Employer Brand Headlines: The "Kids In America" Edition (#67)
In this edition:
Happy, he asked incredulously?
Parents as key demographic
Rules of landing pages
Brand terroir
The Big Idea
Can a brand help make people happy? No, really. Our brands offer people feels of opportunity, freedom, education, community, support, prestige, and any number of other things, but are they making someone happy? Beyond the initial “I got the job!” elation, can and should an employer brand create happiness?
I’m not talking about Coke-brand happiness: they are using marketing to spark happiness to make you feel a little better when you splurge on that sugar-laden soda. I mean, can your employer brand make people happy? And more to the point: are you trying to make that happen?
My current working definition about employer branding is that it seeks to create desire for your roles. It isn’t enough to define and explain what your company offers, but you need to take those ideas and stoke the flames of desire amongst the people you want to hire. And that’s problematic, because hiring is a game of choosing, and those not chosen are rarely happy.
Maybe that’s where all this investment in “purpose-driven brand” comes from, a way to alleviate the negative emotions created by the company’s act of choosing. Holding to a sense of purpose is a way of saying, “Hey, we didn’t pick you, but rest assured that we are are all still endeavoring towards our shared goal… its just that while we strive towards that purpose, we won’t be cutting you a paycheck.”
For all the happy shiny faces we put on our career sites, (which always bugs me: its not like everyone’s jumping on Zoom calls to start the week with those same smiles or anything), I wonder: is this what we think it means to create happiness, or are we just trying to entice people with simulations of happiness (pictures of smiling workers) as a means of creating a general sense of positive emotion connected to our brand?
It’s something I’m clearly still kicking around.
On to the Headlines
Quick question: how much of helping recruiters communicate and market themselves do you see employer branding being involved in? To my way of thinking, a recruiter’s super power is that they are good at building 1:1 relationships. But that relationship is based on “they applied, so I started to build a relationship with the candidate” idea. For my money, the outreach emails I get from recruiters remain some of the worst I get: poor subject line, lack of awareness about the reader, clearly spam, etc. So if you want to help recruiting succeed, do you see it as your role to leverage your marketing thinking to make their work better? If so, here’s 27 email subject lines (which work well as InMail subject lines, too) that just work better. (h/t Follow the Bear newsletter)
Want to show that you “get it” when it comes to the new world of work? Stop treating working parents like an aberration and build team culture around them. This isn’t just being cool when a kid needs a snack in the middle of the zoom meeting, but assuming flexible schedules are the norm, that maybe meetings can be a little shorter with built-in break between them (instead of back-to-back-to-back) and that there’s value in not looking at a screen for.a few minutes every hour. These ideas might be designed for working parents, but I can’t imagine childless workers wouldn’t find these changes incredibly welcome, too.
This coming up in this newsletter once every 2-3 months in different guises, and I continue to be fascinated with it. Your brand is a function of the terroir and context as anything else. You’re all about innovation? What that means in a Palo Alto incubator is very different from a large law firm. As you try and reveal the brand, you have to be cognizant of the context in which it exists and grows. Trying to take it out of the context and turning it into an ad or a message will fall apart because there’s no frame around it giving it meaning.
For those of you sketching out you 2021 campaigns, you might be thinking about making a stand-alone landing page for an idea, an office, a team, or maybe just to collect talent leads before you need them. Turns out, taking your existing page and stripping out all the navigation doesn’t work. Landing pages have their own rules and strategies, so learn them before you deploy yet another boring page no one cares about.
Work’s got me thinking about my writing style as of late. My usual meandering flowery style is contrasting very clearly to the precision of PR and comms writers, so I’m spending some time over the next month reading books to help me tighten up (if you have recommendations, just reply to this email). That said, as a marketer, sometimes you just need a word that just… pops! So here are 150 words that might act like sprinkles on top of your career site text sundae. Or something.
Quick Hits
How to stay creative when life feels monotonous
The Goal of Employer Branding Is Not to Attract the Most Candidates
And Inside Your Fortune Cookie It Says...
“Most art just looks like more art.” -Brian Eno (now replace “art” with “employer branding” and you’ll feel it like a punch…)
EB Tip Of The Week
I saw this article on “digital commutes” and the core of it is that people used to use their commute to shift their mindsets and demeanors from “home life” to “work life.” Why is this a tip? Look at yourself and look at how your own demeanor shifts from one state to another. Ask others about how they change moving from home to work (even when work is in the dinging room). What people will tell you might reveal something about your own culture and work experience and become fodder for your employer brand work.
Thanks, everyone!
If you get this far into the newsletter, I have two small favors to ask.
1: Tell your network about this thing. I don’t make any money on 1,300 people getting this, but I do want to help TA, HR, Marketing and Comms “get” what we do in EB. Sharing this out really helps.
2: Since you know I’m a real person, you know 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)
I tried to write the best book ever written on employer branding. I don’t know if I completely succeeded, but for 99 cents, you can decide for yourself.
By James Ellis, Employer Brand Nerd
In a sea of content, how do you stay up to date on employer branding news? How do you know what's worth reading and what's just a waste of time?
So glad you asked! Here's a weekly digest of the best content to make you smarter about employer branding, curated by James Ellis.
In order to unsubscribe, click here.
If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.
Powered by Revue
James Ellis, 421 W Melrose, Chicago, IL 60657