7E: The Employer Marketing Mix. Why isn't employer image alone enough to attract and retain employees?

As competition in the labor market continues to rise, more organisations are investing in employer branding to attract new employees. While employer image is important, more is needed, given that employee retention has become an equally, if not bigger, challenge than attraction. To achieve both goals through employer branding, it is time to switch from employer branding to employer marketing.

Employer Branding is only a small part of what an organisation needs

Employer branding is often understood differently: if you ask about the concept of employer branding, you will get different answers, even from employer branding experts. However, in simple terms, an employer brand can be defined as a set of associations, gut feelings, opinions, or impressions about an organisation as an employer. These associations are created for people who have no personal experience with the organisation. This is done through communication and advertising, the aim of which is to create an image of the organisation as a desirable employer in the minds of candidates.

Retaining employees is more difficult than attracting them

Attracting and retaining employees is a major challenge for organisations. According to Gallup's Global Employee Survey, published in May this year, as many as 51% of employees are considering changing employers or actively looking for a new job. For organisations, this means not only increased opportunities to attract new talent but also a high risk of losing existing employees.

Just as with a product or service, employer branding is not only about attracting as many consumers as possible—in this case, candidates—but also about converting as many of them as possible into loyal customers. In the context of a product or service, loyalty is a consumer's behaviour where they consider the brand as their first choice and buy repeatedly. For an employer brand, loyalty is an employee's willingness to stay with the organisation for as long as possible.

Thus, creating the desired image in the minds of candidates is only part of the work of "packaging" the desired internal feeling about the employer and communicating it to target audiences. To be a truly attractive employer, it is just as important to create not only the desired packaging but also the product itself, i.e., the entire employee experience that employees will find when they come to work for the organisation and that they will want to stay for.

The Product and not the packaging, creates value for the consumer

What factors contribute to employee retention? Research shows that strong employer brands have a positive impact not only on attracting candidates but also on reducing employee turnover. However, a strong employer brand is not enough to create a strong employer image. First of all, it requires a well-defined positioning of the organization as an employer, a strong employer value proposition (EVP), and an employee experience that brings it all together.

Marketing experts P. Kotler and G. Armstrong define marketing as the process by which organisations create value for consumers and build strong relationships with them to obtain value from them. Adapting this definition to employer marketing, it can be said that to both attract and retain employees, organisations need to create value for and build relationships with employees. In other words, an employer brand must create value not only for the employer but also for the employees.

Employer marketing as an approach to creating value for employees

If marketing is everything that companies do to get their product or service into the hands of consumers, employer marketing encompasses all the efforts that employers must make to ensure that the right candidates choose their organisation and that employees, once employed, want to stay as long as possible. The concept of employer marketing offers a much more comprehensive and dynamic view of the organisation as an employer. Unlike employer branding and communication, employer marketing takes a strategic view.

The same marketing rules apply

One of the most popular ways to define a marketing strategy for goods or services is the 7P marketing mix, which focuses on seven key elements that companies need to manage in order to successfully market their products or services. We suggest applying this well-known marketing mix to the context of employer branding. In employer marketing, these elements are transformed, but the essence of marketing remains the same: when developing a strategy, it is necessary to think about all seven elements. The right combination of these elements, tailored to the needs of the organisation's employees and the target candidates, makes it possible to create a strong employer brand.

7E: the employer marketing mix

In employer marketing, the organisation as an employer becomes a product. This element includes the employer's brand identity and the characteristics that distinguish it from other employers, similar to the emphasis on product features, benefits, and brand identity in the traditional marketing mix. In both cases, it is important to understand your target audiences—in the context of employer marketing, these are potential and existing employees.

Just as price determines the value of a product or service and the benefits it provides to customers, the value an employer creates for employees is determined by the employer value proposition (EVP). It conveys not only the values that make an employer worth choosing but also the specific benefits that the organisation offers in terms of salary.

While a marketing strategy needs to define where the consumer will be able to buy goods and services (place), an employer's marketing strategy needs to focus on the environment in which employees will work (environment). When considering the element of environment, it is important to consider both the working mode itself (office, offsite, hybrid) and how the physical and virtual working spaces look, as well as the flexibility of working hours and the general atmosphere that employees are exposed to every day.

The promotion element of marketing focuses on building a relationship with consumers in order to increase interest and loyalty. In employer marketing, promotion is replaced by engagement through internal and external communication. This element includes not only the channels through which candidates and employees are communicated with, but also the content that is communicated to them and the individuals who share it.

Another equally important element is experience, whose counterpart in marketing is the process. Just as in marketing, smooth processes and good experiences are the cornerstones of consumer satisfaction and loyalty, so in employer marketing the experience of candidates and employees is an important criterion for both attracting and retaining them. This experience covers the entire employee journey within the organisation, including recruitment, onboarding, day-to-day work, career planning, and exit processes. When considering this element, it is important to bear in mind all the policies and procedures associated with these processes, which must be consistent with the experience you want to create and reflect the employer brand as a whole.

All the people involved in both the delivery and consumption of a product or service have a strong impact on customer satisfaction, brand image, and the popularity of the product or service. In the context of employer marketing, this element translates into employee empowerment, which is achieved through fostering a unique organisational culture.

Finally, in both traditional and employer marketing, physical evidence is an important element to reinforce and substantiate the perceived value and credibility of a brand. In the traditional marketing mix, physical evidence includes tangible aspects such as packaging, store design, and promotional material that reinforce the brand promise. In employer marketing, physical evidence includes symbols such as elements of the employer's visual identity, merchandise, slogans, organisational culture artefacts, and other important details that distinguish some employers and their employees from others.

As more organisations develop employer brands, competition between employers increases. To remain competitive, organisations need to think about employer branding not just as an image but as a holistic way of creating value for employees. This can be achieved through an employer marketing approach that emphasises the strategic and value-creation aspects of the employer brand.

Sincerely,

Dominyka and Rūta

www.thepromise.lt

P.S. The original version of this article was published on Delfi in the Lithuanian language. You can find it HERE.