Marketing with Stories Blog
Employee Experience Stories Make It Easy for Marketing to Support Recruiting
I had been working with Courtney Casey at Accent Computer Solutions for about a year when we started publishing team member spotlights in 2019. It began with a question: What can marketing do to support the company's recruiting efforts? My answer was to create content based on employee experience that would attract and engage job candidates. The stories revealed what it's like to work at the company, shifting recruiting from "We're hiring!" to messages that answered candidates' questions, built trust, and created a consistent employer brand.
Employee Interviews Shift Company from 'We're Hiring' to Consistent Employer Brand
We had been working together for a couple of years when I introduced Chris Freeman at XPERTECHS to employee experience interviews as a recruitment marketing tactic. As someone involved in recruiting and hiring, Chris was open to trying a marketing approach to attract and engage potential job candidates. I explained that these interviews uncover employer value and create engagement in a way that job postings alone can't. Chris was all in.
From Reactive to Ready: Why You Need an Always-On Employer Brand
If recruiting still feels like something you scramble to do when someone quits or a new role opens, it’s time to rethink the process. The environment has changed. The job market has evolved. Employers and candidates alike are navigating uncertainty, shifting expectations, and the influence of emerging technologies. Candidate behavior has changed too. But many companies are still stuck in a cycle of reactive hiring that simply doesn’t deliver.
What is Employer Value?
When I talk about recruitment marketing and employer branding with people who are new to these disciplines, the topic of “employer value” comes up quickly in the conversation. My explanation challenges people to think beyond pay and benefits for the reasons why people not only decide to work for them but stay with the company.
What Do Buyer Personas Have to Do with Recruitment Marketing?
I once read that the biggest compliment you can give a teacher is to create something new with what they taught you, and that’s what I did with Adele Revella’s Buyer Persona framework. I learned Revella’s process for talking to buyers to find out about their decision-making process from reading her book and taking her Buyer Persona Masterclass. I synthesized what I learned into the framework that I use to talk to employees and find out what they value.
My StoryBrand Connection to Recruitment Marketing
As I was creating my online course – Better Message. Better Talent Pool. – I had to think hard about the process that I was using to interview employees and turn what they say into compelling recruiting messages. The challenging part was taking what I did intuitively and distilling the process so I could teach other people how to do the same thing.
What I Learned About Employer Value from the Big Business World
When I was at the beginning of my learning path in recruitment marketing, I came across the concept of “employer value.” The idea of communicating with value isn’t any different from what I had been doing for years for my marketing clients and employers. I just never intentionally applied the concept to creating messaging for job candidates.
The Difference Between Recruitment Marketing and Employer Branding
If recruiting for your company has been tough and you’ve started to explore how you can change your approach, you’ve probably come across Recruitment Marketing and Employer Branding. If this is you -- Congratulations! You’re onto something! But when it comes to deciphering exactly what these two disciplines are and how they work together, it can be a bit confusing.
Time for an Employer Reputation Audit
Did you know that you have an employer reputation? It’s called your employer brand and you can either leave it to chance, or you can manage it. It’s much better to manage it if you want to have a say in the narrative that is being shared about your company in its role as an employer.
How Will You Treat Me When There's a Crisis?
There are a whole lot of employer brand stories in the making right now as companies are figuring out how they will respond to the continuing COVID-19 public health crisis. We’re hearing some of these stories already. Some companies are finding ways to enable employees so that they can work from home. Others have had to temporarily shut down. Still others are operating at a reduced level. Many are stepping up to help their communities at the same time that they’re creating their own coping strategy.
What is Employer Branding?
When you hear the word “branding,” your mind might think of logos, colors, and design. While a consistent visual presence certainly plays a part in creating a positive impression to the job candidates that you want to attract, employer branding encompasses a whole lot more than your graphic style. It’s your reputation.