Employee branding and employer branding are interesting marketing terms – at first glance, it's not immediately clear how they're different from one another, or if they're even relevant.
They're actually two sides of the same coin, but they play different roles in shaping your company’s image. They're both about the people who work for you, and how they view your company.
Employee branding is all about the way a company's staff talk about and represent the company to the outside world. For example, if they're feeling good about the brand they might share company updates through social media and gush about how proud they are to work for such an exciting company.
On the flip side, if your employee branding is a bit off and staff aren't happy, they're less likely to say good things about the brand in public. At the extreme end of the scale, you might even find bad reviews on websites like Glassdoor, or see negative posts about the company on social media.
Employer branding is a bit different. That's how you market your company to people who don't work for you, but could be potential job candidates. In this case, you want to make it clear that people really enjoy working for your company – they have a sense of job satisfaction, team solidarity, and maybe get a few benefits that sweeten their working day.
Employer branding and employee branding work together to create a strong, attractive image for your business. It's all about reputation.
A good employer brand helps you attract the best job candidates. A solid employee brand turns your new hires into ambassadors who tell others how great it is to work for you.
When you get both right, you create a cycle of positivity. Happy employees talk up your company, which attracts more great candidates.
In this guide, we'll look at employer and employee branding in more detail. We'll go into more detail about how these strategies intersect, and how you can strengthen them.
We'll also look at some common mistakes that companies make in these areas, and how to measure your efforts so you know if you need to improve.
In this article:
What Is Employer Branding?
What Is Employee Branding?
Key Differences Between Employee Branding and Employer Branding
Strategies to Strengthen Both Employer and Employee Branding
The Impact of Negative Employee Branding on Employer Branding
How to Measure the Success of Your Employer and Employee Branding Efforts
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Building Employer and Employee Branding
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Employer Branding?
Employer branding is all about selling your company as a great place to work.
It's the way potential and current employees see your organization and is basically your company's reputation in the job market.
Having said that, it goes beyond just hiring. It affects how current employees feel about their jobs too.
A great employer brand can help you attract job seekers, but it can also persuade your best employees to stick around.
What Is Employee Branding?
Employee branding is all about employees becoming champions for your company.
A robust employee branding strategy should encourage staff to show the world what they love about the company and brand.
If someone really loves their job, their actions can be like a walking billboard for their employer.
They might share updates from the company on social media, mention their workplace in conversations outside work, or simply bring positive vibes to day-to-day office life. When you’re excited about where you work, that enthusiasm is contagious.
Remember, employee branding isn’t just for those on the marketing team. Every team member can shape how others see your company.
Key Differences Between Employee Branding and Employer Branding
Employee branding and employer branding are two sides of the same coin, but they do differ in some important ways. Here are three differences to be aware of:
1. Focus and Control
While employer branding is driven by the employer, it's staff who shape your employee branding.
If you have a good employer branding strategy in place, your HR and marketing teams can do a lot to improve employer branding.
Employee branding is a bit more organic as it happens naturally through staff. However, you can still build a strong employee brand by having an employee branding strategy in place, so we'll come back to that later.
2. Audience and Reach
Employer branding is aimed mostly at the talent pool who don't work for your company yet, but you'd love to get them on board.
The effects of employee branding will be felt by your current team, as well as those on the outside.
You build employer branding through official channels, but employee branding is more of a word-of-mouth kind of thing.
3. The Message
Employer branding is all about spotlighting the benefits of working for a company. Things like subsidized gym passes or free lunches. It's also a chance to highlight the company's culture.
Employee branding tends to go further, showing what it's really like to work for a company. It's all about pride and showing off achievements.
The result is that employer branding can feel polished and glitzy, while employee branding tends to feel a bit more authentic. You need both to tell the whole story.
Strategies to Strengthen Employer and Employee Branding Together
Smart businesses understand that working hard on their employer and employee brand identity really does pay off, especially when it's done in tandem.
You can set an example by treating your employees right, and advertise your company to job seekers as a great place to work.
The key thing to remember here is that a strong brand starts from within. When your employees feel like you really care about them, they naturally become your best brand ambassadors.
Create a Great Work Environment
The key to making staff feel good about working for your company is to make them feel like they're valued. Paychecks help, but even the best-paid workers will get demotivated if you don't give them a positive employee experience.
Encourage your team to share their experiences and pay attention if you spot any issues.
Let them post about their work life on social media or write for the company blog. Authentic content like this can attract new talent and show off your culture.
Align Your Internal and External Messaging
Everyone likes to chat, whether it be catching up with friends after work in a bar, or championing their business success on LinkedIn. If you can align your internal and external messaging, then your employees are more likely to reflect that, and stay on brand.
