Building a Strong Employee Brand: Strategies for Employer Differentiation

Have you ever been afraid of what people say behind your back? Well, in the business world this is important and to use it to your advantage you can benefit from employee branding. 

A brand’s reputation is one of its most important assets and this is largely created by what employees say about their own company. It’s time to pay attention to your employees to attract new customers. 

The idea of employee branding consists of the human capital of the company being the promoter of the products, so they help throughout the sales process to increase turnover. 

Would you like to see what this is all about?

What is employee branding? 

Let’s first define what employee branding is. It’s that marketing strategy with the goal of making employees the main brand ambassadors. 

Yes, it may seem strange, because it has always been said that it’s the users who should become ambassadors of your products. However, when you think about it carefully, you will realize that it makes a lot of sense, because workers can develop an affinity with the company that no customer will ever generate. 

Why is that? Simply put, because they are on the inside of the organization and know what’s behind each project. They see the good and the bad, so a worker’s behavior towards others is genuine, they can’t fool the market. 

That’s why today it’s very useful to pay attention to all their concerns so that they are happy at all times. If they are, it will be easier to apply employee branding. 

Importance of employee branding

What we’re looking for with this strategy is that our employees identify themselves with the values of the brand and show it without fear to the market so that everyone knows the benefits of being part of the company. 

Think about it: When you are unhappy with your company, what do you do? We are sure that you go to work just like always, but not even by chance will you promote something related to the brand in the networks until the situation changes completely. 

Therefore, when an employee is happy with his corporation, it shows, and when he is not, it shows even more. In this way, if applied properly, it’s very likely that your target audience will be attracted, and it isn’t every day that you see someone speak well of your brand without any prejudice. 

Don’t forget that people put a lot of trust in what a worker says, in fact, this is the first opinion someone asks for before getting to know more. Focus on the happiness of your human capital and you will see how sales start to grow. 

Advantages of employee branding for your business

Are you looking for alternatives to grow your company without having to invest thousands of euros in advertising? It’s time for you to take a look at what employee branding has to offer. Would you like to see the next list?

1. Greater recognition and diffusion

We start with greater recognition and diffusion. Thanks to the fact that our employees disseminate content on social networks where they show part of the benefits of the products in the portfolio, potential customers will be attracted to each of them. 

It’s not the same for an influencer or someone famous to come out and talk about an article as it is for a well-known person to do so, since we know that they do it out of their own conviction. 

In this sense, content goes viral very quickly and in a short time the results start to arrive. 

2. Customer trust

Secondly, we have the trust of customers. When you get your employees to generate positive conversations with users, it’s very likely that they will be more open to try some of the solutions you currently offer. 

There’s nothing better than seeing how happy an employee is with his or her employer, especially if that person is close to us. 

Never forget that trust is one of the most important intangible values that a brand must develop. 

3. Emotional bond

One of the objectives that every entrepreneur wants to achieve is the emotional bond with his audience. The idea is that there is a relationship beyond the commercial one, that they feel identified with what you promote on your social platforms. 

How do you achieve this? There are many ways, but one of the most powerful and economical is with employee branding. 

It’s not very difficult, just focus on having an integral relationship with your team. Make sure they are happy and content with their economic and work situation. 

Then they will most likely show their satisfaction on social media and the snowball will start to do its job. 

4. Optimal relationships

In this case we are referring to the relationships within the work environment. Is there anything more uncomfortable than to work in a toxic environment full of enemies? 

The truth is that the corporate ecosystem has to be like your second family, you have to feel at ease to give your maximum potential and with employee branding you will achieve it. 

Best of all, it will happen almost automatically as you focus on solving the problems your team may have. Do it and the results will surprise you. 

Benefits for brand ambassadors

It’s true that employee branding offers many advantages for your company, but the best part of all is that these benefits will also be enjoyed by the employees who decide to apply this strategy. 

Take note and discover the benefits it offers you below: 

1. They build their personal brand

The personal brand is one of the most powerful assets a professional can count on. The truth is that it is non-negotiable if you want to have a promising future in an increasingly competitive market. 

