Internal marketing—The missing half of the marketing programme

Abstract

This article examines the use of internal marketing in implementing strategy. The concepts of ‘internal marketing’ and the ‘internal customer’ may be applied operationally in two ways. The internal marketing programme may be seen as a direct parallel to the conventional external marketing programme, using the same concepts and elements, and the same process of customer and segment targetting. Also, the internal marketing concept provides a language for analysing organizational issues such as the impact of organizational power, political behaviour and corporate culture. The article offers a set of practical tools for tackling implementation problems. The practical application of the internal marketing is illustrated in two company case examples. Also empirical evidence is presented, which suggests that little attention is currently given to such issues by U.K. executives, providing a number of opportunities for management education and development, consultancy, and research.