It has become popular to talk about brand in terms of a story. Let’s be as clear as possible with this, a brand is not a story. If it is then it’s created It has become popular to talk about brand in terms of a story. Let’s be as clear as possible with this, a brand is not a story.

Because employer branding as a function is so incredibly complex, it seems like the people who do it each have their own "process" for development. Some people are copy-writers, some people approach it more visually. Some people leverage their tech stack. And others work the internal politics side to develop something that will have immediate buy-in. Those are all possible ways to do it. But what if you had something stronger, something that yo could build creative on top of, something that was tech agnostic, or could shut down petty squabbles internally quickly? Because such a thing might exist? What is your employer brand built on?

I think it's a mistake to say "employer branding is dead" because you're moving to a "one brand" strategy, but it's hard to resist lines like, "Delivering your brand is as much about what you don’t do and say as it is about what you do say and do."

Taking an entire company, hundreds and thousands individuals' hopes, dreams and passion, and distilling it into something that might fit inside a fortune cookie without sounding... like a fortune cookie, is an art. So if the time has come to try your hand, here are some great value proposition templates to help you focus your thinking.

Last week I had some crazy technical issues. which is why the newsletter went out a day and a half late. In all the chaos, I didn't link to an article on how you can use the four drivers of your employer brand to better respond to the pandemic.

This coming up in this newsletter once every 2-3 months in different guises, and I continue to be fascinated with it. Your brand is a function of the terroir and context as anything else. You’re all about innovation? What that means in a Palo Alto incubator is very different from a large law firm. As you try and reveal the brand, you have to be cognizant of the context in which it exists and grows. Trying to take it out of the context and turning it into an ad or a message will fall apart because there’s no frame around it giving it meaning.

Can a brand help make people happy? No, really. Our brands offer people feels of opportunity, freedom, education, community, support, prestige, and any number of other things, but are they making someone happy? Beyond the initial “I got the job!” elation, can and should an employer brand create happiness?

"We’ve gone from one brand for every 1,700 people in 2,000 to one for just 158 people today. At this rate, we’ll soon be outnumbered."

Precision isn't the answer. Alignment over time is.