Employees are probably the most important factor when building a company brand. Why? I’ll explain. They influence the way customers perceive your brand and their desire to invest in it and be satisfied by it. They are at the front line of customer interaction with your brand and directly influence its performance. They must understand the brand and be motivated by it.
Fulfillment
A company’s inability to identify and fulfil customer expectations can destroy the potential of its brand. Every interaction between customer and employee determines the future relationship between that customer and your company. Failure to deliver the promise that your brand makes to the world can undermine customer loyalty and point them in the direction of your competitors. Put simply, it’s all about the ‘feel good factor’. Their ability to relate to the brand – what it has to offer and how value is delivered.
Many companies find it hard to realise that all the customer is interested in is getting a result. This requires constant focus on the customer experience through the entire sales process. This is often referred to as ‘end-to-end customer management’.
This focus on customer needs demands fast and efficient service, convenience, access to sales-related information, cross-fertilisation of purchasing opportunities and having solutions to all their problems.
Delivery of your ‘brand promise’ requires its manifestation at every point of customer contact from stationery, advertising, packaging, physical environments and your website, to such things as how your phones are answered and the clothes your salesforce wear.
Employees are critical in creating and reinforcing a successful customer experience and thereby building respect and loyalty to your brand. The outcome is positive ‘word of mouth’ communication about your brand.
How do your employees stack up?
Ask these questions... Are your employees motivated to embrace the ‘brand promise’? Do they have an understanding of how to enhance the customer experience? Are they committed achievers who can articulate the brand with passion and conviction?
How often are employees challenged internally to express their understanding of the brand?
Apart from their understanding of the sales process and transactions, have you asked them recently to describe what your brand is all about to ascertain whether they are ready to interface with your customers? What incentives do you have in place to excite them and motivate them? Do they understand the consequences of not living the brand?
Here are 10 tips on 'planting the brand' in the minds of your customers
1. Training
Empower employees with a deep understanding of the brand and also product and service knowledge and ensure they can deliver it. Make them understand the key role they play in building a positive perception of the brand in the minds of customers.
2. Systems
Have systems in place whereby employees can process customer requests in a timely and efficient manner.
3. Empowerment
Encourage employees to exercise their own judgment when interacting with customers.
4. Information
Most interactions with customers are very short, requiring customer and/or product information to be at employees’ fingertips.
5. Dealing with complaints
Where a genuine mistake occurs, have a system in place whereby the employee can quickly repair any damage to the customer’s perception of the product/service and ensure the mistake does not repeat itself.
6. Rewarding sales and service
Set performance goals not only for sales but also for solving problems and delighting a customer. Applaud great service and 'going the extra mile'.
7. Communications
Maintain regular communications between customer and company, and also within the company to keep everyone focused and ‘on the boil’. Internal marketing of the brand is as important as that which is directed to customers. It must be equally persuasive.
8. Responding to change
Employees can react adversely to change - ensure they are informed of what change is happening, why it has happened, what role they play, and what are its benefits.
9. First impressions
New employees must not only be instructed in workplace procedures but be inspired and motivated by the company brand, its values, culture, achievements and the dedication behind it that is securing its success.
10. Service first and last
Ensure your employees understand that service is a major success factor for every consumer-facing brand.
What value employees?
When it comes to employees, companies tend to view them:
- as expenses to be minimised
- as assets that can build brand value
For many companies it requires a fundamental shift in attitude to achieve the latter. These ‘brand ambassadors’ are a high value consideration in brand building. Those companies which fail to recognise this value run the risk of weakening the brand offer, alienating customers and missing out on an opportunity to grow their business.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Create an Effective Employment Brand
The importance of an effective employment brand cannot be underestimated. It helps attract, motivate and retain the lifeblood of a company – its employees. In a highly competitive recruitment market where standout talent is increasingly rare, it makes sense for a company to invest in a strong employment brand to get the best results from their recruitment efforts.
Although the concept of employment branding has been around for decades, many organisations have yet to realise the importance of having a strong employment brand. This can be a costly mistake, especially with the continuing strong demand for talent across many industries and professions.
The importance of employment branding stems as much from the continuing shortage of talent as it does from the realisation that value is created not so much by organisations themselves, but by the talented people within them. When it comes to recruiting, every organisation has the same goal – to hire the best talent available. To retain your top talent and attract others just like them, you must figure out exactly what your company stands for and what makes it an attractive employment proposition. You must then convince them why they should work there and not somewhere else.
