The 5 Pillars of Employer Branding

In my role as a Content Marketing Manager at Glassdoor, I was tasked with creating an asset to help recruiters and marketers alike develop a compelling employer brand. At Glassdoor, we give job seekers an inside look at jobs and companies. We not only help employees find companies they love by publishing reviews and salary information from people "on the inside," but we also help employers join the conversation and highlight the benefits of working at their companies. Coupled with targeted job advertising, this helps influence candidates at the moment they're making important career decisions. So, as I set out to write a book on behalf of Glassdoor, I reviewed all the assets I regularly turn to as a marketer and it dawned on me: "I've never seen an Employer Branding For Dummies book." In fact, it's hard to find any literature that simplifies Employer Branding. If you're anything like me, you've read at least a few For Dummies books for the easy "how to" on a variety of topics. For example, I recently read Lead Generation For Dummies® and purchased Wine For Dummies®. There seems to be a For Dummies book for everything! So this is where the idea was born for Employer Branding For Dummies®. Starting the Process of Writing Employer Branding For Dummies® Of course, as many marketers can certainly relate, once a good idea is born, the question is how quick can you get it done? I rang the masterminds at John Wiley and Sons, Inc., publisher of the For Dummies series, and came up with a 12-week timeline and went over the entire process. Of all the vendors I've worked with, Wiley has been the best, a true partner to help every step of the way. We immediately began to lay out the 5 Pillars of an Employer Brand and tackle each chapter as its own "book" or entity, which is how For Dummies books are structured. This allows readers to skim, jump around and consume whatever topic or idea that appeals to them. So let's dive into each pillar. Pillar #1: Data Analysis I started with Data Analysis. Marketers know that unless you can measure it, there might not be a strong case to do it. You need to set goals at the beginning of any branding strategy, i.e., put a stake in the ground, and say, "These are the areas I'm going to be measuring and monitoring to see there is improvement over time." After all, this is the only way to ensure your strategy is working! At Glassdoor, we offer plenty of employer brand analytics free of charge to any company. You can access word clouds to see common sentiments from employees within your organization, monitor scores and ratings in key areas through comprehensive heat maps, analyze the competition and see candidate demographics they might be attracting. We knew the first pillar of the book had to be about the data and setting the right benchmarks before you begin the branding process. Pillar #2: Transparency Powerful branding is all about messaging to your audience in an authentic way. In fact, I think this is why reality TV is so popular. People don't want acting, staged models or false advertising. They want the real story and the real information. Same goes for employer branding! People (job seekers) want to know what's it's like inside the organization before they apply. Pillar #3: Employee Engagement Leaving employees (or your target audience) out of the conversation as you develop your brand strategy is a big mistake. In the case of employer branding, your employees are your brand. Even if you are a big company, going around to each department and asking employees what the top five reasons are that they come to work for you every day will help you develop that message. Not only that, with solid employee engagement, you remind employees what it is that they love about the company, improve employee retention and, in turn, have brand ambassadors or company champions at your own disposal! Pillar #4: Visual Identity With all the noise that we are inundated with daily, photos often speak louder than words. We knew that this had to be a pillar of any good employer brand. Candidates want to see the teams that they'll be joining and get an inside preview of the work culture and team environment. Pillar #5: Mobile Presence Last, but not least, as with any branding strategy, you need to be where your audience is and job seekers looking for you. That brings us to going mobile with your employer brand. There is currently a big disconnect between how many candidates plan to look for a job via mobile and how many career sites support a mobile apply solution. According to a recent Glassdoor survey¹, nine in 10 (89%) job seekers report they're likely to use a mobile device during their job search in the next 12 months, up seven percentage points (82%) from less than a year ago.² Wrapping Up the For Dummies Book Most For Dummies books end with a "Part of Tens" chapter, which gives you the top 10 ways to get started, or the 10 things you didn't know about the topic, or the top 10 must haves. For ours, we filled it with stats, checklists, diagrams and case studies to simplify the process for anyone in charge of a company's employer brand. All in all, the creative process was straightforward and smooth. Only 30 days after publication, Employer Branding For Dummies has been a huge success. Download your own copy here! ¹Survey data is based on a Glassdoor survey conducted online from April 22-30, 2014 among 1,000 employees and job seekers.  ² Survey data is based on a Glassdoor survey conducted online from August 14-22, 2013 among more than 1,100 employees and job seekers.