Why An Employer Branding Strategy Is Important

What comes to mind when you think about your company’s brand? Maybe it’s the logo or the brand messaging, or perhaps you think about how the wider world sees your organisation.

Whilst these tend to be what springs to mind first, there’s another element to a company’s branding that is arguably as vital but often neglected. Employer branding is a crucial component of attracting and retaining talent for purpose-driven organisations, and in our post-Covid, working from home, competitive business world, it’s more important than ever.

In this post, we take a look at the benefits you can expect to see when you establish a strategy for employer branding and, crucially, how you go about achieving it.

Is Employer Branding For Me?

If you want to increase your job pool of qualified candidates, save money and improve how your company is perceived online, then yes!

For recruiting and talent acquisition, a positive employer brand is everything. In fact, you can actually save money on recruitment by having a strong employer brand strategy. 

Just think about a potential recruit logging onto your website to find genuine employees talking about how great it is to work at your company – it’s a smart way to entice those candidates without spending a penny on external advertising.

Creating Candidate Personas

You probably have buyer personas that help you create and target online content. Now, think about taking the same approach with candidates. Building candidate personas is a brilliant way of branding your company for potential recruits.

Consider demonstrating internal work culture with photos and videos generated by employees to genuinely showcase what it’s like to work at your company or compose blog posts on company events. Video testimonials are also a surefire way to give your employer brand a boost – current and former employees who’ve had a great experience working at your company can be your biggest advocates. 

These pieces of content can be seamlessly mixed in with your consumer-facing content through your social channels, and with a staggering 1 in 4 job seekers using social media as their primary tool for job searching and research, content like this can have a significant impact on the way future employees interpret your employer brand.

Don’t Neglect Career Sites

You have full control of your social channels and website, but your company is represented elsewhere on the internet too. Career sites like Glassdoor are go-to’s for potential recruits, so it’s important to pay attention to these websites.

As part of your employer branding strategy, you should dedicate time to address negative comments on these sites. Don’t deny issues from disgruntled former employees or get defensive – instead, address the issues and show how your company is working to improve and move on. You can never have total control over your employer brand, but you can help shape the narrative by being honest on sites like these.

CEO Branding

That’s right, it’s crucial that your CEO is factored into your branding strategy too. 

Think about some of the biggest companies in the world – Tesla, Microsoft, Meta – the CEOs of these firms are synonymous with their brands. Any news story about Tesla has Elon Musk’s face plastered all over it; ‘Meta’ and ‘Zuckerberg’ are connected in Perpetuum. 

The reputation of your CEO is closely tied to the reputation of the brand they lead. Research by Brand Finance found that particularly outspoken CEOs have the biggest influence on the way customers perceive their brands (and surprise, surprise – it’s not always in a positive way!)

CEO branding is not just for large corporations; in fact, it can be most effective in smaller start-ups and founder-run organisations. Demonstrating the founder’s expertise and putting them front and centre can help build trust among both consumers and investors.

Bringing out the best of the CEO without ensuing reputational liability is a very delicate balancing act and only works if the leader embodies and projects the core brand values. 

So, how do you harness this unique marketing tool? Here are 3 considerations when building your CEO brand:

  1. Define the CEO’s personal brand

Begin the process by defining the CEO’s executive personal brand. Work closely with the CEO for this piece of work. Consider their personality, strengths, vision, goals and just what sort of a CEO they are. 

  1. Look to the Future

Consumers want CEOs who are forward-thinking and able to anticipate their needs (sometimes before they even know what they want themselves.) Think about how Mark Zuckerberg articulates innovation at Meta – his ‘big picture’ thinking shows he welcomes change and growth and is undeterred by obstacles. He clearly expresses this long-term vision for the company (thinking in terms of decades, not quarters or years), stating the brands’ internal values in 2022 as – “move fast”, “build awesome things”, and “live in the future”. 

  1. Don’t be scared of failure

Once you incorporate your CEO into your employer branding strategy, you need to be prepared to embrace all that comes with that. Being seen is a huge part of CEO branding, so they need to be confident to get out there and show their face and be prepared that not everyone will like them all the time. 

When done well, CEOs are perhaps one of the most underrated marketing tools that you have at your disposal.

