Luciana Cemerka is a Global CMO at TP.
When marketing, HR and IT operate in silos, employees end up living in a fragmented culture that slowly erodes trust. The good news is that this gap is completely bridgeable. And one of the most overlooked advantages a CMO has today is something many organizations still underestimate: strategic, well-aligned internal communications.
Because the most powerful brand story isn’t the one a company broadcasts externally. It’s the one that employees experience every single day.
As CMOs, we spend huge amounts of energy making sure the brand feels consistent, credible and inspiring to the outside world. We refine messaging frameworks, campaign narratives and creative cohesion. But too often, we don’t give the same level of attention to the internal story that employees hear, see and feel.
When the internal and external narratives drift apart—even slightly—the distance compounds. Employees begin to feel a disconnect between what the company claims and what they actually live. And once that internal gap appears, it spreads faster than any external campaign can contain.
This is why internal communications is no longer an operational function. It’s a strategic imperative.
When The Story Breaks Inside
You can spot the early signs of internal fragmentation almost immediately. Marketing launches a campaign about innovation, but employees are wrestling with outdated tools. IT implements a new system without explaining the purpose, and suddenly, adoption becomes an uphill battle. HR introduces a new benefit, but the message feels disconnected from the company’s values.
Individually, these moments seem minor. But together, they create an ecosystem of confusion and frustration. Employees stop believing in the external story because it doesn’t match their reality.
In today’s transparent world, internal truth inevitably becomes external truth. The brand is the culture. And the employee experience is the customer experience.
If those two narratives don’t match, both sides suffer.
From ‘Service Provider’ To ‘Strategic Connector’
This is where internal communications becomes indispensable. Sadly, many organizations still treat IC as a service desk—a team responsible for newsletters, reminders and announcements. But the strongest internal comms teams operate as strategic connectors, ensuring alignment between what the company says and what the company does.
They help translate complexity into clarity. They connect functional priorities. They make sure employees understand not just what is happening, but why.
For CMOs, partnering deeply with IC is essential. Internal alignment is what makes external storytelling credible.
1. Establishing Cross-Functional Routines Before The Crisis
Alignment doesn’t happen through goodwill alone. It requires structure.
One of the most effective mechanisms is creating a cross-functional communications council—a standing group with leaders from marketing, internal comms, HR, IT and key business units.
Quarterly meetings help align on big priorities. Monthly meetings synchronize campaigns, policy changes, product launches and technology rollouts.
This shifts the organization from reactive communication (“What happened?”) to proactive alignment (“What’s coming, and how do we tell that story together?”).
When teams operate from the same calendar and the same intent, internal storytelling becomes coordinated, predictable and far more effective.
2. Learning The Language (And The Goals) Of Your Partners
Every function has its own vocabulary, pressures and definition of success. And the biggest opportunity for IC and CMOs is learning to translate across them.
• With Marketing: Focus on brand advocacy. Employees are the company’s most credible storytellers. Ask: “How do we equip teams to champion this launch authentically?” Use internal sentiment to refine external messaging.
• With IT: Prioritize the digital employee experience. Treat tech rollouts like change journeys, not system installations. Ask: “How do we communicate purpose early enough to drive adoption?”
• With HR: Go beyond benefits and policy updates. Partner across the entire employee life cycle, from employer branding to onboarding and culture-building. The story that attracts talent needs to be the same one they experience after they join.
When IC becomes fluent in each department’s goals, alignment becomes cultural rather than procedural.
3. Measuring What Matters, Together
Fragmentation often isn’t intentional. It’s a measurement issue.
Marketing looks at awareness and engagement. HR focuses on retention and sentiment. IT monitors adoption and support tickets. IC counts open rates.
Individually, everyone is “winning.” But the employee experience can still be losing.
The solution is defining shared success metrics:
• For Marketing Campaigns: employee understanding of the message and internal advocacy or sharing
• For System Rollouts: adoption rate and reduction in support needs
• For Cultural Initiatives: clarity of company purpose and employee trust and connection
Shared KPIs turn alignment into action.
Building Trust Through Consistency
The most trusted companies sound the same inside and out. The tone, vocabulary, values and message architecture align—regardless of whether the audience is employees, customers, candidates or partners.
Every all-hands, every internal announcement, every brand asset, every piece of onboarding content should reinforce the same foundational story:
Who you are. Why you exist. How you serve. What you stand for.
As CMOs, our role extends beyond shaping the story the world sees. We must shape the story employees feel. That means co-owning culture with HR, digital experience with IT and engagement with internal communications.
Because in the end, every employee is a living touchpoint of the brand. When they believe in the story, customers do, too. And when the internal and external narratives move in harmony, everything the company does becomes stronger, more credible and more impactful.
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