Tag: Branding

Building a Strong Company Blog By Including Employees as Authors

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_08Including your employees as authors on your company blog helps to build a stronger company culture. The different voices that your employees have to offer also provide your blog with a wider perspective and range of writing styles. According to Marketeer, corporate blogs with 15 posts per month generate an average of 1,200 new leads [1]. Allowing more people to participate in blog authorship can expand your reach even more.

Offering a New Perspective

Each employee in your company offers a new perspective on what it means to be a member of the organization. Writing from the same perspective all of the time can be boring to your audience. If every blog is written by the CEO, your readers will have no way to know what the rest of the people think. Allowing different employees to author blog posts shows that you value every member of your company equally. Including various employees at different levels of your company also demonstrates that every person’s voice is respected.

Exploring How Employees Joined Your Company

Companies often seem like impersonal, huge entities to the public. Including employees as authors on the company blog provides a more personal view of what happens in your company. Employees can explore their career history and how they came to be a member of your business. Each person’s career takes a different path, and this sort of biography can be fascinating for your loyal customers and business partners to read. This information also shows how your employees have the skills and experience to do their jobs.

Highlighting Employee Work

While the general public and even the other workers at your company know what the CEO, CFO and COO of your company do, they might not have a good idea of what your business analysts, customer support staff or human relations coordinators do on a daily basis. Allowing your employees to write blog posts about how they contribute to your organization highlights the fact that your company would not be what it is without everyone there working together to help the entire business succeed.
[1] http://marketeer.kapost.com/corporate-blogging-stats/

How Managing Your Organization’s Online Reputation Attracts Better Talent

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_30On a daily basis, one of your customers, employees, or potential job recruits is posting something about your company on the Web or a social media platform. Although the comments may not be accurate, everything that is written online contributes to the public’s opinion of your organization. The novel aspect of social media is their conversational tone: Knowledge sharing takes place through processes including discussion with questions and answers (online forums), collaborative editing (wikis) or storytelling with reactions (blogs) [1]. While you can’t control what customers or potential job candidates say, your organization can respond to posts online.

Many organizations have a social media specialist that is tasked with managing the company’s brand and reputation. This includes responding to online customer complaints, providing factual information when inaccurate information is online, and extending resolutions to unhappy customers.

Potential job candidates often search for reviews online before they make a decision about a job offer. Social media can be a positive tool for your company’s reputation if managed properly.

Enlist your current employees to be brand ambassadors. It is not necessary to forbid employees from posting on social media about your organization; simply providing some guidelines to your workforce can significantly improve what they post online. It is possible to respect their rights while requiring them to protect the reputation of your company.

The top talent has numerous job opportunities available to them. Competition is stiff, so your online reputation can encourage them to join your organization or not to join.

One powerful tool online is employee reviews. People truly take the time to read a credible review. If there are numerous negative reviews by customers, employees, and others, this is a red flag for a potential job recruit. If everyone is saying the same thing, something is probably wrong within your organization.

Being an employer who engages your employees, satisfies your customers, and creates a good corporate culture is the best protection of your online reputation. Top talent will definitely be attracted to a company that has a positive online reputation.

 

[1] https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/managingsocialmedia.aspx

 

How Proactive Branding and HR Teams Build Employee Loyalty

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

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Reputation management is an essential part of what human resources and marketing managers must do in order to build great teams and maintain employee loyalty. An organization’s reputation affects how potential applicants view the firm. Reputations also have an effect on how people working for the company feel about their employers. According to a recent Glassdoor survey, 84 percent of survey participants would consider leaving their current company if another company with an excellent reputation offered them a job [1]. By taking the time to proactively brand your organization and build strong human resources teams, you can help to build loyalty within your organization.

Daily Experiences in the Organization

A big part of proactive branding is ensuring that an employee’s daily experiences are positive. Your human resources teams will need to set the tone for the culture. When a company’s values are in line with the individual employee’s values, he or she is more likely to have a positive experience at work every day. Proactive branding at work should be included in the mission and vision statements as well as workplace policies. One positive branding message could be, “To treat every person with respect.” This sort of positive messaging is actionable and inclusive.

Focusing on Improvement

Admitting that your organization could use improvement is a great step in proactive branding. Working on improving how your organization does things gives every person a goal to work toward. Because improvement never stops, the idea that there is more to be done motivates employees to stay on at your organization. As employees see that work they are doing is improving your company, they will maintain their loyalty to your brand.

