This article in Advertising Age is about how retail employees can help build brand awareness. It cites the “culture book” that online shoe retailer Zappos.com gives to all of its associates. Books or manuals like this one are pretty common at dot-coms, according to people I know who’ve worked for them. Those employees who don’t buy into the groupthink probably shouldn’t be working there.

I blog often about the need for employees to guarantee a positive shopping experience for every customer — even those who are “just browsing” and leave your store empty-handed. Whether you own a single store or a chain, customer service is a big part of your brand. It’s so important to Zappos that they call it “people planning.” “Each employee needs to be a great point of contact with customers,” the company’s creative director says. “We invest the time and money into hiring and nurturing the right people, as many other companies do in their media planning.”

Companies like Zappos even go so far as to measure return on investment for each employee. That’s probably out of reach for most smaller retailers, but you certainly can find out what customers think of your customer service. As I’ve said before, sites like Survey Monkey.com make it easy to poll your client base online. You can reward them for participating by emailing them special discount coupons and other promotional material.

But don’t forget to reward those employees who do an outstanding job. It can be as simple as treating them to pizza or as extensive as award top-selling performers with spa treatments and other spiffs. Work with retailers in your area to cross-promote your stores and, subsequently, your brand.

Treat your customers right. Treat your employees right for treating your customers right. Zappos knows it works. So if the shoe fits for them, you should wear it too.