Build Awareness for Your Brand — and Jumpstart Your Recruitment and Hiring

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in May 2022 and has been updated with new research and insights.

Key Takeaways 

• By using brand ads to promote its mission and passionate workforce, nonprofit NFIB increased its applicant flow while cutting cost per application.
• Research your highly rated competitors to understand what top talent wants from an employer so you can optimize your brand ads.
• Investing in employee wellbeing can create happier employees who naturally advocate for your brand and help boost awareness.

You have several open roles that you’ve been promoting practically everywhere. Even so, you aren’t getting the online traffic you anticipated — and you’re seeing other businesses in your market scoop up top talent. 

In an increasingly competitive market, brand reputation matters. Today, it’s essential that organizations promote an authentic story that job seekers can connect to. “Brand authenticity comes from a focus on a company’s customers, the people within it and how it impacts the community,” says Megan Nichols, Indeed Senior Program Manager of Employer Brand and Recruitment Advertising. 

Here’s how to identify and promote your company’s unique story so you can build a strong employer brand, increase your candidate engagement and, ultimately, draw more applications.

Employer Branding Starts with the Voice of the Customer

While potential candidates may not know a lot about your organization, your most enthusiastic clients or users do — and that consumer branding is often a good starting point.

Take, for example, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a Nashville-based organization of 650 employees that advocates on behalf of small and independent businesses across the U.S. Its mission statement is clear and directly appeals to its patrons: Promote and protect the right of our members to own, operate and grow their businesses.

“Of course, money is important, but the reason a candidate would choose us over another employer would be our mission,” says Gina Bruce, NFIB Director of Recruitment and Career Development. “The people who work here are really passionate about our cause.”

To pinpoint a mission your audience can identify with, Nichols says to reflect on what you are doing well, your clients’ perceptions of your brand and their sentiments on your products and services. Check your company reviews and social media mentions for positive topics and trends. These core messages are pillars for existing and new employees to rally around.

From there, tap into the voice of the customer: 

• What’s behind your positive brand sentiment?
• What makes customers buy into your brand promise?
• What keeps them coming back?

Next, Sync With What Your Candidates Want

It’s important to understand your market-specific conditions and what workers want as priorities continue to shift and evolve. According to Indeed's 2024 Workforce Insights Report, workers say their top job search motivators are higher pay, better benefits and flexible hours. If you’re offering these or other equally compelling benefits, highlight them in your job posts to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Nichols suggests using sites like Glassdoor to read recent employee reviews of well-rated companies and see why workers recommend them. You can also reference companies that have the highest Work Wellbeing Scores, which can indicate to candidates that a company values its employees and fosters a positive work environment.

To promote its company culture and benefits, NFIB leverages its purpose-driven workforce in employee testimonials and videos. Its website also has a section dedicated to recruiting veterans.

Then, Promote Your Employer Brand

Once you’ve laid the foundation, the last step is to get your message in front of job seekers. Consider all the tools you use to build your company’s reputation. For example, when its hires per month dipped last year, NFIB used Indeed Employer Branding Ads (EBA) to promote itself across Indeed, Glassdoor, The New York Times, Buzzfeed and other sites. The ads use NFIB’s logo, images and videos to send candidates to its company page and view its open jobs.

After using EBA for a year, Bruce reported a 2.3X increase in average applications each month and a 26.4% decrease in cost per application. “We’ve found more productive hires since we turned on Employer Branding Ads,” says Bruce. “Nowadays, I don’t get calls from recruiters saying that our candidate flow is poor and that we aren’t doing enough outreach.”

While applications are obviously important to get to the hire, Nichols recommends looking at engagement metrics to get the full picture of your employer branding’s impact. “Applications are just one component of the recruitment funnel — and brand awareness is at the very top,” Nichols says.

In EBA’s Centralized Analytics suite, you can see if your ads are reaching their targeted audience or impacting engagement on your company page and job posts. Bruce says she checks her campaign spend every morning and uses the real-time insights to adjust campaign objectives and budget. You can also monitor your company’s ranking (based on brand impressions) against competitors to see if that placement changes throughout the EBA campaign.

To follow potential changes in employee sentiment, track the number of reviews on your company page. Are current employees inspired to leave reviews? Are reviews trending in a positive direction? Are your ratings improving?

Happy employees who are connected to an employer brand are proud to speak about their experiences and advocate for the workplace. “They’ll be your brand ambassadors by referring great talent to the company, posting their own experiences on social media or resharing brand messaging,” Nichols says. You can even create a dedicated employer brand hashtag.

Then, check the conversions from awareness and engagement on your employer brand social media channels. Does your messaging inspire your audience to take action? Look at video views, blog clicks and any other metrics you can gather from the employer brand content you’re producing.

Together, these steps can help you build a memorable employer brand that resonates with both your current and prospective employees. “We learn through the stories of others,” says Nichols. “Through your employer brand, you can represent employees and share their authentic experiences — making an emotional connection that feels personal and relevant.”

Learn more about how Employer Branding Ads and the Employer Branding Hub can help build and boost your brand.