This is where employment branding comes in.
The pending retirement of many baby-boomers, the shrinking pool of skilled workers aged 35 to 44 and an increased emphasis on knowledge workers, are forcing companies to the front line for new talent and are driving up the need for employment branding programmes. Companies that are not prepared to confront these challenges and fail to understand the need for increased investment in talent attraction and management will almost certainly see their business performance progressively suffer.
What is an Employment Brand?
The employment brand provides an expression of the attributes that characterise the employee experience. In essence it provides a window into what it is like to work both in and for an organisation.
Employment brands are increasingly recognised as the most important factor by which top talent select an employer. A strong employment brand can attract even the most passive prospects to an organisation and predispose them to consider employment opportunities, even when they wouldn’t consider openings anywhere else.
The ultimate goal is to build a strong employment brand that will succeed in attracting and retaining key talent. However, in order to be successful, companies need to realise employment branding is a process, not a project, and that only an ongoing commitment to it will deliver results.
The Benefits of a strong Employment Brand
An effective employment brand should urge people to find out more about the organisation. It must encourage them to visit your website, to ask others about the organisation and to apply for your job.
Employment branding isn’t just about getting more people to apply for your job vacancy – it is about attracting those who are aligned with your company and believe in it – its vision, values, commitment to its employees and customers and more, to ensure employees are a ‘good fit’ with your organisation.
An employment brand aims to attract and nurture employees who will ultimately delight the customer by living the brand and exuding commitment and confidence.
An employment brand should convey the image of the ‘ideal job at their dream company’
Besides appealing to external job candidates, a strong employment brand builds and reinforces the public’s image of the organisation’s vision, culture, work practices, management style and growth opportunities. It should build the perception that people are motivated, proud and happy to work there and are willing to ‘go the extra mile’ for the company.
Start internally
Any disconnect between what the employment brand claims and what it actually is can backfire on the company, resulting in an employment brand that is quickly labelled as ‘all front and no substance’ that will not stand up to the scrutiny of talented individuals. It will lead to disengagement and turnover of employees who feel the company hasn’t kept its employment promise.
Actions speak louder than words.
A strong employer brand can drive the right applicants to your company, and keep them there, as long as you ‘live your brand from the inside out’. In other words, you must make good on the promise that was made at the point of engagement.
Start your employment branding efforts by first looking internally and engaging in dialogue with present employees. By collecting and analysing employment experience information from employees, companies are able to identify employment attributes that are legitimate and resonate powerfully with existing employees. Employment branding messages are then crafted that are aligned with the mission, vision, values and culture of the organisation.
Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
An EVP comprises everything employees experience while being a part of an organisation. If your EVP inspires a positive experience there is a good chance your employees will choose to remain with your organisation rather than being lured away by competitors. It encourages your people to embrace shared goals – success, productivity, and satisfaction – on personal and professional levels.
As all employees are different, the task for the employer value proposition is to appeal to as many employee segments as possible, specifically to those candidates who will be a good fit with your organisation.
You need a unique employer value proposition to underpin your employment brand. Once organisations have a strong grasp of employment attributes that are realistic and achievable, they can begin to align them with the messages senior management wants to convey, as well as those the target audience wants to hear.
Communications plan
Once organisations have agreed on compelling employment messages, the next step is to select the appropriate communication channels for their target groups. An ideal approach is to use a variety of channels. The most popular communication channels include print advertisements, career expos, radio commercials, on-campus presentations and the company website. The key is to find the channel that resonates most with your target audience.
Evaluate your efforts
As organisations roll out their employment brand initiatives, careful thought should be given to how success will be evaluated and what metrics will be captured to measure success ie
> whether the number of job applicants has increased
> whether applicants are of higher quality than before the branding initiative
> the length of time it takes to fill key positions pre- and post-branding.
Organisations should also consider evaluating the ‘candidate experience’, as this can have an impact on a company’s brand. Conduct surveys of new employees who have applied through various recruitment channels and evaluate what their experiences have been. Did they have to speak with a dozen people to get to the right person? Was their interviewer well-prepared? How were they treated? Did anyone ever get back to them regarding the hiring decision?
Those candidates who have had a bad experience with a company will undoubtedly tell other people, thus undermining the company’s credibility. Remember, it is not just what you say about your employment brand – it is also about what others say about it.
Organisations must also remember to track internal metrics. This is because a strong employment brand also influences employee engagement and retention. If an organisation is ‘living’ the employment brand, employee turnover should reduce, as the organisation is delivering on the promise made to recent hires and present employees.
