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Module+1_+Employer+Branding_+Transcript

Course

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Ahmed elsayeh
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Module 1: Employer Branding

Module Overview

The first topic, strategic employer branding, begins with the basic brand concepts
which are going to be explained in the context of human resource strategies. In this
lecture on employer branding, we will explore its definition and importance, focusing on
its significance in today's competitive job market. Employer branding is crucial for
differentiation and organisation from its competitors and plays a vital role in attracting
and retaining top talent. So that's the reason why we are going to examine how
marketing communication strategies can shape and promote the employer brand
through various channels such as social media, company websites, job boards, public
relations campaigns, emphasising the importance of consistent messaging and
storytelling across all platforms. During this first lecture, we will delve into the
components of strong employer brand, including core values and culture, the employee
value proposition, and the brand reputation and image. Additionally, we will discuss
strategies for attracting top talent by tailoring messages to target, demographics, and
enhancing candidate experience. The connection between a strong employer brand
and employees retention will be analysed along with internal branding and
engagement initiatives in order to maintain and enhance the employer brand internally.
The strategic importance of employer branding in HR will be highlighted, focusing on
its alignment with overall business and HR strategies, the role of HR in developing and
managing the employer brand, and the metrics and KPIs for measuring the
effectiveness.

We will also review case studies and best practise from leading organisations, address
common challenges and solutions, and explore future trends in employer branding. We
will also review case studies and best practise from leading organisations, address
common challenges and solutions, and explore four future trends in employer branding,
including the impact of digital transformation. This lecture will conclude with a
summary of the strategic importance of employer branding in human resources, the
need for continuous evaluation and refinement of branding efforts, and the importance
of collaboration between HR and marketing departments to sustain a strong employer
brand.

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Basics of Branding

At the very beginning, we're beginning with the basic branding concepts and questions.
The American Marketing Association defines brand as a name, term, sign, symbol, or
design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one
seller or group of sellers, and to differentiate them from those of competitors. The
ultimate purpose of the brand is to create value for customers, the company, and its
collaborators, which goes beyond the value created by the product and service of the
offering. In this slide, we are going to mention a few concepts important for the
general comprehension of branding. These are strategic brand management, value of
brands, brand equity, and brand power. After that, we explain brand elements, what is
the process of building strong brands, and the role of brand value chained, and at the
end of this slide, we are going to understand what is brand identity and brand image.
All these principles of marketing and branding are also valid and crucial for
understanding the role of employer branding. We are beginning with strategic brand
management. Strategic brand management involves the design and implementation of
marketing activities and programmes, aim at building, measuring, and managing
brand value.

This process includes: Identifying and establishing brand positioning, planning and
implementing brand marketing, measuring and interpreting brand performance,
growing and sustaining brand value. So these principles are valid also for employer
branding. Value of Brands. Brands are valuable intangible assets that provide benefits
to customers and firms requiring careful management. In order to understand the key
concept of value of brands, it is important to understand also what are brand equity
and brand power. Brand equity is the premium on a company's valuation due to brand
ownership, reflecting total financial returns over the brand's lifetime. Brand power is the
influence of a brand on consumer behaviour and responses to marketing, showing the
differential effect of brand knowledge. Every brand includes elements such as names,
logos, symbols, motos, and packaging that identify and differentiate the brand.
Effective elements of any brand are memorable, meaningful, likeable, transferable,
adaptable, and protectable. Marketers link brands to other associations in memory that
convey meaning to consumers, such as the company itself, countries, distribution
channels, spokespeople, or third-party sources. This is one of many possibilities to build
strong brand. In order to understand the role of employer branding and to understand
completely the importance of branding employer, It is also important to understand
two more key concepts of branding.

These are brand identity and brand image. These concepts are going to be very
important in understanding the concept of brand value chain, which we are going to

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analyse on the next slide. So brand identity refers to how a company wants to be
perceived by its target audience. It encompasses the visual and verbal elements that
represent the brand, such as logos, colours, typography, tag lines, and overall design
style. Brand identity is created by the company, and it is a strategic effort to convey a
specific message, values, and positioning to the audience. It's some company's
self-image and the promise it makes to consumers. So that's the message which
company sends to Public. Brand image, on the other hand, is how the actual consumers
perceive the brand. It's the Publics perception and interpretation the brand's identity
through their interactions, experiences, and the marketing communications they
encounter. Brand image is shaped by customer experiences, opinions, and word of
mouth. It reflects the audience's emotions and attitudes toward the brand. In summary,
while brand identity is the company's intended projection of itself, brand image is the
reality of how that projection is received and perceived by the audience. A strong
alignment between these concepts indicates effective branding.