We hope you try out some of these employer branding tips. Not only will these techniques benefit employee retention and fuel talented applicants, but they can positively affect other aspects of your company as well.

5 Ways to Build a Truly Purpose-Driven Company Culture

Does your company have a purpose? Do you live and breathe that purpose? Do your employees?

A purpose-driven company is clear about its direction to leaders, stakeholders and customers, but it takes a little more for that purpose to be truly imbued into its culture. When done right, every single team member has a heartfelt sense of ownership for the purpose, employees feel respected, and everyone in the company is working in the same direction.

It’s no secret that companies are facing the toughest labour market in decades. Competition for top talent is fierce, and the ‘great resignation’ is still a pressing concern for many. Pair this with the fact that countless studies have shown Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to join a business if it demonstrates ethics that align with their own (in fact, nearly half of Gen Z will work for a purpose-driven company for a 20% lower salary) and it’s evidently never been more important to instil your company’s purpose into your culture.

To attract and retain the most socially-conscious generation, purpose must sit at the heart of your company culture. Read on for our top five tips on embedding your purpose and attracting top talent.

  1. Do the work, and talk about it 

Imbuing a sense of purpose into your culture is one thing – ensuring your employees know about it, and bringing them along for the journey is just as important. 

Drive your mission and values home with your internal communications – tell your team about your success and community endeavours to show your purpose in action. Establishing a positive culture that centres purpose and highlights the valuable output of your company’s work is key to employee retention. 

  1. Don’t neglect inclusivity and belonging 

Inclusion is a major driver of employee buy-in, particularly for younger workers. 

A strong and genuine DEI effort helps employees connect to your organisation and helps establish a purpose-driven culture. 

Working hard to offer your employees the resources they need to thrive is win-win for your business. Purpose and belonging go hand in hand, and providing a safe and welcoming context for your employees is a huge step towards establishing a culture that centres purpose.

  1. A purpose-driven workplace starts at the top

You can’t expect your employees to live your purpose if senior team members aren’t leading the way. 

Transparency is the key here – the leadership must share knowledge about their goals, mission, and progress with employees, so team members can see exactly how their work contributes to them.

Understanding the bigger picture is crucial when establishing a purpose-driven culture. It allows individual contributors to see how their work fits into the end goal; it also makes for a more confident and able workforce.
Knowing why things happen the way they do is an incredible motivator. Rather than blindly following leadership with no sense of the reasoning behind decisions, employees with a ‘whole-picture’ view have more agency to drive their work towards the main business objectives.

  1. Bring everyone together

Purpose-driven workplaces start with socialisation and collaboration. 

Creating a sense of belonging is crucial for motivating employees to embrace your company’s purpose. Make them feel safe, respected and supported. Leaders can achieve this through feedback and praise and by asking employees to offer their perspectives. This gives you a unique insight into their purpose and what drives them.

Collaboration has become a different beast throughout the past few years as the pandemic changed ways of working forever. The uptick in hybrid and remote working makes this even more important – try to assemble your employees together frequently and provide social contexts for them to come together and share their passions and purpose with their colleagues. 

  1. Adopt a whole-person approach

Seeing employees as a collective undistinguished mass of workers is the antithesis of a purpose-driven culture. Leaders must adopt a whole-person approach when it comes to their team. Your employees are dynamic, complex individuals, each with their own passions, strengths and needs – be sure to recognise this.

Motivate employees to follow what lights them up – getting them excited about your purpose will drive great productivity and improve employee happiness. 

The work to build a purpose-driven company culture begins today

We hope these tips help you foster a culture that will connect your employees to something above and beyond the fundamentals of their day-to-day roles and help them understand and embrace the higher purpose of your company.

