What are the Key Differences Between Recruitment Marketing and Employer Branding

The two terms that HR professionals widely use — recruitment marketing, and employer branding — are often mixed up. Find out how to use them correctly, develop your own complex of effective strategies and attract the best candidates.

Why Should You Know the Difference?

A lot of terms come into our lives too quickly. Sometimes they are used interchangeably, when they are, in fact, distinct from each other. Examples of such confusing terms might be recruitment marketing and employer branding.

They have certain similarities but are, at the same time, separate tactics — employer branding defines the employer brand, while recruitment marketing promotes it using various channels.

When HR specialists understand the difference, as well as the significance of these two terms, they can effectively use these strategies in their work. By utilizing them together, and compiling them into a successful campaign, you can reach more significant results, attract the best candidates, and improve your recruitment skills.

In order to clear up the confusion, and find out what these strategies imply, and how to use them properly, one has to look at each term in detail.

What Is Employer Branding?

Employer Branding (EB), also known as employment branding, is a term used to describe the complex steps taken to build and develop the reputation of a company — the Employer Brand. When candidates are searching for a job, they are in most cases led by brand image, and the information known about the employer.

The better your employer branding strategy is developed, the more attractive brand image your candidates see, and the more talented specialists you can attract.

Also Read: Why Digital Storytelling is Key to Your Employer Branding StrategyOpens a new window

What are the main components of employer branding?

As the primary purpose of employer branding is to create an image of a desirable employer, it has certain steps to take:

1. Defining the company’s Employer Brand — an identity that has a mission, vision, value, and individuality.
2. Defining Employee Value PropositionOpens a new window (EVP) — the benefits, perks, and rewards your employees will be interested in, such as team motivation, environment dynamic, ping-pong tables, gaming club, free library, and a myriad of others.
3. Defining Candidate Persona — time spent on compiling the features possessed by your ideal candidate should have.
4. Defining the company’s culture through the establishment, and internal maintenance of traditions. After that, spread your mission, vision, and goals.
5. Managing the company’s reputation. For example, reviewing and reacting to feedback, while defining and spreading key messages.

In other words, employer branding is aimed towards the candidates and making a good impression on them by providing them with information on the company. Statistics prove how effective a tool employer branding is, and how it is worth developing, as 84% of job seekers sayOpens a new window that a company’s reputation is one of the most important factors that affects their decision to apply at it.

What Is Recruitment Marketing?

Recruitment marketing (RM) is a process of promoting your employer brand and delivering the right message to the right candidates at the right time. In other words, it works with an Employer Brand to promote it among the best candidates.

What are the main components of recruitment marketing?

Recruitment marketing, first of all, is aimed towards talent attraction, goal definition, and the attainment of said goals. There are different steps that can be taken in the recruitment marketing strategy. They include:

1. Communicating with the candidates and encouraging their engagementOpens a new window — using Glassdoor, Q&A’s on your website and email.
2. Writing clear and attractive job openings. You should focus on growth and opportunities. Engage your current employees in defining the main benefits of working for you, and in busting biases in your ads.
3. Creating engaging content. For example, you can share the opinions of your current employees, create videos about your working place, and the activities that your company holds.
4. Creating awareness as an employer, and promoting through channels, like social media, blogs, and websites. The more you talk about growth opportunities, and career boosts in your company, the more candidates will want to work for you. Use storytelling to build trust with candidates.

Nowadays, recruiting is a lot like marketing itself — 86% of HR specialistsOpens a new window agree with this statement. That’s why it’s not surprising, that many promotional marketing tools can be successfully used by recruiters in their work.

Barbara Oat, the HR Director of EssayTigers, says, “Social media marketing and content creation are the most increasingly developing directions of recruiting, which every HR specialist should take advantage of. We have great plans on further developing our recruiter marketing strategy, as we see that it brings the best results if used in conjunction with other complex methods, and tools.”

The Differences Between Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing

So, we’ve found out what these two terms mean, and now it’s time to define the distinctive differences between them.

Difference #1 — The implication

The most apparent difference between these two terms is that employer branding is a process of defining your employer brand, e.g. (Candidate Persona, Employee Value Proposition). Recruitment marketing is about promoting it,e.g. (content creating and sharing).

Difference #2 — The adjustment

While your employer branding will stay more or less constant, your recruitment marketing strategy should evolve, and adjust to modern standards, trends, and innovations. Employer branding is a strategy that is based on the values of the company and its mission. So, it is a long-term commitment. Recruitment marketing, on the other hand, has to keep up with the latest tendencies, and changes in the recruitment industry.

Difference #3 — The interconnection

These two terms are not interchangeable, but both have a deep connection, as recruitment marketing is built around the employer branding, and can’t exist without it. Any marketing strategy is defined by its goals. In this case, the would be the construction of a desirable employer image, in order to attract the best candidates and the most talented specialists.

Also Read: Top 3 Employer Branding Trends for 2018Opens a new window

Takeaways

Employer branding and recruitment marketing can’t exist separately — they have the same aim, but different methods, and tools for reaching this aim. So, it means that:

1. You need to set your goals and understand what the purpose of your strategy is.
2. You need to understand why the components of the attractive employer brand are Employer Brand, Candidate Persona, and Employee Value Proposition.
3. You need to develop a strategy that includes working with the widest variety of toolsOpens a new window and methods, that will help you reach your goal, and promote your Employer Brand.

While both employer branding and recruitment marketing work with Employer Brand, only by understanding the difference between them, can you develop a successful strategy for defining, and promoting it among the specialists, whom you wish to attract to your company.