In this second instalment of our New Talent Challenges, we explore the unique challenges businesses now face when recruiting and retaining top talent, in light of the widespread impacts of the pandemic.
If I were to ask you to define marketing, you would probably start by mentioning activities such as attracting customers, supervising brand building initiatives, and promoting goods and services in a variety of settings. While you would be correct in mentioning these factors, marketing also plays a critical role in attracting and retaining top talent.
There is a common misconception that recruitment is solely the domain of Human Resources (HR), and that employee retention is entirely out of management’s control. However, upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that advertising plays a significant role in both of these areas. In reality, all of these factors are interconnected, and HR duties are intrinsically linked to a company’s advertising efforts.
Let’s go even farther into it.
To What Extent Does Marketing Play a Role in Attracting and Retaining Top Talent?
The hypothetical question in the opening may have made you think of sales and advertising, because marketing has always been closely linked to these objectives. Also, the number of sales or new customers acquired is sometimes used as a way of measuring how successful a company’s marketing activities have been.
However, it would be naive to assume that the marketing department’s branding activities are only concerned with achieving those KPIs. An organization’s brand is an expression of its creator’s core values and beliefs, as well as the path it intends to take to achieve its goal. Your company is selling an attitude about life and the world. Your mission, guided by your beliefs and vision, will then be to win over prospects and cement their loyalty as paying customers.
However, this viewpoint must not only dazzle customers, but also entice the employees who will be doing the task. You need to pitch your firm to prospective workers just as you do to your consumers. If you’re successful, people will be drawn to working with you and may even stay with the company because of its brand.
When this happens, marketing may help. Your marketing team has two goals that must be accomplished through the lens of your brand’s values, purpose, and vision. On the one hand, they need to shape the brand’s voice in a manner that resonates with prospective workers. However, everyone must do their share in the everyday work of creating your own unique culture.
The way people perceive your company can have an impact on whether they want to work for you (or stay with you). This is something you should think about. Potential employees may be put off if they see a lot of negative comments about your company’s work environment or its attitude to environmental issues. This could also lead to your current staff leaving.
Effective Marketing and Its Benefits
It is therefore the responsibility of marketing to improve employee branding by taking the following steps: retooling communications with an emphasis on employees, emphasising core values, encouraging best practises for internal messaging, and convincing all divisions to prioritise branding efforts. While it might be difficult to get all of these elements correct, it is not impossible with a good strategy.
Listed below are some recommendations:
Make changes to your messaging to make room for your projects that focus on the staff.
You could host a talent show or contest to find hidden talent, or offer a special bonus to employees, for example. By doing something to make it easy for others to see the talent within your business, you’ll show that you care about your workers and give them a sense of belonging.Make your staff the focus of your advertising.
It’s important that you take advantage of the fact that we now live in the “story age.” You can show potential employees what working for your company is like by highlighting your most satisfied workers. They might talk about their experiences, take part in a live Q&A session, recommend potential employees, or do any number of additional actions you can imagine.Involve every division in your company’s marketing efforts.
While the marketing team is responsible for all marketing activities, everyone in the company has a role to play in establishing the company’s reputation. It is therefore important for marketing to work closely with every other division, exchanging information on projects, ensuring that messages are consistent, and even seeking assistance from other divisions when recruiting.To brand and then some is a waste of time.
It is crucial for any marketing department that wants to boost recruitment and retention to understand the importance of corporate culture and the workplace environment. Marketing may take the lead in this area by revealing what the competition is providing, what the most qualified candidates are seeking, and what the staff has to say about areas for growth.
Progressively Advancing
There is more to marketing than just promoting products and attracting new clients. It can also be useful in enhancing the company’s reputation among current and prospective employees. You shouldn’t take this lightly since people’s impressions of the company may make or break your efforts to attract and retain new employees.
It would be a mistake to delegate both of these tasks to human resources. In fact, it may pay off in decreased employee turnover and increased interest from top people in working with you. Not only will you be helping to bring in the considerations all companies need to take towards their employees, but you will also be aiding in the reinvention of what marketing is all about.
