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While focusing on consumer branding is crucial for influencing customer perception and driving sales, developing a strong employer brand is equally important in today's competitive job market. An employer brand reflects the company's reputation as a workplace and involves strategies to appeal to both current and prospective employees by showcasing the company's values, culture, and employee experience, which can attract and retain talent, reduce hiring costs, and boost employee satisfaction and organizational success.
Often, companies focus all of their branding efforts on their customers. While a strong consumer brand in your target market can influence customer perception, drive sales, and ultimately achieve growth and profitability, it only represents one side. In a competitive job market where employees are switching jobs more frequently than ever, building an effective employer brand can help you attract and retain high-quality talent, reduce recruitment costs, improve employee engagement and satisfaction, and contribute to the organization's overall success.
First off, what exactly is an employer brand?
It is the unique reputation and perception that an organization cultivates as an employer. An employer brand encompasses the strategies and efforts a company employs to shape how it is perceived by current employees, prospective candidates, and the general public as a workplace. It goes beyond just job descriptions and salaries; it focuses on communicating a company's values, culture, work environment, and overall employee experience.
How to develop your employer brand:
1. Know who you are and what you want.
The first step towards becoming the perfect employer is defining the perfect employee. It is easy to cultivate your employer brand when you understand your company’s mission, vision, and values, and know what sort of talent is required to embody and execute them.
Do you want disruptors who will take big risks to chase big wins, or do you want reliable enforcers who maintain the company's bottom line? Do you want highly ambitious employees chasing personal growth or employees who are passionate about the company mission? There are no rights or wrongs, only what’s right for you.
2. Understand how you are perceived.
To analyze the current situation, you will need to ask some questions:
Internal Analysis:
You can obtain this information through employee surveys, one-on-one interviews, and employee feedback channels such as suggestion boxes, employee forums, or regular meetings. You can also find the organizational information in internal documents such as performance reviews, HR reports, and company policies.
External Analysis:
This can be found through candidate surveys, recruitment data, online reviews, social media, competitor research, and industry benchmarking reports.
3. Create your unique Employer Value Proposition (EVP).
The Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is a unique set of benefits, rewards, and values that your organization offers to your employees in exchange for their contributions and commitment. It represents the total value that employees receive from their employment with the company, beyond just monetary compensation, including the company culture, work environment, growth opportunities, benefits, and the overall employee experience. Your EVP should align with your consumer brand but also speak directly to your employees and potential candidates.
Key components of an EVP often include:
4. Get everybody on the same page.
It’s time to put your money where your mouth is. Your new value proposition should be implemented and embodied by the entire organization. This will require a comprehensive approach that might involve tweaking every aspect of your company including but not limited to:
Aligning your company with an EVP that emphasizes a flatter hierarchy could include changing employee titles to eliminate a sense of rank. Meanwhile, an initiative to promote work-life balance would involve changing performance management metrics and onboarding processes. Such changes will have to be led by a strong executive and HR team, and embraced by the rest of the organization.
5. Get everybody excited!
To facilitate the alignment of the organization and spread awareness about the new employer brand, you must also promote the EVP internally and externally. Some examples of successful employer brand marketing could be:
Within the organization:
Outside the organization:
6. Keep up the good work!
Like any good brand, your new employer brand must keep evolving to stay strong and relevant. Measure your success by using analytical metrics such as:
Regularly track your progress, evaluate its effectiveness, and adjust your approach to achieve sustained successful results.
Most Studios is a UI/UX design & branding agency that drives breakthroughs in revenue and customer engagement. We empower businesses to gain a lasting edge in their space through innovative strategies and compelling brand experiences.
