45. Empowering employees or policing them? How to build brand at scale w/ Tali Thomason

Every marketing professional dreams of being part of a company where everyone not only understands the purpose of marketing but also uses on-brand marketing tools appropriately and effectively with little to no assistance. 

When Tali Thomason was faced with a bigger workload than her small marketing team could handle at the University of Denver’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, she realized that as the school’s Director of Marketing, Communications, and Events, she could empower faculty and staff — and even students — to join forces with her, essentially turning an entire school into an extension of her marketing department. 

What we discussed:

- The benefits of using a subtle, relationship-based approach to get non-marketing professionals into a marketing mindset

- How to help employees understand the purpose of storytelling and identify the unique value in their brand

- The importance of simplified, user-friendly brand tools to equip and empower employees for greater brand cohesion

- How to avoid micromanagement and over-critiquing, and what to do when employees stray off-brand

- Why it’s important for employees to have easy access to marketing resources — including you