back to what this news means for your audience. What is the value of your business’s ISO certification? Why should it matter to your customers, prospects and suppliers, as well as your current staff and those you recruit in the future? By asking yourself these questions you can avoid your promotion falling a bit flat!
The awareness-raising methods we’re highlighting can be grouped as follows:
- Internal communication – Part 1: sharing the news of your successful ISO certification within your business
- Business as usual activities – Part 2: using day-to-day business interactions to promote your success
- External communication – Part 3: ideas for getting the message out to a wider audience
How to promote your ISO certification using internal communication
Depending on your business strategy, ISO certification may be the starting point or the pinnacle of your journey towards operational excellence. Either way, it’s important to embed a culture of continuous improvement and excellence which crosses every level of your organisation. So communicating your ISO certification enthusiastically and comprehensively is key.
Typically, any success within a business is a great opportunity to build staff engagement and pride among employees. ISO certification success can also lead to an increased sense of ownership and responsibility. Inevitably, to maintain and enhance the standards set by the certification, teams pull together. Often, with a re-energised sense of purpose, leading to improved motivation and productivity.
So how can you inform your staff? Yes, you could simply send an email, but below are some more imaginative ways to let people know.
Hold a staff party to celebrate
Achieving ISO certification is a cause for celebration. A party is a great way to recognise the efforts of those who have been involved. Take a moment to explain how the award will make a difference to your staff in their own work, the whole business and your customers.
Have your CEO speak about the news in a video for staff
Does your business has staff in more than one location? If so, you may find it more practical to send an announcement in video format to your colleagues. Hearing about this positive company news and the impact it will have can be inspiring and energising.
Write a short article for your company’s staff newsletter or intranet
Here’s another opportunity to namecheck any colleagues who were closely involved in the ISO certification process. Ensure that you outline the benefits of certification. And include the logo(s) as provided by your ISO certification body so that your staff become familiar with this badge.
Place posters around the building
Which areas of your workplace do staff use the most? Don’t forget the value of corridors, the back of doors and communal areas such as the kitchen or staff room. You can use these to let people know that you’re proud to be an ISO certified business. Displaying a well-positioned poster in your reception area will also ensure that your visitors take note of your commitment to being a responsible business.
Display copies of your ISO certificate prominently
Take copies of your certificate and place them on key noticeboards around the building. Or frame them and create a showpiece of them. Use your reception desk, meeting rooms or a glass trophy cabinet for colleagues and visitors alike to see your certificate(s).
Run a brief training session
Set aside some time for your staff to learn the essentials of what it means for your company to be an ISO certified business. Whether delivered face to face or online, take your colleagues on the journey. This way, they buy in to the value that ISO certification adds to your operations and customers.
Hopefully, these suggestions will help you to take the first steps to announcing and celebrating your ISO certification. Being inclusive and ensuring that your whole team is in the loop – especially customer-facing staff – and not just your leadership team You already know that your staff are your biggest asset so let them be your biggest advocates too – able to talk with confidence to existing and potential customers about how your business is not only driven by profit, but also by a purpose to improve society.
Finally, be sure to visit our Insights page regularly for our latest tips and advice as well as Parts 2 and 3 of this series for more practical pointers on how to promote your ISO certification success!
Not yet ISO certified?
For more information on ISO-Cert Online’s services or to discuss your requirements please contact us on 0333 014 7720 or email info@isocertonline.net.
