Employer branding in B2B: How your employer brand influences your company's success

Every company has a reputation among its employees, whether consciously created or not. This reputation not only influences the internal culture, but also how the company is perceived externally - by potential applicants, customers and business partners.

Establishing a strong employer brand that both the company and its employees can be proud of is a key factor in standing out from the competition. Employer branding in B2B is not only important for recruitment, but also plays a central role in the overall brand strategy. In particular Content marketing and Social media campaigns strengthen the employer brand in the long term.

What does employer branding mean in B2B and why is it so important?

Employer branding in B2B describes the perception of a company as an employer, both internally among employees and externally among potential applicants. A large part of a company's reputation is based on the marketing of its products or services. However, the company's internal culture is just as important. Without a strong team, it will be difficult to achieve long-term success.

According to Glassdoor research. 86 percent of job seekers Company ratingsto decide whether to apply for a job. If a company has numerous negative reviews, many potential applicants will reject the job.

LinkedIn has also found that more than 75 percent of job seekers check the reputation and employer brand of a company before they apply. Companies with a questionable reputation not only find it difficult to attract new talent, but also to retain existing employees.

It is therefore essential to optimise your employer brand by investing time and resources in building a positive reputation that attracts new talent and strengthens the existing team. This is invaluable, especially in times of skills shortages. Employer branding and Content marketing work closely together: Authentic Storytelling about the corporate culture builds trust and appeals to both talent and customers.

What can employer branding campaigns in B2B look like?

Employer branding measures in B2B encompass a variety of strategies aimed at communicating the company's values and culture authentically to the outside world. The key measures include

• Employee interviews and field reports: These can be published in the form of texts, videos or social media posts. They offer an authentic insight into the work culture and create trust among potential applicants. This type of content is essential to establish an emotional connection with the target groups.
• Employer branding videos: Videos that show the corporate culture and everyday working life are a powerful tool for visually conveying the employer brand. They are particularly effective on social media or careers pages as they offer a personal impression of working at the company.
• Publication of employee magazines: Employee magazines offer an excellent opportunity to regularly share important events, successes and employee stories. These publications strengthen internal communication, promote commitment and offer potential applicants insights into the corporate culture. Employee magazines can also be publicised externally and used as an employer branding tool.
• Optimisation of the career page: The careers page should not only present current vacancies, but also the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) of your company clearly. Videos, employee stories and clear information about the company culture can be integrated here to create an engaging experience for applicants.
• Social media campaigns: Platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook offer ideal opportunities to present content such as employee stories, success stories and company values. Well-planned social media campaigns maximise the reach of your employer brand and increase visibility among potential talent.
• Graphic Design: Design and creativity speak a universal language and are often the first point of contact for applicants with a company. In a world of communication overload, it's the details that grab our attention. An investment in high-quality Graphic design pays off.
• Infographics: These can be used to visualise data, statistics or the employer branding process. They are particularly useful in social media campaigns, on the careers page or in employee magazines to present complex content in an appealing and easy-to-understand way.

An important component of these campaigns is a long-term, well thought-out employer branding strategy that is regularly updated and maintained. External partners such as B2IMPACT can provide support here by developing professional content marketing strategies, video productions and social media campaigns to effectively communicate and sustainably strengthen the employer brand.

Corporate publishing for employer branding: putting company news on paper

Corporate Publishing is an effective method of strengthening your employer branding and communicating your messages to employees in a targeted manner. A well-designed employee magazine offers an excellent opportunity to communicate company news, successes and relevant topics in an appealing way.

Why corporate publishing? A magazine like this not only strengthens internal communication, but also creates a direct and personal connection with employees. It offers scope for creativity and makes it possible to convey important information with an individual, customised touch. This not only promotes employee engagement, but also supports the development of a strong employer brand.

Corporate publishing for employer branding is more than just internal communication - it is a strategic tool to make your employer brand tangible and authentic.

The five biggest advantages of employer branding in B2B

Let's take a look at the statistics that illustrate the benefits of a strong employer branding strategy as well as the ROI of investing in employer branding activities.

#1: Attract more qualified applicants

There is a lot of research that shows that companies with a strong employer brand attract more talent to their organisations. 9 out of 10 applicants:inside would apply for a job if the company had an actively cultivated employer brand. According to a study by LinkedIn, companies with a strong employer brand see up to 50 per cent more qualified applicants.

