ULTIMATE GUIDE TO MARKETING: Part 1 - Branding + Storytelling ! Did you know that Table of Contents employment branding can lead to

1. Elevate Your Employment Branding Strategies 3 50% MORE QUALIFIED APPLICANTS, decrease the cost per hire by 43% 2. Authenticity Attracts New Employees 6 and reduce employee by 28%? 3. Building Your Brand Story 7

Branding influences whether 4. Discovering Your Employment Brand 9 a candidate applies to your posting or chooses to look 5. The Value of Employee Videos + Testimonials 12 for different opportunities. 6. Strategies to Amplify Your Employer Brand 14

In this comprehensive guide, we will offer a seamless, 7. Employment Brand Management 15 step-by-step process that has proven effective for our clients. We reveal the secrets of strong storytelling, the 8. Uplevel Your Recruitment Brand 16 integration of sustainable employer skills and statistics and trends for what works. We’re here to help you uncover your unique employment brand that will attract the best talent to your business. 1.

ELEVATE YOUR EMPLOYMENT BRANDING STRATEGIES

As an employer, your brand becomes your identity. Every experience job seekers have with your brand online and offline reveals how you are perceived and whether or not potential candidates want to work for you. CULTURE – Since work consumes a majority of our time day-to-day, work culture is essential. People want to work for Employment branding is a strategy used to position a business that offers a clear path for growth, community- you as an industry leader in a competitive job building opportunities and human connection. During COVID-19, marketplace. The potential employee’s decision- businesses had to adapt and build a culture without having an making process is psychological, economic office environment. Employment branding became even more and contingent upon potential for growth and valuable. Culture is how the people you work with make you feel. community. A unique brand can be established through the five C’s: culture, clarity, credibility, Culture is created through company bonding communication and consistency. opportunities where co-workers can feel more connected to one another. Whether it is a company event, Zoom happy hour or sponsored lunch, all the little “work perks” make a difference in engaging applicant interest. CLARITY – The clarity of a company’s mission can COMMUNICATION – New employees are connect the job seeker to the potential employer. A drawn to a company with powerful brand messaging company mission statement is what connects them and responsiveness. Transparency tells the candidate to your business and helps your vision resonate that you are willing to answer any question or with them. So many organizations lose potential concern they may have. Companies with high-level job seekers because of confusion or a lack of communication methods are inclusive and empathetic understanding of your mission, vision and goals. in their tone of voice.

– Once the brand is established, – Senior leadership credibility CONSISTENCY CREDIBILITY consistency helps attract and retain potential and and trust are key in building a human-centric brand. existing employees. Brand consistency creates brand Potential employees see the brand beyond just the recognition. It helps your target audience recognize external elements. They want to know the internal who you are and what you stand for as a brand structure of the business. New employees are instantly. Every phase of the recruitment process attracted by the people behind the brand and the needs to reflect your brand, across all media types. passion they hold for the work they are doing. QUESTIONS TO ? CONSIDER: How do you build a strong brand?

What elements do you need to educate and empower your prospective employees?

How can you create a brand that attracts quality job seekers?

What does it take to become The Best Place to Work? 2. HOW TO CREATE AN AUTHENTICITY ATTRACTS NEW EMPLOYEES AUTHENTIC BRAND: Each business has something that makes it unique. A brand with authentic values and positioning is more desirable for job seekers. Nine out of ten candidates say they would apply to a company Differentiated Branding that is that maintains an employer brand. Authenticity is essentially how messages that simple, quick to transparent a company is with its audience. focus on what sets grasp and high you apart impact

A focus on Positioning that the people who clearly communicates work for you as what your organization Talented job seekers want to connect to a company the truth-tellers stands for through personal experiences and shared passions. They want a work culture built up of people who care about one another’s personal and professional lives. Supporting content that reinforces LEARN MORE ABOUT BUILDING AUTHENTICITY HERE your brand in a consistent way 3. QUESTIONS BUILDING YOUR BRAND STORY When it comes to attracting top-tier talent, you have to be able to differentiate your business from competitors. A 2019 Glassdoor TO CONSIDER: Survey found that over 79 percent would consider a company’s mission and purpose before applying. In this same survey, they found that came from the company’s mission, not ? the . A brand story has the opportunity to create a unique connection between you and the job seeker even before the As a company, who are you, really? first introduction. It is the job seeker’s first impression of your company’s mission, values and purpose. That is why we recognize brands like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s over brands like Ingles What are your or Aldi – they have a clear story that connects more powerfully for employment value propositions? their target audience. Why would someone want to work for you?

