How to Use Blogs to Build a Strong Employer Brand in a Competitive Market

Standing out is a hard thing to do. In our noisy, content-filled world it can feel like everyone is shouting louder than you. But if you want to attract the best talent, you need to find a way to shine brighter than your competition. 

That’s where blogs come in. 

They’re the perfect way to build your employer brand and give you targeted, high-quality content to share. So when you’re courting a prospective employee and they start to do their research into what you stand for, you’re making their life easy. 

What is an employer brand and why does it matter?

The idea of employer branding was first talked about in 1996 and was defined as “the package of functional, economic, and psychological benefits provided by employment”. In short it’s how potential, current and past employees see your business. It’s your culture, your values, your benefits, your reputation. 

Back in 1996 employer branding wasn’t that important. It existed but nobody really took any notice of it. Fast forward to our post-pandemic world and that’s flipped on its head. The pandemic gave us the opportunity to see how our employers treated us when we were going through hard times. Suddenly what an employer did and how it supported its employees was front and center. 

Now 88% of job seekers think about an employer’s brand before they apply for a job. That means it’s something marketing and HR teams need to be weaving into every touch point. 

Employer brand, retention and engagement

Employer branding isn’t just about talking the talk, you need to walk the walk too. Because when your actions, your values and your brand align that’s where the magic happens. 

Creating a strong employer brand not only increases the level of engagement with your employees but they’re more likely to stay for longer. Meaning any upfront costs associated with developing your employer brand will be recouped through lower hiring costs down the road.

The role of blogs in building your brand

The key element of an employer brand is sharing it with your audience. If you want prospective employees, candidates or clients to understand how you work and what you stand for then they need access to your employer branding. A great way to do that is through your blogs. 

Blogs allow you an uninterrupted place to explore topics you’re passionate about, to sing about what you’re doing that’s different, to showcase you. Social media is noisy, it’s brief, it’s got a short shelf life, ads can get costly quickly but blogs - with a lifespan of around 2 years they are always there waiting to be discovered and building your brand.

Showcase your values

I work with one recruitment agency who are passionate about women in the workplace. Equality is one of their values so whenever there’s a new report out about gender pay gaps or women’s careers we write a blog about it. 

Having a place that you can dive into a topic, dig deep and explore an issue allows your audience to see what you care about. But it also gives you a voice on topics that impact your values. That’s what will stand your employer brand apart from others. 

It’s easy to say you care about something, but when you can bring a 1200 word article to life that is packed with emotive, well-researched content - that’s something your competitors aren’t doing.

Increase your visibility

When a prospective employee searches for your firm - what comes up? If they find your website what is there for them to read or learn? Beyond giving you an SEO boost and bumping you up the rankings - blogs give detail that people might not know. 

You should also be sharing your blogs far and wide - whether that’s promoting them through your social channels, emails or, like one of my clients, sending them to industry publications for them to share. 

All of those things show that you have something to say, you care about topics, you know what you’re doing and that’s a great impression to leave with anyone searching for your firm.

Humanise your brand

In our post-Covid world marketing has changed. It’s gone beyond B2B or B2C and now it’s human to human. People want to know who they’re dealing with, who’s going to be employing them and not just the glossy brochure, top-line information. But they want to know about your values, your mission, your ethos.

Blogs are the best way to do this. By sharing content around topics that are important to the firm - whether that’s industry news, announcements, new research or issues impacting the industry, blogs allow you to become more human - forging that emotional connection with your audience.

Embedding blogs in your content strategy

Sounds great, right? There’s no doubt that blogs can be a critical part of your employer brand strategy helping you to stand out in a competitive market and define what you stand for. But, and it’s a big but - that’s only going to happen if you’re using blogs properly. 

It’s easy to get swept up in the romance of blog writing, to imagine yourself carelessly writing blog after blog building a suite of materials that any prospective employee would love. That’s only going to happen if you embed blogs in your content strategy.

Blogs need to be regularly created and shared, not only for the SEO bonus points, but to show that you’re still active. If you’ve got a blog a week for 2-months and then nothing for 3-months people will notice.

The best approach to take is to be realistic about the frequency you’re able to produce blogs. It’s better to write one blog a month for 2-years than to burn out in a matter of weeks. Define your core values, develop topics that link back to those and get to work. 

Of course, even with all that information you still might not have the resources in your team to create regular blogs. That’s where I come in. I’m a recruitment content and copywriter and love, love, love writing blogs. I work with firms to create a blog strategy to support their employer brand and that fits in with their wider agenda. Sound good? Send me a message and let’s have a chat.