HR’s ad agency.
Employer Branding for Talent Attraction
Workforce Communications Practice │Webinar │ May 10, 2016

HR’s ad agency.
Today’s Agenda
1) The importance of “all-way” brand alignment
2) The impact of review sites on employer
branding
3) The strategy beyond the basics
N. Robert Johnson
Practice Leader, Workforce Communications Practice
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HR’s ad agency.
HR’s ad agency.
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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.

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All-Way Brand Alignment

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“The full value of talent comes from how
talent choices affect those outside the
organization, not just inside.”
- Dave Ulrich
Source: Taking Stock of Your Talent, Dave Ulrich, Workforce, February 2016

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Our Premise
All-Way Alignment
Employer brand
alignment to
everyday
experiences
External brand
and employer
brand
alignment
Stronger employer brand
and more engaged
employees and
customers
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2
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HR’s ad agency.
What’s the Worry?
Blurred Lines
The new communications paradigm is blurring the
lines between distinct enterprise experiences.
The result?
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HR’s ad agency.
Blurred Lines
The blurring of these lines – the melding of
individual behavior and experience
expectation – impact our connection with
candidates, current employees and customers.
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HR’s ad agency.
Individual Behavior
1) Instant investigation, validation and formation
of perceptions and beliefs
2) Speed of life: fast fingers traveling the world in
an instant
3) What we digitally “touch” is what we see and,
thus, what we believe
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HR’s ad agency.
Experience Expectation
1) Heightened experience expectation in every
interaction
2) Inconsistencies cause questions and “slows
the flow”
3) Low tolerance for poor user-experience and
short attention span leads to drop out
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HR’s ad agency.
All-Way Alignment
Employer brand and employee experiences
1) An employer is the employment story, but …
2) It’s the story as told by everyday employee
experiences
3) Validation – asking them – is the measure of
employer brand strength
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HR’s ad agency.
All-Way Alignment
External Brand and Employer Brand
1) Do the brands align?
2) Are we using the same emotion, value proposition
and branding elements to engage, reassure and
connect external and internal audiences (to both the
enterprise and to each other)
3) Payoff: Superior financial performance – 36% stronger
financial results due to strength of consumer and
talent brand alignment
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Lippencott Advertising

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Strong
Weak
Weak Strong
Employer Brand
Aligned to
External Brand
Employer Brand Aligned to Employees’
Everyday Experiences
Unfounded Story
• Brands are aligned but aligned
to false employer brand
• Risk of low ee engagement,
high turnover due to see/told
phenomenon (see bonus slide)
• Customer experience isn’t
reinforced by employees
Disjointed Story
• Employer brand is validated
but not connected to external
brand
• Risk of employee
confusion/disengagement
• Customers are experience two
separate experiences
A Living Story
• “Living the brand”
• High engagement and high
retention
• Employees are providing a
superior customer experience
(and customers return)
A Forgetful Story
• Brands are not aligned and
employer brand is not validated
• Employees and customers are
not engaged and not connected
• Transactional relationships
*TDG Workforce Communications Practice
All-Way Alignment Model* for Employer Branding

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The Impact of Review Sites

HR’s ad agency.
Individual Behavior
1) Instant investigation, validation and formation
of perceptions and beliefs
2) Speed of life: fast fingers traveling the world in
an instant
3) What we digitally “touch” is what we see and,
thus, what we believe
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Online reviews have forever changed the
way we think about what we will invest in,
including our next career move.

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Peer Recommendations
Peers recommend companies and influence
purchasing.
Impact of conversations about brands with peers.
Make decisions/overcome
concerns/warn me about risks
Earned Brand Study of Global Consumers, 2015
75%

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Peer Recommendations
Peers and employees are more credible.
Eldeman Trust Barometer, 2016
63%
“A person like me”
52%
“Employee”
49%
“CEO”

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Peer Recommendations
Peers and employees are more credible.
Deloitte, 2014
60% 60%
43%
16% 12%
Friends/Family Customer
Reviews
Independent
Experts
Staff/Website Product
Manufacturer

HR’s ad agency.
Individual Behavior
1) Instant investigation, validation and formation
of perceptions and beliefs
2) Speed of life: fast fingers traveling the world in
an instant
3) What we digitally “touch” is what we see and,
thus, what we believe
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of job seekers say it’s important to work for a
company that embraces transparency
of job seekers say their perception of a
company improves after seeing an
employer respond to a review
96%
69%
Learning to Love …
Review sites.
Glassdoor, 2014

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The decision has already been made: if
you need to attract and retain talent, you
have to embrace – and manage – your
presence on online review sites.

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The Strategy Beyond the Basics

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Beyond the Basics
Dig … align … dig … align some more …
1) Strategy: become an evidence based talent
marketer
2) Strategy: align experiences
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Evidence Based Talent Marketer
Do your homework to understand your talent audiences
(internal and external) and validate your employer brand
to arrive at an authentic employer brand.
1) Immerse yourself in all available HR and marketing data
2) Validate with employee experiences via focus groups,
interviews, etc.
3) Look at recruitment data
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HR’s ad agency.
Align Experiences
Work with marketing, line leaders and functional leaders
to align external and employer brands.
1) Become a branding expert in your company’s external
branding (emotion, value proposition, promise, attributes, etc.)
2) Bring that knowledge to your already experience-validated
employer brand
3) Create a unified enterprise-wide branding platform with
particular attention to review sites
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N. Robert Johnson
Practice Leader, Workforce Communications
216.685.4486 │nrjohnson@davidgroup.com
davidgroup.com
The David Group Inc. All rights reserved. Ref 16 – 107

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Validating the
Employer Brand
Everyday experiences
(I see) versus employer
branding effectiveness
(I’m told)
Imperative
Align your employees’ everyday
experiences and your employer
branding and communications
High
I See
Low
Foundation
Experience softens attitudes; solid
foundation for internal
communications programs; but
employees will have a hard time
committing without communication
reinforcement
Performance
Communications and experiences
are aligned; strong commitment to
leadership and direction of
organization
Adrift
No one knows what matters; risk
of high disengagement; distrust in
leadership and self
Lost
Employees distrust what they are
told; dissonance between sight
and messages; potential
disconnection between aspirational
and authentic employment story
Low High
I’m ToldBased on work by Johnson, D’Aprix and Quirke
Bonus Slide

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Bonus Slide
Our approach to
employer brand
development.