How Developing a Purpose-Driven Employer Brand Helps Attract and Retain Top Talent

The last few years have seen a seismic shift in the behaviour and attitudes of the global workforce. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are likely all too familiar with the phrase ‘The Great Resignation’ (also known as the Big Quit and the Great Reshuffle.) The clickbait term has dominated the news the world over, but behind the headlines is a deeply concerning economic trend. The numbers are sobering:

  • 41% of employees are considering resigning from their jobs
  • UK job vacancies are at their highest since records began
  • One-third of workers report being unhappy at work

This major disruption was spurred on hugely by Covid-19 (during which record numbers of employees voluntarily quit their jobs) however, this crisis is not just short-term turbulence caused by the pandemic. The trend has been quietly bubbling away for the past decade, coming to a culmination as employees took stock of their priorities during the biggest health crisis in a century. On top of all this, and in spite of a looming recession, the trend shows no sign of slowing down.

The Times They Are A-changing

In the past, people could be tempted into roles by the promise of job security and decent pay. In today’s world, that just won’t cut it. Employees are seeking purpose. They want to feel invested in the work they do, and they want to know that their employer shares those values. 

Understanding the role of purpose and culture in today’s workplace is vital. As is recognising the needs of diverse employees and Gen Z recruits.

In order to find a remedy for the Great Resignation, it’s crucial that employers get to the root of why people are leaving and what needs to change to keep them. Now’s the time to go back to basics and build a strong employee offer that meets the needs of today’s workers. 

Putting the Employee First

With more open positions than there are workers to fill them, employees are truly in the driving seat, and they know their worth. In the most competitive talent marketplace in decades, a small salary bump is not going to cut it; employees want to:

  • Feel a sense of belonging
  • Have flexible working options
  • Feel valued
  • Have growth potential 

So, how do you go about putting these values at the heart of your employee offer and retaining the fantastic talent you have whilst attracting more great candidates to your company? 

It’s time for businesses to invest in developing purpose-driven employer brands. Here are five factors that can transform your current organisational culture into one that attracts new talent and motivates employees to stay.

  1. Purpose, purpose, purpose

Organisations with a well-defined purpose have a much better shot at attracting and retaining top talent. In fact, a recent Harvard Business Review study found that a staggering nine out of ten employees would take a pay cut for more meaningful work.

Employees are not only looking for purpose-driven companies, but they also want to know that their leaders live by those values too. Leaders who can embrace the company’s purpose and lead ethically are much more favoured by Millennials and Gen Z workers in particular. 

  1. Recognise greatness

McKinsey & Company’s research on the Great Resignation found that a majority (54%) of employees who quit their jobs felt that they were undervalued by their employers. 

Truly talented people aren’t highly motivated by money; feeling special is often more important to them. Treat your top talent like valued individuals, not like members of a group. 

Skilled workers know their worth. It’s key that employers do too.

  1. Flexibility remains critical

The pandemic made it clear that employees can be as productive (if not more so) in a work-from-home environment. 

Remote work has become normalised over the past two years and can be a real morale boost for workers. It’s a great option for businesses, too, as it significantly opens the talent pool, allowing employers to recruit from anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world!

Offering flexible hours is also an important perk for workers today. It’s a win for employees with families, who can plan around childcare and school pick-up times. It can also be a bonus for those commuting into cities from the ‘burbs –  avoiding a nasty commute during rush hour can be a huge contributor to workers’ wellbeing.

  1. Promote a culture of inclusion and belonging 

Adjusting hiring procedures with an eye toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a great first step toward greater workforce representation, however, it’s crucial that this work continues beyond the hiring stage.

Ensure DEI initiatives are embedded in your talent retention plans by promoting an employee experience that recognises the specific needs of all employees. For instance, some underrepresented groups (like working mothers) may be more inclined to stay working at an organisation if they offer flexible work arrangements. If you are not prioritising DEI, and the specific needs of underrepresented employees, then there will be an inevitable knock-on effect on staff retention.

  1. Practice what you preach

It’s all well and good taking a position on these retention and attraction efforts, but it’s crucial that your words and actions match the promises you make. Anything you say to attract new talent is meaningless if your internal environment and actions don’t support it.

We are experiencing a major shift in the workplace; it’s only right to consider your talent retention and attraction strategy with the same level of scale and ambition. Things are changing, and the businesses that don’t keep up will get left behind. 

The Top 3 Things Millennials Look For in a Job in 2022

Stressed and burned out, many have left their jobs in the past year. Employers wonder why their employees are willing to quit so quickly and what they can do to keep them from leaving.

