How Employer Branding Can Help You Attract and Retain Talent

Thought your company had just one brand? Think again.

As an employer, you are given a unique opportunity to build an image that not only attracts potential customers, but also motivates people to want to come and work with you. The key to achieving this is a well-developed employer brand.

To be competitive in today’s market, company's need to look beyond their product brand and invest in their employer brand. Because branding has a profound impact on how people perceive you –– including those who want to become a part of your business or already work for you –– you must strive to continually develop and improve your employer branding while also finding ways to promote and reinforce it across the various media channels to increase awareness.

Continue reading to learn how to shape your employer brand to showcase your strengths and engage talented individuals who identify with who you are and what you are trying to do as a company.

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What is Employer Branding?

Branding is what allows people to identify a particular company, product, service, or individual. While a corporate brand is designed to help you stand out in the marketplace, an employer brand is directed at current and potential employees.

A strong employer brand will express your company’s identity, mission, and values, while also communicating any characteristics that set you apart from your competitors. The key is to communicate to potential employees that your organization is a desirable place to work, using the leadership and experiences of your current employees as a channel of communication.

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The Importance of Your Brand

Companies should think of their employer brand as one of their most prized assets. Here are some of the ways that a robust employer brand can benefit your organization.

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Attract New Talent

When people interact with your brand, they begin to think about whether or not they could see themselves working at the company. A well-developed brand can do a lot of the recruitment work for you, organically bringing in candidates that share the same values, behaviors and goals that would potentially enable them to be a good fit for your company.

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Long-term Employee Retention

Undesired employee turnover is one of the most limiting factors a business can experience. If quality employees do not feel appreciated and valued, they become frustrated with your company and look to take their talent elsewhere.

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When you recruit employees who share the same values, are passionate about their work, and feel appreciated and valued, the company’s retention rates increase.

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Increased Employee Engagement

Developing a quality brand can greatly impact how engaged current employees are in the workplace. When your team feels like their goals are aligned with the company’s goals, they feel more invested in the success of the business –– which, in turn, improves their commitment to their position and the company. Engaged employees also become Brand Ambassadors, telling friends, family members and their influence circles about the company and potential opportunities.

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Improved Bottom Line

Overall, when your brand is well-developed to accurately reflect your business culture and objectives, it can improve your bottom line as well. In the long run, this will reduce your hiring costs and extend your HR budget, saving you money that can be allocated towards developing the company from within.

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How to Develop Your Employer Brand

Establishing a brand image that highlights your company as a positive workplace –– where one can connect through shared values and behaviors, have an impact, develop a career and continue to grow with the company –– is vital to your success. Here are a few tips that can help you develop your brand.

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Audit Your Current Employer Brand

To successfully establish an employer brand that resonates with your desired employees, you must begin by understanding your current brand and image. Perform an audit by asking your employees to fill out a survey to determine their level of satisfaction with their jobs. Ask them questions about what they like or don’t like about working at your company, what makes them want to stay, how effective is communication from their boss and company leadership, and what development, training and benefits they use often or would like to see offered or changed.

Their responses can provide you with powerful insights into areas where your company is struggling to meet employee expectations. Once you have this information, you can begin to implement your strategy and make the necessary improvements to build out your employer brand.

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Determine Your Employee Value Proposition

Another way to continue to enhance your brand is by defining your employee value proposition (EVP). In short, this proposal will speak directly to your employees and establish who you are and what motivates you as a company. This proposition should be clearly outlined in your mission and vision statements, company values and behaviors, and organizational culture.

Take the time to clearly define your EVP in a way that resonates with your ideal candidates to attract the right people to your company. Even once they are hired, your EVP will play an important role in engaging your employees to continue to feel connected to the organization and its objectives.

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Create a Branding Strategy

A branding strategy creates a cohesive message and elevates your company’s perception in the market. After you have audited your brand, you can use the information provided by your employees to define your target audience. This will help you craft the right message to resonate with their wants and needs as an employee. Only then can you begin to improve your reputation as a brand.

One department that can play an active role in creating and executing internal marketing campaigns is your marketing team. Seeing as though they already play an important role in your corporate branding, they will be able to influence the culture and ensure your employer brand is being implemented from within.

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Lead by Example

Once you have a defined path with actionable steps to work on your corporate identity, your leadership, marketing, and HR teams should be the first to set the precedent for your employer brand. Their ability to embody and promote the brand will play a significant role in building trust within the organization and re-engaging any employees who may be burnt out.

Ultimately, your employees are an extension of your company brand and will play a critical role in your image, both in-person and online. How your employees present themselves on social platforms will highlight what is working and where improvement is needed. Engage with these employees to address their concerns and enable them to become positive brand ambassadors for your company.

To ensure consistency, your new employees should be made aware of how you define your employer brand during the onboarding process. You can achieve this by providing them with orientations and workshops to learn exactly what your company represents from the start.

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Kinsley Sarn Can Help You Share Your Story

By sharing your story, you can leverage your culture to simplify the recruitment process. At Kinsley Sarn, we specialize in pairing organizations that are looking for new talent with the right candidates –– ones that bring a robust set of skills and experience, along with a desire to contribute to the growth and success of their new company.

As a first step, we create a compelling candidate profile that defines what your ideal candidate looks like. This is your opportunity to share your story and express what characterizes your brand as an employer. As you begin to attract potential candidates, this will play an important role in narrowing down your options and filling any open positions at your organization.

To discuss how we can partner with you to define your employer brand and assist you in the search for talented people to join your team, contact us.