How to Build a Strong Employer Brand

Whether you’re a fast-growing startup or a well-established business, how you’re perceived as an employer has a direct impact on your ability to attract the top talent and retain your best people. With candidates doing more research than ever before, your reputation as a workplace matters just as much as your products or services. Building a strong employer brand is, therefore, more important than ever.

A good employer brand helps potential employees understand what your organisation stands for and why they should join you. Internally, it keeps teams aligned and engaged. When people feel proud of where they work, they’re far more likely to stick around. So, if you’re struggling with high turnover or attracting talent, your employer brand could be the missing piece.

Understanding the Differences between Brand, Branding and Brand Identity

Before we go into details on how to build a strong employer brand, let’s quickly clear up some related terms that are often confused. Each plays a different role in how potential employees, clients, peers and competitors perceive your business.

→ Your brand is the perception people have of your company. It includes your reputation, values, and the emotions people associate with your business, whether they’re customers, partners, or potential employees.

You don’t fully control your brand; people create it based on what you show them, so you could think of your brand as your reputation: it exists in people’s minds, whether you like it or not.

→ Branding is the process of influencing that perception. It includes everything you do to shape how people feel about your company, from the language in your job ads to the tone of your social media posts. It’s strategic, intentional, and ongoing.

→ Brand identity is the visual and verbal expression of your brand. It’s what people see and hear when they interact with your business, including brand elements such as your company logo, fonts or colour palette, your website copy or your brand’s overall tone of voice. A strong brand identity ensures your brand is recognisable and consistent across all touchpoints.

→ Employer brand is where things get specific. Your employer brand is how current and potential employees perceive you as a better or worse place to work. We’re talking here about workplace culture, leadership style, employee experience, and how well you live up to your values.

Employer brand, overall branding, and brand identity often overlap, with the difference being that employer brand focuses squarely on your reputation as an employer.

→ Corporate identity pulls it all together. It’s the complete image your company projects to the world: visually, culturally, and organisationally. It includes your brand identity, values, leadership, and communication style. A clear corporate identity creates internal alignment and external consistency, strengthening consumer and employer brands.

What is Employer Branding?

Employer branding is how your company is perceived as a workplace. From employee experiences and internal culture to how you communicate during the hiring process, multiple factors, internal and external, influence your reputation as an employer and whether or not people believe you’d be a good place to work.

Your employer branding includes what you say (in your job ads, social posts, and careers site) and what others say (in Glassdoor reviews, LinkedIn posts, and word of mouth).

How a Strong Employer Branding can benefit you

A strong employer brand can bring real business benefits to your organisation. When you have

• Attracts better candidates, as people want to work for companies with a clear purpose and good reputation.
• Reduces hiring costs, as candidates already know and like your brand, and it’s easier (and cheaper) to get them through the door.
• Boosts talent retention and improves employee morale and employee engagement: Employees who feel aligned with your values are more motivated and likely to stay.

A Strong Employer Branding Will Helps your Recruitment

Many people mistakenly believe that recruitment is just about filling roles. The truth is, convincing the right people to choose your company and accepting your job offer is a vital part of the role of a recruiter, even more so when you’re recruiting in a very competitive industry such as Technology and Digital.

For instance, a strong employer brand creates a positive first impression before you’ve even spoken to a candidate. Job seekers will often browse your website, check your Glassdoor reviews, or scroll through your LinkedIn posts before deciding whether to apply. They’re more likely to submit their CV or attend an interview if they see consistent messaging, strong values, and a clear sense of culture.

A well-regarded employer brand also encourages referrals from current employees. If your people enjoy where they work, they’ll naturally recommend it to others. Imagine how much you could save on recruitment through employee referrals!

Strong employer branding can also benefit your candidate journey experience. When candidates feel like they understand what to expect throughout the recruitment process, thanks to a clear and consistent brand, their experience improves, regardless of whether they get the job or not.

What if you’re building your Employer Brand from zero?

If you’re a new company, you probably don’t have much of a reputation yet, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it gives you a blank slate to shape how people perceive you from day one.

Start by defining your mission, values, and the kind of culture you want to build. What do you want to be known for as an employer? How do you want your team to feel working there? Being intentional about these things early on will make it much easier to attract the right people as you grow.

Next, focus on the basics: A clear, honest careers page (even if you’re not hiring yet), treating candidates with respect, and encouraging your team, however small, to share their experiences on LinkedIn or in reviews. If you’re unsure how to proceed, you should get the support of a specialist as soon as possible. The way you treat your first few hires and early candidates will set the tone for your future reputation.

Five tips to help you build an Employer Brand

If you’re reading this article and realise your employer brand needs work, you can start with these five essentials. Even if your organisation might have been around for a while, there’s always room for improvement here:

1. Audit your current reputation: Check reviews, feedback, and how you’re being talked about online.
2. Define your EVP (Employer Value Proposition): What makes your company an excellent workplace? Is it your flexible working options? Your excellent work life balance? Make sure you communicate your EVP to your potential candidates.
3. Align brand identity with internal culture to make sure what you promise matches what you deliver.
4. Show, don’t just tell. Use employee stories, employee testimonials, and behind-the-scenes content to bring your culture to life.
5. Be consistent: Use the same tone, values, and messaging across job ads, social media, and interviews.

Case Study: Rebuilding trust after poor Glassdoor reviews

At Adria Solutions, we supported a tech firm struggling to hire due to negative Glassdoor reviews. The reviews highlighted issues such as poor communication, lack of growth opportunities, and high staff turnover.

We started by helping the company understand the source of the problem. A PR fix wasn’t enough here. There were genuine internal issues in their recruitment process that needed addressing:

• Improving internal communication and career development support
• Setting realistic expectations in job descriptions
• Encouraging existing employees to share their positive experiences

We work closely with their leadership and internal talent acquisition team to reinforce their branding through a customised recruitment strategy. The results spoke for themselves. Within months, they noticed a better quality of applications, a boost in team morale, and a slow but steady increase in positive online feedback.

Need a Stronger Employer Brand Strategy? Let Adria Help You

At Adria, we want to help your organisation become an employer of choice for the best talent. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to rebuild your reputation, here’s how our team can help you:

• Crafting your Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
• Align internal culture with external messaging
• Improve candidate experience from the first click to the final job offer
• Turn feedback (good or bad) into a learning opportunity

From short-term recruitment support to long-term employer branding that helps with attracting and retaining the right people, we’ve got you covered. Get in touch with our team to chat about your specific needs and goals.