Creating clear internal communications is therefore a great start. Make sure everyone understands your mission and values, so they can echo it when they speak to others.
Use team meetings, emails, and channels like Slack to keep everyone in the loop. If your staff understand and believe in your company's goals, they're more likely to stay on message when mentioning your brand elsewhere.
Invest in People's Growth
Training programs and career development opportunities will appeal to both existing employees and prospective employees. After all, employee experience is the top factor that drives advocacy for your business.
This can also help you retain talent and develop an even more positive employee brand.
After all, if you give your employees a chance to learn and advance, they'll be stronger brand advocates.
Create a Robust Recruitment Strategy
The careers page on your website should showcase why your company is a great place to work.
Use employee testimonials and highlight perks like local discounts, competition prizes, even team bonding sessions and vacations.
Your recruiting teams should also understand your employer branding strategy, since they're often the first point of contact for potential hires.
Recognize and Reward Brand Champions
If you notice that a team member is going above and beyond in promoting your company, perhaps sharing lots of positive social media posts or referring great candidates, make sure you say thank you. You could even highlight it during an annual review.
To encourage employee engagement, you could even reward activity on social media or set up a specific employee referrals program to bring in new employees.
The Impact of Negative Employee Branding on Employer Branding
Negative employee branding can seriously hurt your company's reputation. When your staff shares bad experiences, it damages how potential employees see you.
If employees are unhappy at your company, it also leads to high turnover. When people leave, it costs you time and money to replace them.
It can also affect the hiring process. If your company has bad reviews online, you might struggle to fill positions faster.
Having said all of that, there are ways that you can turn things around.
How to Save a Struggling Employer Brand
Improving your workplace culture starts with looking after your current employees. Listen to employee feedback and act on it.
Make sure your team feels heard and valued, and address issues quickly before they grow into bigger problems.
You could also use brand reputation analysis to spot issues early and respond before things blow up.
How to Measure the Success of Your Employer and Employee Branding Efforts
Tracking the right metrics is key to understanding how well your branding efforts are working.
Focus on Retention Rates
Keep an eye on employee retention rates. A high turnover can signal issues in these particular branding areas.
On the flip side, if things are going well you might see employee turnover slowing down.
Look at Staff Engagement Levels on Social Media
You'll need to look on social media platforms for this one.
Are your employees sharing company content? If they are, that often means they're proud to be associated with your brand.
You could even count how many team members actively promote your company online or at events. That will give you a sense of your employee advocacy rate.
But remember not to get caught 'snooping' on your employees. Some won't like feeling that their employer is looking over their social activity.
Check Review Sites
Don't forget about review sites like Glassdoor. You want to see good reviews on there. Positive employee reviews are great for boosting brand equity and attracting top talent.
Conduct Internal Surveys
Regular surveys can help you spot trends and address issues quickly. If you ask the right questions, you can even use the results to figure out internal satisfaction scores.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Building Employer and Employee Branding
Building a strong employer brand and employee brand isn't always easy. There are some common pitfalls which you might come across along the way.
First of all, your brand messages should align across all platforms. Inconsistent messaging can confuse your employer brand and make staff feel less comfortable about sharing updates.
Don't ignore employee feedback either. If your staff feel heard, they're more likely to become brand ambassadors.
It's also important not to fall into the trap of making grand promises about perks or company culture. The truth will come out in the end, and it could do some damage.
To avoid these mistakes, PR and marketing teams need to work together closely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Employee and employer branding are key for attracting great team members and building a positive workplace culture. Let's explore some common questions about these important concepts.
How can companies effectively communicate their employee value proposition?
Great question! You can share your employee value proposition through job postings, career pages, and social media.
Highlight the best perks, training opportunities, and company culture. Use employee testimonials and behind-the-scenes videos to give a real peek into your workplace.
What are the key differences between an employer's brand and their employees' personal brands?
Your company's brand focuses on the overall workplace experience.
Employee personal brands showcase individual skills and achievements, and that will include stuff outside of work.
How does employer branding influence talent acquisition and retention?
A strong employer brand can make your job openings far more attractive. You don't need to convince people to work for you, because they'll want to work for you.
This usually results in more high-quality applicants and faster hiring times. Current employees may also stick around for longer if they feel proud to work for your company.
What methodologies can organizations use to measure the impact of employer branding initiatives?
You can track metrics like application rates, time-to-hire, and employee satisfaction scores.
Social media engagement and employer review site ratings are also useful. Regular surveys can help you gauge how well your branding efforts are working.
How does strong employer branding contribute to overall business performance?
Let us count the ways. Good employer branding can lead to cost savings in recruiting and training – because you probably won't be doing it so often.
Happy employees also tend to be more productive and provide better customer service.
This can result in improved sales, customer loyalty, and overall company growth.
