Internal customers?

Clients/customers are the main target of any company. Of course, when we talk about targets it’s not everyone, clients are not everyone, generally speaking. Even thought clients could be many people, companies target certain groups, and so on, marketing talking, bla, bla, bla. 

Martin Lindstrom writes in Fast Company that «every company is struggling to nail down their core target group.» In his article «How to identify your customers, make them love you and keep them hooked», he writes about how some companies target their customers, how «brands have a tendency to try to please everyone and their dog». Strategies to please certain segments, strategies for this and for that, strategies to involve customers or clients, in different ways. 

But in my thoughts, reading about social dimensions, about sustainability strategies trying to communicate and to get to every stakeholders, including company’s workforce, it crosses my mind to look at your workforce as internal customers, to treat them as customers.
Many marketing strategies are based in customers’ motivation to spread good words about the company’s service or product; many others are based in word-of-mouth, even others in different kinds of advertising. So why can’t we thing in reaching out to internal customers with the same kind of strategies? Why can’t companies try to keep them hooked? Think how interesting it would be in identify different types or groups of internal customers, segments and other stuff.
The way to go is, as communication has an external and internal dimension, marketing can have the same also. Looking at external customers as to internal customers. Different groups, different strategies, different points of view, but in general, all are customers, all have opinions about the company, all have influence in their circles and can be a channel. 

Start by looking inside and then look outside. Treat yours first and you’ll have a bigger range of possibilities to get to more customers and better.