Six Dental Marketing Trends to Boost Your Digital Strategy
The dental industry – like all of healthcare – has seen a lot of technological changes, from paperless offices to digital impressions and 3D printing. And let’s not forget the overall impact of the Internet on consumer behavior. More than ever, people rely on the Internet for information, education, and reviews before making buying decisions, especially in healthcare. This trend is only going to rise, which means you have to stay competitive in the digital space to build brand awareness and attract new patients. You could just throw money at digital ads, add content to your website and post more often on Facebook, but smart dental practices are realizing how six key trends can contribute to a much more effective approach.
1. Capitalize on Local Search Engines
The “near me” phenomenon has driven huge growth in location-based searches year over year, and the search for “dentist near me” was at the top of the list. But even if you’re technically closest to the address of any given searcher, a few extra steps can give you an advantage.
Most important, make sure your practice is accurately listed on all search engines consumers might use. Google searches rely heavily on NAP (name, address and phone number) information, so be sure that it is up-to-date (if you’ve ever changed your office location, it might not be). Otherwise, your practice will be less visible and your search rankings will suffer.
2. Manage Your Online Reputation (it’s way more than Yelp)
Your online reputation is as important as your real-world reputation and is largely shaped by what comes up when someone searches your practice on the Internet. Research shows that 85% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Google, Yelp, and Facebook are only the most popular of the many platforms where customers will rate their experience with your practice. Reviews play a role in where you appear in search results, too. The 10 most recent reviews can move a business from the second page of search results to the first page. And if you have 50 reviews or more, that alone can yield more than a 250% increase in click-through rates, according to Reputation.com.
The rise of smart speakers like the Amazon Echo (“Alexa”) and Google Home adds an additional challenge to your online reputation. And this is different from using an intelligent personal assistant like Siri, where the results are visibly shown. Smart speakers simply announce the top result – and if your online reputation is negative or not optimized, you may never be mentioned. Worse, if a negative review is the first thing that consumers hear, they’re unlikely to dig deeper to learn more. When creating any digital content, work to include phrases that your potential patients might use to search for your practice. Beyond that, keep an eye on your online reviews and do what you can to promptly resolve patient misperceptions.
3. Master the Art of Social Media
Social media is now a critical marketing tactic that can help all businesses – including dental practices:
- Increase brand awareness
- Drive traffic to your website
- Generate qualified leads
- Boost patient engagement
- Build credibility
- Grow revenue
All social media platforms have characteristics that set them apart from each other, which is why it’s important to engage on multiple platforms to effectively reach your target audience.
Source: TechCrunch, June 2017
With over 2 billion active monthly users (as of January 2018), Facebook is the largest social media platform and it continues to grow at an exponential rate. Using Facebook can help you improve patient retention, boost referrals and better your online reputation.
Twitter’s microblogging platform makes it great for quickly sharing information, establishing your practice as an expert in the dental field, and increasing traffic to your website. The challenge, of course, is that your tweet must be seen as one of 500 million tweets per day. Twitter users search for topics using hashtags – so, you should use them, too. This enables your posts to target anyone seeking information on specific topics and reach a wide audience beyond your direct followers.
Instagram is a visually-driven platform, which is perfect for dentists with a wealth of imagery and videos. The catch is making sure your content is engaging to your audience. You may be fascinated by a clinical process diagram, but your consumers will be more interested in before and after pictures, as well as videos of successful procedures and happy patients.
4. Don’t Forget About Email Marketing
Email is still one of the best ways to attract new patients and improve patient retention. In fact, it’s still 40 times more effective than social media for acquiring new customers, which makes it the online marketing channel that generates the highest ROI.
Big surprise: most patients don’t like going to the dentist, and it’s likely that they will forget to schedule appointments for their six-month checkups. Making an appearance in their inbox is a simple and effective way to stay top of mind. Start by asking your patients for their email addresses to send appointment reminders. Once they’re added to your subscriber list, you can also keep them aware of your practice with promotional offers, surveys, holiday emails, targeted campaigns and other messages.
5. Make Sure Your Ads are Geo-Targeted
We’ve already mentioned optimizing your website for local search engines, but if you intend on implementing a paid marketing strategy (e.g, Facebook Ads, Google Ad Words, promoted posts, etc.), you’ll also want geo-targeted advertising. Geo-targeting allows you to deliver specific content to a particular geographic area. Again, any new dental patients who don’t find you via referral will do what most people do, search online. And they’ll probably be searching for a dentist close to their home or their job. Bonus: Geo-targeted ads can cost less than broadcast advertising, which is designed to appear anywhere and everywhere.