Integrating Brand and Business Strategy

Proactive branding should be intertwined with your overall business strategy. This means doing some brand research to see what people inside and outside of your organization think. The way that the top talent outside of your organization feels about you will have direct impact on who applies for jobs and who wants to initiate business relationships. Allowing your employees the ability to anonymously make comments about the business culture will help to build loyalty. Your organization can use that information to work toward maximizing internal resources and keeping your most talented employees on staff.

 

[1] http://www.careerarc.com/blog/2016/01/13-recruiting-stats-hr-pro-must-know-2016/

Refining Your Brand Mission to Improve Morale and Productivity

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_27When your organization could use a boost in morale and productivity, one way to do so is to redefine your brand mission. Every brand should have a mission, vision and goals. While these are typically developed at the same time as the product or near its release, you can redefine them at any time. Redefining your brand mission takes a team effort, but the results are well worth it in the end.

Defining Your Brand’s Mission

According to this article, it is easier to redefine your brand’s mission once your vision and goals are clear and established [1]. Your brand’s mission is the how-to guide for advancing your goals and vision. The best time to redefine your brand’s mission is when there is only slow or halting progress toward your overall goals. Low morale and poor productivity are often symptoms of slow goal achievement. A better how-to guide can inspire your staff to get working again toward your organization’s goals.

Including the Four Key Components

Your brand’s redefined mission should be able to inspire your staff and encourage them to make positive progress toward organizational goals. The mission statement must also be reasonable and plausible as a “smart” objective. Dave Smith from Inc.com explains that there are four key components to your brand’s redefined mission statement [2]. These components include value, inspiration, plausibility and specificity. Each of these ideas should revolve around your brand’s key theme.

Creating a Clearly Redefined Brand Mission

A redefined mission statement should ideally be a single sentence that every member of your staff can learn by heart. In the best of all worlds, you company’s mission statement could double as the product’s slogan. The statement should be memorable and effective, leading back to your roots as to why you developed the brand in the first place. If you choose a short-term mission statement, redefining it will need to be a regular part of your work. This is because the improved morale and productivity will allow you to achieve the goals as stated in the mission. A long-term mission statement will need to use language that allows for organizational growth.

[1] http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/brand_innovation/amon_rappaport/how_define_%E2%80%93_align_%E2%80%93_your_brands_purpose_vision_missi

[2] http://www.inc.com/ss/5-tips-on-developing-an-effective-mission-statement

Benefits Packages That Attract Members of the Millennial Generation

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_10In order to attract top-tier candidates for key employment positions, a comprehensive benefits package is integral. However, Millennial candidates may require benefits that are far different from their Baby Boomer counterparts. By understanding what benefits appeal most to the Millennial generation, businesses can put together attractive packages designed to bring in the best talent.

Flexible Hours

In decades past, employees wanted a better work-life balance. Today, it is more about work and life integration, something made possible through flexible hours. Kate Taylor of Forbes writes, “45 percent of Millennials will choose workplace flexibility over pay [1].” Many Millennials would rather take control over their work schedules than be required to clock in and out at the same time each day.

Cash Bonuses

An extensive report by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers reveals that on a global scale, one of the most important benefits to Millennials in the workplace is a cash bonus [2]. Increasingly, Millennials have very little in terms of emergency savings, so a cash bonus can be an important benefit. MarketWatch highlights that up to 34 percent of millennials don’t have any money in their savings accounts at all, indicating a preference or necessity to live monthly or weekly from their checking accounts [3]. Therefore, a cash bonus can provide much-needed financial stability to Millennials.

Ongoing Training and Development

According to Business.com, one of the most attractive benefits for Millennials is ongoing training and development [4]. Many Millennials are not content to simply secure a position; they also want to excel, learn more and be mentored by their superiors. By offering training programs in new areas of the industry or in developing technologies, your business might become more attractive to Millennial candidates.

Flexibility, personal advancement and cold-hard cash come in as three of the top benefits desired by Millennials. This may come as a surprise to HR managers and recruiters who are used to emphasizing health plans and pensions to an older generation of potential hires.

