Employer Brand Headlines: The "Stand and Deliver" Edition (#61)
In this edition:
Get comfy being remote
Weak D&I efforts is worse than no D&I efforts
Stats on the ad market
Better storytelling with fundamentals
The Big Idea
Welp. We’re not going back to normal any time soon.
Want proof? HR and leadership are starting to approve and push out requisitions for “head of remote work” jobs.
Companies hate to create headcount until they absolutely have to, so seeing these new roles indicates that business know that even with a vaccine and/or a cure, we aren’t “going back.” Ever.
So plan accordingly, friends. Your employer brand can’t just be “remote friendly,” it should probably be “remote first.”
On to the Headlines
My pet bug bear these days is surface-level D&I work. These days, there may be no more important issue we grapple with than making sure all people are treated equally, so you’d think I’d love articles around eliminating bias in job postings. My issue is that it supports the flawed perspective that we can “process-away” bias and inequality. When a “non-biased” process meets an intentionally based person, the person wins every time. My fear is that by leaning on these “safe” measures, we feel good, like we’ve done something to move things forward, when what we’ve really done is provide a smokescreen for biased intentions and behavior. Non-biased language on a job posting doesn’t stop someone from being sexist or racist from and making sexist or racist hiring decisions.
That said, here are a bunch of resources on building more inclusive language.
For my money (and I’m no expert), the litmus test for doing useful D&I work with your employer brand, isn’t to solve for the easiest cases (women make less than men, but they still tend to get hired, albeit at a lower rate), but to solve for the toughest. As one of the least “accepted” groups, perhaps if you solve for trans people, you end us solving for a lot more audiences. And Google’s got some ideas on how to do exactly that.
Here are some stats which (once you get beyond the obvious), show you how much the ad market has changed in the last 6 months. For example, mobile isn’t big, it’s bigger than anything else (so you need a mobile strategy, and relying on “programmatic” isn’t enough). Google’s ad revenue went down for the first time… ever. Podcasting keeps growing. E-sports is a real thing. And expect that digital will dominate out-of-home ads.
Weren’t we just talking about branding as a means of solving for cognitive dissonance? Here’s another article on building brands on conflicting desires.
It’s nice to see an article admit that everyone offers a competitive salary, benefits, opportunities for growth and flexible working conditions. So what happens next? What happens you have to build an employer brand beyond that?
Want to strengthen your brand story telling? Go back to your fundamentals (so sayeth Google). Understand emotional state, understand what emotions you want to create, and nail your tone.
I know I’m bringing up Google a lot today, but I was interested in all this data they had around what messages work for video games. Like applying for jobs, video games aren’t simply transactional: they assume that the user will be spending a lot of their time on them, so the pitch isn’t necessarily what you’d think. For example, video game ads that focus on features and direct calls to action didn’t work when depth of control and motion tended to drive engagement.
Quick Hits
How The Element Of Surprise Impacts Brand Loyalty
3 Types of Blog Posts That Earn the Most Backlinks, According to HubSpot’s Link-Building Expert
EB Tip Of The Week
I hate to say this, but it’s probably time to look at the language you’re using around your Glassdoor posts. If you are using boilerplate phrasing for your responses, they are likely getting stale. And when you realize how much the world changed in the last 6 months, there’s a good chance that the changing context changed the meanings of what you are saying. In fact, anything you wrote as a standard template more than six months ago should be reviewed.
Thanks, everyone!
The mission of this whole thing is to help you get better at employer branding, so if you have questions or want me to consider other articles, just let me know (reply to this email and it comes straight to me).
Cheers!
-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