6. Invest in Video Marketing
85% of Internet users in the U.S. watch videos online, and video continues to be an important medium for companies looking to engage their audience, grow brand awareness and build trust with customers. Just look at the numbers:
- Almost 50% of Internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store (think with Google)
- 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week (Wordstream)
- Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users (Vidyard)
Dental practices can supercharge their video strategy by creating videos and sharing them on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Your videos can showcase the culture of your team and office environment, cover popular topics in dentistry, or simply offer a little fun entertainment around birthdays and holidays – the possibilities are endless. Just be sure to keep the content relevant to your current and potential patients. Likewise, follow the same guidelines above for hashtags to tag your videos with helpful keywords (like your city and state) so that search engines can connect them to relevant searches.
Clearly, there are many components of a successful digital marketing strategy to attract patients and reinforce your practice’s brand. And it isn’t a “one size fits all” situation, even within your specific field. The good news is that you don’t have to do everything all at once. Start with tactics that are manageable for your current resources, then build on as you grow. Likewise, you can avoid making mistakes by taking advantage of a digital marketing and branding consultant’s expertise. Either way, the time to wait and see if digital advances will impact your practice is over, and the time to drive your online brand forward is here.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward. Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Measure Your Talent Acquisition Strategy with Our Free Checklist
You already know how important it is to attract the right talent to your organization. Great hires set the pace for product innovation, creative problem solving, successful client relationships and other advances. Likewise, the wrong hires can be detrimental – hindering, halting or even setting back progress. But attracting and hiring the right talent is largely a matter of luck, right?
Of course not. You have to define and implement a talent acquisition strategy to reap bottom line rewards, such as:
- Making your job easier with more effective recruitment processes
- Improving the quality of applicants
- Increasing offer acceptance rates
- Reducing recruitment costs
- Strengthening higher internal hiring rates
The question, of course, is how to unlock those opportunities, strengthen your talent acquisition strategy and hire for ongoing success.
The specific answer is different for every organization, but certain best practices can be the difference between spinning your wheels and achieving success. Which is why we created a quick, easy-to-use (and free!) resource – the Talent Acquisition Checklist for Success – to help you evaluate and improve your strategy in three critical areas:
- Awareness – how familiar people are with your organization as a potential workplace
- Attraction – how well you and your employees tell the right story to reel in top talent
- Recruitment – how you close the deal when ideal candidates are found
We use this checklist with our own clients and want it to help you, too. Download it, use it – and please tell us how it works for you.
P.S. Your approach to talent acquisition is one key component of your employer brand strategy, but keep in mind that these aren’t one and the same. In case you missed it, check out The Employer Brand Guidebook: How to Attract, Engage and Retain Top Talent, another great tool, which can help you evaluate your messaging, channels and practices to uncover opportunities and get proactive.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward.
Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Seeking Top Talent? Do What These Professional Services Firms Do Online
Every company’s success depends on the quality work of employees – and nowhere is this truer than in professional services. After all, in legal, accounting, finance, consulting, architectural and engineering firms, people essentially are the business. Which is why successful professional services organizations can teach a lot about how to communicate an employer brand to attract, hire and retain top talent.
Scouring the web for examples of excellence, we found six professional services firms that really get it – from strong messaging on strategically designed career sites to well-leveraged social media and alumni network engagement. No surprise, these same firms have been recognized for employer excellence, by Fortune Magazine among many others.
Cooley – Legal
Innovation is a core component of Cooley’s identity, as can be seen in both their client-facing brand and their employer brand. The firm’s careers site is engaging and easy to navigate, with lots of great video featuring employees. All of these components come together to make it clear that Cooley expects collaboration, diversity, creativity and passion from its people – all of which are critical for an innovative, cutting-edge law firm. Pro bono work is meaningful, not just a business requirement. And, the path to partnership is clear, as are opportunities to connect with others through internal “affinity groups.”
Most professional services firms leverage LinkedIn in some way. But Cooley extends its social media presence, incorporating Facebook and Twitter into its digital strategy, as well. The firm’s presence on each platform features a rich balance of industry news, events, client successes, featured employees and “what it’s really like to work here” topics. The seamless connections between the firm’s overall and employer brand messaging reinforce the idea that the firm truly does prize innovative approaches from employees, for the benefit of their clients.
Finally, Cooley understands the value past employees bring to the firm and uses its online presence to engage them via their alumni network. Cooley encourages alumni to stay connected through alumni events and no-cost CLE (Continuing Legal Education) courses, leaving the door open for ongoing networking and opportunities with this valuable audience.