We’ve decided to interview millennial friends and colleagues in different job positions and industries to tell us what is essential for them besides fair pay. There are 3 things that all of the interviewers agreed are of significant importance in a workplace, and they’re not afraid to quit if an employer doesn’t meet their needs.

  1. Healthy Environment

Everyone will agree that there is no ideal workplace, but working in a healthy, non-toxic environment where there isn’t constant pressure, criticism and manipulation are significant factors. One of the big red flags for the millennials is when the HR recruiter (or people in charge) says, “We are Family” – in most cases, these companies have toxic environments.

Companies should work on creating a positive and stimulating environment where there is healthy communication between manager-employee and colleagues. In such a friendly and exciting environment, people could share ideas much more easily and combat any problems encountered.

  1. Opportunity to Grow

Millennials value opportunities for growth more than any generation that has come before them. They are willing to take a job that starts on a lower level and with a lower payment, knowing that they could quickly grow and improve in this position. The motivation that comes from that possibility is a huge driving force. When employees feel like you care about their long-term growth, they’re more likely to stay with your organisation and tap into the opportunities you offer.

  1. Flexibility and Work-Life Balance

After two years of working from home, millennials are not ready to return to in-office 9-to-5. Remote and flexible working hours are some of the most significant factors when deciding to keep a job or move to another one. 

With the proven records of productivity improvements when working from home, flexibility at work isn’t just a nice add-on to a benefits package anymore or a positive aspect of workplace culture. In fact, flexibility and a work-life balance are essential for the success of both employees and companies. It’s happier workers who actually do the best work.

Final Thoughts

Millennials are trying to move forward in their careers and lives in a way they feel is most beneficial to their future. As an employer, you should work on creating a collaborative and healthy company culture that shows employees are appreciated and respected.

Allow employees to speak their minds, ensure you’re doing your part to help promote timely, constructive, and positive communication across the entire team and encourage employees to set boundaries and take their vacation time. And of course, pay your employees’ competitive compensation, evaluate and adjust salaries regularly. 

Six Ways to Show the Human Side of your Brand on Social Media

The clue’s in the name – social media marketing should first and foremost be ‘social.’ 

People want to feel a connection to others with authentic content that feels inspiring, informative and crucially, human. In essence, they want to engage with other people, not brands. 

The key to seeing success on social media, therefore, is to put humans (your customers and your employees) at the heart of your marketing strategy. 

A purpose-driven business has a head start when it comes to creating more human-centric content. Your commitment to a bigger goal is a powerful USP that can supercharge your efforts and ensure you stand out from the crowd on social. 

Presenting the human side of your brand will simply amplify your mission whilst building trust and emotional connections with your audience. 

Sound good? Read on for our six top tips for developing a strategy focused on humanising your brand. 

Use Video 

We know you’ve heard it a million times – video marketing is the most important element of any social media strategy. That’s because it’s supremely powerful, and if you’re on a mission to humanise your business, then video is everything.

One of the most powerful ways to utilise video is by giving your followers behind-the-scenes content that paints a picture of your business and your people; a video walk-through, a personal introduction or a behind-the-scenes tour is a great way to do this. 

Remember, these don’t need to be slick, highly produced videos, most phone cameras can capture brilliant footage nowadays, and a more informal approach to production (so long as it’s not too scrappy) will help with your efforts to make your social presence more human. 

And who should be featured in these videos, you ask? Well, that leads us nicely to our next point… 

Shine the spotlight on your employees

What better way to show the human side of your company than to put some focus on the people behind your brand?

Think about it, would you be more likely to engage with a logo or a face on your own social media feed? 

Social media allows you to bring your employees’ voices to life and gives your customers the chance to put a face to a name. This is a powerful asset – most customers will react best when they are able to know who they’re speaking with. 

Showing the faces of your team allows customers to connect with your brand on a deeper level, giving them a good idea of whether or not your brand’s values line up with their own. 

Content could include photos at team events or get-togethers, or behind-the-scenes tours led by an employee. This is a great way to get your staff to contribute to your content – encourage them to get involved; their personality will shine through if they can bring their own ideas to the table, and it will help them feel more valued and engaged with your company as well.

