To be honest, your business will probably survive without it. However, you might be missing out on some great talent. Great companies are always driven by great people, and great people are usually looking for more than a salary in a job. Candidates need to know exactly why they would pick you out of the other hundred other jobs they could apply to.
First things first. What is employer branding (EB)?
It’s the way your company is perceived as a workplace. It’s not necessarily how good of a workplace it is, but how good of a workplace people think it is.
Do you need an employer branding strategy in order to have an employer brand?
Short answer is no. Not communicating about yourself as an employer is not the best thing to do. But every company has an employer brand, like it or not. Even no-name companies have an employer brand because being “no-name” is in itself an element that says some things about the company.
It’s hard to manipulate how people see your brand. Your Employer Brand is a collection of perceptions (including employees, candidates, and outsiders) around “how it is to work for X”. Because you can not determine how others see you. You can’t manipulate it but more importantly, you shouldn’t. Employer Branding is not about controlling perceptions, it’s about being transparent about what it is like to work for you so that you attract the best-fitting employees. What you can do is establish the key messages you want to communicate, how to communicate them, and to whom.
How to „EB”?
By having an EB strategy and putting consistent efforts into it, you take control of the narrative, instead of having other people speculate who you are as a brand. It’s not one or the other: either you talk, or let the people talk. It’s rather a dialogue.
An EB strategy should include at least the following elements: an EVP (Employer Value Proposition), a candidate persona, internal & external marketing assets, communication channels, KPI measurements, recruiting campaigns, onboarding experience optimization, and retention strategy.
“I’m not like the other companies”
Some will love your brand, others not so much. And that’s ok, it’s a sign you are doing it right. Because a brand proposition that everybody will agree with is not unique or impactful. You certainly heard at least one of the following brand promises: “We are a great place to work”, “We are fun”, or “We are open-minded”. Every company wants to be perceived as a great place to work, but if you are going to choose a brand proposition everybody else is promising, you’d better go the extra mile to prove it.
So, do you absolutely need an employer branding strategy?
You don’t, but if you choose to, please do it the right way. Do NOT copy-paste some other company’s employer branding strategy, that won’t help. It has to be yours, it has to be unique and it has to be true.
If you need help with what, where, and to whom to communicate as an employer, send us an inquiry here.
