25 Stats That Prove Why Workplaces Need to Embrace Diversity
Since it's the topic of this week's The Talent Cast, I've got diversity on the brain. Maybe that's why I jumped at this list of 25 stats to help you explain why diversity is important to your company and employer brand.
Does Your Blog Need Its Own Social Media Channels?
Usually, when I get looped into "should recruiting have it's own social channels" fights, the fight is based on feelings and politics. How controlling is marketing being? How willing are you to care and feed the channel? Etc. But Hubspot offers a smart set of arguments as when when you should (and should not) launch your own dedicated social channels.
Free business marketing courses during coronavirus - Think with Google
I don't want to be one of those "productivity-or-die" people. This situation is intensely stressful, so if you don't feel like using your WFH time to write a book or start a side-hustle, you'll get no judgement from me. But, if you want to learn something (and there is a webinar glut at the moment, so it's not hard to find stuff to learn), Google has a list of 9 free online courses that would really help you elevate your game.
The software industry's greatest sin: hiring | Neil Sainsbury
This article should arm you with a better argument with tech recruiters and tech hiring managers at to why their normal way of hiring is deeeeeeply flawed. I point it out because tech recruiting is one of those places that doesn't always embrace the power of employer brand, and when you read this article, it should become pretty clear where the disconnect it.
How Narratives Improve Ideas And Decisions | Branding Strategy Insider
Remember, your brand is less a set of words, images or concepts, but of the stories people tell themselves and (obliquely) each other about why they work there. So here's a great piece on how you can use narrative to as a means to influence decisions.
If it seems like all the emails you've been getting all seem to say the same stuff, it's not just you. Here's a poem someone based purely on the first lines of recent emails (it's a winner).
A test for leaders: Creating certainty amid uncertainty
Prediction: we've reached "peak inspiration" with our brand messaging. We needed that sense of hope to get through the initial freak-out, and some companies did a great job with it. But leaning too much on inspiration can feel like eating too much of that chocolate bunny. Beyond peak-inspiration? Getting the work done. Where we get back to the pleasures of doing good work.
The Virus Changed the Way We Internet - The New York Times
NYTimes has a bunch of data on how people's internet use has changed since their lockdowns. This might be useful as you plan how you reach out to people in a COVID world. My big takeaway is that where phone-driven apps had been growing steadily, the fact that we're all locked at home with our laptops and TV means that they are taking up a LOT more of our screen time.
What's the line? Nothing may happen for a decade, but then a decade can happen in a week? We're living in a VUCA world. All the conversations we've been having below the water line around the purpose of a company, the why, the change the company is trying to make in the world, has suddenly become THE conversation.
How Retailers Can Reach Consumers Who Aren’t Spending
Feeling like you're behind the curve (and the 8-ball) on adjusting to the new reality? Don't feel confident taking a big leap forward? Don't feel like your leadership knows how to help you change? Take some queues from consumer brand shifts as they try to figure how to reach customers who aren't buying.
Brand Equity Measurement For B2B Brands | Branding Strategy Insider
Before I roll out some cool new stuff (I'll be able to announce it in a few weeks, I hope), I've been thinking about metrics a lot. So this article on how to think about and measure your brand equity really stuck with me. (Pro tip: use the term "brand equity" more at work to elevate your own personal brand.)
COVID-19 stories: Marketers are using this time build community
I will admit right now that I have yet to see a "talent community" which is actually more than just a mailing list and job posting spam. A community is a place where there is two-way interaction including between members, not just a set of targets to blast with email. (By the way, if you read that as "that's why I shouldn't build a community, you're missing the point: there's a huge opportunity here to build a community because everyone wants one and no one's done it right yet!) So it might make sense to take this opportunity, as you pivot the brand and figure out your strategy going forward, to think about getting serious about your own community.
Is it time to surge? If you're business isn't in one of the industries being crushed by the pandemic (retail, movie theaters, travel, live events, etc), you might be surprisingly well-positioned to level up. So if you can read past the example of Southeast Asian economies, here are the seven reasons the a company will surge. Take a moment and give each of the seven drivers a few minutes of thought. I bet you can come up with a bunch of smart projects to facilitate your surge (oh, and feel free to link to the article when you discuss the projects, to show that you are taking your cues from a higher order of publications).
I loved this piece from Branding Mag on "upbranding," the process of elevating your own brand relative to the competition. The goal is help your brand stand out and appear more valuable (something we probably all would like) by tapping in emotional and rational drivers. The kicker for me was the idea of working t appear more exclusive, something not everyone could have. As our brands hire on quality instead of quantity, exclusivity is a close cousin.
Pivoting Your Content Strategy During COVID-19 — Talent Brand Alliance
Speaking of "pivot," how deep are you in pivoting your content strategy? Here are two good guides on how to make a quick change of direction from Hubspot and Talent Brand Alliance.
Speaking of "pivot," how deep are you in pivoting your content strategy? Here are two good guides on how to make a quick change of direction from Hubspot and Talent Brand Alliance.
It's time to challenge your Employer Brand team; not put them on ice. | LinkedIn
Emily Firth puts this idea front and center, claiming that now is the time for EB to show the value it can bring to the company beyond pipeline-filling (and she's 101% right).
Content is king in Covid-19 world as brands make themselves useful – Econsultancy
There are some nice examples here, but the real power is in the headline: Content is king as brands make themselves useful. Useful?!?! Wow. But it's a fair shot. Brands are so often seen as fuzzy-bunny nice-to-haves, the thing you invest in once things are nice and cushy. True of consumer and employer brands, the Covid pivot means brands themselves are reinventing what they can be to the company. And for us, it is absolutely true.
Brands in the Boardroom: The Business Side of Branding
This might make you feel good (or at least a slight twinge of schadenfreude) to see that marketing likes to complain about how it isn't take seriously in the board room, much like how many of us feel disrespected by marketing. Strangely, the solution to both problems is to stop relying on internal metrics and focus on real business metrics.
Future of Branding: Brand leadership in the COVID-19 era
Some great quotes from business marketing leaders on how COVID has changed their view of how they can market their business to the world. It doesn't take much to read between the lines and see all the room for employer brand to be a strategic partner to marketing. But don't wait for them to come to you: go make that appointment to chat right now!
Identify Your Value Proposition with This Mathematical Concept
I loved this article on how "combinatorics" (that term had to have been invented by an MBA with a math background) can help find tune your value proposition. If you ignore the jargon, there's a heck of pitch here: because you don't really understand what your talent prospects want (because you haven't tightened your focus enough), you can't differentiate.
We all know how COVID is changing work, but it is time to stop thinking about "work" in terms of a "job." Our jobs are going to be more fluid and driven less by tasks and much more by outcomes. Add to that disconnection from a core office, and technology that allows anyone to tap into more remote systems and we're entering a time when the very concept of a job will be re-thought.
4 Forces Shaping Your Employer Brand — and How to Leverage Them During the Pandemic – ERE
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.
Guessing Games Are for Suckers: The Case for the Data-Driven EVP > Sourcing and Recruiting News
And if you'd like to understand how data can underpin a stronger, more resilient employer brand, I wrote something up to try and put it all together and create a string business case for data investment, even when everything seems "up in the air."