In a similar vein, here are the 16 rules for brand strategy. Yes, they are about consumer brand strategy, but you should be able to take rules like, Lead with the Story, Look for the Subtext, and Empathize with your [Candidate]. These are not the typical "rules" you've seen before. For example, I adore rules like Speak Your Secret Language and Create Tension. Author Jasmine Bina also runs one of my favorite podcasts, Unseen Unknown. All of her stuff is amazing.

One of the reasons why I always dig Bud Caddell's stuff is that he's a "culture guy" who comes from business. There's not much "fuzzy-bunny" thinking with him. This article on strategy and culture post-Covid is a longer read, but there are layers to consider. One it can help you see how own business might respond. Two, it might give you ideas on how to embed your brand into your evolving culture. Three, how can you evolve your own employer branding function, treating it like an independent consulting service within your company.

File Under: Great Use of Not New Tech. Chiquita Banana put a Spotify code on their banana labels so that you could point your phone at it and listen to a playlist. Cute, right? But what if instead of just making a nice little playlist, you built a playlist of your executives on podcasts, or your recent favorite podcasts? The tech is free, so if you're leveraging podcasts in your content building (and Spotify is going HARD on podcasts right now), this might be a clever way to connect physical with the digital.

I'll admit that I started reading this article on how data can help make remote teams work better to see what kind of data they were looking at, but it's really a different article. The premise is that if you give your staff more of the data/context/info on how leadership makes its decisions, other staff will likely make similar decisions, Further, with that info, they can do better work with less oversight, thus supporting a more remote work space. Why should I care? Because this is a great way to show a candidate what you mean by "we give people lots of opportunity" or "we empower our staff," both of which are functionally meaningless. But talking about how much data and info you share internally to support this claims makes those brand claims infantely more believable, credible and clear.

Yes, we all talk about hiring or recruiting funnels, and maybe we have heard that we're supposed to communicate different things at different stages of the funnel, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone show you what that might look like. This example over at Hubspot is more consumer focused, but it gives examples of how to communicate at the various stages of the funnel based on what someone's motivations might be.

What do job seekers care about in a pandemic? Based on multiple company's TA chatbots, it turns out that 47% of people asked what the company's response to COVID was, roughly double the number of people asking about hiring. This suggests that prospects are twice as interested in understanding who the company as they are in learning about a job. Second take: If a huge percentage of your traffic comes in via job posts (job-focused), maybe preemptively tell them about your COVID response up front?

There's always a contingent looking "ahead" at cool marketing tactics. For them, I ask: are you thinking about interactive marketing yet? Be they games, AR/VR, even "choose your own adventure"-type story-telling, getting people to make choices within your marketing makes your messages more engaging and memorable. Okay, I scared you with the AR/VR thing, sorry. But quizzes count (sorta). And what if instead of "a day in the life" video, you let people choose what the employee was going to do? Get coffee or prep for the meeting? Research a client via Google or other channel? Make a series of options that people can choose and see the impact those choices make in their day. Maybe double down and work with your instruction-design people (assuming you have one of those) to show how each choice suggests that the candidate is or isn't a likely fit with your brand (without being ham-fisted about it).

Yes, you should actively be sharing your stories right now. Right now! Lauryn Sargent, who knows a thing or two about employee stories, makes a solid case for telling more stories now, not less. Whether the news is good or bad, telling stories turns anything into a more human experience, one that gets more eyeballs and sticks in the brain longer.

Even if Sally Bolig wasn't a friend, I'd still link to this article on why you need to keep up your employer brand investment even in light of the pandemic for the fact that her first main point simply asks: What are you trying to solve for with your employer brand? It's a point that tends to get skipped over, and she puts it right up front. The rest of the article is full of examples of what companies are doing well on social (many of which I hadn't seen before).

Econsultancy’s ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Marketing’ report states that 49% of organisations are either already using or are testing AI or machine learning.Almost half of all marketers are testing or using machine learning. Time to level up.

Empathy is the new marketing.

A New Human Normal. "Think of this as a “KonMari” moment for brands"

1,200 Post-It Notes to Fix a Broken Culture. Yes, sometimes it takes a lot of work to dig deep and make change.

Interesting LinkedIn Stats. My fave? Pinterest is FAR MORE trusted than Facebook. I bring this up because FB is about to be a VERY problematic place to run ads, I believe.

Make the best of bad reviews. Perfect for your review sites.

How to run a grassroots marketing campaign. Good EB is very much a grassroots marketing problem.

How to host a virtual networking event. Not a career fair or interview, but a way to help others connect to more people. Be the brand/company that's clearly helping. Please.

What kind of "live" videos work for people? Here are some ideas from the consumer side.

Are you taking advantage of the fact that candidates might hit your career site multiple times to learn more about your company and validate your claims? For example, do you have dynamic content that reflects the fact that this is a returning visitor, or someone who has watched your whole video all the way through? Or are you treating all your candidates the same?

Even before we were doing our jobs from our dining rooms, employer brand was its own kind of remote work: teams of one or two directly supporting teams around the world via video calls and emails. In order to make sure you are demonstrating your value when people can't always see your activity (which is good), here are some idea to consider.

I love talking about rejection letters (sorry... disposition messaging ...rolls eyes...) because they are deeply impactful messaging opportunities we tend to phone in. Which is why I loved this article about how Intel re-designed its rejection experience (and it is an "experience," is it not?).

Normally, in difficult times, our instinct is to reach out, literally. Human touch and physical expression—a hug, a hand on a shoulder, a quiet look of concern, sitting next to someone and not saying anything—are powerful ways to show people we’re here for them. But what do we do when all that’s left is our voice?Let's remember that the words we choose, on our career sites, on our job posts, on our outreach, on our emails, are the cheapest, most effective way we have to set frames and shape perceptions. We need to remember how important words are, especially when we are coping (and helping others cope) with... everything.

HBR makes a solid case that the best way to keep your entry and younger talent is to focus on professional development and emotional intelligence. (That's pretty much what the data at Universum has been showing for a few years now).

This is interesting because we may have entered "Covid fatigue," where we're all sick of getting those emails on how that company you bought a puzzle from three years ago is changing because of the pandemic. My take away? Less talk, more showing. Nike doesn't talk about design as much as it shows it, which is why people see it as authentically design-focused.

Adding pictures of staff wearing masks increases applications as much as 46%. Huh. It;'s almost like SHOWING how well you protect your staff encourages people to join. Weird.

Covid hasn't just flipped the table on recruiting and employer branding these last few months. It is really making talent management functions re-think things from a clean sheet of paper (which is very much a good thing). As TM starts thinking about what the nature of what a job is, how skills can be installed and developed in near-real-time, how most staff is probably only using 50-80% of their abilities at work, there's an opportunity for you to step up and partner, connecting the "why" of work with the shifting "what" and "how."

I rather liked how Shally Steckerl (a sourcer!) connected what business leadership wants with what recruiting should be delivering. Lots of great points you should adopt when you talk to leadership, too.

And here's a creative example of how to show your product off during lockdown.

This is how you can get your customers to do your job for you.

Usually when we think about employee-generated content, we assume employees should talk about work. As much as I love work, theres more to live and what your company supports than just "work." Take some cues from these companies who are asking their customers to tell stories during lockdown, and how it can dramatically extend your reach and humanize the brand.