What are others saying about you?

How does the public (potential candidates!) view you outside of your own company walls? Prior to applying, candidates are looking for a powerful message to affirm what working for you will look like. A cohesive brand narrative communicates key takeaways about your business that justify why someone would want to work for you. Your brand story is developed through a consistent brand voice across all platforms. The brand voice can resonate with a candidate through your mission statement, theme, website copy, blog content, social media messages, product descriptions, customer service, job postings, page and company updates. It is important to stay consistent, clear and concise with your story and voice so job seekers aren’t left confused and uninterested.

The potential candidate will likely navigate to your “About” page to get a feel for who you are as a company, so this is the best place for your brand story. You should engage your audience and tell the story of your brand and how it came to be – honing in on key messages with authenticity is highly effective here. Your voice has the power to create your brand’s entire personality. 4. QUESTIONS DISCOVERING YOUR EMPLOYMENT BRAND TO CONSIDER: It is necessary to craft a brand that is compelling. Take time to analyze your brand by considering your brand archetype. If your brand was a person, ? how would they talk, what would they look like, who would they spend their time with, what would they Are you telling your unique story about your organization? be passionate about? This comparison helps create a vivid, tangible image of your brand. What message do you go to market with?

Can your brand differentiate you from your competition?

Does it market you as the superior choice?

Are your message and content personal, or are you showing stock photos and generic headlines that could represent any organization?

Are you providing a message and content that motivates and inspires prospects to actually take that next step and apply? The brand discovery process allows you to identify your point of differentiation. The first step in developing your employment brand is discovering your Employment Value Propositions (EVPs). Every company must offer mutual value to its potential employees in return for the skills and experiences the employee will bring. The EVPs are what you offer, what sets you apart and what attracts individuals to want to join your team.

OUR DISCOVERY PROCESS #2 IS BROKEN DOWN INTO FOUR KEY PARTS: EMPLOYEE FOCUS GROUPS – The next step in developing your employment brand is # RECRUITER’S KNOWLEDGE discovering your EVPs from your employees’ perspectives. 1 Every company must offer mutual value to its potential

+ LEADERSHIP INPUT employees in return for the skills and experiences the – There’s a lot that goes into discovering your EVPs. The employee will bring to the company. To uncover these best place to start is with your recruiting team and EVPs, you should hold focus groups with employees from your leaders – the people who know what motivates your key job families (the areas where you hire the most). candidates to join your organization. Your recruiters create This provides the opportunity to learn directly from them the first impression of the people in your company. They what is important: why they joined, what they like about are the face of the brand. They have the power to build working for you and what they would tell a friend who is credibility, brand reputation and personability. They have looking for a new career opportunity. likely been at the company longest and give potential

employees something to aspire towards. In these focus groups, we will often ask a series of questions that take into account a number of topics: Similarly, your leaders are often brand ambassadors, differentiators, rewards and benefits, culture, advancement with the vision of your workforce and a clear idea of what potential, people and mission. Hearing directly from attracts candidates. Listening to these teams and learning your satisfied employees can shape the messaging you what messages they use to attract candidates is a vital want to put forward to similar individuals outside your step in determining what messages are important to your organization. employment brand. #3 #4 EXTERNAL MARKET SURVEYS EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION AND COMPETITOR RESEARCH – Internal surveys and exit interviews that measure – You can even take it a step further and recruit people employee satisfaction are useful tools to identify why who do not work for your organization for focus employees join or leave your business. Your employee groups or surveys – to see what the perception is outside feedback is important when trying to understand how your organization and how you stack up in the market. to improve the work environment. It also gives current Then, evaluate how your competition is branding employees a voice and opinion that can easily get lost in itself as an employer so that you can find yourpoint of larger organizations. differentiation, or in other words, what sets you apart.