 

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/katetaylor/2013/08/23/why-millennials-are-ending-the-9-to-5/#6c7365733d75

[2] http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends

[3] http://www.marketwatch.com/story/most-americans-have-less-than-1000-in-savings-2015-10-06

[4] http://www.business.com/company-culture/how-are-companies-changing-their-culture-to-attract-and-retain-millennials/

How to Get Employees Excited About Your Company’s Brand Image

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_29Forbes reminds businesses that strong brands aren’t created exclusively in the marketing department [1]. Instead, every employee in the company contributes to its brand and image. Having employees who fulfill their contractual obligations is a far cry from employees who act as brand ambassadors even when they are off the clock. These suggestions help get employees excited about your company’s brand image.

Involving Employees in Social Media Campaigns

Employees have a unique and credible position in social media. Unlike executives or owners, who the public may believe have an agenda, employees can feel like a more realistic, friendly and legitimate source of information. That’s why it is so important to have employees feel free to contribute to and participate in social media campaigns. At Nokia, for example, employees are encouraged to talk about the brand on personal social media, and they have the freedom to give their honest opinions [2]. Social media expert Jenny Kuglin also suggests having staff take photos at work, during holiday parties or whenever something exciting happens involving the brand [3]. Using these photos on social media is a captivating way to show the genuine side of the brand, and it also excites the employee who took the picture.

Give Employees Product or Service Discounts and Perks

Small Business Trends pinpoints one of the key ways to generate interest in a brand: provide employees with discounts to offer friends and family [4]. This makes employees feel like an insider with valuable information, which in turn makes them more likely to speak positively about the brand. Those who receive the discount will have a better overall experience to know they got a deal, which keeps the positive momentum going.

Recognize Their Efforts

Turning employees into brand ambassadors and making them feel genuinely excited about the brand is not an easy task. When it does happen, reinforce what a great thing it is by recognizing the employee. According to Entrepreneur, this could be as simple as commemorative shirts for staff or a mention at a meeting if someone gets positive attention for the brand on social media [5].

Together, these tips can be integral in getting employees excited about your company’s brand.

 

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2013/10/08/three-steps-for-transforming-employees-into-brand-ambassadors/

[2] http://linkhumans.com/blog/how-nokia-employees-brand-ambassadors

[3] https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/expand-your-online-branding/

[4] http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/09/turning-employees-into-brand-champions.html

[5] http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241560

Best Practices for Branding Your Company

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_02The way your brand speaks to others can have a great impact on the success of your company. According to LinkedIn’s 2015 Global Recruiting Trends Survey, 56% of 4,125 global talent leaders in 31 countries surveyed for said they believe cultivating their employer brand is a top priority [1]. Good branding takes a lot of thought, hard work, and the consolidation of resources. Here, we will discuss some of the best branding practices that can help your company find its unique identity in a competitive market.

Purpose of Your Brand

Before you get into the intricacies of branding, start with the fundamentals. One of the most important steps is defining the purpose of your brand. While you are still in the discovery phase, ask yourself some questions. What kind of impact do you want your business to have on others? What ideals does your company value? Who is your target market? What goals do you want to achieve in your company’s future?

Developing Your Brand

Now you are ready to build your brand. Understanding your target market and knowing what they want is key to developing your brand. From there, focus on your brand identity. Find out what separates your company from the rest, and once you have that figured out, focus all of your attention on building up from there. After you have developed your brand, you need to exert your passion and energy into preserving your brand long term. Keeping your brand consistent will keep your brand memorable and your customers happy.

Marketing Your Brand

Now that your brand has been established, you need to communicate your brand to the public. This can be done in the form of business cards, websites, and even social media. Establish your presence on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. Further your brand through other channels such as physical networking. Create partnerships and referral networks with those who will be able to help positively promote brand awareness. Hold events that center around your company’s purpose and its core values. When using a PR strategy, select media outlets wisely. You want to make sure your brand is always represented in a positive manner. When marketing your brand, not only are you reaching out to customers, but you are also reaching out to your future employees.

[1] http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240951

 

Increase Brand Awareness and Your Recruitment Reach by Implementing Fresh Content

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_16When you need to increase awareness of your brand and bring in new, energetic staff members to your team, one way to do so is to implement fresh content across all of your media. Your website is the first place prospective candidates go to find out about you. Old, outdated content that is no longer relevant or that never changes from one day to the next is a sure way to turn off high-quality applicants. Consider implementing these four types of content to keep your recruitment and brand up to date.

