If you’re a business leader, you are probably already familiar with the concept of branding, though you may not fully understand how it works. Branding is important for all modern companies even at the best of times, but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic makes it more essential than ever before. Here’s what you need to know.
What Is branding?
A loose definition of employer branding is the set of perceived benefits that people associate with your company. Your brand encompasses your organization’s culture, personality, and values, as well as the daily experiences of your employees. It tells both customers and prospective new hires what to expect.
Strong employer branding has several benefits, including:
– Recruiting and retaining strong employees
– Reducing costs across all aspects of business, from marketing to employee retention
– Developing brand ambassadors
– Building customer loyalty
Branding in the age of COVID-19
In the COVID era, it’s not enough to simply build a brand. You need to make sure that your branding addresses the key concerns of your customers and your potential new hires. Your message must be people-centric, focusing on what you are doing to keep people safe, healthy, and happy as they work or shop at your establishment. If you’re doing anything to contribute to relief efforts in your community, be sure to highlight that as well.
More than anything else in modern times, how you respond to the pandemic can set your company’s expectations long into the future. So it’s worth the effort to get it right. Here are some tips:
– Build a COVID-19 response plan: If you still don’t have a cohesive plan, now is the time to put one together. You should know and articulate exactly what the company is doing to protect all stakeholders, from employees to candidates to hiring partners to customers, and how business operations will be modified until the end of the pandemic.
– Work hand in hand with your marketing department: Naturally, it’s important to keep selling and recruiting. But some of your automated messaging may now seem tone-deaf. Develop a single, people-focused voice to use across all channels.
– Remain agile and be honest about it: None of us have seen anything like this pandemic in our lifetimes, and responding to it is sort of like building a plane while you’re already in midflight. Things will change as new scientific guidance comes, out and as you see what works and what doesn’t within your company. As things change, put out new messaging.
– Update your job listings: Build a webpage that addresses your COVID-19 response, especially the human factor, and link to it from every job posting.
COVID-19 has completely upended the world as we knew it. As you restart operations and begin to search for new talent, revisit your branding to ensure that it is relevant, people-centric, and helpful to those seeking information and reassurance at this time of crisis.
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