five ways to build a successful employer branding strategy.

Forward-looking organisations are focusing on their branding strategy to attract and retain the right talent

Labour shortage is a reality in today’s business world. With a large number of baby boomers retiring and shortage of skilled graduates in the job market, organisations are grappling to find the right fit. The industry is shifting focus from short-term recruitments to building a long-term employer branding strategy. A strong employer brand is the key to attract talent and positively impact the recruiting process. For instance, candidates would prefer companies like Google or Microsoft not just for procuring a job, but also because they wish to be part of an exciting workplace where they can earn, learn, and grow. Companies can have an edge over their competitors by developing their brand and aligning it with long-term business needs.

According to the Randstad Awards – India Report 2014, the attractiveness of employer brands increased by 4% globally, while in India attractiveness of employer brands improved by 2%. Furthermore, it was noted that the five most important attributes when choosing an employer were competitive salary and employee benefits, long-term job security, financially healthy organisations, good work-life balance, and a pleasant working atmosphere.

So here’s how you can build a successful brand and emerge as the ‘employer of choice’:

1. Walk the talk with your corporate values:
   
   It is critical to live and breathe the corporate values that you preach in your company every day. Companies should have a focused corporate message for current and potential employees as it conveys the organisation’s culture and identity in a compelling manner. Moreover, in order to hire and retain the best talent, companies must evaluate themselves meticulously and should be able to walk their talk.
   
    
2. Include leaders in the branding strategy:
   
   Establish a strong employer brand by starting from the leadership team. It is a good move to include top executives in the branding strategy as they can help shape a powerful employer brand. When the CEO and senior executives of the company become the face of the organisation, it in turn helps develop the company brand and lure candidates with a strong brand presence.
   
    
3. Tap into appropriate channels to provide a taste of company culture:
   
   Gone are the days of boring job descriptions on employment portals. Integrating your employer brand with your social media strategy is critical. Job seekers today view a company's career opportunities, read blog posts and articles, check social media accounts of existing employees and watch brand videos, employee interviews, and workplace photos to feel the culture of an organisation and gauge how it would be to work in that particular company. Tap into the right channels such as Pinterest, Instagram, and other social networking sites to showcase the organisation’s corporate culture. The key is to share the content with an objective to start a conversation, and subsequently convert your audience into potential candidates.
   
    
4. Deliver consistent messaging across departments:
   
   It is vital to maintain consistent corporate brand messaging across departments and control how, when, and where these messages are delivered. The most effective way to project a consistent brand message is to create employee focus groups, gain insights through employee feedback, employee engagement, culture surveys, new hire surveys, and conduct social media reviews. It's also essential to ensure that your company's internal and external image is absolutely aligned at all times.
   
    
5. Use the right metrics to measure success:
   
   Any branding strategy is incomplete without measuring the return on investment. Companies can leverage metrics such as employee loyalty and engagement, quality of hire, brand attractiveness with prospective employee, and talent acquisition to measure the success of their branding strategy. If there is an improvement in the employee engagement after a branding campaign, then you know what worked. According to the Brandemix 2014 Employer Branding Survey, while most respondents said they used the ‘career site traffic’ metric to measure the ROI of their employer branding initiatives, 49% relied on employee engagement and 47% voted for quality of hire.

Employer branding is gaining importance in the present day as it helps position your company in an attractive manner, reinforces your employer value proposition ,helps reach out to potential candidates, and in turn drives growth in your company. Employers across industries are slowly moving away from traditional approaches and focusing on building strong brands with greater visibility and more candidate appeal.