There are many driving forces that push a modern company forward, and one of them is definitely its employee collective. Another is the company’s brand identity, which can only achieve its full potential if you have loyal and satisfied employees on your team and if you have a strong employer brand to shape the perception of your company in the competitive job market.
Whether you are trying to attract the best employees from around the country or if you’re trying to boost internal and external engagement, or if you’re trying to build a powerful brand presence for your customers, there is no denying that focusing on your employer brand can help you achieve many key objectives. Today, we’ll be talking about the employer brand, and how you can improve yours to take your company forward, and snag the most talented employees on the market for yourself.
Start by improving your brand identity
First things first, you can’t hope to build a powerful employer brand if you don’t have a powerful core brand. Your first order of business should be to conduct a thorough brand audit and uncover the areas where your branding might be lacking, where your company’s image might be falling behind the competition, and whether or not your brand’s identity is up to par with the latest industry standards. Because remember, potential employees will judge you based on first impressions, you have to make sure your first impression is impeccable.
Start by conducting some customer and market research and analyse the latest branding trends. Compare your findings with your brand report and your original brand style guide. Next, redefine your brand values so that they resonate better with your target demographic, after which you can update your visual identity and tone of voice. Make sure to create a brand personality that is approachable yet professional, friendly yet authoritative. When you have done all of that, you will have already created a solid employer brand.
Emphasize your digital presence
Even though having an amazing core brand is half the work, that doesn’t mean that you’re ready to roll it out into the competitive job market. Remember, with so many opportunities to choose from, the modern job-seeker has become quite picky and they will have no problem skipping your job postings or social media pages if you don’t stand out in the digital realm. Now, there are many ways to stand out, but SEO is definitely your best bet.
Investing in SEO is one of the best ways to improve brand visibility and recognition, as well as elevate brand trust and authority in the saturated market. This is especially important for companies that are looking to create a more trustworthy employer brand that focuses on digital presence management and the online audience. Make sure that you tick all of the SEO boxes, and you will have no problem appearing at the top of the SERPs while building social proof and attracting top employees.
Focus on improving payroll processes
Many online experts and gurus will want you to believe that modern employees don’t care as much about money and salaries as much as they care about your company’s culture, values, and sustainability efforts. While it is true that they care more about those things than their predecessors, at the end of the day they are all applying for a job to make money. Don’t fool yourself, the best employees choose the companies with the best payroll processes, salaries, and perks.
This means that you need to improve your payroll across the board, and offer innovative perks like personalized employee income cards that cut needless expenses and fees, automate the entire payroll process, and give employees quick access to their money. Complement the right payroll tools with good long-term advancement plans like regular raises and benefits, and you will quickly build one of the most popular employer brands on the market.
Embrace modern recruiting and onboarding processes
Modern employees demand modern features, so you can’t expect to attract the best of the best with traditional recruiting and onboarding processes. If you’re still using the same outreach strategies and if you haven’t optimized onboarding for new team members, you can bet that people will notice, and they will start avoiding your company simply because becoming a part of your brand is too much of a hassle.
Your goal should be to reduce their effort as much as possible, so make sure to integrate smart recruitment software and automate the entire onboarding process to make their first month on the job as enjoyable and rewarding as possible, especially after COVID-19. The news of your forward-thinking approach will spread across the job market like wildfire.
Develop a thriving company culture
On a final note, always remember that your company culture will have a significant impact on your brand’s reputation and image in the job market. People want to work for companies that have a thriving workplace culture built on the foundation of honesty, transparency, equality, co-dependence, trust, and accountability. These are the pillars that keep the modern workplace running and the employees happy, all of which you can use to show the world that you are an amazing company to work with.
Wrapping up
Building an employer brand is paramount for long-term success nowadays, simply because modern job-seekers have plenty of options to choose from. Your brand is the only thing that makes you stand out from the crowd, so be sure to use these tips to elevate your standing in the industry and attract the best of the best to your doorstep.