Nowadays the working world is like a jungle where only those who adapt and become the strongest survive. To achieve this, you have to show that you have something different that the great mass of workers around you do not bring to the table. 

That’s why we love employee branding, because with the use of networks you can give a different touch to your digital presence, which will attract the attention of other companies. 

2. Stand out from the competition

We already told you about the tough competition in the market. To stand out you have to focus on more than just knowledge because in the end there will always be someone who knows more than you about a specific topic. 

By making use of social networks you will give an image of professionalism that very few employees project nowadays and all for speaking well of the brand you represent. 

Believe it or not, it will be like a kind of portfolio, especially if you make audiovisual content such as videos. Do you dare to try it? 

3. Opportunities

Once you have some time with the employee branding strategy you will see how opportunities start knocking on your door. 

We love to see how there are employees who now not only have their corporate salary, but also get partnerships with other brands that reward them for promoting their products. What do you think? 

Alternatives to implement employee branding

One of the reasons we love employee branding is that we have many ways to implement this strategy without making a big change in our daily operations. 

Let’s take a look at some of them in the following list: 

1. Spread the word about corporate events

It’s important to encourage our entire team to not only attend company events, but also to spread the word on social media. 

Why? It demonstrates a family atmosphere within the organization. We all want to see those gatherings where we are reunited with loved ones and co-workers. 

Well, if several employees do it, it’s very likely that the image of the brand will start to improve. 

2. Attend parties

Yes, spreading the word about events is important enough, but even more important is attending and sharing with all team members. 

It doesn’t do much good to post on networks if you’re never at the events. This shows commitment to the company and helps you build better relationships with your colleagues. 

Plus, it will help you create better content for the internet. 

3. Positive feedback

In third place we have positive comments, although the important thing is that it looks as natural as possible, that it is not forced at any time. 

The best thing to do is to apply storytelling techniques, where you tell your story of how you were before joining the company and then compare it with how you feel today. 

Problems when it comes to implementing employee branding in your company

Come on, let’s face it. No strategy is perfect, not even employee branding. It is true that it offers us multiple benefits, but we must also take into account that implementing this tactic involves some problems that we have to assess before starting to work. 

Get comfortable and find out what they are: 

1. Good management

How can we ask our human capital to support this strategy and spread the brand if they are not at all happy with the company? Before looking out for our interests, it’s essential to understand the mood within the organization. 

In this sense, it’s very important to make good management managing, to attend to each member in a personalized way to see how we can improve. 

Follow these points to improve in the coming days: 

• Treat your team well.
• Reward everyone for their effort.
• Encourage them to give 100%.
• Reinforce brand values.
• Correct in private and congratulate in public.

2. Internal communication

Internal communication is a key part of a company’s success. The problem is that on many occasions it’s not a problem of the employees, but of the departments. 

Messages can take a long time to arrive and that’s where the complications begin. Therefore, we recommend that you apply a series of policies to make interdepartmental communication as efficient as possible. 

This way you will see how in a short time it starts to improve and the spirits will rise like foam. 

3. Privacy

Yes, believe it or not, there are people who, regardless of their age, do not like to publish content on their social networks. There are two groups: those who do like it but only post personal photos and those who don’t post anything at all. 

What can you do in this situation? It may be more complex than it seems, but you have to try to convince them of the benefits of nurturing their social networks, although there comes a time when you just can’t do anything. 

Patience and empathy are key to achieving common ground.

4. Digital divide

We cannot leave aside the fact that creating a strategy of this type requires minimum knowledge in content creation, social networks and branding, something that not everyone handles to perfection. 

So, to ensure success you have to give a few lectures on how to handle these new topics with as much patience as possible, which means that at first it will be slower than you thought. 

5. Time and discipline

Finally, we cannot expect to generate good results overnight. It’s essential to have enough patience to overcome the obstacles we will encounter along the way. 

We recommend that you focus on the benefits you will obtain in the long term and you will realize that time will go by much faster. 

Now you know the ideal strategy to get your business off the ground once and for all. Take the necessary days to create that work plan that will allow you to attract as many customers as possible without spending so many resources through employee branding. 

Don’t forget to sign up for any of our masters to become an expert in digital marketing. Are you ready?