It’s continually talking to me. It evokes me. It promises me a better way. It appeals to me emotionally and
spiritually. It’s not until I stop and think about it that I realise I’m being seduced. By who? A brand.
Tracking me everywhere I go it wants to be my best buddy. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee
Company is right when he points out that “a brand has
to feel like a friend”.
But from my perspective, I’ve got
enough friends and really don’t need any more. Which
means brands have to work hard to get through to me.
And indeed they do - crafted messages stalk me,
informing me how much better my life would be if only
I’d trust them and allow them into my world. I can’t visit
the gents these days without being exposed to a
targeted message above a hand dryer.
Why is it then that the world of recruitment has
only recently ‘woken up and smelt the coffee’ in relation
to employment branding? Sure, many companies talk a
good game and pretend that they have an employer
brand. But in reality, there’s a big difference between
running a campaign of advertisements that have the
same strap- line, and a carefully thought out creative
strategy based on research. Such an investment ensures
that your resourcing communications follow one
common theme which is targeted and predominantly
based on the thoughts of talent that matters - your
employees and potential candidates.
It’s important not to underestimate how vital brands
are about to become. Blue- chips are starting to admit
there are little differences between themselves and their
nearest competitors, which means selling their culture
and their beliefs through their brand is becoming ever
more important.
The deciding factor of how good your employer
brand is, depends on how well your business competes in
the ‘talent war’. It may also force the HR Director without
an employer brand to speak of, to reach for the Valium!
But it is time to realise that gone are the days when
you could just place an ad in the press and expect the
guru of your dreams to strut through the door with
industry- leading solutions. Placing ads willy- nilly does
about as much for your brand as the Dome has done for
British tourism. What’s more, how do you expect to force
the candidate you’re looking for to leave the security of
their current job, when the first piece of contact you
have with them is a quarter page in the local freesheet
asking if they would like to, ‘Make the right move? ’
Brand awareness has to play as important a role in
your creative strategy as the message targeting a
particular skill set. You don’t become an ‘employer
of choice’ by allowing a line manager to write their
own headlines.
If forecasts come true, HR teams will need to reach
for the tin hat, dig in and put together a pincer
movement on the competition just to find junior recruits.
It may well be a worrying thought, but the candidate
rules and you have to be targeted, consistent with your
message and trusted like a friend if you’re to attract and
retain the experts your business needs to succeed. As
Karl- Heinz Kalbfell, Global Head of Brand and Product
Strategy for BMW Group put it, “We will want brands
which offer fun, comfort, satisfaction; we won’t just want
to work like hell ”.
So come on, you know how many businesses are
enticing the same talent that you are after. It’s time to
make sure your employer brand is defined, attractive and
extremely seductive.