Marketing and employer brand should go hand in hand. But for many marketing teams, employer branding seems to fall short of their expectations. Especially when they can’t own employer branding.
About ten years ago we were invited to discuss talent acquisition challenges of a large insurance company. The HR lead and I had a nice conversation, I threw in some suggestions, which they liked, but then they said: ”Our marketing will never let us do that. They have specifically banned HR to use any marketing collateral on HR marketing purposes.”
”Our marketing will never let us do that. They have specifically banned HR to use any marketing collateral on HR marketing purposes.”
I was gob smacked!
Fortunately, we have come a long way from those days. Today, many marketing teams enjoy collaborating with HR on employer branding, but every once in a while we still face barriers built by marketing .
Marketing and Employer Brand – What’s Holding Them Back
Marketers want employer branding that’s strategic, data-driven, and creatively aligned with their broader brand efforts. So do we.
When employer branding activities, plans or proposal fail to deliver on these fronts, it’s easy to see why they might get frustrated. As do we!
Let’s explore these complaints and find ways to win marketing team over to the employer branding side.
1. “It Doesn’t Align with Our Brand Strategy”
Marketers want consistency, and when employer branding feels like a standalone effort, they feel it clashes with the overall brand image.
I get that.
Consistency is my middle name and I could not agree more. However, it is vital for marketing also to understand that brands need to be created with the specific target audience in mind. If you ask a marketing department what they based their brand work on, they should say ”customers”.
That’s exactly why also the employer brand must be based on it’s target audience: existing and desired future employees. Employer brand must move existing and future employees, paint a vision on how their desires and expectations can be met with what the company can offer, and clarify makes this employer distinctively different from its competitors for the same talent.
Employer brand should never blindly align with your brand strategy for customers. Company and employer brand should definitely be from the same brand family and share the same story, but perceptions may vary.
What if you think about your organization as a person. The company brand is the other parent while the employer brand is the other parent. And all the possible product and service brands are their kids. While they have share the same values and morals, a family story and a vision for their future together, as people they are individuals with their own (brand) personalities. The parents need to agree on certain things but as they have different roles they must also be allowed to have their own brand personalities.
”What you probably don’t yet know about employer brand”
Solution:
Integrating employer branding into your larger brand strategy is not the automatic solution. While they belong to the same brand family, they should be allowed to have their own tone of voice and key messages because they must appeal and attract different people with different needs and aspirations.
I like when company and employer brand are part of the same story, but I also prefer keeping them independent when the target audiences clearly differ. However, ideally they complement each other and have elements that are cohesive and reinforce at least company values from both angles.
To be able to create a strong and sustainable employer brand, you must know your target audience and competition well and also have the bandwidth to stay in tune with what happens internally and externally in that department.
Often times, marketing doesn’t have the time nor the interest and therefore, marketing should not have the upper hand on employer branding.
However, as a brand marketing professional myself, I do emphatize with you in marketing and promise I want the same as you: data-driven, consistent and authentic employer brand.
2. “Our Employer Brand Content Isn’t Performing on Social Media”
Social media marketers are well-versed in social media dynamics, so they get frustrated when employer branding content doesn’t perform. They feel they need tools that cater to today’s algorithmic demands and engagement tactics.
However, tools only will not guarantee employer brand contents’ performance. I find many organizations lacking clarity over what employer branding success should look like. There are two types of ’success’ in employer brand marketing:
- Marketing success
- ROI–return on investment in employer branding
A successful collaboration between marketing and employer brand is the evidenced by captivating employer brand messages that inspire action organically. However, the return on employer branding investment doesn’t come from vanity metrics but when employer brand marketing begins to convert consistent strategic level value that helps the business in the long term in talent acquisition and retention. Unless employer branding goals and objectives are clearly defined we have no idea whether we succeed or not.
Marketing success such as impressions, reach, likes, clicks-through in paid campaigns and follower growth are not worth anything for the business independently. These are examples of vanity metrics and they don’t automatically mean there is a return on investment.
Vanity metrics are indicators of a potential to convert the attention and awareness into actual value but without the conversion actions, there is no return on investment.
This is easy to test. Ask your CEO or other top executive, what is the bottom line value of a likes and impressions on social media. They have no clue. Or if they do, they will say: ”No value unless you turn them into business-worthy value.”
Those marketing professionals, who themselves are experts of social media marketing, know that only consistent communication in the forms of content, comments and direct messages create avenues for organic value generation from social media. This is different from ad campaigns on social media and this is what your employer branding should aim for.
Solution:
Marketing and employer branding can work together if the collaboration starts from strategic planning. A strategic employer branding provides you with a long-term plan that is targeted at specified talent audiences, communicates specific key messages and drives success with a clarity on how to convert social media growth into business-worthy return on employer branding investment.
Only then, you are in a place where you can start ideating and creating content. Make sure that you are up to date on each social media platform’s strengths and weaknesses resulting from the way its algorithm operates. Social media expertise can be the strength of your marketing team but isn’t automatically so. I often meet marketing people in charge of posting on their company socials who tell me they don’t even like social media and never spend personal time on any social platform.
