Fancy videos, slick job pages, expensive LinkedIn ads: Employer Branding is big business. The war on talent is always on as great people are hard to find. Getting your employer branding right is crucial for the success of your company. So you pull out your wallet and invest big time, right? You're missing out on the cheapest and most powerful Employer Branding tool: a great newsletter.
Seriously, a newsletter?
A newsletter is the most underrated tool and I know what you’re thinking: ‘It’s freaking 2023, this is lame, I was expecting AI and something with a drone!’ Hear me out, here are 5 reasons why newsletters are great ????
- ?? Simple, cheap and powerful. The power of a good newsletter lies in authenticity. Although daunting, that doesn’t have to be expensive. What makes a newsletter interesting is that it isn’t a polished version of what’s happening. Sharing without a filter is less time consuming and it’s exactly what people need to fall in love with your company.?
- ? Time for context. A newsletter gives you time and space to share. Quality over quantity. It gives you time to add nuance, background and context. The average media-diet consists of TikTok-snacks. A newsletter is a different flavor and a better fit to what you're trying to achieve: to tell your story.
- ?? Culture builder. How colleagues talk about the company when you're not in the room is the real employer brand. A newsletter is a great way to boost morale and create a sense of identity, pride and build culture. So even if no one but your colleagues subscribe, you win.?
- ?? Easy to share. The end goal is to create a group of ambassadors. People who think your company is cool and don’t mind sharing that with others. A newsletter is the easiest way to build this community and make it easy for them to share content (your newsletter) with their audience.
- ?? Data Driven. When doing ads on Instagram or LinkedIn, you pay for impressions and clicks. The impact of impressions is hard to measure, where a newsletter is very measurable. How many subscribers, the open rate, clicks and shares: it’s all tracked. So when your boss asks ‘if it’s working’ you have a dashboard to answer that question.
Alright, where to start?
1. Write your first edition ???
Employer Branding is all about showing what’s already there. It’s giving people a taste of what it’s like working at your company. A newsletter is all about keeping it fun to read and being authentic. The best way to achieve this goal is to use real content. Real stories from real people. Simply show and tell what exciting (or boring) things actually happened. Mix this with elements that are relevant for people who are potentially interested in joining your company.
Who are the people that make this company? What are they doing on a day to day basis? What challenges do they face? What are their dreams? What makes their working lives fun or interesting? What things are you building? What teams are there and what do they do? How do you celebrate birthdays? How does onboarding work? What do you do for fun or to relax? Who’s the CEO, what are her dreams for the company? Does she have any pets? What plans are there for this year? What’s your favorite perk and why is it the free lunch with vegan options?
This should be enough inspiration for your first edition. Time for step 2.
2. Build your community of subscribers???
Don’t focus too much on the amount of subs. It’s better to send your newsletter to 25 real, relevant and engaged people than to 250 who don’t give a fuck. Don’t focus on how many subscribers you have. Focus on how many people actually read it and engage with the content (replies, clicks).?
Here are a few groups you can ask to subscribe and ways to get them in.
- Your colleagues. They will be most willing to subscribe and actually interested in what you come up with. As stated in the beginning, your newsletter is a great way to keep colleagues engaged and build your culture. If they like what they see and are actually proud of working there, they will recommend it to others and share it online. That’s a guarantee for a great group of new subscribers.
- Jobseekers. Every person who checks out your jobs is somewhat interested. Especially if they decide not to apply, they are key to getting in, so when a role opens up that is a good match, they show interest. Don’t lose this valuable group of (latent) job seekers and make sure your job page has a call to action (even pop-up) to subscribe.
- Candidates. Even when you turn people down, because they might not be a good match at the moment, ask them to sign up for your newsletter. They showed interest in working with you, so that’s a win. Keep them engaged and interested for when the time is right.
- Sourcing. Approaching great people online can be tough, as you get a lot of no’s. Although people might not be interested in switching jobs, they might be interested in staying in touch. Ask all the people you approach to subscribe. This will give you a group of high quality subscribers.
- Clients and users. Ask the people who use your product or service to subscribe. Having clients who love your company often make the best ambassadors.
3. Send and share ??
So you wrote your first edition and you have some people who subscribed, well done. Next up is sending it out. Hitting that button is nerve-racking, I know, but that’s half the fun. After that, make sure to share it via the channels you already have both internally and externally. Ask colleagues to share it too. This should already give you a good reach. Focus on writing a few great editions and organically growing your audience first. Keep sharing, be consistent, give it some time and have fun with it.?
Some last tips...
- Keep the writing simple, don’t use a formal tone of voice. Write as if you’re writing a letter to a friend. If you have someone from Marketing yelling that it messes with the overall brand, send them to me.
- Take pictures. Friday drinks: click. Dog in the office: click. Growing veggies by the window: click. New product launch: click. Anything is fun as long as it’s real.
- Use AI to generate new ideas if you're stuck. Please don’t let AI write your newsletter, it’s writing is boring.
- Quality control is important, but imperfection is okay. A spelling mistake, wrongly cropped photo, it’s all good. Even better, it shows that you’re not sending some slick marketing e-mail, but something written by a human being. Quality control can slow you down and overcomplicate things, costing you valuable time, resources and money. Keep it simple.
- Use a tool like Substack, don’t reinvent the wheel with signup forms and build an editor. Keep it simple.
- Offer something exclusive to newsletters subscribers, like 10% off on your next order, a sticker or pair of socks. Make it fun and worth their time to be part of the community.
- Be consistent. The frequency is less important, as long as you find your rhythm. For starters, try monthly or bi-weekly. Weekly is too much for a newsletter from a company imho.
- Always close with a call to action to apply for roles, but let that be the only one. Don’t sell or promote anything else. The only goal is to make and keep people interested in working at your company and tell their friends about it.
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