An Employer Branding Guide

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Employer branding, when done right, communicates your company’s story, mission, and work culture through a wholesome lens that leads to more engaged employees and candidates wanting to be part of the magic.

What is employer branding?

Employer branding is a strategy companies use to create and maintain a positive image of their brand in the eyes of potential and current employees. When you effectively transmit your company’s most important aspects, like your values and workforce, it helps differentiate you from competitors and gain footing on employee satisfaction and retention.

“69% of surveyed employees think it’s extremely/very important that their employer has a brand they’re proud to support.”

– Hubspot

Projecting an ideal image of your business, products or services, and people starts within and ripples throughout every area of an employee lifecycle. Gaining the benefits of an engaging and impactful employer brand isn’t as easy as saying you have or are a good brand. But don’t worry. Once you get going, there will be no stopping you.

Stages of the Employer Branding Journey

The good news for business leaders is that no matter where you’re starting, it’s likely not from scratch when it comes to your brand. Glassdoor and Indeed identified four stages that represent a company’s brand evolution. These stages are:

Starters

• Employer brand: Vague or undefined
• Evolution requirement: Strategizing to fulfill hiring needs and employee promises and improving company culture by better identifying your value as an employer.
• Advice: Peek over at your competition’s success, not just to see what’s working for them, but to recognize what you can do, offer, or be that’s better.

Developers

• Employer brand: Employer value determined
• Evolution requirement: Review engagement studies and employee feedback to help create, manage, and nurture a healthy work environment.
• Advice: Take your workforce seriously, especially since they are the case study for employee wellness and workplace happiness.

Growers

• Employer brand: Ready to scale
• Evolution requirement: Defining your message and voice, beginning marketing campaigns to help position your employer brand.
• Advice: Keep in mind that personalization, representation, and trustworthiness are incredibly valuable at this stage. 

Leaders

• Employer brand: Credibility achieved
• Evolution requirement: Manage and refine consistency between internal and external communications so that each reflects the same image.
• Advice: Make sure all of your company’s departments are on the same page about your employer branding goal.

Employer branding strategy quiz

You can only begin creating or improving your company brand by determining where your unique strategy needs work. This part of the process helps you identify which stage in the employer branding journey you’re at and helps expose the strengths and weaknesses in your company’s reputation. 

“50% of candidates say they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation, even for a pay increase.”

– Glassdoor

With so much on the line, it’s important to assess where your company stands in terms of your brand and perception. Take a few minutes to answer these starter questions:

1. How do current and potential employees perceive your company?
2. What are your unique selling points, and what sets you apart from your competitors?
3. Have you identified your target audience and the channels for reaching them?
4. Have you defined your employer brand value proposition (EVP) and messaging?
5. Is your company brand consistent across all channels, including your website, social media, and job postings?
6. Are you providing a positive candidate experience and ensuring current employees are engaged and aligned with your employer brand?

Your answers to these questions will give you a better understanding of what areas need clarification or revision. Building a strong employer brand is an ongoing process, so it’s completely reasonable to have all the answers or none at all and still have a brand that needs improvement.

How to Develop a Winning Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

Developing a winning employer value proposition (EVP) is crucial to building a solid brand. An EVP is a statement that defines what an organization stands for, what it offers, and what it expects from its employees. An authentic and compelling EVP helps elevate your company’s reputation and differentiate your business from companies within the same industry.

Here’s a helpful checklist for defining your EVP:

  X | Identify your unique selling points.

Let your company culture, mission and values, employee benefits, and any other special aspects of your company shine.

  X | Define your target audience.

Understanding your target audience helps you adapt your EVP to resonate with their vision of an ideal employer.

  X | Craft your message.

It’s time to communicate what you stand for, what you offer, what you expect from your employees, and what they can expect from you. 

  X |Test your EVP.

Use various methods such as social media campaigns, content marketing strategies, employer reviews from job sites, and employee feedback to evaluate your EVP and adapt or refine it as needed.

Remember, a strong employer value proposition isn’t just about attracting candidates. It’s about creating a positive work environment that engages and retains employees. Thankfully, fostering loyalty among employees makes them more likely to recommend the company as a great place to work for potential hires—a win-win.

Must-Have Tactics for Effective Employee Branding

As discussed in previous sections, your employer brand encompasses everything from culture and values to your company’s reputation in your industry. With a solid EVP, you can now approach the next step in creating your brand. This part of the process is an ongoing cycle of strategizing, implementing, evaluating, and refreshing.

Strategize:

Once your company brand is clearly understood, you must develop a strategy to help you achieve your goals. This could include conducting a brand audit, refocusing on your corporate culture, and leveraging social media.

Implementation:

Executing your strategy does come with trial and error. This involves consistently sharing your employer brand and being committed to providing a positive candidate experience that accurately reflects the brand you’re working hard to establish.

Evaluation:

Analyzing your employer brand’s development and perception is the only way to track if you’re getting closer to reaching your goals. Metrics and feedback regarding candidate and employee satisfaction, employee retention rates, and the number of qualified applicants per job posting help you identify areas for improvement.

Refreshing:

This is part of the process that marks both the end and the beginning of the process that’s just been discussed. Ensuring that your messaging is clear, identifiable, and consistent in every space your brand is present sometimes means tweaking and applying some fine-tuning over time.

Every step toward improving your employer brand helps you capitalize on each stage of the employee lifecycle and enables you to achieve company goals. Prioritize your employer branding strategy and build a reputation that attracts top talent and retains top performers.

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