The brand platform, leveraging your employer brand

In search of meaning and recognition, young graduates are increasingly difficult to recruit. To attract and retain talent, it is now essential to enhance your company's image through an attractive employer brand. A true DNA of your company, the brand platform is a lever to develop your employer brand. This essential tool in your communication strategy defines the vision, missions and values that forge your company's identity.

What is the employer brand?

Popularized in France in the early 2010's, the concept of employer brand refers to the image of a company among its employees and future candidates. It is based on the advantages that an employee sees in working for a given company: the interest of the missions carried out, working conditions and atmosphere, remuneration, prospects for development, etc.

The analysis of the employer brand is based on four axes:

• Employer identity: what intrinsically defines the company and differentiates it from its competitors (sector of activity, professions, values, ambitions, history, geographical location, etc.);
• The external employer image: the way in which the external public (candidates, schools, journalists, human resources experts, etc.) perceives the company as an employer ;
• The internal employer image: what employees, managers or partners of the company think and feel from the inside;
• Employer practices: the organisation and operation of HR services (recruitment process, integration of new employees, training, performance evaluation....).

Why implement an employer branding strategy?

Reinforce its attractiveness to candidates

In a changing cultural, social and economic context, companies are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit qualified profiles. In addition to a salary and a career, new generations in search of meaning favour job offers that are in line with their deepest aspirations: balance between personal and professional life, civic and ecological commitment, flexible working hours, mobility and international openness, etc. These values are in vogue among start-ups and are highly prized by young graduates. Developing your employer brand is therefore essential to differentiate yourself from your competitors and attract new talent.

Building employee loyalty and increasing productivity

Internally, a controlled employer brand promotes your employees' sense of belonging and commitment, which increases their motivation and involvement in the development of your business. Taking care of your employees also reduces absenteeism and turnover, and therefore saves time and money in terms of recruitment and training. There is no better ambassador than a happy and satisfied employee who contributes to your brand image. Especially with potential candidates: it is therefore the establishment of a real virtuous circle.

How to improve your brand employeur ?

Developing its digital communication strategy

HR marketing consists of reinforcing the positive image of the company through the employer brand and disseminating it through effective internal and external communication. As with any marketing strategy, the message conveyed must be adapted to your different targets, coherent and authentic. In the digital age, the web is an essential communication medium. While most recruiters use the internet to find out about candidates, the reverse is also true: almost all applicants conduct online research on the company's reputation before applying. The management of your employer brand therefore requires a high-performance digital strategy including :

• A modern, ergonomic, user experience oriented, optimized and well référencé ;
• A dynamic presence on the social networks pertinents ;
• Quality, original and creative content such as corporate videos.

Building a brand platform to develop its employer brand

Far from being limited to hiring issues, the development of your employer brand requires a global reflection around the brand identity of your company, formalized through the development of a brand platform. Through the expression of a strong brand, the brand platform highlights your assets, asserts your uniqueness and thus represents the strategic foundation of your employer identity. It structures your discourse, ensuring consistency and authenticity in order to convey a positive external employer image. As a management tool, it also enables you to communicate internally with your teams, to unite them around a common commitment and thus improve your internal employer image.

What is a brand platform?

The brand platform is the DNA of your company, a synthetic document that defines its essential outlines. If there is no single model, it generally specifies the following elements:

• The mission: the company's raison d'être, its role in its field of activity and its corporate purpose;
• The vision: the ambitions and objectives to be achieved in the coming years ;
• Values: the philosophy and the main principles on which the company's culture is based;
• Positioning: the target, the promise made to the customer, the added value compared to competitors;
• The signature: the summary in a few words of the brand's vision and values;
• The visual identity: the logo and the graphic charter.

As a reference and sharing tool, the brand platform is a guiding thread that influences all decisions, guides all actions carried out and therefore plays a key role in the life of the company. Its construction must be the result of in-depth collective reflection, carried out in consultation with all the company's stakeholders in order to have the most accurate and faithful vision possible. To do this, you can be accompanied by a specialised agency to benefit from its expertise and an objective outside view.