- An employer brand isn’t a slogan.
- It’s not a picture of three employees having fun at a meeting.
- It’s not an inspiring paragraph.
It can never be said enough: HR marketing is the most complex type of marketing there is. Here, we’re not selling a product; we’re selling a job, an employer, a daily routine. When we consider the fact that work is one of people’s biggest concerns, since it takes up a major part of their lives, it’s normal that they’re skeptical and critical of the message that is presented to them.
An employer brand means taking the voice of your employees and listening to it, understanding it, and placing it in the foreground in a context of attraction and engagement. They are the bearers of your reality, of what you do well and—let’s face it—not so well. You need to have the openness and desire to improve and the skill to put forward your real strengths. In one of its studies, Career Arc states that 71% of consumers have stopped buying a brand after hearing about that company’s mistreatment of its employees. You can therefore see that this exercise has an even greater scope than your candidates and employees. It must be done with rigour and introspection. Today, part of our team is called upon to do one of the things they do best: sitting down with one of our clients and leading a workshop or focus group to get to the bottom of things.
It’s also important to understand that, in this project, everyone has a role to play. Senior management has to believe in it and provide the means to its teams. Human resources is usually in charge, accompanied by marketing and internal communications, which form a super trio, so that the approvals are joint and fast. No one wants a project that drags on for eternity. The employees are there to be consulted, met, considered. Ultimately, this general involvement is necessary, because the employer brand is the reflection of the employee experience, enriched with cultural analyses as well as diversity and inclusion.
Once the employer promise (or the employer value proposition) emerges from the surveys and focus groups, the time comes to dress it up with a creative, unique, and challenging concept, which is often aligned with the corporate branding guide. This allows you to go to market with pride.
It doesn’t stop there. The activation plan makes the exercise concrete. How will the brand be experienced internally? How will the managers embody it? How will it influence decisions? The plan answers these questions, with the aim of doing what we advocate: having a meaningful message.
As we say so well at sept24, an employer brand doesn’t just happen. Here, it means using a proven methodology, with qualitative and quantitative data. It also means being able to leverage the knowledge of our experts: HR marketing strategists, analysts, copywriters, and artistic directors who are capable of working magic to deliver an authentic brand that will resonate with those who read it and those who experience it.
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