Now, when we have finished with basic brand concepts, we can pass to the concept of
an employer branding. Most common brand definitions focus on customers and not on
other stakeholders, such as potential employees who are also influenced by brand
messages. So a brand is essentially a seller's promise to consistently deliver a specific
set of features, benefits, and service to the buyers, and is intended to identify the
goods and services of one seller, and of course, to differentiate them from those of
competitors, quoted by Kotler. However, in the context of employer marketing, the
employer brand is to be understood as the set of distinctive images of a prospective
employer which are manifest in the minds of the target groups. In this case, these are
potential employees. The difficult task for any organisation is to manage the multiple
brands it presents to its various stakeholders. Consumer brands, company brand,
employer brand. Important in this context is the link between the human resource
management function and marketing, and both market and HR specialists need to be
aware of the impact of their actions on each other's branding objectives, and as much
as possible, need to align their efforts.

The employer brand is affected by and may affect all of the other brands of the firm,
and aligning internal beliefs about the firm and external brand messages paramount.
So companies with products brands with low consumer awareness may find it harder to
attract highly-scaled human capital as potential recruits are less aware of the employer.
Similarly, if product brands are seen as an attractive in consumer markets, potential
recruits may have negative associations with the company and so may be reluctant to
consider employment with the organisation. Although organisations traditionally focus
the efforts on branding products and services among the customers, the The principles
of branding can be applied outside the customer-centered spectrum. Departing from
the traditional view of customer-centered brand management, in academic articles,

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there is an implication of the principles of brand management into human resources
and introduction of the interesting around employer branding. For example, King and
Grace introduced the concept of employee-based brand equity, advancing beyond the
traditional customer and financial perspectives of brand equity. This employ-focused
approach emphasises the importance of employees' brand knowledge, treating them as
internal customers, which is crucial for their behaviour and response to competitive
environments. Employees play a key role in delivering the brand promise, especially in
service sectors.

By understanding and internalising their roles and responsibilities related to the brand.
Employer branding and employee-based brand equity are distinct, yet related
concepts. Employer branding targets external stakeholders like job seekers and the
general public, aiming to attract top talent and enhance the organization's reputation
as an employer of choice. In contrast, employee-based brand equity focuses on both
internal and external stakeholders, including employees, customers, and clients, with
the goal of maintaining a consistent brand image and customer experience. Employer
branding helps company attract and retain talented employees and improves their
market positioning. Employee-based brand equity strategies involve aligning
organisational culture with brand values and providing training, promoting brand
advocacy, and empowering employees to deliver exceptional customer experience,
thereby influencing customer-based brand equity.

Brand Value Chain

So now we are going to analyse the role of people and employees in the concept of
brand value chain. The brand value chain is a strategic model designed to understand
how brand value is created and how it impacts overall business performance. This
model, developed by Kevin Lane Keller and Donald Lehmann, breaks down the
processes into four key stages marketing programme investment and we can see here
at the first part of our brand value chain, that employee is one of the marketing
programme investment.

Then we have customer mindset, market performance, and shareholder value. Each
stage is crucial in transforming marketing efforts into financial gains and is influenced
by various factors that can enhance or hinder the value flow. So this is the reason why
we have chosen this concept to present the role and the importance of employee
investment at the very beginning of brand value chain and to see the direct connection
between employees as part of marketing programme investment and the shareholder
value.

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Marketing programme investment is the first stage in the brand value chain. It involves
all the investments made in marketing activities aimed at building brand awareness
and equity. These activities encompass advertising, promotions, sponsorships, public
relations, direct marketing, and social media engagement. The success of this stage
depends on the quality of the marketing programme, how clearly it communicates the
brand's value proposition and its relevance to the target audience. Effective marketing
investments are the foundation for creating a strong brand that resonates with
customers.