Here are a few social media tips from us who spend a lot of time posting, engaging and staying on top of the development of social media:
- On LinkedIn, focus on employer branding content posted on your people’s profiles, such as thought leadership and employee testimonials. The algorithm is tuned to organically favor content posted by personal profiles and by those who engage in conversations with others in post comments.
- On Instagram, create a new profile only for employer branding and recruitment marketing purposes and use it like it was a person using Instagram–your ’organization person’. Instagram is a very visual platform so your visuals need to match with the platform users expectations and preferences.
- Facebook is no good for employer branding anymore. But continues to be excellent advertising platform. If you occassionally want to promote your employer brand content, invest a few hundred bucks on content-based ad campaigns on the platform.
- Comments are content, too, and especially on LinkedIn, the most algorithm-favored content, so encourage employee and management interaction and engagement to boost organic reach, and track metrics like engagement rates as they are more meaningful than impressions.
3. “There’s No Audience Segmentation or Insights”
Generic messaging doesn’t resonate with anyone in particular, so marketers want segmentation and insights to help them target different groups effectively.
Segmenting your talent target audience for employer branding is not the same as creating recruitment profiles for talent acquisition. Usually, this is where employer branding takes a wrong turn when it comes to target audiences. Fortunately, our Magnetic Employer Branding Method™️ consists of talent segmentation and profiling.
Another mistake is to apply eyes blinded the same messages and tactics in employer branding as your company does for B2B or B2C marketing or sales support.
Fortunately HR professionals sit on a lot of insight and with instructions have avenues to dig out required data. The same goes for talent acquisition professionals. While HR people have insights on their existing and former employees’ behavior, needs and expectations, recruiters know their talent market, competition and what candidates are looking for at any given time. This is the data successful employer branding needs already in the strategic planning phase.
Solution:
Develop talent personas for your relevant and ideal talent. Segment target audiences into larger groups based on seniority, experience, status of life, most likely next career development phase, work personality and key values.
Your employer brand key messages and content must match with what matters to each segment and tie together your ’organization persona’ on same elements.
Use social media and website analytics regularly to identify and refine your messaging and content further based on what each segment seems to care about most. This will ensure that employer brand communication always feels personal and sticks with your target audience.
”Who exactly are your target audiences in employer branding?”
”Choosing talent target audiences for employer branding? Avoid these 2 mistakes”
4. “We Don’t Have Enough Creative Control”
Marketing teams often hold tight reins over creative control in brand marketing because they fear that HR lacks the finesse needed for visually compelling storytelling and brand consistency.
The expertise in crafting visually cohesive and emotionally resonant content is a skill expected to be nurtured only within marketing departments, where a deep understanding of aesthetics, brand identity, and strategic communication thrives.
Handing over creative control to HR, marketing teams worry, could lead to visuals that miss the mark, messaging that veers off-brand, and content that come across as uninspired or amateurish.
This anxiety stems from a belief that HR’s strengths lie in policy, people, and processes—not in the nuanced artistry of branding. The result? A potential dilution of the brand’s impact and a final output that risks being a tasteless mess rather than a magnetically engaging piece of communication.
Solution:
If you don’t have an employer branding partner with strong emphasis and a long experience on employer brand marketing (like us), your marketing team can help you choose tools that offer flexibility with brand elements, like custom templates and color schemes that reflect your brand’s personality.
However, it is vital to share with them the talent personas, insight on your target audience, what your key messages and desired employer brand perceptions are and where you will need visual content so that marketing can tailor the templates and photography to match your need.
It is vital to remind marketing that branding created to compel and resonate in customers is unlikely to compel and resonate in employees, unless your company intends to convert your customer people into your employees.
Visuals need to match key employer branding messages, support the content from growing awareness to building distinct employer brand affinity and create a distinctively different yet recognizable employer brand when compared to employers competing for the same talent.
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Susanna Rantanen (@rantanensusanna) is a globally recognized leader in strategic employer branding, recognized as one of the Top 50 Global Experts in Personal Branding by Thinkers 360 and among the Top 20 Women to Look Out for in 2024 by New York Weekly Magazine. She is also the creative force behind the Magnetic Employer Branding Method™ recognized as a game-changer in the global employer branding industry.
Known for her deep expertise in business storytelling, persuasive communication, and content marketing, Susanna transforms complex concepts into clear, impactful strategies that resonate with both internal and external audiences. With a proven track record in elevating brands and building meaningful connections, she equips organizations with the tools to attract, engage, and retain top talent.
As the co-founder of Finland’s first employer branding agency, Susanna’s innovative approach has set a new standard in the industry. Her work merges the art of storytelling with the science of influence, making her content not just informative, but powerful enough to inspire action and trust. Whether through teaching, coaching, or content creation, she’s committed to empowering leaders and HR, marketing and communication professionals to amplify their brand’s voice and drive sustainable growth.