Deloitte – Consulting, Tax, Audit and Advisory
Deloitte is one of the world’s oldest and largest professional services organizations, recognized by many as a top employer brand. While the firm’s career website arguably could be slimmed down and organized to be easier for job seekers to follow, it does a lot of things right. Deloitte understands that visitors to their careers site aren’t a single, homogenous group – they can be experienced professionals, students or recruiters, and their career expertise could be in any of Deloitte’s key business areas. Accordingly, its careers site includes helpful information based on each audience’s needs. The site uses video effectively, too, with employees from multiple demographics and business areas sharing authentic stories of why it’s great to work at Deloitte.
We love Deloitte’s focus on career journeys that include all of life’s important moments, not just professional milestones. For instance, in the image below, you’ll see that Devon is more than just an audit and assurance professional – she’s also a mom who has trekked to Mount Everest’s base camp in Nepal. These kinds of stories show that Deloitte team members aren’t expected to check their individuality at the door each morning – an empowering message, to say the least.
Protiviti – Business Consulting
For Protiviti, employer branding messages on the careers website for this global consulting firm extends naturally from the key messaging on their solutions pages. Indeed, on almost every page, visitors can see that when you work at Protiviti:
- You will grow
- You will make an impact
- You can be your best
These ideals of development, higher purpose and empowerment are important to employees, particularly millennials looking for the next step on their career path.
Protiviti’s careers website wins with strong overall organization and flow, too. Its highly visual approach divides the firm’s key focus areas into large image blocks for easy navigation and interest. Videos authentically capture what it’s like to work there, emphasizing the firm’s appreciation of individuals who bring unique strengths and abilities to the organization. The recruiting process page reinforces this powerful message with language like “Bring your whole self to work. That’s Protiviti” and, “All we ask is that you be yourself.” Protiviti also understands the value of its alumni network with a page dedicated to upcoming alumni events, ways to stay in touch and a quick link back to the careers page.
In short, when it comes to clear, authentic, and powerful career communications, this firm nails it.
Crowe Horwath – Accounting, Consulting & Technology
Crowe Horwath LLP, a global public accounting, consulting, and technology firm, has a comprehensive careers website with distinct sections for students and for experienced professionals. The student section is particularly strong, highlighting campus events as well as opportunities to learn about internships and the firm’s hiring process. These clear expectations are critical for – and appreciated by – top candidates just entering the workforce or those advancing their careers through post-graduate studies.
That said, Crowe Horwath’s content is where the firm’s online employer branding truly shines. Through the careers blog, the recruiting team regularly highlights important events and timely news while also featuring employees and showcasing employer awards. Equally important, they leverage this great content across all social platforms, reaching their audiences anywhere they might be.
Having your employer brand messaging nailed down, and told in an authentic and clear way is vital. But continuing to tell the story again and again from different perspectives and across multiple channels is what will move the needle in achieving your goals.
Morrison Foerster – Legal
We have to love a firm that affectionately refers to itself as “MoFo” (and if the acronym made you giggle, too, you’ll enjoy learning about the reason the firm uses it). We’re so impressed by Morrison Foerster’s inviting, visually appealing, minimalist careers website. Its overarching employer brand messages are clear and include targeted messaging for students, experienced lawyers and business professionals. And, as with all of our favorite careers sites, videos of associates sharing their own stories reinforce MoFo’s employer brand identity, in which passion makes all the difference.
Perhaps most significantly, MoFo’s careers site makes it easy to view current openings and apply. So many employers bury this call to action when they really need to make it as prominent and persistent as possible. The Apply page clearly explains what job seekers can expect in their interview – and they can schedule own interviews with people in key specialty areas, female lawyers, lawyers of color, etc. This clearly shows candidates that a mutual commitment to cultural fit is important here.
Baker Tilly Virchow Krause – Accounting and Advisory
From the moment visitors arrive at Baker Tilly’s careers site, they can see and hear employees speaking about the firm, their experiences, development opportunities, work-life balance and the firm’s growth. From there, they can quickly navigate to additional videos focused on how the firm helps employees grow their expertise in the areas that interest them most.
Baker Tilly’s careers site also wins in the area of candidate engagement. Job seekers don’t have to apply for specific positions to connect as “Talent Insiders.” This makes potential candidates feel like they have an inside edge on firm opportunities, with alerts for new job openings, and information about future events and industry news. These last two features go beyond those of a typical Talent Management System (TMS), enabling Baker Tilly to engage with people who may be interested in joining the firm and keep the conversation going, reinforcing its attractiveness as an employer.