These polls and exit interviews will generate and validate honest feedback on brand perception. From there you can rank the EVPs and see how your employees feel about the following themes: compensation, benefits, career stability, work environment and culture.

Your brand discovery can be a time consuming, complex process, so working with an expert partner like NAS is a great way to do this if you do not have the internal resources. 5.

THE VALUE OF EMPLOYEE VIDEOS SOME VIDEO + TESTIMONIALS CONTENT IDEAS COULD INCLUDE: Often, a large part of your employment brand can be built by your current employees. Research has found that messages go 561 percent further when shared by Telling a Highlighting certain employees instead of the company itself. The storytelling day-in-the-life value propositions component of your employment brand can be enhanced story of a job or differentiators considerably by the use of employee testimonials and videos.

Video brings your message to life in a whole new way. Combining words with real people and their experiences Giving job seekers Highlighting your allows you to connect with your recruits on a deeper level. Several studies have highlighted video as a resource that a peek into your current leadership gets 1,200 percent more social shares than text and image. culture and working and employees Job candidates feel more connected to the company if they environment can learn the story through the existing employees. Similar to staging an apartment, videos give the prospective candidates an opportunity to picture themselves in the company and/or specific role. Not to mention, users spend Reiterating your values and company culture 2.6 times longer on pages with video – leading to more website engagement and retention. Another way to showcase the internal structure is by asking current employees to leave ratings on Glassdoor, Indeed and other third-party sites. This allows job seekers to learn what it is like to work for you from someone who has experienced it first-hand. Written and verbal testimonials give your job candidates additional insights on your company prior to applying.

You could also feature employee photos, career blogs and other employee- generated content to appeal to your audience in a subtle, yet forward-facing manner. They will feel connected to your work community prior to even applying. 6.

STRATEGIES TO AMPLIFY YOUR EMPLOYER BRAND

Once you have established your brand, it is time to market and promote it to attract the desired audience. One well-known marketing avenue is through career sites. Your content and job postings will resonate with job seekers and inspire them to navigate to the application details on your website.

A more personable way to market your employment brand is by hosting regular in-person or virtual forums and webinars with talent to educate and inspire their career journey. This helps establish a relationship with potential candidates even before the job posting goes live. It also allows candidates to ask questions and learn more about the internal nature of your business from existing employees.

Another strategy to promote your employer brand is by incorporating brand ambassadors. These are genuine supporters of your brand who shed a positive light on your company culture, work-life balance and career opportunities. Since the ambassadors are real, it gives candidates more of an opportunity to feel connected to a person rather than just reading a generic job board posting. 7.

EMPLOYMENT BRAND MANAGEMENT Employment brand management maintains job seekers’ interest and attracts new talent effortlessly. If you haven’t been receiving applications or website traffic, it may mean you need to BUILD YOUR TEAM – ENGAGE all of the teams internally to refresh your brand to attract your ideal make the rebrand a collaborative effort. Your people are what make up your audience. Seventy-five percent of job company, so honesty and open communication are important. seekers consider an employer’s brand before applying. Here are some tangible ways to do this: TARGET YOUR AUDIENCE – EVALUATE who your target audience is and what your talent pool is made up of. The talent market is constantly evolving, so you have to make sure you’re communicating your message for the right audience at the right time.

BUILD CREDIBILITY – EARN the trust of your audience by connecting with them on social media such as Instagram or LinkedIn. Third- party recognition such as press coverage and “Top Workplaces” can attract more job seekers, too.

TECHNOLOGY TACTICS – EXCITE your potential candidates with highly interactive interviewing platforms to improve their hiring experience. Your brand mission can be amplified with the right technology. 8.

UPLEVEL YOUR RECRUITMENT BRAND At NAS Recruitment, our goal is to educate and empower your business and help you attract top talent by improving the candidate experience, developing a brand that people want to work for and offering highly effective recruitment marketing strategies.

We hope that this resource taught you the importance of creating an employment brand vision and voice through storytelling. If you are looking for expert brand advice and a flexible process, contact us today and someone from our team will reach back out to you personally to set up a consultation.

CONTACT NAS