💡 Employer Brand Headlines: The "All Come True" Edition (#102)
My mission: Help you understand your employer brand better and make it work for you.
In this issue
Does it answer the question?
Do values mean anything?
Focus from constraints
Brand thinking is art is brand
The big idea
Your employer brand is neither good nor bad. It isn’t positive and it isn’t negative.
Your employer brand is the answer to the question: What’s it like to work here?
It doesn’t have to describe your culture.
It doesn’t have to establish your corporate values.
It doesn’t need an EVP.
It doesn’t need a six-figure price tag.
It just needs to answer the question well.
Bonus points if it makes it clear how working here is different than working there.
(Sorry, but I can’t award bonus points for being true, because if it isn’t true, it doesn’t actually answer the question.)
So look at what you refer to as your “employer brand.” Does it answer this simple question?
Or is it a bunch of bumper stickers glued into a branded deck that no one looks at because it doesn’t actually help a stranger understand what they can expect when they join?
Headlines!
Do Your Company Values Mean Anything?
Like EVP, pillars, or brand claims, stating your values means nothing. You have to prove them. The best way to do that is to describe an example of how you made a decision based on the values that cost the business money. If you can’t find that example, your only value is making money (which is fine, but let’s not pretend your values are actually driving decisions or mean anything).
Inspiring Case Studies For Companies Looking To Transform Their Employer Brand
Ignore the blatant agency promotion and you might notice that there’s no secret sauce to building an employer brand (and I actually groaned when they said their primary metric was increasing applications).
There are a ton of insights about Gen Z and Millennials in this report from Spotify. Of note: Creator Culture is real, these generations are more attuned to their own mental health state, blurring lines between mainstream culture and niche/deep-fan/otaku/stan culture.
culturenext.byspotify.com • Share
How Constraints Deliver Brand Focus
I love constraints! (I mean, it’s not like I can change most of them, so…) Constraints force innovation. They force creativity. And they force focus, which we could probably all use more of these days.
www.brandingstrategyinsider.com • Share
YOU SAY EVP, I SAY EMPLOYER BRAND, LETS CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF.
I don’t necessarily agree with the way these are defined, but I always applaud people who are stating and working within their own definitions of EVP and brand.
What is your personal leadership brand?
When your functional area is new/young, your own ability to lead is key to getting things done. So what is your leadership style?
www.strategy-business.com • Share
How ‘Toxic’ and ‘Abusive’ Is L’Oréal as an Employer?
There are some VERY blurry lines between “one employee’s bad experience,” “one bad manager,” “a culture that allows bad management” and “toxic culture.” (also see this example)
Brand thinking is art is branding.
astrategistsguidetoart.substack.com • Share
Quick hits
Inside the fortune cookie
Drawing is not what one sees, but what one can make others see. ― Edgar Degas
Thanks, everyone!
Reminder: The more people at your org who read my books, the better your job will get! employerbrandbook.com (They’re free!!!)
There are now more than 900 links in the link archive. And as always, when you reply to this email I will read your questions and comments. Is there any article I should be commenting on? A book? A podcast? Is there something you what to know? How can I help? Just reply to this email and it comes directly to me.
Cheers and thanks!
-James Ellis (LinkedIn | Twitter | Podcast | Articles)
World Party - All Come True
Where the subject line came from:
By James Ellis, Employer Brand Nerd
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