Employer Branding: Telling The Right Story

Right now, the biggest trend in recruiting is employer branding, crafting the promise your company makes to its employees. And the biggest trend in marketing is brand storytelling, using content, examples, and experiences to bring your brand to life in the mind of consumers.

Combining these trends can bring a powerful presence to your talent acquisition. But it's not always straightforward. Harnessing the best of employer branding and storytelling means sharing not only the story you want to tell but also integrating the story your best candidates want to hear.

For example, your company may have a customer-service focus -- but that's not necessarily part of a compelling employment offer. That sort of disconnection happens all the time: Many employers think that recent college graduates are concerned about the environment, but a recent NACE study showed that working for a "green" company was last on their list of desired employer qualities.

And don't mistake storytelling for content. You may have a regular blog, Pinterest boards full of photos, and a YouTube channel with lots of videos, but if none of it emotionally connects to job-seekers, you won't move the needle. As Momentum Worldwide's Jon Hamm put it in Adweek, "Audiences have always asked for stories. They've never asked for content."

To most effectively integrate storytelling with employer branding, I recommend that the HR department -- and even the C-suite -- become best friends with recruiters, because they're the ones "selling" your company and know what resonates with job-seekers. You'll have to go beyond a few casual conversations, too. Conducting independent focus groups with your recruiters allows you to marry what your company offers with what people want. It also lets you create counterpoints to what people are saying about your company "behind your back."

Another successful hire!

The result? You'll build a compelling employer value proposition that resonates with desirable workers in the job market. They'll be the right cultural fit, too, which means you'll decrease hiring times, hiring costs, and turnover while increasing retention, referrals, and productivity.

The best branding involves storytelling, and employer branding is no different. Good employer branding is easy to spot -- Southwest Airlines, Taco Bell, Deloitte. Bad employer branding...well, those companies never seem to become household names.

It just so happens that Brandemix specializes in brand research and employer branding, so we're an ideal partner for determining what top talent is hearing from your company and what they want to hear. If you'd like to stand out from your competition, I'd love to hear from you. Write to me or read about our successes on the Brandemix website.