Employer branding is much more than a recruitment campaign
Every era has marketing waves that every "self-made consultant" tries to ride. Today, everyone is talking about employer branding. But few are talking about what employer branding is - and how to get the most out of it.
A recruitment campaign is a "we're hiring a waitress" sign on the door of a pub. The moment the pub finds a new server, it takes the sign down. Recruitment campaign ends - mission accomplished.
Employer branding is the great-looking staff of a cosy restaurant who make you envy their work. What they do, how much they enjoy it, and also what the restaurant looks like, where it's located, the energy that comes out of it... And that's a mission that doesn't end until the restaurant itself ends.
In other words. A recruitment campaign - like a discount promotion, consumer contest or new product launch - often makes do with more or less creative communication for more or less tangible money. Employer branding - like branding - builds a deeper relationship and as such needs much more. A long-term, consistent and disciplined implementation of a multi-layered strategy.
But do you need something so sophisticated? Isn't it just enough to have a much cheaper and easier "billboard" when it's time to restock? If you're a company whose success is based on the skills and motivation of your people, then definitely yes: employer branding is something you need to be interested in.
What's more: the smaller the company, the more it matters.
The "sign on the door" will appeal mainly to those who are passing by and just looking for (often any only slightly suitable) job. The goal of employer branding is to be remembered by those who aren't walking by - ideally whenever they're thinking about making a change. And those are the ones you care about: Candidates who are thinking about change because they like coming to work, want to move on and, most importantly, won't run off to a competitor within a year.
Just do the math: the cost of recruitment, training, the drop in productivity during adaptation, but also the increased workload on colleagues or the increased risk of mistakes... According to expert studies, replacing one skilled employee with another can cost a company between six and nine monthly salaries. All this while uncertain whether the job will actually fit during the probationary period and whether it will be necessary to look further afield. Unsure whether recruitment will turn out to be a waste of effort.
Meanwhile, the younger generation doesn't hear so much about salary or gym cards anymore. You can’t win them over with benefits like coffee, a dog-friendly environment or a few extra sick days. They’re looking out for their mental health and want work to be meaningful - to be able to do it knowing that she wants to do it and that it makes her feel good. They don't want a career ladder, they want a career playground.
This is where the space for employer branding opens up. That's why you should occupy this space. Unless you're a company that regularly wins Employer of the Year, or at least part of an international network that promises young people to be part of something big, employer branding is the tool to attract the next generation of employees.
credits: KMD / & Co. Copenhagen (via Ads of the World)
Addressing your employer branding is becoming a necessity
"Employer branding" is rather just a term for us. We consider what it stands for to be part of the brand itself - when we build it, we take the employee into account from the start, if only because the employee often embodies the brand to a large extent. For us, it's simply branding as such.
We therefore believe that employer branding should be based on values, vision, mission... in short, what we like to call the "big ideal". The mission with which the brand contributes to a better world, and therefore what everyone who works for the brand can contribute to a better world.
It doesn't have to be anything as ambitious as SodaStream's "Join the Revolution" recruitment appeal (emphasising the environmental friendliness of PET-free bubble water). It can simply be a daily credit to the good mood expressed by Burger King's dig at McDonald's. Or the McDonald's communication that has long lured with the promise of a job for anyone who wants a chance in a cool team.
Either way, it's desirable to base employer branding on a strategy that emphasizes the fact that working for you is a human match for the very people you're looking for - and that's because of the nature of the brand and the underlying: company culture.
credits: Burger King (via Pinterest)
credits: McDonald's / TBWA Belgium (via TBWA Belgium)
Employer branding is… branding!
Let's reiterate that employer branding is fundamentally a relationship. And that relationship needs to be nurtured on a much larger scale than just the surface of a love letter - a recruitment advert.
You should certainly start with the Careers section of the website, which gets people excited not just for the job title, but for the company as a whole. It should introduce future bosses, work with testimonials from current employees, let you see inside the company, "sell" the company culture... in short, almost materialize the (desired) impressions of the candidate already working there.
The LEGO brand is doing a great job in this regard, with so much to say to prospective employees that they also run full-fledged social media accounts for them alongside the careers section of the site. Here, they showcase their workplaces, publish funny posts featuring their sets and figures, and even hold meetings with their employees, who the public can ask about their work in person.
The closer you are to them, the better for you. If you're after junior positions, build employer relationships in schools - through lectures, workshops at your company, or perhaps a paid internship for students in your field. For senior positions, build it through active participation in conferences and trade shows, blogging on LinkedIN, professional podcasts... or perhaps run a campaign that is not primarily recruitment, but resonates with future employees enough to make you their first choice.
