The future of employer branding is...
Baking soda!
There’s only one slot left.
I’m giving away a free 100% custom employer brand to a company between 500 and 2000 employees in North America. Three companies have already been selected, so there’s room for just one more.
It feels like employer branding has spent the last two years screaming into the void about how impactful it is. “Look at me! Look at my work! I’m worth keeping on the salary!!” Like a teething child, we were making a racket to get people just to pay attention to us, so we can justify our existence against the naysayers who labeled employer branding a fad, a nice-to-have, and (damningly) a good idea in theory but resulting in no real value to the business.
In response, we wrote articles about the power of employer branding, created videos and made lists of ways employer brand can help companies. (I’m not immune, I put together an ebook with all the proof you need to show that employer branding makes an impact).
But there’s an issue.
The more positive impacts we discovered or identified, the weaker our position became.
How? Wouldn’t it stand to reason that the more impacts to a company, the more powerful the function? That would be a completely rational way to approach this.
But humans aren’t that rational.
The long the list of positives actually weakens our position.
Think of baking soda. It’s core use is to leaven baked goods. To create a chemical reaction that generates air that expands as it gets heated in an oven.
But over the last 20+ years, we’ve been told it makes for an amazing cleanser. Put it in your laundry. It’s a toothpaste. Its an exfoliant. It treats bug bites. It polishes silver! It discourages weeds!! It’s an air freshener!! It extinguishes fires!!! Good lord, it makes FLUFFIER OMELETTES!!!!!!
Does the fact that it has a million uses make it more or less useful?
Being told that it has all these uses makes me wonder if its any good at any of them.
After years of identifying positive impacts, it’s time to focus. It’s time to pick a handful, or maybe even one impact, and go all in.
When we select one impact to go all in on, a few things happen:
We get focused. We’re not distracted by shiny metric syndrome. We ignore the stuff that is nice to see, but not critical to what we’re doing.
We tell the world we’re serious. When we pick one, we tell the world we’re attempting to be the worlds greatest chef’s knife, not one of 25 different options on a Swiss Army knife.
We create credibility. Picking one means we can’t play the game of bandwagoning, where we jump on and promote whichever of the 25 possible impacts is biggest this month or this quarter. It says we are trying to achieve something specific, and while there are always ups and downs, this is what matters most. That how people start to see us as business people rather than hucksters.
And all of this creates accountability. People know what we’re trying to achieve. They know how well it’s going. When we say “no” to something, they can see it isn’t personal or capricious, but a true dedication to what we’ve said we were going to do.
Accountability is like gasoline that we pour on a fire. It takes great idea sparks and turns it into an inferno. Accountability is what will take “cute idea but not ready for prime time” and turn it into what it really is: a meaningful business advantage.
And I firmly believe that this is the year where employer brand as a function embraces accountability.
And! I’m going to be at Transform this year because I was nominated for an award (and because Energage sponsored my trip). Don’t worry, I’m totally gonna lose and I’ve come to terms with that. But if you are going to be at Transform, let me know! I’d love to meet up!
🧮 Building trust »
🧮 Tim Sackett asks if all employer brands are the same »
🧮 A business leader says it simply: Happier employees leads to profits »
🧮 The thing vs its context. 1000% worth watching this conversation between Jasmine Bina and Rory Sutherland »
🧮 Are your job postings lottery tickets? »
🧮 Your employer brand needs some basis in reality »
🧮 A pragmatic guide to AI in recruiting »
🧮 Want to make your EVP work harder? Talk about money »
🧮 What’s your go-to-market strategy for your employer brand? »
🧮 3 ways to be more influential at work »
🧮 Rod Sloane is offering a free “employer brand photography” course that’s geared towards people with a bit more ambition and creativity than budget. »
🏛️ All 2,300+ articles from this newsletter are in a searchable archive. Go get ‘em!
You don’t know Faisal Siddiqui, but you really should. His work over the last decade has really gotten into the nitty gritty of how branding works, and how to get more out of it. And while branding can sometimes feel like an academic and technical subject, this conversation is anything but.
If you’ve missed any of the previous episodes with Rory Sutherland, Jasmine Bina, Alex M H Smith, and Chad Sowash, check them out. And tomorrow, you’ll hear from organization change expert Bud Caddell.
The Definition of Insanity podcast is available on YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Classes, podcasts, videos, downloadables, all to help you take advantage of your employer brand. Where? At employerbrand.ing
***This Newsletter Contains No ChatGPT***
-James Ellis [LinkedIn] [Website]
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