Baker Tilly does a great job extending its employer brand messaging seamlessly across social media platforms, namely Facebook and LinkedIn. A dedicated Facebook page for careers offers potential employees opportunities for direct engagement, as well as an easy place to find newly announced job openings. Likewise, Baker Tilly uses its LinkedIn presence to express general thought leadership and reinforce what makes the firm unique. This approach bolsters Baker Tilly’s identity as a place that values individuals and encourages employees to grow.
The Upshot
Did you notice some commonalities among these successful employer brands? All of them use clear, consistent messaging across their digital platforms. All of their employer brand components feel like they belong with their overall, client-facing brands. And let’s not forget about video, which isn’t a fleeting trend or something “nice to have.” It’s an essential component of any authentic, employer brand storytelling. After all, unless your employees are professional actors, it’s hard to fake passion, enthusiasm and connection.
Follow the lead of these firms – who clearly get what it means to establish a successful employer brand online – and you’ll be well on your way to attracting, hiring, retaining and engaging the right talent to help you take your business forward.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward. Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Is Your Recruitment Strategy Chasing Away Top Candidates?
Job hunting has become a buyer's market, putting you as a business on the offensive. With unemployment numbers dropping to a 16-year low, and growing competition amongst employers, attracting top talent has become increasingly difficult. According to a study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) of over 3,300 HR professionals, more than two-thirds reported problems filling vacancies.
The way you present open positions at your company could make a difference. A job posting is often the first impression potential employees have of your company, which means your employer brand is more important than ever. Here are three things to remember about how your employer brand can impact your recruitment strategy, ensuring that you attract not only top talent, but also the candidates most likely to benefit your business.
1. Engaging Job Posts Attract More Engaged Employees
Think of a job posting as you would any other form of sales material. You need to sell your company to the applicants; and, in order to do this, strong employer branding is imperative. Boring, generic job posts make you seem like a boring and generic company; let your company's personality shine through. Interesting and engaging posts will attract like-minded applicants.
2. It's Not All About The Money
Unlike previous generations, Millennials value the opportunity to learn and grow in a job they find interesting more important than monetary compensation. This doesn't mean you can skimp on the compensation package, but it does mean you need to explain what your company can offer besides a salary and 401K. Continued learning opportunities, career advancement options, and workplace culture help sweeten the deal. Your corporate culture, values, mission, and messages help define your employee value proposition. Use them to help your job posting to stand out in the crowd.
3. Experience Isn't Everything
An employee's potential can be a better indicator of future success than past experience. But, neither potential nor experience matters if the candidate doesn't mesh well with your corporate culture. Limit the hard skills listed in your posting to those most essential to the job, and list soft skills and personality traits necessary to thrive in your work environment. This not only reinforces your employer brand, it also paves the way to long-term job satisfaction for the employee, which leaves you with a happier – and therefore more productive – new addition to your team.
Before you can attract top talent to your company, define what top talent means to you, not only in terms of skills and experience but also in terms of the best fit with your company's personality, opportunities, and culture. When you know what qualities define your work environment, it will be easy for you to recognize who your ideal employees should be – and for candidates to recognize you as an ideal employer.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward. Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
3 Recruitment Strategies Focused on the Candidate Experience
A positive candidate experience has become the pinnacle of effective recruitment practices. With unemployment rates at historical lows, recruiters are operating in a candidate-driven market.
A positive experience with your organization can be the difference between hiring the right candidate and one who's "good enough." Or between positive and negative online reviews.
Improve the Candidate Experience
The perfect candidate for your business is likely talking to several companies. In order to differentiate yours and sway the candidate in your company's favor, it's critical that he or she has a great experience at every opportunity.
Fortunately, there are a few ways to make this happen.
1. Use a simple and responsive recruitment process
Companies and more specifically, management, often get caught up in tedious recruitment practices. From overly detailed applications to outdated, often irrelevant interview questions like "Where do you see yourself in five years?"...this level of minutiae can derail a prospective candidate - in part because it lacks personality and fails to convey why anyone would want to work there.
Consider streamlining your processes with a simpler application followed by a personal invitation for an interview. Then, be sure that the interview focuses on the individual's talents and how well they would connect with your corporate culture. After all, in order for the candidate to thrive within the company, they need to be a good fit and share common goals.
