Employer branding: definition, strategy and milestones

Employer branding is a key element in HR marketing strategy. Such an approach allows the company to attract and retain its talents.

Why and how to develop your employer brand in 2023? We tell you everything…

Employer branding: definition

Employer brand refers to the brand image that a company reflects internally to its employees, collaborators but also externally to job seekers, potential candidates, customers, partners, etc.

When we talk about employer branding, we mean the process of managing and influencing your reputation as an employer. This employer brand strategy encompasses everything you do to position your organization as an employer of choice.

In other words, it’s what job seekers and employees really think of you. It’s what they tell their friends and family when you’re not around.

Although not tangible, employer branding is increasingly valued by companies who have recognised the need to invest in implementing and maintaining a strategy designed to retain top performers and attract the best talent.

How important is employer branding in 2023?

Employer branding is becoming increasingly important in today’s job market. Jobseekers have more options available to them and are increasingly demanding in their job search. As a result, companies are looking for ways to differentiate themselves and stand out as attractive employers.

Why set up an employer branding strategy?

1. To attract and seduce new candidates

Today, 95% of potential candidates do some research on a company before applying for a job. Review websites (such as Glassdoor for example) are therefore at the forefront of various decisions. On these websites, both candidates and employees can evaluate interviews as well as their overall experience within the company.

With an increased need for transparency and ethics, there is a real challenge for every company to have an employer brand strategy in place and to maintain it over the long term.

2. To retain talent in a competitive employment market

Attracting new candidates is good, keeping existing talent is even better! A positive corporate image also helps to reduce turnover by retaining quality employees, who are essential to the success and growth of the company.

According to Glassdoor, 92% of employees might consider leaving their current company if another employer/company with a great reputation offered them a job. This figure reveals the importance of an internal employer branding strategy.

It is therefore essential to make your employees want to be happy to work for your company and to communicate this positively to those around them.

5 statistics to remember for companies on employer branding*.

• 92% of employees would refuse a job offer from a company with a bad reputation, even if they got a better salary.
• 86% of jobseekers (potential candidates) rely on testimonials and reviews from an employer company to decide where to apply.
• A good employer brand reduces the cost of recruitment by about 50% and staff turnover by 28%.
• 71% of employees would be more willing to share their experiences and opinions on diversity and inclusion in their company if they could do so anonymously.
• 80% of respondents to a Deloitte survey ranked well-being as the most important factor in the success of their organisation.

*Source

How to develop your employer brand?

To develop and work on your employer brand, here are 6 points to integrate into your HR marketing strategy:

1. Define your employer brand
2. Collect information (surveys)
3. Define your objectives and KPIs
4. Set up your communication strategy
5. Evaluate and adjust
6. Involve your employees

1. Define your employer brand

Your employer brand includes your unique value proposition and company values.

Potential job seekers or candidates need to be able to define your company before they apply for a job you have advertised and commit to working for your organisation. This is why it is essential to clearly define your unique value proposition and corporate values.

Your unique value proposition (UVP)

A unique value proposition (UVP) explains how your products or services improve the lives of the people who invest in them. Here you need to demonstrate how your business meets specific needs or challenges faced by consumers (customers) and why your business is specifically different from the competition in your target market.

Your corporate values and culture

According to a recent study, 71% of professionals say they would be willing to accept a lower salary if they worked for a company whose values and mission are in line with their own.

For this reason, clarifying your corporate values, your mission and your corporate culture is essential.

Both aspects are beneficial for the potential candidate and for you as a recruiter. Indeed, by articulating these elements around your strategy, candidates will be able to better determine if your objectives match theirs and thus decide if they want to join your company by applying.

On your side, as an employer, you will come into contact with qualified candidates who share your vision, your values and are willing to be part of your group.

2. Conducting an audit of your employer brand image

To influence and direct your employer brand, you first need to know what people think of your company. A brand audit is therefore one of the key steps to take before embarking on defining your employer brand strategy.

To do this, you can divide this step into two:

Collect and analyse feedback from candidates and employees

Using a survey to conduct surveys on the commitment, satisfaction or well-being of your employees, which you will then send internally to your entire group (employees and ex-employees) but also externally to the candidates you have interviewed.

