Want to Increase Sales by 35%? Have Marketing and Recruiting Join Forces

Peanut butter and chocolate. Netflix and sweatpants. And now, marketing and recruiting.

They’re all just better together.

New LinkedIn research has revealed the striking results that emerge when marketing and recruiting join forces. Not only do both departments benefit greatly, but the company as a whole does as well— to the tune of a 35 percent increase in sales. 

Recently, we looked at companies on LinkedIn who have both a strong employer brand (measured by TBI) and strong marketing efforts (measured by CMS), as opposed to companies who did just one or the other (or neither) well.

Our research showed that companies who take an integrated approach to their consumer and employer branding were far more successful from a sales perspective relative to companies who did only one or the other well:

So what’s the easiest way to do both well?

Step 1: marketing works directly with talent acquisition to take a content-rich approach to employer branding. Step 2: define that initiative as part of the company’s overall marketing strategy.

What are the fundamental truths that support this call-to-action? Well, there are four, according to our data:

1. A strong employer brand will help your consumer brand

Statistics show a company’s consumer brand and their employer brand are not unrelated. A stronger employer brand leads to a stronger consumer brand; meaning that if marketing helps talent acquisition, it stands to gain as well.

Specifically, previous LinkedIn research found a strong correlation between the public’s knowledge of a company’s consumer brand and their employer brand:

2. Whereas a strong consumer brand alone is not enough to bring in top talent

Marketers might react to that graph by suggesting that the inverse is true as well: a strong consumer brand translates equally to a strong employer brand. But our data shows that it’s not quite that straight-forward.

Our research found a company’s employer brand is twice as likely to drive job consideration as its consumer brand. This is particularly true for younger employees: candidates under the age of forty are 61 percent more likely to be influenced by a company’s employer brand than the average professional.

Think about it this way: is there a company you might buy products from, but wouldn’t necessarily want to work for? It takes a strong employer brand to entice applicants to want to work for your company, which has the additional effect of helping your consumer brand by attracting a talented workforce.

3. One of the best ways to increase job applications is taking a content-rich approach

Understanding that employer branding is both important and can help marketing, the next question is: how can you do it well?

Our research shows that the rules of traditional marketing apply to employer branding as well, where candidates work their way down a funnel from interested to prospect to applicant.

Job applications via LinkedIn saw a 65 percent boost when a member had previously interacted with content from that company—say, read an article or liked a status.

Not only are you driving up the likelihood that they’ll apply, but you’ll attract higher quality applicants. In general, hiring rates are 3.3X higher among candidates that engage with your company’s content before demonstrating interest in working for your brand.

In other words, someone who has no relationship with your company is far less likely to apply to your job listing than someone who understands your brand’s voice. Offering useful content can help position your company as a strategic partner, engaging potential talent and driving up the likelihood that they’ll take an active interest in working for your company. 

4. That approach should again help your marketing efforts

Again, this content-based approach shouldn’t just help your employer branding efforts. There is a 40 percent increase in engagement with your brand’s organic and sponsored content when members view jobs at your company first.

This ties back to point one: investing in advertising your talent brand has a positive impact on your business overall. If your company seems like a great place to work, people will also be more receptive to buying your goods or services.

Tying it all together

The data speaks loud and clear: taking an integrated approach to consumer and talent branding reaps significant benefits for your business. Marketing your consumer brand can play a part in getting better talent, while touting your employer brand can increase overall marketing effectiveness.

So, talent leaders and marketing departments across the world: if you aren’t working together already, set up a meeting. Otherwise, you could be leaving significant revenue on the table.

This post was co-authored by Guillaume Dufour.

*Image from Point Break

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