The second stage, customer mindset, captures the perceptions, attitudes and
behaviours of customers as a result of the marketing investments. But we have to
remember that employees are the part of marketing programme investment.

Key elements of the second stage include brand awareness, brand associations, brand
attitudes, brand attachment, and brand activity. And this stage reflects how well
customers recognise and recall the brand, the attributes they associate with it, their
overall evaluations, emotional connections, and their level of engagement with the
brand. The effectiveness of customer segmentation and strategic brand positioning
plays a significant role in shaping a positive customer mindset.

Market performance is the market or brand performance is the third stage, measuring
the tangible outcomes of the customer mindset. This includes metrics such as price
premiums, market share, brand expansion, and cost structure. These metrics indicate
how much more customers are willing to pay for the brand compared to competitors,
the brand's share of total market sales, its ability to enter new markets categories, and
efficiency of marketing and operational costs.

The final stage, shareholder Value, assesses the impact of the brand's market
performance on the company's overall financial health. This includes indicators such as
stock price, marketing capitalization, and brand value as an intangible asset. Investor
sentiment and the broader economic environment play critical roles in this stage. A
strong brand can enhance investor confidence and contribute to a higher stock price
and market capitalization, ultimately reflecting the brand's financial worth. So we can
summarise that the Brand value change provides a comprehensive framework for
understanding how marketing efforts translate into customer perceptions, market
performance, and financial returns.

By analysing each stage and the factors influencing them, companies can make
informed decisions to optimise their marketing strategies and maximise brand values.
As we can see in our brand value chain slide, employees are an important investment

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element at the very beginning of this process in the brand value chain, leading us to the
concept of employer branding.

Importance of Employer Branding

In this slide, we are going to analyse the overall importance of employer branding. The
primary importance of employer branding is its powerful influence on the company's
image as an ideal workplace. So Employer branding is used to attract the right people
which are going to be the part of the brand value chain. This branding shapes
reception, making the best company stand out to vote potential and current
employees. It is a strategic tool that not only attracts top talent, but also fosters
employee loyalty and satisfaction. So it is used not only for future talents and future
employees of the company, but it's also very, very important for employees which are
already the part of the company. Therefore, we would like to underline some of the
important employer branding advantages. So we can see on the slide that employer
branding attracts top talent, reduces recruitment costs, boosts employee engagement,
lowers employee turnover, which is very important for each company, enhances
company reputation, increases job application rates, aligns company values with
recruitment and builds a harmonious workplace culture. Now, we are going to mention
some examples of good practise. For example, Marriott Hotel. The key to effective
employer branding in this company is to make sure that the employment experience
you promise to potential employees is one you are already delivering.

Therefore, at Marriott, the global hotel chain, their employer value proposition focuses
on growth and opportunity for its employees. Marriott's human resource practises and
policies are consistently aligned with this employer and brand promise with significant
investment in training and development, global mobility, and career pathing and
promotions. We have a similar situation in company Deloitte. Deloitte, the global
consulting firm, for example, sponsored a film festival that explored how employees
feel about the firm. A panel of internal and external judges evaluated the 372 short
videos entered in the context based on how well they communicated their Deloitte
effectiveness in attracting and retaining the best talent and creativity. This survey
revealed that 75% of respondents showed videos to friends and colleagues outside of
the company, which definitely contributed to the building strong employer brand. At the
end of this slide, we are going to mention the example of Starbucks. A company stands
out with its employer brand that is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion. They
underline that they are on journey to advance racial and social equity for their
partners, employees, their community, and their society. Now we are going to analyse
the components of a strong employer brand.

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In the context of strategic human resource management, a strong employer brand is
built upon several key components that collectively shape how an organisation is
perceived by both current and prospective employees. One of the fundamental
elements is the clear communication and consistent demonstration of core values and
company culture. These values define what the organisation stands for and serve as
guiding principles for behaviour and decision making within the company. When
effectively communicated, core values create a sense of purpose and belonging among
employees, aligning their personal goals with the company's mission. For example,
companies like Zepos and Patagonia are known for their strong culture, centre on
customer service and environmental sustainability. The way these values are lived out
daily and communicated through various channels, significantly enhances the employer
brand. Another critical component of a strong employer brand is a reputation and
image, which are shaped by public perception and feedback from both current and
former employees. In today's digital age, platforms like LinkedIn and other ones
provide employees with the opportunity to share their experience, both positive and
negative, of course, with a global audience. Companies' reputation is not solely based
on marketing efforts, but also on authentic employee testimonials and word-of-mouth
marketing.

