Employer Branding - 6 steps to the perfect employer brand: what really matters in practice

Carefully plan the branding

Just as in branding, branding is only one element of much more marketing activities, namely to maintain a brand, to develop it with a profile and communicate optimally, this is similar in the case of employer branding.

The Crux also in Employer Branding is: A brand build-up is planned carefully.

The six steps to the perfect employer brand

Employer brands should be designed, developed and developed holistically and systematically. This is usually done in the following four steps and phases:

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1. Firstly, an objective is formulated as to the importance of employer branding for whom and what is the use of it and which are the core statements, followed by an inventory.
2. HR managers define a profile of the company, which makes its strengths, peculiarities and uniqueness as an employer and makes the brand appear interesting.
3. From this, a so-called employer value proposition is formulated. She says who's why in this Company wants to work and what makes it appealing to different target groups, in the first place job applicants.
4. In the next step, the existing image and the lived reality will be analyzed internally and externally. The inclusion of employees is particularly important. Externally, feedback is provided by candidates, employer portals and social media.
5. This is followed by a communication and action plan that puts the profile into words, with the strengths and concrete messages, the media and communication media and target groups addressed.
6. Then a budget is created, which determines individual steps and responsibilities and the success control of the individual steps.

Employer brands do not come with glossy brochures

It is always important that the statements and messages are authentic and covered by the reality, otherwise a branding build-up quickly becomes a farce and even counterproductive. And like every successful brand, the employer brand must simultaneously reach the heart and brain of its target groups and convince them.

Even employer brands are not created with high-gloss brochures and grandiose websites, but with lived values, credible communication and the daily realities felt and perceived by employees and the outside world. Outsourcing talks are, incidentally, well suited to uncover weaknesses in your employer branding.

What does an employer branding say?

Professionally developed employer branding not only improves the employer image, but also the de facto employer quality, so that the overall competitiveness of a company as an employer is sustainably increased.

For this reason it has positive effects not only in the area of ​​personnel recruitment, but also affects the success of many business areas. Well-thought-out and comprehensively developed and communicated employer branding activities respect and answer many key questions from applicants, prospective employees and employees from the perspective of the target groups:

• Does this employer have a good and positive image?
• Do I fit into the company with my qualifications and personality?
• Can I integrate myself as a human being?
• How branding-fair is communicated internally and externally?
• How credible is reality within and outside the company?
• Is a positive and respectful human image cultivated?
• How does the brand look like in the Candidate Experience?

Only branding is successful branding

Employer branding can only be successful with truthfulness and honesty, since the brand of a company always represents a value proposition which, if not adhered to, is not only regarded as broken but also as counterproductive.

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A concrete example: If you present yourself on the career website in a video model with superlatives from the EB brochure, this will not be credible. But if this makes a group of apprentices, perhaps with slip of the tongue and a pinch of criticism, such portraits look authentic and believable.

Information from exit talks is, by the way, particularly interesting, as they are honest with the outgoing staff and report on experiences from experienced practice.

Internal and external employees are important

It is also important to note that internal, existing employees must be included as well as external applicants and the labor market as a whole. In the case of employee target groups, a differentiation according to age, gender, length of service, leadership level, which represent the operating structure, is often useful.

Existing employees are a kind of “brand ambassador”, who on the one hand carry the brand to the outside, tell colleagues and family about the company, but on the other hand, with employer branding with positive charisma, they also feel more closely tied to the company and with the branding identify mediated values.

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