Does our brand affiliation, influence our personality or behavior? Yes, that's the whole purpose, right? Huh!

Our perceptions of brand, influences our decisions! Neuroscience?  

Do we relate to brands the same way we relate to people? Reasearch says yes! 

Does our brand affiliation, influence our personality or behavior? Behaviour Yes, that's the whole purpose, right? Huh! 

Take a step back and think about the Brand and the Business Strategy? Does Apple, Tesla, etc. have brand at the center of their strategy? How does brand influence business strategy? 

Or, 

Will business strategy influence or impact brand? 

Similarly, for Recruitment Marketing, what way will Recruitment Strategy build or impact the Employer Brand?  

So, when we talk about Employer Branding, will not the Recruitment Strategy directly impact the Employer Branding? 

Employer branding- Branding that promises consistent future experiences, right?

Your people are your brand, but people are their own brands too...

...so, when it aligns it creates the power of the brand and distracts when they misalign (conflict or deflect)

Does Employer branding need a strategy, which means a plan to the journey with a map and a compass? More than map, compass is more important as it helps the course to the North Star, while plugged into its DNA!

Compass addresses needs to realign in dynamic market, new marketplaces, company's new avatars and rebranding, 2.0, 3.0 etc... diversified or divested, etc....all part of strategy you know. 

How does this alignment work? -Through Discovery and definition -Direction and Delivery -4D process-Used to arrive at DNA messaging! Creating fine men, one boy at a time! DNA at the center of everything that client does or says! \

Brand DNA components and their significance

Explanation of the five components of Brand DNA: role, raison d'être, commitment, benefit, and culture.

The analogy of a blue velvet bag with a gold string representing the cemented Brand DNA.

Brand strategy is like a map, but directions and markets change over time. So, how does brand catch up with change of the consumer? 

Interestingly brand DNA serves as a compass, providing a constant guide even when the map is unclear.

Companies who believe in the living and breathing brand DNA, find clarity in the brand strategy, making collaboration with brand watchers, smoother.

Irrespective disruptuons, the 4D process remains hinged to, Discovery, Definition, Direction, and Delivery. This is like a giant wheel that keeps rolling.

Discovery involves qualitative interviews to understand emotional connections and perceptions.

Definition includes articulating the brand DNA in workshops, ensuring client ownership.

Direction is set as content and intent are set for consumers to experience.

Delivery is a sand box to user group testing of the piece of new brand collateral!  

Articulating the brand DNA with key beliefs, promises, and spirit is a powerful tool.

The brand DNA becomes a beacon guiding strategic frameworks and decisions.

Simplifying and focusing on three key pillars enhances understanding for both internal and external stakeholders.

As is often said, if people are not engaged, they maybe disengaged! Being disengaged is not against engagement with the org purpose, or one's role, job etc . Or being oblivious or ignorant of one's tasks. There is still the feeling of belonging and making a difference, but it is self driven not org driven. 

This disengagement is due to missing links, that culture builds! Leaders create and promote core values in thoughts, speech and action! 

Branding is not marketing! If branding was marketing, it was a department's task. Branding is done by all and every employee by creating consistent, coherent, longitudinal, omni-channel experience for anyone who interacts with the brand!  So, people are at the core of creating and sustaining brand! Employer branding is the same! Talent/Recruitment Marketing is a way to mobilize communication (aka messaging) to the marketplace, with values that brand resonates with! Communication as marketing is full of, gets noticed (visuals/noise, etc.) while messaging is a narrowed approach to communicate to a select/identified audience with the communication that matters to them and needs their attention and helps them associate with the brand and connect to do business! 

Smart employer branding teams are very conscious of building their brand and not fall prey to the vanity metrics! A company may have 100 or more brands/products/services and maybe just 10 of them are power brands, marketing will still be showing same ROIs, through sales growth but in Recruitment Marketing, only number of hires is not the Real metric. The real metric is quality of hire, sustained attraction and engagement, employee referral, etc. Penguins hire penguins! 

Is Recruitment Marketing same as Talent Marketing? Is there anything called Talent Marketing? What's your thought? 

Imagine if it was. Perceptions drive brand recognition. Perceptions overtime become reality! 

A new hire becomes Talent, when he proves his worth! Not every art of Leonardo Da Vinci or Mozart or Shakespeare created brand Vinci or Mozart or Shakespeare! Similarly, companies showcase their talent to attract clients and other talent.

Talent produces enviable work, not just work. Enviable works are marketed as identity builders, differentiators and uniqueness creators. Someone said in a conversation, McKinsey is a brand because, it has use cases, models (aka capabilities, as is) and people (aka capabilities, as unfolds) and all of them are on the top deck of being looked up to! 

When we talk of brand Airforce, we picture mighty fighter jets and battle hardy fighter pilots! When we picture top management consulting firm, we picture power-dressed, super confident Consultants on swanky workspaces with clients listening to them! So, Air Force or Management Consulting firms, they are all leveraging and showcasing power of Talent marketing/talent branding! Every aspiring firm needs talent marketing.

No wonder Peyush Bansal, founder of Lenskart categorically says, that branding is not done by marketing department! Branding is done by all employees! How true! 

Executing Employer Branding plan would need below steps that I captured from this video- https://youtube.com/shorts/UEup1NZq8Bk?si=OgN0ppxKDMVsNf7Q

A presentation by Brand Master Academy- Check them on YouTube- and their webpage - Brand Master Academy | The Brand Strategy Training Ground