The challenges of Employer Branding and HR Marketing

A few years ago, to find a job, you had to use a newspaper and consult the classified ads. That time is over. Now, talent goes online and spots vacancies in their area of ​​expertise. Since the candidate’s first opinion is formed thanks to the web, it is important that each company takes care of its online presence. This is where HR marketing and employer branding come into play. They allow you to show the identity of the company to attract candidates and if possible retain them. We take you to discover these two concepts.

What is the difference between employer branding and HR marketing?

These two concepts are often mistakenly used as one and the same concept. But, although they are related, they are different. Employer branding is how a company is perceived by employees and candidates. In other words, this is the image it projects as an employer. This perception is modulated by the identity of the company, its vision, the values ​​it transmits and its organizational culture. The employer brand is focused on the targets that are talents and employees.

HR marketing is, as its name suggests, marketing applied to human resources management. But, unlike standard marketing, its target is talents and employees. Marketing techniques are therefore adapted to companies to enable them to attract and retain talent.

As a result, these two concepts have common objectives, but they are different. The employer brand is also a component of HR marketing. Before implementing an effective marketing strategy, you must evaluate the company’s employer brand. Marketing experts can obtain employee reviews using a trusted employee review platform .

How useful is employer branding and HR marketing?

The talent recruitment process is changing. Employer branding and HR marketing are therefore taking place within companies for easier recruitment. The primary purpose of these concepts is to attract talent. But, they do not only serve this purpose.

Attract talent

HR marketing experts use marketing techniques and set up an employer brand targeted to the desired talent profile. Job offers provide information on the skills of the talents, the responsibilities for the position to be filled and sometimes the salary offered. The experts also make sure to convey the company’s values ​​and vision to attract talents who share them.

Build employee loyalty

Marketing techniques are applied to human resources to facilitate the integration of new workers. This way, talented people immediately feel accepted and have no trouble feeling like they belong. Additionally, with a positive employer brand, employees are less likely to want to change jobs. Employer branding and HR marketing therefore together enable employee loyalty.

The quality of life at work has a real impact on employee satisfaction and productivity for various reasons. Here’s why to put QWL at the heart of the employer brand .

Adapt to changes

Previously, job candidates had to be as attractive as possible to be given the opportunity to work for a company. But, with the new generation, each company must adapt to meet the expectations of talent. HR marketing and employer branding serve employers in this process of satisfying talent and employees. Discover the challenges of employer branding for a company .

What are the stages of HR marketing?

HR marketing is oriented towards two targets: talents (who are external to the company) and employees. The marketing strategies used therefore target both internal and external members. Moreover, good HR marketing focused on employees makes it possible to positively promote the employer brand to talents. HR marketing is based on 4 interdependent stages.

Advertising is the very first. It aims to make the company known to external members. Unlike all other stages which are directed towards specific targets, advertising is used to make everyone aware of the company.

The second step is promotion. It consists of promoting the company to potential talents. Hence the interest in the employer brand that experts put in place to attract talent to the company. The promotion aims to make potential candidates understand why they should choose a company over a competing company.

Onboarding ranks third among the steps in HR marketing. It involves recruiting the best talent for the company and helping them integrate. To this end, several strategies can be used to facilitate said integration.

The fourth and no less important step is that of loyalty. It is also one of the most difficult to achieve. Indeed, the company’s employer brand helps attract talent. Thus, they are convinced that this company is adapted to their values, needs and vision.

However, the recruitment period does not extend all the time. The real work therefore begins when the talent joins the company. At this time, it is necessary to adapt HR marketing and the employer brand to meet its expectations and keep it. Internal communication plays a major role in the employer brand. If you don’t know why, here ‘s how communication is a lever for developing the employer brand .

Once employee loyalty is successful, they can be ambassadors of your company to potential talents. They are also more credible in this role since they are also employees of the company. Talents therefore identify more easily with them.

How to implement HR marketing within a company?

HR marketing is very useful for business recruitment and employee retention. But, to reap its benefits, you have to know how to put it in place. Here is the action plan for deploying an HR marketing strategy.

The inventory

The success of HR marketing is based on the use of strategies that make the company that employs it an attractive company. This is why before any specific action, it is necessary to take stock of the situation. This monitoring allows you to have an idea of ​​what is already being done in terms of HR marketing in the field and to find the strong points and weak points. These two variants then make it possible to establish a good strategy by strengthening the strengths and transforming the weaknesses of competitors into strength. To keep a good watch, you must take into account:

• Existing HR marketing procedures in your company;
• Publications and their results;
• Existing projects and competent people to deploy a good HR marketing strategy;
• The company’s online presence;
• Corporate culture and internal communication.

All these elements are important for good monitoring, with a view to implementing HR marketing and employer branding. But that’s not all. You must also find out about the main competitors, their internal and external communication as well as the results obtained.

Preparing the strategy

A good inventory and good competitive intelligence serve as common threads for the development of the HR marketing strategy. Marketing managers and experts then think about preparing the strategy. The first point to address concerns the resources required for the deployment of the strategy. These are financial (budget) and human (team) resources. Once the resources to be mobilized are known, it is necessary to define the objectives of the HR marketing strategy and organize the planning of the actions to be carried out.

Definition of targets

For this step, target identification is only a preliminary activity. For the marketing strategy to be effective, it must be adapted to the previously chosen targets. It is therefore necessary to carry out surveys and find out about the needs and lifestyle of said targets. Thus, the strategy and employer brand will be developed according to the expectations and habits of the targets. Discover an example of a corporate employer brand here.

Determining an action plan

All the steps mentioned above constitute a basis for determining the action plan. Since marketing experts now know the type of content that targets are interested in, they can put SEO to work for the business by publishing target-oriented content. As an action, they can also animate the company’s social networks and web page in order to interest talents. The action plan is not limited to actions aimed at external people.

For interns, the team can consider setting up a tutoring system to facilitate the integration of newcomers. It also has the possibility of developing policies so that employees participate in improving the quality of life at work. The actions to be taken are not exhaustive. They depend on the realities and needs of each company.

Measuring the impact of HR strategy

This step is essentially based on the objectives previously defined by the marketing team. Based on these objectives, a survey is carried out and the impact of employer branding and HR marketing is analyzed. This way, executives and the marketing team know if the strategy has been successful. If so, they know they are on the right track. Otherwise, they analyze the situation to develop a new strategy by working on the weaknesses of the old action program.