Employer branding is your talent DNA. It’s your personality, appearance, reputation, values and purpose as an employer all woven together in a way that makes your business uniquely appealing to the best talent. A great employer brand gives a cohesive candidate experience across messaging, content and social media activity, while also offering valuable content that grows audiences and increases your visibility as a desirable employer.
The way Genius go about developing an employer brand is as unique as the amazing brands we develop.
Your EVP is like a USP for employers. It’s what makes you unique—the things you can offer candidates that others can’t. If you want to stand out in a crowded employment market, developing a compelling EVP is essential. Sometimes, however, the things that are most unique about you as an employer aren’t immediately obvious. So, how can you uncover the good stuff that will really set your employer apart?
Both internal and external audiences can provide important information that can help shape your employer brand. At Genius, we commission research with external audiences to understand their perception of who you are as an employer. We also act as a third-party focus group leader to draw authentic responses from internal audiences. The key is knowing the right questions to ask—but 30 years’ employer branding experience comes in handy there.
The reasons people don’t want to work for you can tell you as much about your employer brand as why they do. And it’s no good focusing on the good if there are serious things wrong. Look at pay, teamwork, reputation or operational issues and compare what you offer to competitors. Employer branding should be a process of discovery—of finding out what’s great about you as employer and making it even better, but also correcting things that could hold you back.
Your consumer brand exists to encourage customers to buy your product. Your employer brand is for attracting people to work for you. They tend to be aimed at different audiences, but there is overlap. Most people will know your consumer brand before your employer brand—and these perceptions can carry though. Sometimes it’s necessary to start from scratch as audiences have no knowledge, interest or idea of what it means to work for you. There are also brands—like Virgin Atlantic, for example—where the employer brand is the marketing brand. This approach makes the correlation between product and people for stronger, synergised employer and consumer branding.
At the beginning. Genius will take you through the employer branding process. We will begin the process by identifying where your brand sits currently, then we establish the future direction of travel. Detailed reporting makes this an eye-opening process and will provide you with deep data insights into your brand persona, perceptive values and what’s needed to improve both.
A process that is professionally managed, comprehensive, engaging and truly enlightening. The more honest you can be, the better you’ll uncover the unique truth of your brand. Once we have engaged with all stakeholders, we create a purpose report. This will outline in detail the selling points, pain points and nice-to-haves for your employer brand. We will use our experience to advise how the results of the process can be translated into messaging and engagement opportunities.
Whenever we create an employer brand or create an employer branding document and summary, we factor in ‘latitude’. Remember the Guinness adverts? They all look similar, yet individually remarkable, because they share the same branding DNA. The Guinness brand has latitude. Get it right and it will enable you to develop exciting, award-winning and highly effective work that will boost engagement. Latitude is what we specialise in.
Employer branding hinges on creative execution. That’s why you need a creative agency—one that can bring the brand to life, engage with the audience and win hearts and minds. Genius has always been led by creative principles and these are paramount in everything we do. We don’t hide behind theory or jargon—we demonstrate our ability with outstanding work and results.
Genius Group Limited
The Watermill
Broughton Hall
Skipton
BD23 3AG
01756 701222
hello@thegeniusgroup.co.uk
