Strategic employer branding is a premeditated, ongoing communication and marketing activity.
When you are building an employer brand strategically, you are:
- Clarifying your target audiences the benefits of choosing a career in your company.
- Positioning your company firmly as a different and preferred choice for your ideal internal and external target talent audiences.
Only a competitive, in tact and original product will be able to sustain a strong employer brand. The employer brand product is not an open vacancy. It is much more than that.
In the Magnetic Employer Branding Method™️ we describe the product as combination of the key benefits and the unique employee experiences a person will gain when they choose a career in your company.
It is important to recognize what you have or should have to become the preferred choice for your ideal talents.
Successful branding requires an in tact product. But having a great product doesn’t automatically build a brand. For that, you need an employer branding strategy.
The difference between strategic employer branding and recruitment marketing
Employer branding is often considered equivalent to recruitment marketing. Companies adopting this limited perspective have little awareness of the extent to which strategic employer branding can add value.
Transitioning your mind from recruiting to employer branding is key in becoming strategic with employer branding.
I’ve blogged and podcasted about the differences endlessly, but here are the key differences listed:
- Recruitment marketing is a short-term temporary activity when strategic employer branding is an ongoing, long term activity.
- The purpose of a recruitment marketing campaign is to get relevant active job seekers to consider and apply for the role. The purpose of strategic employer branding is to position the company as the preferred place to work for it’s ideal target talents.
- Recruitment marketing works really only towards active job seekers when most benefit is gained from external, strategic employer branding when directed towards the passive, relevant job seeker audiences.
Strategic employer branding consists of premeditated acts of communication and marketing
The actual act of employer branding is as little about product development as branding a yogurt would be.
First you need the product, then you brand it.
The same goes for employer branding.
Brett Minchington summarizes “the product” well in his Employer Brand Excellence Framework.
I summarize the product as the Unique Employee Experiences and key benefits of choosing a career in your company.
Unless you know what the Unique Employee Experiences and Key Benefits are for your employees, you need to start there.
This is the product someone in your organization needs to develop, manage and sustain for your employer brand promise to remain competitive.
All employer branding is communication and marketing to grow awareness and build brand affinity. Without a strategy and a plan, your actions are based on ad hoc and your messages appear inconsistent.
The key benefits of strategic employer branding
The ultimate benefit of strategic employer branding is a firm position as the preferred place to work for your strategically ideal talents. Both current and future employees.
The ultimate benefit of strategic employer branding is a firm position as the preferred place to work for your strategically ideal talents. Both current and future employees.
Susanna Rantanen
A strong employer brand position is a clearly different and the most attractive option to those talents your business needs to succeed and thrive.
The act of employer branding is always about differentiating your company from your competition. This can only take place when you stand our different and memorable. Mimicking your competition is never a good idea.
The act of employer branding is always about differentiating your company from your competition, not mimicking them.
Susanna Rantanen
Other important benefits of strategic employer branding
There are multitude of other benefits with strategic employer branding. The value you can consistently gain from strategic employer branding depends on your strategic goals and objectives.
Your company will receive the value what it focuses and commits to receiving. It is as simple as that.
- Examples of value delivered for the business
- Stronger commitment to delivering the customer promise
- More consistent delivery of great customer experiences
- Improved customer satisfaction
- Higher business and recruitment lead contribution from the staff
- Examples of value delivered for the company
- Improved employee awareness for the business strategy, mission, vision and values
- Higher employee engagement rates
- Higher employee engagement to delivering the business strategy or adapting to a the company culture or a new strategy
- Positive impact on the quality of people management and leadership
- Examples of value delivered for talent acquisition specifically
- Faster time-to-hire
- Decrease in the required talent acquisition costs
- Increase in the quality and fit of the applicants
- Improved candidate experiences
- Consistent delivery of recruitment leads to the beginning of the recruitment funnel
- Higher likelihood to accept an invitation to “talk careers” with talent acquisition
The benefits your company is likely to gain from strategic employer branding depend on your goals and objectives.
Your budget, the execution plan, other available resources and the competitiveness of your employer brand product dictate how much value you are able to gain.
How quickly the value is gained depends solely on the invested time and money. Slow baby steps may generate results, but will they make a difference, is the question.
Without a strategy and a solid plan to execute that strategy, most effort unfortunately fades into the thin air.
Employer branding is a verb, not a noun
It really is an act of build-ing, the strategic employer branding. A verb, not a noun.
It is an ongoing activity, not a project, nor a campaign. To succeed in employer branding requires a consistent and systematic approach for execution.
Employer branding is very much a change process. It takes time to shift perspectives or turn the lack of awareness into strong awareness. And for that, you need a strategy.
When this is the visible front, then in the back, someone must take the ownership of keeping that product in tact and competitive. Someone who is passionate about building and sustaining a great place to work and a strong, supporting leadership culture.
Is employer brand strategy the best talent marketing strategy for your organization’s needs?
Did you know employer branding is only one of the primary talent marketing strategies?
While it is the best strategy for growth companies operating in highly competitive talent markets, it is not automatically the best option for all companies.
Part of becoming strategic is to learn what strategic talent marketing options you have and when and how to choose them. I teach this at Talent Marketing School. Click the image below to see what you can learn from this beginner level strategy course.
Listen to episode 77 of the Building a Modern Employer Brand podcast
In this episode of the Building a Modern Employer Brand -podcast, I’m going to share a really important tip to people like you who want to level up with employer branding. We’re going to talk about why becoming strategic is the answer.
Episode-length: 28:26 min
Do you prefer to listen to this podcast on one of the following apps?
Click on the link and you will be directed to the Building of Modern Employer Brand -podcast. Click follow there and you will be notified weekly on a new episode!
SOUNDCLOUD | SPOTIFY | APPLE / ITUNES | STICHER RADIO APP | GOOGLE PODCASTS
Join my Talent Community on Instagram!
I teach modern talent marketing and employer branding in bitesize on Instagram! Follow @talentmarketingpro if you don’t want to miss out on my talent marketing tips! What a great opportunity to expand your talent marketing acumen all for free!