2. Treat candidates like potential customers
When the consumer brand matches the employer brand, candidates get the sense that the company values its employees. Just as happy employees create a better experience for customers, they can also make a difference in the experience of their potential colleagues. Treating candidates with the respect typically offered to customers can significantly improve the candidate experience. And, regardless of whether the candidate is actually hired, a positive experience is likely to leave a positive impression of the company - which is likely to be reflected in posts on review sites.
3. Pay attention to your employer brand
Employers should never underestimate the power of a positive (or negative) reputation. From the get-go, a candidate should feel engaged and excited to learn more about the employer. Genuine relationships build businesses, period.
In addition, a well-designed job description should not only list job responsibilities and requirements, but should also provide a sneak peek into the employer's culture. Introduce the values of the company and how it stands out from competitors. Don't be afraid to reflect the personality of your company.
These strategies can help any organization improve the candidate experience, attract more positive reviews, engage top talent and strengthen the overall employment journey.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward. Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Employer Branding Links We Savor: The Latest Research, Measuring Roi, Myth-Busting and More!
Randstad | Who’s Standing Out in Employer Branding in 2017?
The Annual Randstad Employer Brand report – one of the most robust employer brand research reports of its kind, is out with this year’s global insights with a particular emphasis on automation in the workforce. Includes interviews with six HR executives from companies who have consistently scored high on Randstad’s rankings (Randstad Awards Survey).
Glassdoor | 7 Great Employer Brand Videos
If a picture’s worth a thousand words then a video must be worth a million! See how seven companies use storytelling by real employees and a variety of creative approaches (even puppets!) to effectively communicate their employer brand.
Lighthouse Research | Global Talent Acquisition Sentiment Study
Learn about this year’s top priorities and challenges from HR and recruiting professionals around the world (spoiler alert: employer branding is #3) as companies continue to find creative and effective ways to attract, engage and retain top talent.
42Hire.com | Employer Branding Myths
Eight top hiring leaders let you in on common misconceptions of employer branding and key takeaways for success. Take it from those who have been there, done that, seen it all – success starts with a well-thought out strategy plus activation infused with insights from the breakroom, not the boardroom.
Indeed.com | Employer Brand versus Talent Brand – What’s the Difference Anyway?
If what your company says about what it’s like to work there doesn’t align with what employees think and feel, you may have misalignment between your “employer brand” and your “talent brand.” Understand the difference between the two and what the overlap (i.e. sweet spot) can mean for bolstering your employer brand strategy.
ADP | Measuring the ROI of Your Employer Brand
True measurement of the impact an employer brand has on the business goes far beyond an increase in submitted applications and visits to a career website. Consider the quality of candidates over quantity, how your employer brand is powering your recruiting efforts and ultimately what “good” hires do for your bottom line.
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P.S. In case you missed it, we just published The Employer Brand Guidebook: How to Attract, Engage and Retain Top Talent. It’s full of information for companies looking to retain, engage and retain top talent, whether evolving an existing employer brand or just getting started. And it’s free when you download it now.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward.
Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Make Your Employer Brand Work for You in Times of Change
When it comes to running a business, change is inevitable – and it can come in many forms, such as mergers or acquisitions, significant growth, budget cuts, downsizing, new leadership, restructuring and transformations. Most business leaders naturally respond to these types of changes by planning their operational response. However, it is equally important to consider the impact these kinds of changes can have on a company’s employer brand, as well as the opportunities that arise to strengthen and revitalize it.
Your Employer Brand Matters More in Times of Change
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 70 to 90 percent of all mergers and acquisitions fail to meet anticipated financial and strategic goals. In many cases, HR-related issues are part of the reason why. A time of change can hinder an employer's ability to attract new candidates and retain existing employees. Likewise, significant changes can spur negative buzz from employees who either leave because they feel alienated or who stay but still feel insecure or threatened by rapidly shifting circumstances.
A study by the American Psychological Association showed that employees who were facing changes at work were twice as likely to have work-related chronic stress and three times as likely to consider looking for another job. If employers are not careful, employees can start to feel underappreciated, isolated and as if they are no longer part of a team. In addition, employees may worry about their future career with the company or believe that their growth and development will falter.
Make Your Employer Brand Work Harder
The good news is corporate turbulence can offer companies with a strong employer brand a natural opportunity to evolve and strengthen it further. There are specific steps that employers can take to help minimize negative effects and even re-energize employees who may be feeling apprehensive in a time of change:
1. Be Aware of Your Employees' Needs
Employers can offset employee concerns by ensuring an ongoing focus on the things that are most important to them:
- Control – Feeling like they are involved rather than the change just happening to them
- Capability – Continuation of skill growth and development
- Career growth – Continued and clear career path
- Connection – Personal connections with co-workers and leaders
In general, these “4 Cs” are important to employees at all times, however, they are even more important during times of significant change.
