I sat down with the 2015 Holiday Magazine published by Whole Foods Market last month. It was a perfect-bound guide to making your holidays perfectly delicious (right up my alley). Filled with recipes, articles and lots of cooking tips, it was a great read. Based on the content, I could tell that mine was the New England edition.

As interesting as the recipes were, one feature in this magazine stood out more than any other – the “Traditions We Love” section, spotlighting a handful of local Whole Foods team members.

The men and women featured here all work in different capacities at a New England Whole Foods store. In this “Traditions We Love” piece, each person profiled shared a favorite food tradition for the holidays. There were photos, recipes, and guess what? It was the only section I read from start to finish.

Giving your customers a peek inside the lives of your employees is smart marketing. (Not to mention, employees will be honored.)

Sharing information about the people who work for you is more interesting than the usual “here’s-more-new-equipment-and-hey-aren’t-we-just-great” copy. I’m not saying you should abandon all other marketing content, but why not make it more personal? Personal is more memorable.

There’s another benefit to featuring employees in your marketing campaigns or customer communications: they’re right there.

Do you ever feature your employees in your marketing?

(c) 2015 Margie Dana