The Employer Branding Roadshow

By Phil Strazzulla

Employer branding to some is old hat.  To others, it’s very intuitive. But, to most executives, it’s still something they need to be educated on.

As we all know, it’s pretty tough to get anything done in an organization without the buy-in of senior leadership.  Employer branding may even be that much harder because it’s not quite as commonplace as something like “let’s get a new marketing automation suite.”

Our advice?  Do a roadshow with your executive team to show them why you NEED to start using employer branding to drive business results, especially in a low unemployment environment.

Step 1:
Create A Pitch Deck

Here’s the structure we recommend:

• Why employer branding: low unemployment (don’t forget to use a graph), consumers used to great experiences, marketing exists for a reason – it works!

• Recruiting is like marketing: people learn through analogs – let your team see how similar recruiting and marketing are, and therefore why you need to use marketing tactics to get talent!

• Employee value props: why do people work here, why do they stay here, and how can we illicit more of these themes.
  
• Collateral: how we’ll tell the story about working here while incorporating our EVPs – testimonials, blogs, photos, vidoes.
  
• Distribution: where we’ll tell our story: new careers site, talent community emails, social, career fairs, etc.
  
• ROI: how we’ll measure ROI – career site conversion rates, time to fill, cost per hire.
  
• Business impact: how getting the right people into the company impacts the things the c-suite cares about – revenues, profits, new customers, new locations, etc.

Step 2:
1:1 Presentations

Step two is to actually go out and present this to your c-suite, preferably on a 1:1 basis.  You’ll see who your key allies are, and who is skeptical. You’ll also see where you have buy-in with room to run, and where you’ll have to tread lightly.  You’ll probably also realize there are more internal stakeholders you need to be aware of.

Step three is to execute with the support of your allies while watching out for the people who have the potential to get in your way.  Allies are great to get budget, and the resources you need to roll something out.

Good luck, and send your employer roadshow slide deck to Phil@nextwavehire.com