Employer Branding
Recruiting and marketing have a lot in common because recruiters have to market an employer’s positions to applicants and sell an employer to candidates. Part of a marketing-based recruiting strategy is employer branding, or positioning the employer as the best place for candidates to work. Marketing professionals talk a lot about branding, what a brand means and how to market a brand, but it can be somewhat confusing to recruiting professionals that don’t have a marketing background. Here are what it means to brand and market an employer, as well as some strategies for employer branding.
What is an employer brand?
As defined by the American Marketing Association, a brand is a sign, design, name or combination of those things that identifies the services or goods of a particular company and differentiates them from other companies. In employer branding, a recruiter has to turn the company’s corporate culture, work environment and employee experiences into a brand. An employer brand is the image of the company as a work place that meets the needs of their employees, and it’s the recruiter’s job to make the company look like a great place to work.
Turning Marketing Strategy into Employer Branding Strategy
Brand marketing is a well-established marketing practice that has brought results for many different companies. Brand marketing is all about getting potential customers to see the company as the solution to their needs or the source for the products that they need. Employer marketing is the same sort of activity; recruiters must position their client as the employer who will meet candidates’ needs and help them further their career. Candidates need to become excited about working for a company, and, just like customer loyalty, this excitement will turn into employee loyalty and retention.
Employer Value Proposition
A marketing term that translates easily to recruiting is the customer brand proposition or brand value proposition. This is a statement of the value that the brand promises to offer to their customers. Therefore, an employer value proposition is the value that an employer offers to their candidates. This isn’t simply the job offer or salary terms, but rather the overall value of working for a company that an employer exchanges for the employee’s skills and qualifications.
Employer Brand Management
Managing an employer brand isn’t just about attracting talent to an organization, but also about employee retention and engagement. In employer brand management, human resources professionals address what it’s really like to work for the company and seek to improve employee experiences and loyalty. With brand management, it’s not just about reaching out to new talent through recruiting efforts with employer branding, but engaging the current employees to reduce turnover.