The Importance of Employer Branding- A Different Perspective

If you are not in talent acquisition, you typically do not understand the true value of employer brand advertising.? Where does all the money go?? Why can’t I get an exact number of hires that were made from all that spend?? To make it a little easier to understand, let's show how recruitment and employer brand advertising are more similar to sales & consumer brand advertising than many may realize.

When it comes to purchasing products and services, a consumer’s decision making process has always been heavily influenced by sales and consumer brand advertising and consumer branding. How a company invests? in each determines both the quantity and quality of their consumers.? Simply put, sales ads are typically used to attract a certain quantity of consumers of a brand or service through a promise of low prices, discounts, gimmicks, and such.? Brand ads, however, are designed to increase the quality of those consumers by delivering them a perceived value, reputation, and quality of a product or service.

For example, a company desiring a high number of transactions (quantity) will invest heavily in sales ads, leaving only a minimal budget for branding, achieving success through low margins and high volume. Companies focusing on brand (quality) budget conversely, with most spend devoted to positioning the products or services as the most desirable, best in class, and well worth a greater investment.?

Striking the right balance between sales and brand advertising delivers just the right quantity (the number of customers), as well as quality (the profit made from each product or service).

What does this have to do with quality candidates and employer branding?

Think of it like this.? Companies in need of high numbers of applications and leads (quantity) will devote most (if not all) of their advertising budget on recruitment advertising, with ads focusing on pay, sign on bonuses, or other incentives. The goal being to elicit an application. Companies desiring higher quality applicants will allocate considerable spend to employer brand advertising, positioning themselves as the best in class employer, with unrivaled? job opportunities. Branding ads focus more on culture, diversity, and overall employment experience, with the intent of building the brand as a potential employer when the opportunity presents itself. By finding the perfect mix of recruitment and employer brand advertising, employers can attract just the right quantity and quality of applicants.

One parting thing to consider is the relationship between low unemployment and overall jobseeker quality.? The higher the quality of candidates, the more likely they are to be employed, and not seeking employment opportunities.? This makes them harder to target through traditional recruitment advertising. Companies should consider allocating additional budget to employer brand advertising during times of low unemployment.??

Employer brand strategy is an important part of any successful talent attraction program.? Need strategy? The team at Bayard are the best in the business. Reach out to me for details, and Don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe to The Monday Minute.? Have a great week in recruiting!

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