The idea here is to ask them relevant questions that will allow you to understand in a meaningful way what they think and feel about your company. Here are some ideas for questions to ask in your business satisfaction survey:

• How would you describe the company to someone you know?
• What do you like about the company? And what do you like least?
• Are our values still in line with yours?
• In your opinion, is the company growing positively?
• Is your well-being at work optimal? How could the company strengthen or improve this well-being?
• Why did you choose to apply?
• Why did you choose to accept or refuse our offer?
• Why are you leaving the company?…

Read reviews on ratings websites

Then look at the reviews that already exist on review websites such as Glassdoor.

Compile all the positive and negative reviews and then sort them by topic to get a clear overview. Examples of categories that can be easily identified are:

• Recruitment procedure
• Well-being at work
• Working conditions
• Career perspectives
• Quality of management…

Once these two steps are completed, the employer brand audit will allow you to identify and correct the gaps that exist between the way the company presents itself and the way it is perceived by candidates and employees.

3. Defining your objectives

For your company to succeed in branding and e-reputation, your goals and initiatives must be authentic from the start.

Asking the right questions will help you define the objectives of your employer branding strategy: What do you want to improve? What image do you want to project? How do you want your employer brand to be perceived? How can you achieve this?

What are the objectives of employer branding?

• Better competitiveness of the company in the job market
• More potential employees
• More candidates for open positions
• Improve your recruitment process
• Reduced recruitment costs
• Better possibilities for company expansion
• Higher employee satisfaction
• Better retention of your employees
• Better relations with customers, …

Once you have defined these objectives, you will know which indicators to monitor (KPIs).

4. Setting up your communication strategy

Use various channels, such as social networks, your website and employee communications, to share your employer brand with current and potential employees.

If you have an Employee Advocacy tool, involve your employees in your employer brand communication strategy by giving them access to quality content.

5. Evaluate and adjust

With the help of the KPIs that you will have defined at the same time as your objectives, this step allows you to regularly measure and evaluate the effectiveness of your employer brand and thus make the necessary adjustments (such as company values, messages conveyed, brand image, employee well-being, remuneration and competitive advantages, as well as opportunities for professional growth, development and promotion).

6. Involve your employees

According to LinkedIn, companies whose employees share their brand’s social content see an increase in the number of views of their job postings. It is therefore vital to involve your employees in your employer branding campaigns as they are able to increase trust in your group.

How can you engage your employees in your employer branding strategy?

Employee Advocacy is one of the key tools to implement in your strategy to convey a positive image of your employer brand by engaging both employees and potential employees.

This approach, which aims to turn your employees into ambassadors of your company through their social networks, helps to make your company more “human”.

Encouraging employees to share their own stories, relay company news and thus become ambassadors of your brand helps you gain brand image, credibility, and traction (especially with job seekers).

Conversely, a well-crafted employer brand can also help to attract and retain employees, who are more likely to engage and be active ambassadors for the company.

It is therefore important for companies to align their employee ambassador and employer brand strategies to create a consistent and authentic message that resonates with both employees and potential recruits.

Make your employees your best ambassadors with Limber

Limber simplifies the deployment of your Employee Advocacy strategy by centralising access to company content and monitoring content on a single platform. Your collaborators, employees and partners are thus encouraged to distribute quality, current and validated content on their social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

Deploying an Employee Advocacy programme means implementing a digital marketing strategy that has a positive impact on a company’s employees, a brand’s e-reputation and the customer experience.

What are the values of employer branding?

• Positive company reputation: attract potential candidates
• Strong company culture: increase employee retention
• Positive brand perception: encourage others to see your brand in a positive light
• Talent acquisition thanks to the brand: attract talent because of your values, not because of money
• Benefit from employee referrals: so that employees can easily recommend their contacts for vacancies
• Diverse working environment: attract candidates from different backgrounds
• Career development path: improve your ability to retain top talent longer

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Limber has been designed to make it easy to deploy your Employer Brand, Social Recruiting and Employee Advocacy strategies. By encouraging your employees to share your content on their social networks, you can increase the size of your organic audience by up to 10 times and get up to 8 times the engagement rate.

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💡 Discover the 5 key steps that will allow you to prepare, set up and optimise your Ambassador Collaborator programme over time.

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