With the digital advertising spend in the U.S. forecasted to reach $97 billion by the end of the year, companies will invest significant resources in administering their consumer sales strategy to share their story, differentiate themselves from their competitors, and draw people in as repeat customers and brand ambassadors. Since employees are the consumers of the workplace, an effective employee sales strategy should utilize the same logic—it should attract and retain workers by differentiating the company from its competitors and turning current and future employees into advocates for the organization.
With 51% of employees say they are actively watching for new opportunities and 91% of employees report the last time they switched jobs they left their employer to do so, organizations that do not invest adequate resources into their employee sales strategy could miss their opportunity to attract top candidates and keep talented staff onboard. By developing a strategy that combines your employee value proposition (EVP) and employment brand, your organization can showcase to current and future employees the unique experience your company culture provides, turning a cultural advantage into a competitive advantage.
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Refining Your Employee Value Proposition
At the recent HCI Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference, Shelia Stygar, Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo, discussed how organizations can refresh their employee value proposition, highlighting the importance of linking what is important to your ideal candidates to how your organization can provide those things. An employee value proposition should depict a message that helps match the right person with the right role and the right culture by answering the question “what do I get working here.”
To attract and retain talent, your organization must understand what workers want and how to consistently fulfill those expectations in a way that is not only authentic to attract people who align with your culture and would thrive in it, but also unique to your specific employee experience to separate yourself from competitors. Crafting an genuine message begins with gathering information to better understand what drew top employees to your organization and what keeps them there. By regularly surveying and tracking engagement levels, you can keep a pulse on employees’ insights and use this feedback to constantly inform and evolve your organization’s EVP.
Selling Your EVP Through Employment Branding
Defining your EVP is only half of an effective employee sales strategy; the other component is employment branding, which brings the EVP to life. Your EVP speaks to the employee experience, while your employment brand is the public’s perception of that experience. In a heightened era of interconnectedness that creates a “grass is greener” mentality in employees, job seekers can easily shop around for the roles and organizations that best meet their needs, and they do—59% of candidates use social media to research companies in which they are interested and 90% read review sites.
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Although you cannot fully control what is being said about your organization’s employment brand in today’s digitalized world, you can take part in the conversation by creating an online presence that helps candidates truly understand what you have to offer and how it relates to what they want. When a representative simply responds to a negative review on Glassdoor, 69% of users say their perception of the company improves. By incorporating content that connects with potential employees into your organization’s advertising strategy, you can showcase your employment brand, while also appealing to customers. Additionally, Stygar suggests promoting social media campaigns, having employees be brand ambassadors, and using hashtags to create positive associations between your business, your brand, and your team.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”When a representative simply responds to a negative review on Glassdoor, 69% of users say their perception of the company improves. ” quote=”When a representative simply responds to a negative review on Glassdoor, 69% of users say their perception of the company improves. “]
In January 2018, Personify launched the #PFYbaton initiative. Each Friday, a different Personify representative takeovers over the company Instagram account. This provides prospective candidates an “unfiltered” look into a day in the life of a Personian, while giving current employees a chance to get creative and showcase the things they love most about working for the organization.
Remember—employees are consumers of the workplace and are drawn to brands they connect with. Allocating resources to developing and implementing your employee sales strategy will allow you to better resonate with your target candidate population by going beyond simple relaying the nominal perks your organization offers and tapping into the emotional, intangible benefits your work environment provides and how these help your employees perform and feel better.