Building, activating, and sustaining an employer brand strategy takes a village. In our experience working with organizations across industries, we’re used to seeing our clients focus on the partnerships that will help them showcase the employer brand externally—namely Talent Acquisition and Human Resources.
While getting your employer brand message in front of candidates is essential, it’s only half the strategy. There's another team, crucial to sustaining and strengthening the employment relationship, that often gets overlooked. Here’s why a strong partnership with internal communications is essential to your employer brand strategy.
Aligning Employee Experience with Brand Promise
Employer branding isn’t just about attracting talent—it’s about retaining employees by delivering on commitments you’ve made to them. When there’s consistency between what’s promised and what’s delivered, employees feel a stronger connection to the organization.
For example, if your employer brand promises a culture of innovation, this should be reflected in your internal communications and practices. You might consider instituting an internal platform for employees to share new ideas, and/or a recognition tool for celebrating employees who contribute innovative solutions. By consistently promoting and supporting innovation internally, you reinforce the employer brand pillar of innovation, while helping the workforce feel that their contributions are valued and aligned with the company's goals.
Amplifying the Employer Brand Message
While external campaigns reach a broad audience, internal communications ensures that the same message resonates within the organization. Employees need to understand and embrace the employer brand strategy. When they do, they authentically represent the brand in their interactions with customers, partners, and the wider community. Here are a couple of ways we’ve helped our clients transform their employees into employer brand advocates:
- Soliciting testimonials from employees to share their stories about how they experience the employer brand, in their role. These stories then become a library of content that can be used internally and externally via social cards, blog posts, or newsletters.
- Creating talking points to help employees articulate the benefits of working at your company when discussing it with potential candidates. These talking points can be used to supplement an employee referral program.
This alignment reinforces the brand strategy by creating consistency across key touchpoints (and might even attract candidates along the way).
Nurturing Trust and Transparency
Trust is the bedrock of any healthy relationship. Internal communication channels—whether town halls, newsletters, or intranet platforms—provide opportunities for leaders to be transparent about organizational changes, challenges, and successes. When employees feel informed and included, they trust the organization’s intentions and are more likely to stay committed. This trust directly impacts the employer brand’s credibility and authenticity.
One effective strategy is to organize regular "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) sessions with executives and department heads. These sessions provide a platform for employees to ask questions, share concerns, and offer suggestions in an open forum. It not only increases transparency but also demonstrates that leadership is approachable and invested in the employees' perspectives.
Fostering Employee Engagement
An effective internal communications strategy creates a sense of belonging, purpose, and alignment. When we partner with organizations to help them evolve their internal communications strategies, we often encourage feedback loops, such as focus groups, suggestion boxes, and regular check-ins. The goal is to ensure that communication is not just top-down but also bottom-up. This two-way communication model allows employees to share their ideas, concerns, and feedback, outside of a typical annual engagement survey. According to a recent Salesforce study, employees who feel their voices are heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work.
All in all, a strategic partnership with internal communications will ensure that your employer brand isn’t just a tagline—it’s communicated, seen, felt, and lived throughout the organization. Stay tuned for more blogs in our series about internal communications and the impact it has on your employer brand.
Are you interested in weaving your employer brand into internal communications strategy, but not sure where to start?We can help! Fill out our Contact Us form or reach out to me directly on LinkedIn.
