Commodity problems
You got them...
Wow. My LinkedIn class went really well. Here’s what people said:
“Have watched it back (twice) and SHARED with my team!”
“This class was excellent. Really had the opportunity to dig in and make actionable changes.”
"Wow. Your webinar was SO insightful today. Can't recommend more highly that everyone follow you for LI/branding, social media insight."
"So many takeaways!"
Yes, it’s an hour-long course, but I promise you’ll learn how to take advantage of LinkedIn to drive employer success (even if you don’t have direct access to the corporate LI channel). And the feed back was so good, I decided to release it to everyone. Enjoy!
[Sponsored]
What’s a commodity?
Paper clips. Printer paper. Lettuce. Wooden mixing spoons. Coasters. Screws. Dish towels. Cinnamon.
These are things that you buy without a differentiating brand.
Cinnamon is a great example. It used to be that cinnamon came in a little glass jar all ground up and you paid $3-$4 bucks for it. There were three companies selling it for roughly the same price. There was little to distinguish one from another. The packaging was a little different, but… that’s it.
Stroll to the next aisle and cinnamon was $2 for a jar. Why? Because it was the “ethnic cuisine” aisle and the “hispanic” section had spices for a lower price point.
And when you realize this, why on earth would you buy the cinnamon for $4 when it was 50% less an aisle away? It wasn’t any different, so you think yourself smart and buy the cheap one.
That’s how commoditized brands work: they are a race to the bottom. You can’t tell the difference, so they compete on price because that’s all they have.
But now, you can find companies who are selling spices for a far higher price point. Madison-based Penzey’s and Chicago local The Spice House to name just a few. How expensive? Think a 2-3x of the grocery store prices.
And people paid those prices. Heck, they are excited to pay them.
Why?
Well, for starters, these companies aren’t selling “cinnamon.” They are selling cinnamon from a handful of farmers in Saigon. Their cinnamon is a little sharper than the the cinnamon from Ceylon which has rounded, earthier flavor notes. And if you’re really focusing on strong aromas, you should take a whiff at the cinnamon from Indonesia.
What happened? Cinnamon, once a thing you grabbed when you were shopping for coffee cake ingredients, was now a thing with a provenance, with differentiating features and (most importantly) expectations.
Are all these new options cinnamon? Yes. But they went from being a commodity to being something that doesn’t have to chase the lowest price point.
Let’s bring that same thinking to recruiting.
Companies have VERY similar job postings. Similar career sites. Similar social posts (no, your social posts about winning that award or volunteering in the community or wishing everyone a happy Pride month is NOT differentiated). Similar recruiting outreach. Similar interview questions. Similar “thank you for applying” messages. Similar “thanks, but no” messages.
So if someone can’t tell the difference between your jobs and those of hundreds of other companies (and they can’t, I assure you), you are selling a commodity. And the only thing that will set you apart is how much you pay.
But you don’t have to live that life.
Find something that makes you different. Build on it. Talk about it. Talk about it differently. Find new channels to talk on. Find new people in the company to talk about that difference. Look at EVERY single touchpoint and ask, “are we talking about and showing our difference here? If not, how can we?”
That’s how you win in a commodified talent market: stop being a commodity.
🀄 How to Craft a Memorable Message, According to Science »
🀄 Seven examples of LinkedIn posts that generates leadership buy-in »
🀄 If Walmart, MasterCard, and Mattel can show how inclusion drives customer acquisition, why does recruiting seem to have such a hard time justifying DEI? »
🀄 “We've never had a shopping experience like this — imagine going into Selfridges and having 400 people standing behind you, cheering you on” Why TikTok is full of teleshopping right now (and imagine job searching or recruiting with people cheering you on????) »
🀄 The dangers of brand complacency (though this isn’t a recommendation for “reinventing your brand” every time someone gets bored with the brand) »
🏛️ All 2,500+ (five years worth!) articles from this newsletter are in a searchable archive. Go get ‘em!
Problem: Getting Marketing excited about employer brand
Copy/paste:
Marketing,
As you know, we’re trying our best to attract great talent. That means building stories of the people who bring their passion and skill to bear every day to solve our clients’ problems.
I suspect having access to these “people” stories would give you a whole new set of talking points beyond “feeds and speeds.” For example, we have a video of someone in the R&D team who’s background in calligraphy shapes our approach to the UX. Her calligraphy work is gorgeous and could be interesting b-roll for future product releases.
Would you be interested in having a conversation about the kind of content we already have, the content we could be building, and how we might partner to generate it?
-name
Be more informed as you think about building your brand:
Start: Compare 25 employer brand building companies side-by-side. It’s how you make a better decision about who will help you best in your EB journey. It’s free! »
Then: Three case studies that prove how an employer brand can be built in just three weeks. A 250-person manufacturer, a 300-person construction company, and an 800-person video game company. Just hit reply ad we’ll set set up a time to walk you through the case studies and answer questions.
The highest form of leverage is reputation.
-Shane Parrish
Four books
An employer brand buyers guide and agency listing
Four courses
150 videos
240 episodes of podcasts
Conversations on 23 podcasts
Seven “deep dive” resources
18 articles
All in one place: EmployerBrand.ing
I believe in giving knowledge away for free. But doing so isn’t free. So if you’d like to support the various costs for building all this content, please buy a book, ask me to speak, or consider hiring me to help your company recruit more effectively!
***This Newsletter Contains No ChatGPT***