It’s the start of a brand new year and, and for many, a fresh budget. Where will you be spending your employer branding dollars this year? It won’t be difficult to create a laundry list of areas that need attention. The vast majority of organizations have employee branding on their radar and very few are where they want to be within the scope of their strategy.
It’s all too easy to blow through your budget when you start thinking about the more glamourous components of employer branding strategy. Before you spend a dime on employer branding creative, communications or recruitment advertising, consider the underpinnings. Do you really know how your employees feel about your organization, or are you making assumptions? Have any idea how you are perceived externally? If you cannot answer these questions confidently and provide supporting data – stop right there.
If you want your employer branding efforts to yield long term results and positively impact the bottom line, there are two critical components that must be accomplished before you get to any of the shiny, more exciting elements:
A current state analysis through current internal and external research.
A robust employer branding strategy based on the findings and aligned with business plans.
The best investment you can make in your employer brand is completing the preliminary foundation work as the first phase of your strategy – including a thorough analysis of the brand experience at each phase of the employment lifecycle. This is essential to a successful and long term employer brand strategy. Without the necessary groundwork to uncover your organizations true employee value proposition, your employer brand will lack integrity – and your creative elements, recruitment marketing and social media efforts will fail.
It can be tempting to skip ahead into the more advanced stages of employer branding strategy, but hold steady and plan your dollars carefully. Investing in an authentic employer brand requires more than money. Successful employer branding demands a disciplined approach in order to produce impactful results. Do the necessary work to build a world class employer brand.