Marketing Minute: Internal marketing is flooring’s secret sauce – March 2026

By Paul Friederichsen

We tend to view marketing as external: advertising, social media, promotions, etc. But that’s only part of the picture. Internal marketing, the less glamorous and showy part, is just as important, especially when it works as a complement to external marketing. It is the “secret sauce” to a floorcovering brand’s success.

However, due to competitive pressure, the need to achieve awareness, maintain a higher profile in the media or grow distribution, most brands will invest heavily in external marketing and place far less emphasis on marketing internally. After all, so the thinking goes, we pay our associates well, we incentivize them with commissions and bonuses, we provide healthcare, we give them some product training, and we throw a heck of a Christmas party. These people are on our team already, right? Technically, yes. But for a harmonized market presence, success requires more.

WHY INTERNAL MARKETING MATTERS

Consider an exhibitor at a trade show like Surfaces. The booth space, messaging and displays are the product of the brand’s external marketing investment. The salespeople standing in the booth, on the other hand, are the result of the brand’s internal marketing investment. Are they in sync? Does the team even understand what it’s selling? 

Or in another example, digital programs can generate dealer traffic, but they underperform when a retail store’s execution isn’t ready-RSAs aren’t trained, merchandising isn’t consistent or financing/promo details aren’t understood-because conversion depends on a coordinated end-to-end shopper journey. How many more floors can a Carpet One dealer move if its installation team attends the CCA Global University to learn the latest time-saving techniques? Every detail makes or breaks or adds to a sale.

The Blake Project, a brand consulting firm, cautions clients against an internal marketing shortfall. It advocates internal marketing as the cultivation of “brand culture” and of the utmost importance in growing the brand from the inside out. “Living the brand” means that its values, mission, vision and promise are thoroughly inculcated into the organization and authentically reflected in every decision, process and external messaging.

An article in the Journal of Business Research titled “Internal Marketing and Organizational Performance: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda” defines internal marketing as “being commonly framed as an organizational approach that uses integration, collaboration and internal value exchange to align the organization with external market demands, orienting employee behaviors toward customer needs to build competitive advantage.” That means that, operationally, internal marketing is a “cross-functional system” to ensure the brand delivers on its promise, can execute go-to-market strategy and coordinate handoffs between departments to support external customer experience and satisfaction.

HOW TO EMPLOY INTERNAL MARKETING

Typically, internal marketing leadership emanates from the marketing department and includes participation from sales training, human resources and corporate communications. Internal marketing is often described as using marketing-style approaches inside the company to institutionalize shared values, increase employee commitment and, ultimately, support customer satisfaction-by segmenting and engaging employees as an internal market. And this is where the falter usually occurs. In the crush of day-to-day demands, internal marketing can drop in priority and is performed with less frequency or not at all.

For the sake of explanation, the following chart provides a snapshot of typical flooring internal marketing tactics.

The relationship between external and internal marketing activity will vary by circumstance. If a company is introducing frequent product innovations or rolling out technically complex systems-such as advanced waterproof constructions, new rigid-core technologies or updated adhesive platforms-it should lean more heavily into internal marketing. Strong internal alignment protects execution, minimizes costly claims, safeguards margins and ensures the brand promise holds up in the field.

Conversely, brands focused on expanding into new categories or entering new geographic or channel markets should place greater emphasis on external visibility and demand generation. Even then, a foundational level of internal readiness is essential to ensure that increased traffic and interest convert effectively rather than exposing operational gaps.

Often, for every marketing dollar, $0.70 customarily goes to external marketing and $0.30 to internal marketing. Again, this will vary depending on the needs of the brand.

FLOORING’S INTERNAL MARKETING LEADERS

Across these leading brands, several internal marketing commonalities consistently appear. They prioritize cross-functional alignment before product launches, invest in formal sales and RSA training programs, and implement structured claims-reduction initiatives to protect margins. Clear internal brand positioning typically precedes any external campaign, ensuring messaging consistency. Additionally, disciplined communication rhythms between corporate leadership and the field reinforce execution, accountability and sustained dealer alignment.

Internal marketing, properly viewed, is performance infrastructure for the flooring brand. While external marketing can exploit growth opportunities, internal marketing can protect conversion rates, retention and margins. Always be generous with the secret sauce in your marketing recipe. 

THE AUTHOR

Paul Friederichsen is a marketing and branding expert with a career spent in ad agencies as a creative director and strategist and with numerous clients over the years in the floorcovering industry. He is a partner in the international brand consultancy The Blake Project and is a contributor to Branding Strategy Insider.