2. Reinforce Employee Value
Employers should take specific actions to ensure their employees feel valued and that opportunities for continued career growth are still available. Re-evaluate your employee value proposition. Consider the perks, benefits, and other value you offer, as well as how they reinforce the reasons why people should feel good about working for your company.
3. Infuse Internal Communications with Inspiration
Clear and transparent communication is critical during times of change – but it isn’t enough. True, if communication between employer and employee breaks down, trust will erode, leading to high turnover rates. But even with clarity and transparency, internal communications during change must do more than merely inform. This is the time to re-energize team members, to inspire them, to help them feel that amidst all the change, they still belong. So, yes, be clear and transparent. But also, be engaging, inspiring and authentic.
4. Manage External Communications with Engagement
Make sure that stories told in public don’t undercut your key messages. Train your executive spokespeople to talk about the changes in your organization in ways that support your employer brand. Review your external blog posts. Monitor social media and other channels for language that could cause alarm among prospective candidates as well as employees, partners, recruiters and others whose opinions could sway candidates one way or the other.
5. Don’t Do It Alone
There are so many things to consider when going through a change that employers often have a difficult time identifying major employee issues. Working with a partner who specializes in employer branding can help employers recognize these issues and find opportunities to make their employer brand work harder for them.
In times of change, a well-developed employer brand can easily be strengthened to support and encourage employees. However, significant business changes also can be a perfect time for any business to cultivate a strong employer brand that transforms times of change into opportunities for revitalization and new success.
P.S. We invite you to take advantage of The Employer Brand Guidebook: How to Attract, Engage and Retain Top Talent. It’s full of useful information and tools to support businesses as they evaluate, cultivate and evolve their employer brands. And we’re offering it free when you download it now.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward.
Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Top 5 Employer Branding Trends You Don’t Want to Miss
At Relish Marketing, we help clients of all sizes develop, build and strengthen their employer brands. Our work requires us to stay on top of employer branding best practices, common pitfalls, what’s working and what isn’t. So we’re constantly looking at businesses that do it right, as well as those who may have missed the mark – and in doing so this year, we’ve noticed five clear trends in the employer branding space that companies need to take stock in:
1. The Merging of Employer Brands with Consumer Brands to Improve ROI
Internal and external perceptions rapidly become part of a company’s overall image, and that’s never been more true than with the prevalence of social media in our daily lives. When consumers have a good experience, they have good reasons to believe that the company treats its people well. When employees are treated well, it shines through in their customer interactions – and positive customer interactions feed back into a positive experience for the employee. The trend toward more closely aligned consumer and employer brands is likely to continue to rise, as research indicates that companies with well-aligned employer, consumer and corporate brands see a 35 percent increase in sales.
2. Multi-Generational Workforce Diversity
Today’s workforce is more with Millennials and Gen Xers leading the workforce in numbers and Baby Boomers nearing retirement. Pay close attention to the specific work expectations and preferred method of communication for each generation.
- Millennials expect their employers to take an active role in assisting them to be successful. For communication, they prefer text, Twitter and Instagram.
- Generation Xers are generally associated with traditional family decisions, with 59 percent saying major life events like marriage, aging parents and having new children impact their benefit considerations. They prefer communication via mobile phone, email, text and Facebook.
- Baby Boomers may be nearing retirement age, but choose to stay in the workforce for financial and health care benefits or for personal satisfaction and engagement. Trends show that they communicate mostly through mobile phone and email.
At the same time, remember that all individuals are different and people of all generations reject stereotyping. So, while it is important to be aware of the general preferences of different generations, it’s always best to get to know the employees within your organization on a personal level to best understand their needs, desires and expectations. And gathering employee feedback on an ongoing basis helps too.
3. The Power of Employees to Convey (or Destroy) Your Employee Brand
In a world of social media, company review sites and the easy-to-obtain sentiments of former employees, opinions are everywhere. These tools can be an effective way to market your organization and leverage positive reviews. For this reason, it’s important to engage not only current employees but also former ones. Consider the role that online alumni communities and special events play in keeping perceptions of your company positive. Candidates trust the company's employees three times more than the company to provide credible information on what it's like to work there, so their opinion is extremely important.
4. The Gig Economy
Companies likes Lyft, Uber, Upwork and Fiver are a growing, public face of the independent contractor-driven “gig economy,” but businesses in virtually every sector are increasingly relying on contractors to support their workforce, as well. It’s therefore important for employers to enable contractors and other associate workers to see themselves as valuable and important to the company, while also strengthening the employee value proposition for full-time workers.