When the Czech O2 launched the equal access to work campaign "We don't play stickers", they framed it as an internal campaign. They surely knew it wouldn’t stay between the walls of its headquarters. And it didn't: The campaign shot to prominence on LinkedIN and, thanks to that, garnered two million views on the network.
Just be yourself!
credits: SocialTalent (via SocialTalent)
O2's campaign was certainly successful also because its face was four real O2 employees who gave the brand the necessary "stamp of authenticity". And authenticity is what employer branding often breaks bread over. Sooner or later, your candidate will come to your company and sense how much the brand is and isn't what it claims to be. And if he or she doesn't sense it during the interview, then he or she will surely find out after the hire.
Now, we don't really mean putting motivational quotes on your wall. We don't really mean now the ideas of companies like Sportisimo, which in their adverts attracts corridors in the design of a running track and meeting rooms in the design of different sports. It's certainly a great idea with regard to branding, but it can't be enough on its own.
When the newly built Air Bank was looking for people, they opted for those with no banking experience. They suspected that the experienced ones would threaten their culture of an innovative bank with the culture of a traditional bank. They gave the people they already employed cards that said "I like your work", which the employees then handed out at their discretion to those they wanted as colleagues; helpful café attendants, understanding counter people, patient people behind the counter... They didn't focus on competence, but on personality compatibility.
So once again: employer branding is all about building a sincere relationship, possibly courting a future relationship. Think of it that way in everything, not just at the "sign on the door" level.
The Czech restaurant chain Ambiente does HR interviews directly in its locations. Starbucks has invented a "hiring coffee day" right in its coffee shops - anyone can come in, unannounced, and talk to the manager of the establishment about the job. Creative agency Jung von Matt gave out a wall calendar to candidates during interviews, with sheets for each day of the year written as a fun testimonial to their current employer. Realizing correctly that it probably wouldn't be the only ad where a suitable candidate came to apply for a job, it stood out above other agencies for its wit and hyperbole.
All of this is employer branding. And it can all win you candidates who will easily return more than you invested in employer branding.
credits: IKEA / The Monkeys (via Ads of the World)
Of course, you can start by recruiting...
Not that a "we're hiring" sign isn't part of employer branding. But to be part of employer branding, it should be part of a broader communication whose strategy matches the brand. What do we mean by that?
How about one of the most famous recruitment campaigns ever. When a new IKEA megastore opened in Australia, it advertised vacancies in the style of its assembly instructions right in the boxes of its products. This appealed to his fans and his fans alone, and he went straight for totally loyal employees. With a minimum of cost, over 4,000 people responded, filling 280 new positions.
Sure, you're not IKEA, McDonalds or even Lego and you don't have nearly the options they do. But you always have the space to create a workable campaign that reaches relevant individuals with adequate communication.
Ad agency Draftfcb Kobza appealed to observant accountants by sending an unsolicited payment of €1 to a number of rival agencies in Austria, Switzerland and Germany, and inviting anyone who noted the payment as suspicious to an interview in a message to the recipient.
The Ogilvy network held a fun Worlds Greatest Salesperson competition - contestants were asked to make a video in which they sell a red brick.
And the Berrge Tattoo salon straight up turned its advert into a trial job with the fine motor skills, dexterity and, most importantly, patience required for a true master tattooist.
credits: Berrge Tattoo / BÜRO (via Ads of the World)
The Havas agency, in turn, placed a brilliantly worded advert on a public transport stop near four of its biggest competitors in order to lure away young employees who expected more from their work.
credits: Euro RSCG Amsterdam (via Ads of the World)
The consulting firm McKinsey got around the advertising limitations of Swiss universities by handing out pencils with oversized erasers with the message "We're looking for students who aren't satisfied with just any solution."
credits: McKinsey & Company / Ruf Lanz Werbeagentur (via AdsSpot)
Note that all of these examples accentuate their employer brand. They talk about qualities, values, and most importantly, they reach out to those they sit down with, right where they are, often at the very moment they are thinking about work. Think about it the same way and always try to be more expressive, believable and also more thoughtful than others.
Are you in?
Employer branding should always largely rest on you. But it should also stand on strategy and the communication built on it, which - with all due respect - is better evaluated by outsiders.
We can help you with that. Together, we'll look at how your company is perceived by people inside and outside. We'll help you define what makes your company (as a brand) unique to job seekers and, based on that, establish a clear, long-term concept. We'll also take care of all the content - from text to graphics to authentic photos and videos that show what your business really looks like.
Whether it's a simple career site, a conversation with your employees, a recruitment landing page, social media, or an unconventional campaign like the examples you just saw, we can help you find the right people for the right positions.
We specialize not only in creative, but also in analysis and strategy. If this makes sense to you, get in touch. Employer branding is no mysterious incantation - but when done well, it can work wonders.