Why Employee Branding Is Pivotal To Growth

Branding is more than just how your company is perceived by others. It’s also about how your employees perceive you. In today’s world, employee branding is one of the most important things you can do for your company. If a disgruntled or unhappy employee gives you a bad review, it might not mean much if you have 50 positive ones, but it can mean a lot if bad reviews are all you have. Plus, research shows that people heed negative reviews much more than positive ones. It looks bad in the eyes of current employees, and it can be devastating when you’re trying to hire new talent. They will look elsewhere because they've seen your employee ratings on Indeed, Glassdoor, and other social media sites.  

After the past few years with the pandemic and many people feeling isolated, employee branding is more important than ever. If your people don’t feel like they are a part of anything, they can have a sense that they aren’t needed or aren’t important. People need to feel like what they are doing means something.  That’s why it’s extremely important to include employee branding in your growth strategy. Through your employees, you can create a powerful reputation that will attract the best new employees and keep the ones you have. 

Your Employees Should Be A Community

It’s no secret that good employee branding and good employee communications are pivotal to the growth of your company, and the good news is that even small things that you might think will have no impact on your bottom line, like animated stickers or consistent social branding that includes your employees, can have an enormous impact. It’s crucial for your people to feel as if they are part of a community. Once they feel part of that community, they will work harder and give more to your brand. By harnessing people power, you'll see your business grow because your employees will be more engaged in their work.  

Employees Need Their Morale Boosted

Your brand is without a doubt tied to how well you treat your employees, when you boost employee morale, that filters into their work, which filters down to how they interact with your customers. Your people will have a sense of pride in working for your company, and it will show. They know you’ll take care of them and recognize them for the hard work they do for you. You’ll have much better retention rates because you’ve established a community where they love to come to work. Best of all, employee satisfaction translates into customer satisfaction. 

How Our Client Created A Community In A Hybrid Company

A client of ours, Criteo, flew their people from across the globe to their annual conference in Croatia because they wanted to build a strong sense of community. Criteo is a hybrid company, which means they have an extra challenge of making their people feel like they’re part of something special when they are spread so far apart. With an event like this, Criteo was able to do a great job of gathering their people together in one place and making them feel like they were part of something much bigger than just themselves.

Criteo came to us looking for social embellishment for the event. They wanted something that fit with their branding but also played into the fun element of what they were doing. They’d scheduled beach parties, pool parties, and even a Where's Waldo party. They obviously wanted their employees to have a lot of fun, so their people could share what a fun experience they had as an employee of Criteo. We helped them by doing something very simple. We used Instagram stickers with the stories their employees shared of their time in Croatia as a way to embellish the stories with the Criteo branding to boost the growth of their business.

Social Creative And EVP

With Criteo, we had two main work streams: social creative and Employee Value Positioning (EVP). We worked with their EVP team to create content that showcased Criteo as a great place to work. We used the stickers liberally throughout the week. Some linked back to their values while others were event specific. The interesting part of it was how much the employees of Criteo so openly wanted to share that they worked at Criteo and let everyone know how great Criteo was. 

We were able to get a lot from people through small things such as adding Instagram stickers. When Ctiteo’s employees were back at work after a nice week away in Croatia, they felt re-energized about Criteo, about their mission, and felt as if they were a part of something special. Through a small social moment, they had established a connection to each other, even though they live and work in different parts of the world. They now have the opportunity to share their similar experiences remotely, which allows them to feel like they are part of something bigger.  

Invest In Your People To Invest In Your Company

If you invest in your employees, even with very small things like Instagram stickers, it can go a long way to help engage them. When your employees are engaged, they are happier and more content with the company and in what they’re doing, and you will get more out of them as a result. They are going to work harder for you because they feel as if they’re part of something bigger. Developing employees who are engaged and hard workers is good business. When you invest in people, they will invest back into the company. That’s why a small bit of employer branding can be huge for the growth of your business. And growth isn’t only looking at performance marketing in terms of the number of brochure downloads, ebook downloads, or app installs. Sometimes, it’s as simple as growing your employee sentiment towards you and your organization. Your employees will stay longer, give more, and overall be happier when you invest in them even in small ways. This can have an enormous impact on your bottom line. 

Let your employees become brand ambassadors for you. The more positive things they have to say about you, the better your brand is going to look. You can build a stronger brand without spending much on marketing because awareness grows through word of mouth. This is why employee branding is so pivotal to growth. Not sure where to begin with employee branding? Speak to a Ladder strategist today for better employee branding.