Brand Marketing Is to a Great Product What Employer Branding Is to a Great Culture

Having spent my career building brands and growing digital businesses for companies like Coca-Cola and Tribune Company, I know the importance of brand awareness and the lift it provides on your marketing efforts.

You could have one of the most impressive products out there, but without marketing that builds awareness and forges an emotional connection with your target consumer long before they reach the point of purchase, you’re not likely to generate the demand necessary to hit your sales targets.

In the same vein, as an employer, you can create a great place to work with rewarding jobs, an admirable mission, and competitive benefits  – and if you’ve done so, kudos!

But without employer branding that encompasses a unique employee value proposition (EVP) and marketing that effectively builds awareness and interest, you’re likely not going to generate the pipeline necessary to hit your hiring targets, nor will you get high-quality candidates who are the perfect fit.

It Starts With You

If you’re wondering where you’re going to find the time and resources to build an authentic employer brand, worry not. The very core of an authentic employer brand is simply what makes your company a special place to work.

As for branding experts and marketing gurus? Do you need to hire a handful of consultants to help out? As it happens, no one is more able to help you get to the crux of your employer brand than your existing employees are.

Using feedback sessions, anonymous surveys, focus groups, and the like, you can learn from current team members what attracted them to your organization and what keeps them there.

Here at The Muse, for example, our HR director conducted an anonymous company-wide survey a few months back that dug into everything from “What are our most meaningful traditions and experiences?” to “What qualities do people need to be successful here?” The result was a list of values and practices our team holds most dear, including everything from our flexible work arrangement to our atmosphere of collaboration.

Knowing that those factors resonated most with existing employees, we could predict that they would also resonate with the kinds of prospective candidates who would fit right in at The Muse. We looked for ways to weave those messages into our employer branding materials, but instead of using buzzwords that any brand could tout, we showed tangible examples.

For instance, Musers are particularly proud of a bi-monthly tradition (affectionately) called “Things That Suck,” where the whole office comes together to tackle a particularly time-consuming task. What would have taken one person all day to knock out gets accomplished by the entire team in a single hour! On the back of our findings, we now feature the TTS tradition more prominently in our employer branding to show our spirit of collaboration. 

If You Share It, They Will Come

When you’ve successfully teased out the common themes, values, and stories that unite your team, you’ll then have the insight you need to craft recruitment messaging and materials that reflect your authentic employer brand. Dispatching these materials on your career site, at recruiting events, on your profile on sites like The Muse, and yes, in job postings, is key. But so is infusing your employer brand into the company’s social media channels, into thought-leadership pieces authored by company execs, and into industry events and roundtables in order to touch individuals at the stage in their candidate journey before they even realize that they are candidates at all.

Beyond that, don’t be afraid to let your team continue to do the talking (or photographing). Employee testimonials and photos of the team showcasing their authentic work spaces, patterns, and rituals (even the occasional office shenanigan) constitute ideal content for representing your employer brand to active and passive candidates alike.

If the thought of virtually opening your doors up is a little scary, remember this: Being honest about who you are as a company may mean you draw fewer applicants overall, but it will also ensure you attract theright candidates, engage them thoroughly, and retain them at a higher rate. On the flip side, an employer brand that tries to appeal to everyone but lacks authenticity is a sure-fire way to lose employees – literally or figuratively – within their first few weeks on the job.

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Unlike marketing a product or service, which might require a catchy slogan or experiential stunt to catch consumer attention and interest, recruitment marketing for an authentic employer brand starts and ends with your employees in a very organic way – no kitsch required.

Learn from your team, be real about your culture, and spread the good word. That’s a recipe for attracting employees who live your values, are most likely to be passionate about advancing your company’s mission, and will ultimately comprise your brand’s biggest cheerleaders, advocates, and ambassadors.

As chief marketing officer, Kara Walsh is responsible for The Muse brand, growth, and engagement for both the B2C and B2B sides of the business.