Hardly any other topic has dominated the conversation in human resources like employer branding, particularly in light of a skilled labor shortage in various industries. In the war for labor, salary is not the only factor to win candidates over. Instead, businesses have to communicate their values in a way that appeals to candidates on a more emotional level. How can marketing automation bring your employer branding to the next level?
Employer branding is about giving candidates a feeling for what it is like to work for a company and how this company is a better fit than other employers (e.g. work-life-balance, additional benefits like childcare or social commitment). B2B businesses in particular can benefit from employer branding since candidates are less likely to be familiar with the company than with established B2C brands.
Employer branding does not start with marketing. The employer brand has to find expression in real life. A company that markets itself to candidates with flexibility even though it does not have flexitime regulations will harm its recruiting potential. Authenticity matters. Job rating platforms like kununu expose false promises as just that, which is why employer branding starts at the executive level.
However, marketing automation can assist companies in communicating their employer brand and in improving the candidate experience. This is how:
Cooperation
HR and marketing departments have to collaborate in order to do successful employer branding. This is a lot easier when both departments can use a single platform to manage all communication channels.
Rigor
Career pages, social networks and blogs: the employer brand can be communicated on various touch points. It is important that all touch points complement each other. Moreover, all touch points can be managed in a single application, which simplifies matters greatly.
Insights
Marketing automation allows you to monitor the success of individual touch points easily. The software keeps track of traffic and engagement in real time so that you can tweak individual measures for optimization. Marketing automation technology usually includes social listening features as well. Hence you can listen in to what others are saying about your company and react if necessary.
Responsive
People increasingly look for jobs on their mobile devices. Marketing automation automatically optimizes your pages for mobile access.
Candidate experience
Make sure candidates are not left in the dark. The application process should be uncomplicated and candidates prefer to receive some kind of acknowledgement and status updates. These kind of messages can be generated automatically with the right software. Moreover, candidates research employers before they apply. If they are already registered, marketing automation software can ensure they only see content that is interesting to them. The candidate experience is part of the employer brand and can be optimized using marketing automation software.