A long-term solution
The importance of employment branding cannot be overstated. In order to stand apart from every other career destination available to talented individuals, organisations need to understand, invest in and live by their employment brand. It is one of the few long-term solutions to the talent crunch.
The simple fact is that recruiters cannot achieve the best results if their client has not invested in building a strong employment brand, particularly if the company’s website and literature are poorly presented and not attuned to the needs of job seekers.
Whereas most employment strategies are short term and ‘reactive’ to job openings, building an employment brand is a longer-term solution designed to differentiate your offer and stimulate a steady flow in the talent pipeline
Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singpore.
tony@heywood.com.au
www.heywood.com.au
www.brandsynergy.com.sg
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Although the concept of employment branding has been around for decades, many organisations have yet to realise the importance of having a strong employment brand. This can be a costly mistake, especially with the continuing strong demand for talent across many industries and professions.
The importance of employment branding stems as much from the continuing shortage of talent as it does from the realisation that value is created not so much by organisations themselves, but by the talented people within them. When it comes to recruiting, every organisation has the same goal – to hire the best talent available. To retain your top talent and attract others just like them, you must figure out exactly what your company stands for and what makes it an attractive employment proposition. You must then convince them why they should work there and not somewhere else.
This is where employment branding comes in.
The pending retirement of many baby-boomers, the shrinking pool of skilled workers aged 35 to 44 and an increased emphasis on knowledge workers, are forcing companies to the front line for new talent and are driving up the need for employment branding programmes. Companies that are not prepared to confront these challenges and fail to understand the need for increased investment in talent attraction and management will almost certainly see their business performance progressively suffer.
What is an Employment Brand?
The employment brand provides an expression of the attributes that characterise the employee experience. In essence it provides a window into what it is like to work both in and for an organisation.
Employment brands are increasingly recognised as the most important factor by which top talent select an employer. A strong employment brand can attract even the most passive prospects to an organisation and predispose them to consider employment opportunities, even when they wouldn’t consider openings anywhere else.
The ultimate goal is to build a strong employment brand that will succeed in attracting and retaining key talent. However, in order to be successful, companies need to realise employment branding is a process, not a project, and that only an ongoing commitment to it will deliver results.
The Benefits of a strong Employment Brand
An effective employment brand should urge people to find out more about the organisation. It must encourage them to visit your website, to ask others about the organisation and to apply for your job.
Employment branding isn’t just about getting more people to apply for your job vacancy – it is about attracting those who are aligned with your company and believe in it – its vision, values, commitment to its employees and customers and more, to ensure employees are a ‘good fit’ with your organisation.
An employment brand aims to attract and nurture employees who will ultimately delight the customer by living the brand and exuding commitment and confidence.
An employment brand should convey the image of the ‘ideal job at their dream company’
Besides appealing to external job candidates, a strong employment brand builds and reinforces the public’s image of the organisation’s vision, culture, work practices, management style and growth opportunities. It should build the perception that people are motivated, proud and happy to work there and are willing to ‘go the extra mile’ for the company.
Start internally
Any disconnect between what the employment brand claims and what it actually is can backfire on the company, resulting in an employment brand that is quickly labelled as ‘all front and no substance’ that will not stand up to the scrutiny of talented individuals. It will lead to disengagement and turnover of employees who feel the company hasn’t kept its employment promise.
Actions speak louder than words.
A strong employer brand can drive the right applicants to your company, and keep them there, as long as you ‘live your brand from the inside out’. In other words, you must make good on the promise that was made at the point of engagement.
Start your employment branding efforts by first looking internally and engaging in dialogue with present employees. By collecting and analysing employment experience information from employees, companies are able to identify employment attributes that are legitimate and resonate powerfully with existing employees. Employment branding messages are then crafted that are aligned with the mission, vision, values and culture of the organisation.
Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
An EVP comprises everything employees experience while being a part of an organisation. If your EVP inspires a positive experience there is a good chance your employees will choose to remain with your organisation rather than being lured away by competitors. It encourages your people to embrace shared goals – success, productivity, and satisfaction – on personal and professional levels.
As all employees are different, the task for the employer value proposition is to appeal to as many employee segments as possible, specifically to those candidates who will be a good fit with your organisation.
You need a unique employer value proposition to underpin your employment brand. Once organisations have a strong grasp of employment attributes that are realistic and achievable, they can begin to align them with the messages senior management wants to convey, as well as those the target audience wants to hear.
