Need a stronger employer brand? But, not sure where to start? In this webinar, Bob Johnson takes a closer to at three stages of strengthening your employer brand: rebrand, refresh or tweak.

1. Employer Brand: Rebrand, Refresh or Tweak?
A David Group Webinar, February 9, 2016
HR’s ad agency.

2. Today’s
Webinar Employer Brand: Rebrand,
Refresh or Tweak?
Facilitated by:
N. Robert Johnson
Practice Leader
Workforce Communications
2HR’s ad agency.

3. HR’s ad agency.
We apply advertising and marketing
practices to help organizations attract
and retain talent.
The focus of The David Group’s
Workforce Communications Practice is
to strengthen employer brands,
engage people and cut the cost of
talent.
3HR’s ad agency.

4. Agenda
1. The stages of strengthening
your employer brand
2. When to rebrand, refresh or
tweak
3. A roadmap for employer brand
strength
4HR’s ad agency.

5. Employer Brand Strength

6. Employer
Brand
An employer brand is the story of you
as an employer as told by the every
day experiences of your people.
• Employer brand promise
• Employer brand attributes
• Employee value proposition
6HR’s ad agency.
Strengthening Employer Brand

7. Lifecycle
7HR’s ad agency.
Strengthening Employer Brand
Employer brand for attraction Employer brand and employee communications for retention
• Social Media
• PR/Publicity
• Employees
• Customers
• Careers site
• Talent
community
• Special
events
• Corp. site
• Mobile site
• EE Stories
• ATS
• Mobile site
• Recruiters
• Hiring Mgr
• Process and
updates
• Offer
• Alignment
experience
• Collateral
• Initial
engagement
• EE comm
• Leadership
comm
• Rewards
• Engagement
drivers
• Exit interview
• Social media
• Special events

8. 8
HR’s ad agency.
Strengthening Employer Brand
The strongest employer brands reflect the authentic story of
an organization’s employment experience
Employer Brand Strength Continuum
“We’ll just go
with what we
think”
weaker stronger
“We’re using
validated
employee
perspectives”
Point-of-View

9. Validation
Validation = Discovery
• Focus groups
• Interviews
• Surveys
• Engagement data
• Stay/exit interviews
• Communications audit
9HR’s ad agency.
Strengthening Employer Brand
WCP’s approach to employer branding

10. Rebrand
• Full discovery (focus groups,
executive interviews, audits, surveys, etc.)
• Enterprise-wide communication
strategy and action plan
• All new materials across all
media channels
• Tied to measurable business
outcomes
10HR’s ad agency.
Strengthening Employer Brand
Comprehensive
overhaul of an
employer brand

11. Refresh
• One to several issues identified
• Organized and well thought-out
response (discovery based)
• Tied to measurable outcome(s)
• A brand update but within
existing employer branding
statements and guidelines
11HR’s ad agency.
Strengthening Employer Brand
Rebrand “lite” –
targeted and
focused intervention

12. Tweak
• “Spot” improvements
• Limited to passing feedback
• Common sense based
• Doesn’t alter or change existing
employer brand standards
• Less direct alignment to
business outcomes
12HR’s ad agency.
Strengthening Employer Brand
Adjustments to
existing brand
elements

13. Take-Away
Employer brand strength is
directly correlated to validated
employee experiences
Not every organization needs a
full-blown rebranding of their
employer brand
13HR’s ad agency.
Strengthening Employer Brand

14. Rebrand, Refresh or Tweak?

15. Overview
Guiding Principles
• Every organization is unique
and is in a different place in
terms of talent communications
• Branding is fluid: you can think
big, start small and scale up
15HR’s ad agency.
When to Rebrand, Refresh or Tweak?

16. Rebrand
• Poor recruitment and retention
performance (negative impact)
• External brand alignment
• Shifts in mission and/or culture
change
16HR’s ad agency.
When to Rebrand, Refresh or Tweak?
When a dramatic
change is needed

17. Refresh
• Targeted talent communication
intervention
• To solve a specific talent
problem
• Change management initiative
17HR’s ad agency.
When to Rebrand, Refresh or Tweak?
When a targeted
branding solution is
needed

18. Tweak
• Instances of simple
miscommunication
• Adjustment/reactions to social
media
• A need for something different
• Connecting the dots
18HR’s ad agency.
When to Rebrand, Refresh or Tweak?
When there is a
need to connect
better

19. Take-Away
It is important to calibrate the
desire for something new with
need, levels of validation and the
organization’s willingness to act
19HR’s ad agency.
When to Rebrand, Refresh or Tweak?

20. Roadmap to a Stronger Employer Brand

21. Elements
• Organize (do I need to take a journey?)
• Assess (what kind of journey should I
take?)
• Plan (how am I going to take this
journey?)
21HR’s ad agency.
Roadmap to a Stronger Employer Brand

22. Organizing
• What is prompting me to think about
employer branding?
• What problem(s) am I trying to
solve?
• On a five point scale, how urgent
are these challenges?
• Where do they fall as we’ve
discussed?
22HR’s ad agency.
Roadmap to a Stronger Employer Brand

23. Assessment
• What level of validation will I need to
solve my branding challenge?
• What’s the magnitude or scope of
contemplated changes to our
employer brand?
• What levels of support and
resources would I have to
accomplish these changes?
23HR’s ad agency.
Roadmap to a Stronger Employer Brand

24. Planning
• What business outcomes am I
tying to my employer branding
initiatives?
• What’s my budget?
• How will I measure success?
• What’s the long-term plan?
24HR’s ad agency.
Roadmap to a Stronger Employer Brand

25. Take-Away
Planning helps for every phase:
whether rebrand or just tweaking,
having a detailed plan adds value
to the project
Short-term fixes may lead to more
complex problems in the future,
try to think “steps-ahead”
25HR’s ad agency.
Roadmap to a Stronger Employer Brand

26. THANK
YOU!

27. Resources Employer Brand: Rebrand or Refresh?, 2015 White
Paper, The David Group
Employer Brand Dimensions, Talent Solutions, The
David Group
Employer Brand Readiness Checklist, Talent
Solutions, The David Group
Our Approach to Employer Branding, 2015 White
Paper, The David Group
All of these items can be found at:
www.davidgroup.com/what-we-think/downloads/
27HR’s ad agency.
Contact
N. Robert Johnson
The David Group
216.685.4486
216.410.5258 (cell)
nrjohnson@davidgroup.com