Companies with a positive work environment and fair practises tend to receive
favourable reviews which can attract top talent, the first importance of employer
branding. Therefore, actively managing and responding to employee feedback is
crucial in maintaining a positive brand reputation. Brand reputation and image are also
influenced by the company's visibility and activities in the broader community.
Public-related efforts, corporate social responsibility, initiatives, and media coverage
play significant roles in shaping the public's the conception of the company.
Organisations that are seen as socially responsible, innovative, and employee centering
tend to develop a strong, positive employer brand. For instance, Google's reputation as
an excellent employer is bolstered by its innovative work culture, extensive employee
benefits, and commitment to sustainability. Maintaining strong employer brand thus
requires a holistic approach that encompasses internal practises, external
communications, and active engagement with both employees and the wider
community. Understanding the concepts of branding and employer branding in HR
campaigns and other segments of business activities requires a comprehensive grasp
of the integrated marketing concept. At the very beginning, we will mention some of
the important definitions of integrated marketing concept.

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Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

So the term integrated marketing communications was first coined in the 1990s and
captured the need for marketers to coordinate the communications better both across
their different audiences or stakeholder groups and their communications channels and
promotional tools.

Organisations may have worked with a number of specialist creative agencies or


intermediaries for different elements of their promotional mix, including advertising,
direct mailings, public relations and sponsorships, while customer service
communications were handled by another part of the organisation.

Integrated marketing communication is about ensuring that all of these elements are
joined up and present a unified positioning and image across all communications, both
internal and external. This is the reason why it's important for us to understand the role
of integrated marketing communications in the process of employer branding and their
role in the strategic human resource management. The first definition given by Kotler
and Keller says that integrated marketing communication is the coordination and
integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues and sources within a
company into a seamless programme designed to maximise the impact on customers
and other stakeholders.

The second definition underlines the fact that integrated marketing communications
involves coordinating the various promotional elements and other marketing activities
that communicate with the firm's customers to present a consistent image and
message. The third one says integrated marketing communication is a strategic
business process used to plan, develop, execute and evaluate coordinated, measurable,
persuasive brand communication programmes over time with consumers, customers,
prospects, employees, associates and other targeted, relevant, external and internal
audience. So, as we can see, every kind of communication is important.

As we can see, definitions of integrated marketing communications have been built


around two key elements, the role of multiple communication, Waitrose and the need
for consistency in message delivery. In the centre of these explanations is the idea of
planning. Even though some definitions have analysed IMC in terms of customer
relationships, our opinion is that it's then that in its core is planning with the aim of
delivering a consistent message. To effectively implement integrated marketing
communications, it is critical to understand the roles of advertising and promotion in
the marketing communication mix. The promotional mix or communication mix is a key

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part of the marketing mix, also known as the four Ps of marketing, which refers to the
four key elements of marketing product, price, place and promotion.

Promotional activities may be targeted at the entire market, mass communication


techniques, or at individuals. Direct Marketing the overall range of promotional
activities includes various advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct
marketing, and personal selling. It is important that the communication tools within the
company's chosen mix are integrated to deliver a clear, consistent, credible and
competitive message about the organisation and its products.

The promotional mix of the company must also be carefully blended with the other
elements in the marketing mix. It is imperative that all firms adopt a systematic and
planned approach towards marketing communications. The process includes
consideration of the company's marketing and positioning strategy, identifying the
target audience, setting communication objectives, creating the message, selecting the
promotional, also known as communication mix, setting the promotional budget, and
executing and evaluating an integrated marketing communication strategy. The same
rules are valid for the employer branding process, so integrated marketing
communication plays a pivotal role in employer branding by ensuring that all
messaging and communication strategies are harmonised and aligned with the
organization's values and goals. Through imc, companies can create a consistent and
compelling narrative about their workplace culture, employee value proposition which
is going to be explained later during the course and overall brand identity.

