In a competitive market, your brand needs to pop. Everyone has something to offer, but what makes your company rise above the rest? What will encourage the brightest minds across generations to come and work for you?
An employer branding strategy is an important place to start.
Employer branding may seem like odd terminology, but it’s likely something your organization already has developed. It’s a company’s public image as an employer, comprising of their culture, values and mission. It’s how the company is perceived by employees, as well as what value a company brings to potential hires.
And a strong employer branding strategy doesn’t just mean people will remember you. It means people will want to work for you over your competitors.
Determining Your Current Branding Strategy
Developing the right employer branding strategy starts with knowing where you currently stand. Brand values, corporate culture, the company mission and how you communicate these traits all make up your employer branding. What are the core values that drive your company and its culture? If these aren’t already clearly outlined, leadership should take time to identify these, turning to employees as they build this out in a way that meaningfully reflects the entire company.
An employer brand is also largely made up of two additional elements: employees’ internal perception of the company, and the external public perception.
How employees view the company they work for is especially important. Would they recommend working at their employer to a friend? Or are they generally dissatisfied with their company?
Meanwhile, to identify how your company is perceived externally, you can take stock of online engagement. You can also look through reviews or conduct outreach to current and previous customers to survey their opinion. The public perception of your company matters to job seekers. To attract the best talent, you have to stand out the most.
Digging into the Data
Once you have an idea of your employer branding, you must evaluate the current impacts of it. How do current employees feel about your company? Internal surveys can provide insights that shape future engagement and areas of improvement. They can highlight internal perceptions of your culture, brand, and values. They may also demonstrate external perception of your brand when asking employees about the opinions of their industry peers.
In addition to surveys, focus groups can provide more detailed information about weaknesses, strengths, and potential opportunities for growth.
Oftentimes a third party can help with these surveys and groups to ensure that employees don’t feel compelled to answer in a certain way or risk retribution from their employer.
It can also help to research who your target audience is. When you analyze who is on your team, you can identify skills gaps on existing teams and seek out the kinds of candidates who best meet your needs. Understanding your target audience and will help you position yourself for success.
Diving into Growth Opportunities
With the knowledge of your organization’s current employer branding and how employees feel about it can help you improve the company’s employee-facing branding. Based on survey results, there may be certain areas for improvement. Be open to exploring how those may be addressed to improve employee engagement and recruitment.
Implementing some best practices can help strengthen employer branding strategies as well. For one, authentic communication internally and externally plays a key role in developing trust and situating yourself as a trustworthy employer. Strong employee engagement also matters. Find ways to communicate and demonstrate your values, showing how they are reflected in your everyday operations and promoting them internally and externally. Another best practice is engaging in corporate activism. It may also be another way to demonstrate your commitment to your values and mission.
Ultimately, regular evaluation, analysis, and optimization of your employer branding strategy can help you push your brand toward success.
How to be Where Everyone Wants to Work
When employees are satisfied with where they work, they often perform better. Greater satisfaction and performance can only benefit an employer. And a strong employer branding also means that employers can attract top talent to continue to advance their business.
If you’re interested in strengthening your employer branding strategy, Joe can help. Our team of communications experts can examine your current employer branding, identify your employees’ feelings about your workplace, and support your adjustments to attract and retain top talent.