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The Importance of Employer Branding

Your company’s brand is about more than a logo and a slick website — when it comes to recruiting strategies, your brand is your reputation. And this brand reputation is about more than customers, it’s about defining culture in the workplace.

What is an employee brand?

An employer brand (also known as an employee brand, as it has a huge impact for both parties) is a company’s perceived reputation in the job market. For example, brands with great employee branding can usually be spotted near the top of ‘best places to work’ lists. On the other hand, companies with poor employee branding may not be heard of at all, or worse, actively avoided.

Employer brands are built not just by appealing to would-be employees, but by nurturing the employees you already have with an attractive Employee Value Proposition.

What is the difference between employer branding and recruitment marketing?

Employer branding and recruitment marketing go hand-in-hand. Employee branding is about defining the culture in the workplace and the reputation that shapes the public image of your company (more on this below). Recruitment marketing is about promoting all those things with the core focus of hiring talent, concentrating on things like crafting job specs that really transmit the company culture and values and draw in candidates.

What are employer branding strategies and tips?

Here are some key things to keep in mind as you shape recruiting strategies around your business. 

Be visible

How many people follow your profile? Do you have a profile? An online presence that lets candidates glimpse behind the scenes is a great way to build an employer brand. Where unsatisfied customers and employees alike have publicly spoken out about the brand, do you publicly respond and make amends?

 

Make it about people

If you want to attract great talent, then you should have something that appeals to them. This is where your Employee Value Proposition comes in. From flexible working in the post-lockdown world, to great benefits, and, most importantly a fair compensation package, your employer branding should be about doing good for your people and not just looking good to others.

Look at the competition

Take a look at the sort of candidates you want to work for your company — where are they currently working, and what is that brand doing that you’re not? A bit of competitor benchmarking on everything from their site and online presence to their compensation package will help you measure your efforts against others in your industry.

Make it easy for candidates

Do you have informative and well-written job descriptions? Is applying through your job page easy? Does your team respond in a timely manner? Your brand continues to play a key role through every stage of recruitment, so make sure you’re keeping the candidate's opinions of you positive all the way through.

Consistency is key

Just like any consumer brand, your employer brand should have the same tone and feel across all your channels. That includes social media, your job portal, your email signatures and tone, and your job spec. Your branding should be in the very bones of your company, and candidates will quickly be able to spot if something feels merely performative.

Consider what you already do well

You may see room to improve in your employer brand, but you may be doing lots of positive things around the company that you just haven’t thought to proudly share with others. So, as a first step in your employer branding strategy, look at your current strengths. Do you have frequent socials? Do you work flexibility for a great work/life balance? Do you finish early on Fridays? Look at what your team already loves about the company and make sure your future hires know it, too.

Remember, your company isn’t a bubble

With the rise of social media, and offline networking, you should never make the mistake of thinking your company’s decisions aren’t heard down the grapevine. There are plenty of examples of companies making the wrong call and dealing with the public backlash. In short, there’s no use crafting a fantastic employee brand if you can’t walk the walk when it comes to upholding daily values.

Measure your efforts

Keeping an eye on key metrics like time fill, retention rate, application rate, and offer acceptance rate will help you understand how well your employer branding strategy is working. If something seems off, there’s no harm in asking applicants for their honest and candid feedback and improving from there.

Recruitment branding strategies made easy with LinkedIn

Make sure you’re using LinkedIn to your full advantage — with over 1 billion professionals in our talent pool, it's essential your company has a presence, too. Here are some things you can add to your recruitment branding strategies as you shape a winning employer brand:

Show your values

A powerful tool for recruitment branding strategies, with the Commitments feature, you can show off your company’s values and where the true heart of your brand lies. This can include things like diversity and inclusion, environmental awareness, or championing employee growth and development.

Make sure to add your career page

Share company news and updates, employee profiles and more.

Let your team shine

Show that your current talent is truly talented by letting them share their voice on your company page in the form of articles. They can write about their role, their impression of the industry, really just about anything that lets both their own personality and that of your brand shine.

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Existing customer? Click here.