Communications plan
Once organisations have agreed on compelling employment messages, the next step is to select the appropriate communication channels for their target groups. An ideal approach is to use a variety of channels. The most popular communication channels include print advertisements, career expos, radio commercials, on-campus presentations and the company website. The key is to find the channel that resonates most with your target audience.
Evaluate your efforts
As organisations roll out their employment brand initiatives, careful thought should be given to how success will be evaluated and what metrics will be captured to measure success ie
> whether the number of job applicants has increased
> whether applicants are of higher quality than before the branding initiative
> the length of time it takes to fill key positions pre- and post-branding.
Organisations should also consider evaluating the ‘candidate experience’, as this can have an impact on a company’s brand. Conduct surveys of new employees who have applied through various recruitment channels and evaluate what their experiences have been. Did they have to speak with a dozen people to get to the right person? Was their interviewer well-prepared? How were they treated? Did anyone ever get back to them regarding the hiring decision?
Those candidates who have had a bad experience with a company will undoubtedly tell other people, thus undermining the company’s credibility. Remember, it is not just what you say about your employment brand – it is also about what others say about it.
Organisations must also remember to track internal metrics. This is because a strong employment brand also influences employee engagement and retention. If an organisation is ‘living’ the employment brand, employee turnover should reduce, as the organisation is delivering on the promise made to recent hires and present employees.
A long-term solution
The importance of employment branding cannot be overstated. In order to stand apart from every other career destination available to talented individuals, organisations need to understand, invest in and live by their employment brand. It is one of the few long-term solutions to the talent crunch.
The simple fact is that recruiters cannot achieve the best results if their client has not invested in building a strong employment brand, particularly if the company’s website and literature are poorly presented and not attuned to the needs of job seekers.
Whereas most employment strategies are short term and ‘reactive’ to job openings, building an employment brand is a longer-term solution designed to differentiate your offer and stimulate a steady flow in the talent pipeline
Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singpore.
tony@heywood.com.au
www.heywood.com.au
www.brandsynergy.com.sg
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Sunday, February 3, 2008
How to Recruit an Effective Employment Branding Consultant
It seems like every recruitment agency in Australia is also expert at employment branding. Which is a good thing for employers .... or is it? A Google search reveals recruitment agencies of all sizes touting their expertise in the employment branding arena. If you are an employer and want information on the subject, this is where you will find it. At your fingertips is a definitive explanation of all aspects of employment branding. It’s great stuff. The larger recruitment agencies in particular have taken it upon themselves to educate the market and vie for a leadership position. It’s what clients want from these agencies. In many cases it is what they now demand. No longer are they content with simply having someone help fill vacancies, they want reassurance that advice for their clients is also forthcoming on being a better employer and ensuring new staff stay put. It makes a lot of sense. The need for employment branding has accelerated at such a pace that if you do not offer it as one of your core recruitment services, you are severely disadvantaged from both a revenue and credibility perspective.
The depth of information offered on some of the agency sites is remarkable. But what are they offering? Satisfaction surveys, workshops, developing Employee Value Propositions, communicating more frequently ... It appears that here are companies that know how to make your staff happy, retain them, and get you closer to that ‘employer of choice’ nomination. Or can they?
Recruiting is one of the most competitive of industries, in a market where talent is in high demand. Operating on the ‘front line’ provides agencies with great insight to the challenges and opportunities faced by their clients and how competitors are manoeuvring in the marketplace. This access to employment trends and shifting employee preferences is very valuable to employers. Recent ‘hands-on’ experience working alongside one of the larger global agencies however has revealed to us fundamental aspects of employment branding that are not being addressed by agencies – creativity and employer marketing.
It’s fine to have an employment brand but if you don’t have creative marketing activities that cut through the clutter, differentiate you and attract and engage new talent, you probably won’t have a business for much longer.
You need cut-through creativity that attracts talent, presses the employment hot buttons, articulates the offer, inspires action, delights, engages, satisfies and signs on the dotted line.
Branding is a complex and demanding subject. Its ability to change people’s perceptions does not happen overnight. It demands a thorough investigation of the company in question, including the competency of its brand, its values, vision and beliefs, and the way in which it communicates with its audiences. My experience, particularly with SMEs, is that adjustments to their company brand and its perception by key audiences are inevitable. The ability to deliver persuasive and appealing communications that resonate with employees and build positive perceptions is equally vital.
