In the US, 92% of employees say they would consider changing jobs for a role with a company that has an excellent corporate reputation.
All business owners know that they need to attract new customers and retain old ones. This involves a well-thought-out marketing strategy, and many businesses make this a priority from the start.
Something that’s often forgotten, however, is employer branding. This is a similar concept but involves marketing your brand to current and potential future employees. A company is nothing without its employees, after all, so this is incredibly important.
In this guide, we’ll explain what employer branding is and cover 5 key tips that can help you build a successful employer branding strategy. Keep reading for more.
What Is Employer Branding?
Employer branding is a practice that will allow you to establish a reputation for your company among current employees and those looking for work. It’s how these individuals will see your brand from the perspective of an employee rather than a customer.
A strong employer branding strategy will highlight the best elements of working for your company. By improving people’s view of your company as an employer or brand, you’ll experience better employee retention and will find it easier to attract top talent.
Like traditional marketing, this often involves creating content that promotes the values and culture of your brand. It may also involve encouraging employee advocacy and exploring potential improvements to your current hiring process.
Developing Your Employer Branding Strategy
Your employees will play a huge part in how successful your business is. If you want to attract the best employees, you need to give them a reason to want to work for your company. There are various things you can do to improve your employment branding.
1. Assess Where You’re At
Before trying to improve your employer branding strategy or developing a new one, you need to determine where things currently are. An audit of the current situation will help you with this, and there are several actions you can take.
Start by surveying your employees and asking for honest feedback. They can reveal problem areas that they’ve noticed and make suggestions for improvements they’d like to see.
You should also look at reviews. They can give you unfiltered insights about current brand perception which you can take on board.
Similar insights can be found on social media pages. Ask your social media team what people tend to say about your brand, and you could even use a social listening tool to analyze things like common keywords, sentiment, and brand health.
When prospective employees apply for your company, the hiring process is the first time you’ll show them how your company operates. Ask current employees their opinions of this process to see if anything doesn’t work or can be improved.
2. Define Your Employee Value Proposition
Your EVP will show potential employees what your brand has to offer that others don’t. You’ll want to highlight things that people want from a job, with the main components being things like salary and benefits.
There are also other areas you can focus on such as growth opportunities and company culture. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, remote work has become significantly more common. If remote work is an option with your company, this is something else that many employees will see as a major benefit.
While you want to make your company sound good, it’s also essential that you remain honest. If you set certain expectations that are then not met, you’re more likely to have new employees leave your company.
3. Establish Goals and KPIs
Goals and KPIs are always important for any strategy. They’ll give you something to work towards and serve to keep you on track. They’ll also allow you to see how well your strategy is working and if it needs to be changed.
When it comes to recruitment, some typical goals you might have could include:
- Generating more leads
- Receiving more referrals
- A higher offer acceptance rate
- Higher employee retention
- Implementing campaigns for priority roles
- Desired number of new hires
- More qualified candidates for new positions
- More engaged employees
You could also implement separate marketing-related goals. These might include more employee-shared posts, a boost in positive reviews, and adding awareness campaigns around your employer brand.
4. Identify Your Target Audience and How You’ll Communicate With Them
Not everything is about how a company operates — many professionals prioritize colleagues and work culture when looking for a new job. You want to determine what kind of employees you’re aiming to attract to your business.
Think about who they are and what type of work environment they’re looking for. When marketing toward customers, you’ll create a buyer persona to help you make decisions about your strategy. You can create an employee persona in a similar way so that you can develop a suitable employer branding strategy that will appeal to your target audience.
5. Offer Learning and Development Opportunities
Many people leave their jobs because they feel like they’re going nowhere. They might want to learn new skills, reach a higher position, or simply take on a new challenge. If they can’t do this at their current job, they’ll look for one that lets them.
Offering this to your employees is a great incentive for them to want to work with your company. This will appeal to new prospects as well as current employees.
Improving Your Employer Branding Strategy
Good employer branding is vital as it will help you build a company supported by a strong, reliable team of employees. Make sure you focus on the needs and wants of your current employees as well as potential future ones. Always be open to change and ready to adapt your strategy to make it more effective.
Bradford Jacobs offers a range of services that can help your business in various ways. Our team can help you improve your employer branding strategy so that you can achieve your business goals. Take a look at our employer branding page today to see more information about what we do.