This consistency is crucial in building a strong employer brand as it helps potential


employees form a clear and positive perception of the organisation by using a
coordinating approach across various elements of communication mix and
communication channels such as social media, company website, job boards and public
relations campaigns. Integrated marketing communication ensure that the employer
brand reaches and resonates with the target audience effectively. Moreover, IMC
integrated marketing communications helps in reinforcing the employer brand
internally among current employees, fostering a sense of pride and alignment with the
company's mission and values. Internal branding efforts supported by IMC ensure that
employees understand and believe in the brand, which can enhance engagement and
retention. By delivering a unified message.

Through internal communications, training programmes and corporate events, IMC


creates a cohesive brand experience that employees can advocate for. This internal
alignment not only strengthens the employer brand but also turns employees into brand
ambassadors, further amplifying the brand message externally. Overall, IMC is integral

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to creating and sustaining a strong employer brand that attracts, engages and retains
top talents.

Ship and Andrews discuss the role of integrated marketing communication in employer
branding as a CR critical strategy to create a cohesive and consistent message about
the company's identity and values. Here are some key points from their perspectives on
integrated marketing communications in employer branding. As we can see in our slide,
the first concept is cohesive messaging. Cohesive messaging it is important in order
that IMC ensure that all communication channels convey a unified message about the
employer brand, so the message has to be uniform. This includes internal
communications to employees and external communications to potential recruits.

The consistent use of brand messages across various platforms helps build a strong,
recognisable employer brand. The second factor, the second key concept is strategic
integration.

IMC integrates various communication tools such as advertising, public relations, direct
marketing and personal selling. This integration helps in creating a holistic employer
brand strategy that resonates with both current employees and potential candidates.

After that, we have the third key concept according to these authors, which is Building
brand equity by employing imc, organisations can effectively manage their brand
equity. This involves creating a positive brand image and reputation that can attract
and retain top talent. A strong employer brand is seen as a valuable asset that
contributes to the overall brand equity of the company.

The next one is engaging stakeholders. IMC helps engage both internal and external
stakeholders through coordinating communication efforts. For employees, it fosters a
sense of belonging and loyalty, have four potential recruits. It provides a clear and
attractive image of what it's like to work for the company. At the end, it is very
important to measure and evaluate this process, and Chimp and Andrews emphasise
the importance of measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of IMC campaigns.

And for employer branding, this means tracking metrics such as employee retention
rates, job application rates, and overall employee satisfaction.

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Talent Acquisition and Retention

We have already mentioned a few times that one of the most important aspects of
employer branding is attracting top talents. The concept of employer branding plays a
pivotal role also in talent acquisition, as discussed by many articles academic articles
such as Backhouse and Tico. Their work, for example, highlights the importance of
creating a strong employer brand that resonates with potential employees, making the
organisation an attractive place to work. Employer branding not only helps in attracting
top talent but also in retaining them by aligning the brand values with employee
expectations experiences. This alignment fosters a sense of belonging and loyalty
among employees, thereby enhancing their commitment to the organisation.

Lymans and Slaughter in their work delve deeper into how tailored messages and
candidate experience impact employer branding. They emphasise that in today's
competitive job market it is crucial for organisations to craft messages that are
specifically targeted towards different demographic groups such as Millennials or
industry specific talent, which is going to be analysed in detail in the next lecture. This
targeted approach ensures that the employer brand is appealing and relevant to the
intended audience. Moreover, the candidate experience from the initial contact through
the hiring process significantly shapes the perception of the employer brand. A positive
candidate experience can enhance the employer brand, making the organisation more
attractive to top talent.

Academic research has explored the impact of recruitment strategies and candidate
experience on employer branding. For example, Ellen and colleagues focus on the
visual and verbal elements of recruitment websites, finding that these elements greatly
influence candidate attraction and their intentions to pursue employment. These
articles emphasise the need for a consistent and positive candidate experience. They
suggest that organisations should prioritise creating a seamless and engaging
recruitment process to build a strong employer brand. This includes providing clear and
compelling information about the organization's value, values, culture and
opportunities which can significantly enhance the overall perception and the
attractiveness of the employer brand.