5. Authenticity (Still) Rules
Authenticity has been a key buzzword for employer brands for quite some time now – but that doesn’t make it outdated or irrelevant. Trust is one of the most essential components of any employee value proposition. And authenticity is critical to ensure that employees both trust their employer and feel trusted in return. Tell true stories. Enable communication to be a two-way street – and communicate clearly with your employees, using real-world language and examples more than euphemisms and jargon. Above all, ensure that your employer brand and employee value proposition reflect the actual experience that employees have at your company.
The diversity and fluidity of today’s workforce mean that your employer brand must work harder than ever to attract, retain and inspire your employees. Pay attention to the trends driving successful employer brands – and capitalize on them to generate the results your business needs to thrive.
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P.S. We invite you to take advantage of The Employer Brand Guidebook: How to Attract, Engage and Retain Top Talent. It’s full of useful information and tools to support businesses as they evaluate, cultivate and evolve their employer brands. And we’re offering it free when you download it now.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward.
Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Build an Employer Brand Worth Savoring - We're Sharing the Recipe
We're Sharing the Recipe!
The economy is booming, and we continue to see the unemployment rate drop.[1] While that’s great news for job seekers, it’s increasingly more challenging for companies to find and hire top talent, particularly in more specialized skill areas. The top companies will stand out in this candidate-driven market to attract – and retain – talented employees by putting their employer brand to work.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating an exceptional employer brand. But, the best share a few key ingredients. Start with an authentic employee value proposition, genuine relationships with your various audiences, and a well-rounded strategy for getting the word out. Spice it up from there by mixing in your company’s unique culture, values, history, and of course, employee input along the way. When done right, your one-of-a-kind employer brand will be well worth savoring.
So, how exactly do you cook up a compelling employer brand that’s authentic, fresh and enticing?
Our new guide, The Employer Brand Guide: How to Attract, Engage and Retain Top Talent, is a great place to start. Packed with advice, strategies, tools and resources, it will help guide you through the employer branding process – from start to finish (and well beyond!) as you define, develop, launch and manage your unique employer brand.
What’s Included
Here’s a peek at what’s inside:
• How employer banding affects your bottom line
• Who must get onboard with your employer brand (hint: it’s not just employees and candidates)
• The nuts and bolts of building a brand that resonates with your target audiences
• What keeps your employer brand dynamic and alive (spoiler: great planning is a great start)
• When it is – and isn’t – the right time to change your employer brand
Whether you’re developing the first employer branding campaign for your business or you have a longstanding brand in place, this guide has important content for you. Need to get different team members on the same page about what your employer brand is or isn’t? Check out Chapter 1. Ready to scale up? Chapter 6 has you covered. Feeling like maybe it’s time to make a change? Go directly to Chapter 7 with a quick quiz to help you decide.
More Than Just Advice
Cultivating an impactful employer brand can feel like an ambitious undertaking, but the numbers prove that it’s well-worth tackling. We’ve packed this guide with step-by-step advice plus tried-and-true best practices and we didn’t stop there. Helpful self-evaluation and planning tools embedded throughout can help you jump-start your employer brand initiatives and tailor it’s use on your organization’s goals.
What Are You Waiting For?
The benefits of a well-crafted employer brand are compelling. Whether you’re looking to increase job applicant quality or offer acceptance rates, improve employee satisfaction and retention, grow your audience engagement or bolster your image, creating an authentic employer branding program can help you get there. It’ll also have a positive impact on your bottom line. And, if you ask us, that’s an investment worth making.
Download The Employer Brand Guide here! It’s useful. It’s informative. And it’s free. So, what are you waiting for?
[1] Source: US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward.
Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Employer Branding: What to Look for in a Partner
Cultivating a comprehensive employer branding program from the ground up or refreshing an outdated employer brand can be quite an undertaking. And while going through the process of assessing, crafting and implementing your employer brand can be an invaluable internal exercise, you may find that an external perspective can help immensely. So, how do you know when it’s time to bring in the experts, and how do you find the right partner for you?
When to Engage an Employer Branding Partner
If you’re on the fence about whether to explore working with an employer branding partner, it may help to review some of the most common reasons we’ve seen when companies reach out for help.
Save Time
Your internal team already has full-time jobs, and employer branding can be a lengthy and time-consuming endeavor. Companies often engage a partner to make sure that nothing slips through the cracks or drags on for indefinite periods of time, which in turn, saves countless hours.