Research shows that consumers are increasingly preferring to do business with actual humans than faceless companies, so now is the time to let your employees shine online!

Sell less (yes, really)

One of the most important things to remember when humanising your brand is to take your foot off the ‘sell, sell, sell’ pedal and ease into a more gentle gear that prioritises great content over winning business. 

It may be tempting to shout from the rooftops about how great your service is, but your content should not be a glorified sales pitch to your followers. Instead, focus on the foundations of your brand – trust, integrity, reliability – selling the values at the heart of your business should be what captivates your follower’s interest.

Keep it chatty

One of the most crucial ways you can humanise your brand is through the language you use. 

Using industry slang, formal sentences, and third person tense are all big no-no’s. Social media is about creating dialogue and building those all-important personal relationships, so keep things light and breezy, and don’t be afraid to write as you speak. 

Some good advice is to act like you’re talking to your neighbour, be informal (but polite) and crucially – be human. Remember, you are not a robot! 

Use follower content

We know it’s all well and good for us to spout on about what kind of content will humanise your brand, but creating that content can take a lot of time. 

We get it. 

So, here’s an idea for the time-strapped – share your follower’s content. You can’t get a better endorsement than an enthusiastic Twitter post from a happy customer or an Instagram story from your biggest client. It also works wonders for making you seem human by centring on real-life human experiences.

Embrace storytelling

Want to show the human side of your business? Then tell your story. 

Storytelling is such a buzzword right now, and brands are getting smarter about how it can work for them on social media. It’s also a fantastic way to humanise your social feeds and build emotional connections with your followers.

How did your company start? Perhaps your founder was in a dead-end job and needed more purpose in their life; perhaps it’s a family business that has been passed down through the generations. Every business is made up of humans, and therefore every business has a human story. 

Your job is to tell it. 

The Human Touch 

Approaching the job of humanising your online brand may seem daunting, but so long as you keep a people-centric focus, you’ll likely find the job of creating content becomes much easier. 

Just remember to keep humans front and centre, be it your customers, your employees or other advocates. 

You’ll find that creating relatable and consistent human-focused messaging will not only grow your business but will also boost engagement as well.

Good luck, and remember that human touch!

Attract Top Talent with Your Organic LinkedIn Posts

Talent attraction goes beyond recruiting. It is about having a long-term employee retention strategy in place. And in the current age and time, staying relevant and true to your business goals is crucial. Here are some innovative talent attraction strategies that can help you attract and find your industry’s top talent to fill open job roles now and in the future and retain them for a long time.

Highlight your employer branding

Before applying for a job, employees tend to look for reputable companies that share the same mission as theirs. To leverage this, increasing your brand visibility is vital. No company can flourish without a strong employer brand. And to prosper, you need employees that identify with your values. Thus, focusing on employer branding is an effective talent acquisition strategy. Utilise your LinkedIn company page so potential candidates can assess their fit and align their goals with that of your company. Create a compelling employer brand that is representative of your company’s core values. A well-developed employer brand is a key to attracting top talent. This way, potential candidates can assess their fit and align their goals with that of your company.

Plan and write crisp job descriptions

A well-crafted job description can make you stand out as a company that values talent. Keeping this in mind, enticing job descriptions work well as a talent attraction strategy.

Job descriptions should have:

  • Your company culture
  • Job requirements
  • Pay scale
  • Company profile
  • Any benefits you may offer
  • Company’s website or blog

Build connections through social media recruiting

Social media recruiting is a talent acquisition strategy you should definitely not miss. Social media networks serve as great platforms to search for potential hires and be found by them. Information shared on social media tends to have a higher consumption rate. Share your company information on your LinkedIn company page and other social media networks in the form of short videos, infographics, or posts. Connect with candidates on social media and let them know what differentiates you from the others. Besides lowering your recruiting costs, social media recruitment gets in touch with a wider talent pool in a short period. This will help you build a strong online reputation and connect with the industry’s top talent around the globe. Social media recruitment also doubles up as a method to boost employer brand.

LinkedIn is by far the largest global professional network, with more than 770 million members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Make sure you get the most of it to attract top talent.

Download our FREE guide to learn how to boost your organic reach on LinkedIn