Retention of Top Talent Once the top talent were accepted, it is important for the
company to retain them. The retention of top talent is a crucial aspect of employer

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branding as it could directly impact an organization's ability to sustain high
performance and competitive advantage.

A strong employer brand creates a positive perception of the organisation both


internally and externally. So it is very important not only for future workers, for future
employees, but also it is very rather important for employees which already work for
the company.

A strong employer brand foster a sense of pride and loyalty among employees. When
employees identify with the organization's value and culture, they are more likely to
stay and contribute to its long term success. The emotional connection between the
employee and the employer reinforced by a competing employer brand can
significantly reduce turnover rates and the associate costs of recruiting and training
new staff, internal branding and employee engagement are essential components of a
strong brand that supports retention.

Internal branding involves communicating the employer brand consistently with the
organisation, ensuring that employees understand and embody the brand's values and
mission. This can be achieved through regular communication, training programmes,
and leadership that models the desired behaviours.

Engaged employees are those who feel valued and connected to their work and the
organisation. They are more productive. They are motivated and likely to remain with
the company, which is the essential part of the retention of the top talents. By fostering
a culture of engagement, organisations can ensure that employees not only stay longer
but also perform at their best, which is the second part of this aspect of employer
branding.

To maintain and enhance the employer brand internally, organisation must implement
targeted programmes and initiatives. These can include professional development
opportunities, recognitions and reward systems, and initiatives that promote work life
balance. Providing clear career paths and opportunities for growth can help employees
see a future within the organisation, further strengthening their commitment.

Additionally, gathering regular feedback through surveys and focus groups can help
identify areas of improvement and ensure that the employer brand remains relevant
and compelling. By continuously investing in and refining the employer brand,
organisations can create a supportive and engaging work environment that attracts
and retains top talent, ultimately driving sustained success.

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Strategic Importance in HR

Step by step, we have arrived at a point in which we are going to analyse the strategic
importance in human resource management.

The strategic alignment of employer branding with overall business and HR strategy is
rather important for organisational success.

Employer branding should not be an isolated initiative but integrated into the core
objectives and values of the company.

When employer branding is in harmony with the business strategy, it helps attract and
retain talent that is aligned with the company's mission and goals, thereby enhancing
overall performance.

For example, a tech company aiming to be a leader in innovation must ensure its
employer brand reflects a culture of creativity and continuous improvement. This
strategic alignment ensures that the organization's brand promise is consistent both
internally and externally, fostering that fostering trust and loyalty among employees
and customers alike.

The human resource department plays a crucial role in developing and managing the
employer brand. Human resource professionals are responsible for crafting and
communicating the employee value proposition, which outlines the unique benefits and
experience the organisation offers its employees.

This involves collaborating with marketing and leadership to ensure that employer
brand is consistently portrayed across all touch points, from recruitment materials to
internal communications. Human resources also oversees initiatives that reinforce the
employer brand, such as onboarding programmes, professional development
opportunities, and employee engagement activities. By actively managing the
employer brand, human resources can help create a positive work environment that
attracts top talent and reduces turnover. On the other hand, all the initiatives should be
communicated regularly and across the right channels. That is the reason why in this
course, we analyse the role of marketing communications in strategic human resource
management.

Measuring the effectiveness of employer branding initiatives requires specific metrics


and key performance indicators.

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Some of the most commonly used metrics include employee retention rates, employee
satisfaction scores, and the quality of hires.

Additionally, tracking the number of job applicants, the speed of the hiring process, and
the cost per hire can provide insights into the brand's attractiveness to potential
employees. Academic articles such as those by Backhouse and Ticho and Moseley
emphasised the importance of these metrics in evaluating the impact of employer
branding. So these are some of the ways how we can measure the effectiveness of
employer branding.

These articles suggest using tools like employee survives, exit interviews, and brand
perception studies to gather data. By analysing these metrics, organisations assess the
effectiveness of their employer branding efforts and make informed decisions to
enhance their strategies, ensuring alignment with their overall business and HR
objectives.

Best Practices and Case Studies

Now we can analyse some of the best practises in employer brandings and some new
trends in this process.

Examining successful employer branding campaigns from leading organisations


provides valuable insights into best practises and strategies.