Informative News
When you’re launching a new company-wide initiative, releasing a new product or making updates to an existing service, let your customers and potential employees know about it. Take care to not only release statistics but to create small sound bites of 88 words or less about what’s going on this week at your organization.

Videos
Actions speak louder than words, and today’s job seekers want to see what your company is up to. Uploading relevant videos to your website and social media pages helps applicants really get a feel for what your organization is doing. Videos should not be highly choreographed or edited but should provide a glimpse of the important goings-on at your headquarters and facilities.

Asking Questions
Another way to increase your brand awareness and keep recruits interested in your organization is to ask questions as a part of your overall content stream. Be welcoming to any and all responses, including those that might not be as positive as you would like. Even criticism helps to keep the conversation going. The more likes and followers, the more of your content that will be shown on your followers’ feeds.

Success Stories
Your customers and potential recruits love to hear success stories related to your brand and not just self-serving ones. Let your customers, current employees or former staff members who have retired or moved on tell others about their successes with you. Perhaps an episode of exceptional customer service or a fantastic mentoring program is just what your recruitment marketing needs to draw in the best of the applicants.

 

The Importance of Articulating & Positioning Employer Branding

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_03In recent years, labor markets have become increasingly competitive, which in turn has become a major concern for employers trying to attract and retain employees. Finding the perfect candidate who not only has the skills, but who also will contribute to the strategic goals of the organization can be a difficult task. HR leaders need to know the importance of articulating and positioning employer branding in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Just as consumer branding attracts customers, employer branding serves as a means for attracting talent to your organization. Before marketing your brand, make sure you fully understand what your brand stands for. By gathering information both internally and externally, you’ll see what makes your organization’s brand engaging, compelling, and unique.

In order to position your brand in the marketplace, you must first create an accurate view of what it’s like to work at your company. Be real and upfront with people. Instead of using stock photos on the company website, take real pictures of employees working in their actual work environment. When you clarify your brand in the marketplace, you will attract more candidates that are in line with your goals.

Once you have your brand positioned, you need to consider a method of reaching your desired audience. The Internet should be one of your main marketing tools as it is a great platform to reach a large pool of job candidates. Social media is also trending among employers looking to reach young, emerging talent. Of course, newspaper, radio, and television ads are also good traditional methods. Even involving your employees can be a great way to reach people and disseminate the message you want to share.

Employer branding can help attract key talent, increase the number of employee referrals, and even improve the quality of job candidates. As an HR leader, you have the responsibility of sustaining your employer brand. It’s not something you can check off a list; maintaining your brand is an ongoing project. Once you actually see the results of what articulating and positioning employer branding can do for your company, you will have a noticeably stronger business.

 

The Importance of Selling the Job Opportunity

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_017Every employer wants the best staff that his or her money can buy. In order to attract the most desirable candidate, you need to sell the opportunity as you would any other product. The purpose of this is to attract top individuals to your organization. These prospective employees need to feel like working for your company is the ideal career choice.

Peaking Their Interest

When you post a job opportunity, there is little doubt that you may see an influx of resumes and applications. With the job market the way it is, even unqualified individuals may send in their information. By putting more effort into selling the job, you may increase the interest of candidates that excel in the position. With his or her skills and knowledge, the candidate can find a job in a variety of locations, and you want your organization to stand out among those prospective employees that have superior qualifications.

The Competition

The employees of competing organizations are what drive its success. If you don’t secure highly qualified staff members, you could be inadvertently strengthening the competition’s hold within the market. By enhancing the listing of the job opportunity to engage those individuals, your company could become stronger as a whole. Cases in point, brand name organizations such as Apple and Google are successful because of the people working within the establishment. Talented employees can drive the success of virtually any business platform.

Being More than a Brand

While many people will seek employment from various companies simply because of the brand name, others may want to know why they should apply. What kinds of opportunities are available for growth? What is the general atmosphere like? Questions such as these can speak to a potential candidate and give him or her information about what it would be like to work for your company. Certain working atmospheres can play into people’s personalities creating an enjoyable environment. The happier staff members are to remain at their jobs, the less likely you’ll have to find replacements and train new employees.

Selling the job opportunity doesn’t need to sound like you’re begging for qualified staff. You need to focus on why a person would want to work within your organization. This can help you find the right staff member who will be an asset to the team and enhance the company profile.