Your company brand precedes your employment brand. If you don’t have the brand fundamentals in place kiss goodbye to the dollars you invest in employer marketing activities.
Some key questions have to be asked. Does the company have the fundamentals in place? Does it have strong values and vision? Does it really care for its employees? Is it differentiated from competitors? Does it go out of its way to strengthen employees’ work experiences? Does it command respect for its achievements? Is it a good communicator? Is it comfortable committing this to paper and substantiating claims of competency? Saying you can and proving it are two very different things. It will prove a real reputation killer if you can’t. Your job applicants and employees, or lack of them, will soon let you know.
To gain traction with employees, communications must be creative, well written, intelligent and address their key employment experience needs.
It also requires determined skills to communicate clearly with employees to win their confidence and satisfy them that their employer places great emphasis on talented and motivated employees and has their interests at heart.
Your company needs to have in place its values, vision and philosophy, have its culture defined and have a clear understanding of its employer reputation and what drives it.
There will never be a substitute for expertise. We have a concern that agencies can flaunt the ‘employment branding’ offer to suit marketplace demand. Recruitment agencies can be very good at recruiting. It requires a different set of talents however to define a company’s brand, differentiate the employment offer and apply creative marketing to influence people’s perceptions of that company as a capable employer.
Heywood Innovation works with companies to explore and define brand fundamentals, improve perceptions and understanding of the employment offer and communicate positive aspects of the employment experience in print and online media. Only then will your recruitment agency have a good chance of hooking the big fish in the talent pool.
Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
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The depth of information offered on some of the agency sites is remarkable. But what are they offering? Satisfaction surveys, workshops, developing Employee Value Propositions, communicating more frequently ... It appears that here are companies that know how to make your staff happy, retain them, and get you closer to that ‘employer of choice’ nomination. Or can they?
Recruiting is one of the most competitive of industries, in a market where talent is in high demand. Operating on the ‘front line’ provides agencies with great insight to the challenges and opportunities faced by their clients and how competitors are manoeuvring in the marketplace. This access to employment trends and shifting employee preferences is very valuable to employers. Recent ‘hands-on’ experience working alongside one of the larger global agencies however has revealed to us fundamental aspects of employment branding that are not being addressed by agencies – creativity and employer marketing.
It’s fine to have an employment brand but if you don’t have creative marketing activities that cut through the clutter, differentiate you and attract and engage new talent, you probably won’t have a business for much longer.
You need cut-through creativity that attracts talent, presses the employment hot buttons, articulates the offer, inspires action, delights, engages, satisfies and signs on the dotted line.
Branding is a complex and demanding subject. Its ability to change people’s perceptions does not happen overnight. It demands a thorough investigation of the company in question, including the competency of its brand, its values, vision and beliefs, and the way in which it communicates with its audiences. My experience, particularly with SMEs, is that adjustments to their company brand and its perception by key audiences are inevitable. The ability to deliver persuasive and appealing communications that resonate with employees and build positive perceptions is equally vital.
Your company brand precedes your employment brand. If you don’t have the brand fundamentals in place kiss goodbye to the dollars you invest in employer marketing activities.
Some key questions have to be asked. Does the company have the fundamentals in place? Does it have strong values and vision? Does it really care for its employees? Is it differentiated from competitors? Does it go out of its way to strengthen employees’ work experiences? Does it command respect for its achievements? Is it a good communicator? Is it comfortable committing this to paper and substantiating claims of competency? Saying you can and proving it are two very different things. It will prove a real reputation killer if you can’t. Your job applicants and employees, or lack of them, will soon let you know.
To gain traction with employees, communications must be creative, well written, intelligent and address their key employment experience needs.
It also requires determined skills to communicate clearly with employees to win their confidence and satisfy them that their employer places great emphasis on talented and motivated employees and has their interests at heart.
Your company needs to have in place its values, vision and philosophy, have its culture defined and have a clear understanding of its employer reputation and what drives it.
There will never be a substitute for expertise. We have a concern that agencies can flaunt the ‘employment branding’ offer to suit marketplace demand. Recruitment agencies can be very good at recruiting. It requires a different set of talents however to define a company’s brand, differentiate the employment offer and apply creative marketing to influence people’s perceptions of that company as a capable employer.
Heywood Innovation works with companies to explore and define brand fundamentals, improve perceptions and understanding of the employment offer and communicate positive aspects of the employment experience in print and online media. Only then will your recruitment agency have a good chance of hooking the big fish in the talent pool.
Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
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