For instance, Google's employer branding efforts are renewed for creating a workplace
culture that emphasise innovation, inclusivity and employee well being. Their use of
employee testimonials, engaging career pages, and social media presence effectively
communicate their values and work environment. Another example is Starbucks, which
emphasise its commitment to social responsibility and employee benefits, creating a
strong sense of community and purpose among its workforce. Best practises for
integrated marketing communications with HR strategies include consistent messaging
across all channels, leveraging employee advocacy, and maintaining an authentic
brand narrative. These practises ensure that the employer brand resonates with both
current and potential employees, fostering loyalty and attracting top talents.

Creating and maintaining a strong employer brand comes with its challenges. Common
issues include addressing negative reviews on platforms like Glassdoor, aligning

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internal and external messaging, and keeping the brand relevant in a rapidly changing
market.

To overcome these challenges, organisations can implement several strategies.


Addressing negative feedback transparently and constructively can help improve public
perception and demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement.

Ensuring that internal communications reflect the same values and promises as
external marketing efforts helps maintain consistency and authenticity. Regularly
updating the employer brand to reflect changes in the company culture, market trends,
and employee expectations is also crucial. These solutions help organisations build a
resilient employer brand that can adapt to challenges and maintain its strength over
time.

Emerging trends and technologies are significantly shaping the future of employer
branding. Digital transformation has introduced new tools and platforms for
communicating the employer brand such as AI driven recruitment marketing, virtual
reality office tours, and data analytics for measuring brand effectiveness.
Personalization of the candidate experience is becoming increasingly important. Which
companies use targeted content to attract specific talent pools.

Additionally, the focus on diversity, equity and inclusion is influencing employer


branding strategies. As organisations strive to create more inclusive workplaces, they
stay ahead. To stay ahead, companies must anticipate future needs by continuously
evaluating their employer branding efforts and adapting to new trends and
technologies.

This proactive approach ensures that the employer brand remains relevant and
competing in a dynamic job market.

In conclusion, employer branding is a strategic imperative in HR that plays a vital role


in attracting and retaining top talent. It requires a continuous process of evaluation
and refinement to stay aligned with the overall business strategy and market trends.
Successful employee employer branding integrates marketing communications and
human resource strategies, addressing challenges with transparency and consistency.
By leveraging best practises and anticipating future trends, organisations can maintain
a strong employer brand that supports their long term goals.

A collaborative approach between HR and marketing departments is essential for


sustaining an authentic and engaging employer brand that resonates with both current
and potential employees, ultimately contributing to the organization's success. Now we

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are going to analyse some of the new trends in employer branding which we consider
important for understanding this HR concept.

The new trends in investigation around employer branding include the following themes
Social media, career and corporate recruitment websites, Nvidia recruitment, gamified
employer branding and artificial intelligence.

In the most recent studies emerged also the Green Human Resource Management
applied to corporate social, social responsibility and environmental management the
impact of employer branding on diversity and the infusion of disadvantaged groups
and the impact of Coronavirus pandemic.

Probably the most popular new topic related to employer branding is the use of social
media.

Russell was the first to mention the consequences of Web 2.0 and social media
impacting the employer brand. More recently, Petra suggested the importance of
digital employer branding for attractive, motivating and retaining talents. In
accordance with authors, today's business environment is shaped by five digital forces
such as social media, mobile, including gamification, analytics, cloud computing and
robotic automation.

Accordingly, the digital platforms bring a widespread chain to the way how form firms
operate and interact with their different stakeholders, especially with customers and
employees. On the other side, Duncan et al. Investigate online employee brand
engagement and social media interaction to determine whether there were significant
differences between the words used by employees who rated their employer brand
highly and those of employees who rated their employer brands as low. Their results
show that employees who rate their employer brands highly write with what sounds to
be more authenticity.

Similarly, Robertson at Collex explored the brand personalities that employees are
creating of their employer brands, in particular business to business brands. When
describing these brands on social media, the authors examined how the brand
personalities based on written online reviews differ between high and low ranking and
high and low rated brands. More recently, Magan Tata addressed the need for research
on social media in relation to employer branding and emphasised the importance of
building employee to employee and employed to employer relationships by social
media in the context of employer branding. These authors investigated the
competitiveness of employees in relation to responsible use of social media and the
impact of those competencies on online brand citizenship behaviour and violation of

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psychological contract unwritten beliefs that employees hold in relation to their
employer's brand's obligations towards them. The empirical study conducted among UK
service employees concluded that social media competence does not directly increase
employee online brand citizenship, but it decreases feelings of psychological contract
violation.