Get Fresh, Objective Perspectives
How objectively can you evaluate your existing employer brand or envision what it realistically can, should, or could be? The right partner will see your organization as you see it yourselves, but also from the perspective of an outsider. This allows them to identify and bridge gaps where necessary.
Save Money
Yes, you will pay for employer branding services, but the right partner can actually save you time and money, by cutting out the back-and-forth, artfully navigating internal politics, and taking extra work off of your team’s plate.
Get Better/Faster Results
The right employer branding partner will deliver a powerful blend of strategic alignment and objectivity, not to mention creative and implementation guidance. Engaging the right branding partner can yield rapid, tangible results – without all the trial and error of a do-it-yourself approach.
What to Look for in an Employer Branding Partner
Employer branding is a specific niche, so make sure you find a partner who knows their stuff. Full disclosure – this is a significant area of expertise at Relish. But regardless of who you’re considering, here are some qualities to look for:
A Full-Scale Approach
You’ll want to find a team with the vision, creativity and strategy to take your program to the next level. Seek out experts who deliver a full-scale approach from brand definition all the way through implementation and evaluation.
Expertise
Verify that your employer branding partner can demonstrate excellence in:
- Strategy. Look for a partner that understands the strategic nature of your employer brand, as well as how to measure it and use those metrics to achieve results over time.
- Branding. An engaging team with strong leadership experience in the employer branding space is essential. Even better if they have consumer branding experience, as the two should be cohesive.
- Research. Gathering honest, constructive feedback about the current state of your employer brand from your internal and external audiences is an essential piece of the larger puzzle. Working with experts who have the resources to obtain unbiased feedback and turn that data into actionable advice will help you get it right the first time.
- Creative and Design. Hiring a partner with a talented, in-house design team will ensure project and messaging cohesion. Working with a one-stop-shop agency will also save time and headaches – no need to coordinate with multiple vendors when all the experts are in one place!
- Messaging and Content. Developing cohesive, engaging content that is on brand and strikes the right note can be a real challenge. Experienced writers will ensure message consistency – and make your own life easier, as well. This will come naturally to the partner who’s already spent the time understanding your goals and business and helped you develop your strategy.
- Digital. The digital ecosystem is as vast as it is complex. Look for partners with web, SEM, SEO, social media, marketing automation and blogging expertise to be sure that you develop the strongest, most effective digital presence possible.
- Implementation. Developing your employer brand is a big job, but the work doesn’t stop there. To cultivate that brand and infuse it throughout your corporate culture, you need a successful implementation program – one that the right partner will be prepared to help you navigate.
Honesty and Integrity
Seek out a partner who will be truly objective, and will identify your strengths and opportunities – even if it’s not always what you want to hear. We all have employer branding blind spots, so finding a partner who is not just willing to point them out, but also offer tangible advice for improvement is essential.
If you find yourself talking to an expert who tells you nothing but complimentary things about your current employer brand and strategy, you may want to keep looking. You know there are things you can do better, and you need a partner who can level with you.
A Proven Track Record
Engage employer branding experts with something to show for their work – client references, compelling case studies, thought leadership, industry awards and recognition are all good ways to vet your prospects.
Employer Branding Partner Checklist
As you begin evaluating prospective employer brand partners, use this checklist to make sure you find an expert that can help you accomplish your goals. And don’t be shy about putting your prospects through their paces. Any qualified expert should be able to answer your questions and address concerns that your employer brand may need to address.
Experience
☐ A solid track record of similar employer branding projects
☐ Client references
☐ Client case studies
☐ Industry recognition
☐ Thought leadership in employer branding
☐ Established industry presence, well-connected across the space
Expertise and Full-Scale Approach
☐ Employer branding, consumer branding and alignment
☐ Strategy including research, analysis, insights and action plan
☐ Creative and design combining deep creativity with the discipline of brand adherence
☐ Content creation including career sites, social posts and blogs
☐ Digital including web, organic search, paid SEO, marketing automation and social media
☐ Video development implementation planning and launch guidance
☐ Program analysis, evaluation and recommendation
☐ Resource management and utilization to ensure timely ROI
Integrity
☐ Clear, regular and accurate communications
☐ Realistic deliverables
☐ Honest assessment and input
☐ Adherence to timelines and scheduling
☐ Defined SOWs/estimates and on budget delivery
THE UPSHOT
You know your business better than anyone else. But you don’t have to pursue your employer brand strategy and communication plan alone. The right partner can make a difference in your efforts – and your results.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward.
Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.