Talent Branding. It’s Not PR!
Struggling in getting quality candidates and retaining talent? Do you feel PR is the solution to your talent problem? Sadly, NO.
First of all, if you’re looking for a magic wand that will make your talent problems go away, it’s not going to happen. The harsh truth is PR is just one tool in a toolbox that you need to use together with other tools to attract talent. You can’t just wave a PR wand and expect everything to be fixed!
In this article, we look at the steps you as an organization can take to audit, discover the truth behind your talent brand, how to transform it and then distribute it through PR.
Table of Contents
Audit Your Talent Brand Today
Do you know what your talent is looking for?
Now, you may wonder:
- What is company culture?
- How do you communicate your company culture?
- What are the benefits of communicating your company culture?
Let’s begin with this: do you have an employee value proposition (EVP) for your organization? If not, that’s the best place to start. It is the one document that captures the values – explicit and implicit – that your firm stands for.
If you do have one, review how best it encapsulates the culture pulse of your organization. The best EVPs spell out the culture pillars of your company that encourages potential candidates to apply or makes employees of other companies envious. Think Google, Netflix, Meta back in the day.
What happens when you have a great culture but are not communicating enough for the world to know or the talent that matters to be aware? You lose out on attracting good talent.
The first step to building a brand that attracts talent is discovering what talent is looking for and what you have to offer them. Audit your talent brand and craft an EVP if you haven’t already.
The next step is distributing it through several channels as we will see next.
What roles does PR play in talent branding?
PR helps in distribution of the truth about your employer brand. It is one of the mechanisms to convey the story of your employees.
PR helps companies to do that in a way that’s more effective than any other means. In fact, it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to attract and retain talent—and not just because you’ll get people talking about your brand on social media or through reviews on Glassdoor.
It also gives them something tangible to remember about their experience working with you, which makes them it more relatable & authentic for talent.
Do you understand the impact PR can have on your hiring process?
PR is not just printing the news of what companies you have acquired, or who has joined the leadership team. It’s also about the perception you create of your brand. This can have far -reaching consequences for your talent acquisition team, both inside and outside your industry.
This can be a good thing if you want to attract talent, but it’s important to understand that PR isn’t just about getting press—it’s also about building a positive reputation as an employer.
When people see that your company has been featured in publications like YourStory, Forbes or TechCrunch, they’re more likely to trust what they read when deciding whether or not they want to work at your organization.
If the company they want to work for is invested in creating a brand, they stand to benefit too.
What are you doing to develop a positive reputation as an employer?
Employee branding is a strategic approach to building a positive reputation as an employer. It’s not just about the company, it’s about the employee experience.
It is not just what you say you do, it’s also what you do in reality. Talent branding isn’t just about your marketing strategy or social media presence; this is about how people perceive your business and interact with it in person and online.
Employer branding should go beyond merely posting job openings on social media platforms—it should also include things like: training opportunities for employees (especially if they’re new), hiring events where candidates can meet with managers face-to-face outside of work hours; promotions that recognize great work by employees (like bonus payouts); recognition programs that reward employees who make an impact at work.
Are you encouraging your micro influencers – your employees – to genuinely share their views about how they consider you as an employer on social and other channels?
Are you empowering them to talk about it or limiting the channels where they can be open, authentic, and objective?
How are you communicating directly with your talent community?
In order to communicate directly with your talent community, you must first understand how they’re communicating.
- Social media is an important way that many of your employees will be engaging with your company and with each other. The best way to use social media is by using the right channels at the right time—and this means knowing who is interested in what content, when it’s most effective for engagement and how much time people spend on each platform.
- Video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro X can help organizations create compelling videos that engage audiences while also showing off their personalities or brand values through visual storytelling techniques like storyboarding (the process of creating a script before shooting).
When press gets wind of the buzz because of the concerted genuine employees’ activity, it is bound to become news. Encourage your employees to become creators.
Why does all of this matter?
There are many reasons why PR is such an important part of your talent strategy. Here are some:
- It can help attract and retain talent
- It can help build your employer brand
- It can help communicate your company culture, including how you’re different from other companies in the same industry or niche (e.g., if you have a strong emphasis on employee wellbeing)
Can a PR agency build your talent brand?
Again, sadly no. PR is a small part of the talent branding puzzle in creating buzz around the culture, trends, and thought leadership. It is a part of your solution (not the only one):
Recruitment is a challenge for most companies. In fact, according to the latest research by LinkedIn Talent Solutions, the average time spent on hiring and onboarding a new employee is 12 months. That’s because it takes time and effort to attract talent, onboard them effectively and keep them engaged at work.
By getting your message out there in the right places and with the right content (more on this later), you can help yourself attract top talent who are looking for new opportunities—and then keep them around longer!
Conclusion
If you’re not sure if PR is right for your business or organization, it’s crucial to get out of your comfort zone and experiment. There are plenty of resources out there to help you find the answers you need about how PR can help solve your talent problem.
With the right mix of communication techniques and talent branding strategies, we can work with you to attract the best candidates who will make your company a success.