Accordingly, the authors suggested that the ability to avoid harmful media usage by
employees is favourable towards their co worker connections and the employer brand's
reputation. On the other side, Kepler and Ramphal examine the advantages of social
media in public employer branding and indicated that targeting is crucial for public
employer branding in the digital context as it enhances the organisation and help it to
attract qualified specialists. In accordance with the authors, social media platforms
offer a possibility to use micro segmentation. Targeting is not limited to age, gender or
region, but can be developed based on their qualified depending on the social media
platform used. Boundrog at colleagues and Olives, Luhan and Van Duck wondered what
was the future of employee branding through social media.

Now, more than 10 years later, the role of social media in targeting of audience for
recruitment and as a way for in as a way of communication is undeniable. So we saw
some of the most important academic articles which underline the role of social media
in employer branding.

The second trend we are going to analyse is recruitment websites and electronic human
resource management.

Corporate recruitment websites are perceived as an effective tool that organisations


can use to position themselves as employers of choice through the design and
communication of employer branding strategies. For example, Gandhi and Meshviri
examined the role of organisational websites for employer brand development and
particularly depicted the importance attributed around the utilisation of career
websites in promoting the employer brand by the human resource across the banking
sector.

Potential applicants have propensity to critically examine employment related


information provided on career websites to determine organisational attractiveness,
but despite being the most usual channel and employee touchpoint recently, online
recruitment has not yet positioned itself as the primary recruitment method. According
to the conducted quality study, some managers appeared worried that the actual
career website is not very effective in communicating the employer brand.

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Honest communication of the employer brand on the career website was
recommended, while the overall websites were suggested to be more interactive. As it
comes to the organisation candidate interaction, the nature of information accessible
on organisation websites and career web pages has a strong impact on potential
applicants perceived person organisation fit and person job.

Therefore it can impact the intention to apply.

The third trend we are going to analyse and mention according to scientific and
academic articles and some of them were quoted here directly. Gamification according
to Keppler and colleagues opened the door to a new discussion claiming that one
promising approach to employer branding in the digital age is to gamify companies
employer branding activities by games, for example digital games with an educational
purpose.

These mentioned authors claim that both games and employer branding share the key
characteristic of facilitating learning to create knowledge and proposed a conceptual
framework building on learning based extension of the effective event theory to
advance the understanding of gamifying employer branding in the digitised economy.

In accordance with the proposed framework, gaming results with cognitive and
effective learning and produces employer branding outcomes, employer brand
knowledge and interaction. In this approach, learning constitutes the link between
games and employer branding and causes a change in behaviour due to the certain
experience or stimuli. Consequently, games can influence the different components of
of the learning process in a gamified employer branding context and represent a novel
way of building employer brand knowledge for an increasingly digitised workforce.

At the end, the fourth trend in employer trending we are going to mention here is
artificial intelligence. Considering the most recent studies Navas discussed on aim
inference in human resource management, especially in the recruitment process, the
study aimed to know how artificial intelligence is changing human involvement in the
recruitment process in selected software companies. The results of quantitative study
revealed that artificial intelligence has a positive impact on human replacement in the
recruitment process and will lead to fairness in the process.

Based on the recent progresses and new applications of machine learning and deep
learning, it might be suspected that application of artificial intelligence into employer
branding will generate further interest both from practitioners as well as from
academics.

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More recently, Keurig investigating the progressive automation of personal processes
to show what solutions based on AE are used to automate personal processes and
implement the digital employee branding.

He also have noticed that although the use of automation is necessary to ensure
organisational effectiveness, most of employers still struggle with its practical
implementation. Still, the recent developments and the impact of COVID 19 pandemic
have accelerated its employment. Mostly the organisations that eager to work with
generation must watch those new technologies applications that seem to be more
natural and obvious solutions in the eyes of younger employees. Those new trends offer
many opportunities for further study, not only in human resource management but also
in marketing.

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