When it comes to deciding where to apply for a job, jobseekers 84 per cent that a company's reputation as an employer is crucial.80 per cent of talent acquisition managers also believe that employer brands have a significant impact on the ability to hire great talent. These figures underpin the fact that building a strong employer brand is essential to attract top talent.

#2: Lower fluctuation rates

As already mentioned, companies that have invested in various Employer branding strategies invest better in attracting talent that matches their core values, mission and vision. As a result, employee turnover in these companies decreases by up to 28 percent. When employees identify more strongly with the company's values, they are more loyal and committed.

# 3: Lower recruitment costs

As strong employer brands attract more qualified job seekers, companies that invest in their reputation can reduce recruitment costs. Studies have shown that a negative reputation can cost companies up to 10 per cent more per setting costs. A well-maintained employer brand, on the other hand, reduces these costs considerably.

#4: Greater customer loyalty and faster growth

Employer branding not only has an impact on recruitment, but also influences customers and the company's growth. Candidates who have a bad experience during the selection process tend to stop consuming the company's products or services. According to CareerArc 64 per cent of consumers have stopped buying from a brand after learning about poor treatment of employees.

Companies with a strong talent brand demonstrably grow faster. According to a LinkedIn study, companies with a high Talent Brand Index (TBI) grew 20 per cent faster than their competitors with a weaker employer brand.

#5: Promoting diversity and inclusion

Companies that can point to a clear employer branding strategy are more successful in attracting diverse talent and in maintaining their Initiatives for diversity and inclusion to strengthen the company. Social media and other channels offer an ideal platform for showcasing diversity and inclusion within the company and attracting diverse talent.

Employer branding channels, such as social media in the B2B sector, also offer a great opportunity to communicate the company's social responsibility and create more diverse workplaces.

Employer branding concept and process: A guide for B2B companies

Many companies confuse employer branding in B2B with recruitment marketing, although both pursue different goals. While recruitment marketing focuses on short-term talent acquisition measures, employer branding is a comprehensive and long-term process that aims to build and maintain an attractive and authentic employer brand. It is an integral part of the corporate strategy that goes far beyond pure recruitment and influences the entire corporate image.

Companies can implement employer branding in B2B in a variety of ways and via numerous channels. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn or Instagram play a central role in attracting talent and presenting the corporate culture. Many companies are also optimising their careers pages in order to clearly communicate the employee value proposition (EVP) and make the approach to applicants more personal and attractive.

Inbound recruiting methods are also an effective part of employer branding. This involves creating useful, relevant and interesting content that encourages interaction with potential candidates and improves their application experience.

All these measures not only strengthen the employer brand, but also make a decisive contribution to consolidating the company's reputation and attracting the best talent in the long term.

Define your Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is what your organisation stands for. It is the representation of your organisation's core values, mission, vision and culture. It differentiates you from your competition and ultimately attracts talent to your organisation. But only 61 percent of companies have well-developed EVPs, and 44 percent of all CEOs do not even know that their company uses EVPs.

When defining the EVP, it is important to remain realistic. Many organisations tend to make their value propositions sound very attractive to talent, while the reality is not so rosy. As a consequence, they have low employee retention and high turnover rates.

This is why the saying "employer branding starts from within" is so popular. If you want to attract new talent to the company, positioning yourself as a better place to work is a prerequisite.

Understand the individual challenges and future needs in Talent Acquisition

When developing an employer branding strategy, it is important to understand the current challenges in recruitment and hiring. In addition, current and future recruitment needs must be understood in order to get the most out of employer branding activities.

For example, if it is clear that attracting AI talent is the biggest challenge, it is only logical that efforts are focussed on this talent.

Define goals

In order to create an employer branding strategy and measure the impact of it, setting clear goals is crucial.

Some of the most common goals for employer branding are:

• Increase the number of high-quality applicants
• Increase the traffic on the career site
• Increase interaction with campaign-related social media posts
• Reduce time and cost per hire
• Increasing employee engagement in employer branding activities
• Increase the number of job referrals
• Improving the candidate experience
• Improvement of the offer acceptance rate
• Reduction of the application dropout rate
• Increase employer ratings on relevant platforms, such as Kununu

Define candidate personas

To make employer branding campaigns more personalised and efficient, define and understand appropriate Personas for applicants - i.e. the presentation of your perfect applicants.

To define candidate personas, it's best to start with your own employees and answer questions like: Which generation do they belong to? What is important to them when it comes to their career? Salary, growth and development, company culture, interesting projects, job flexibility, work environment or something else? Where do they look for job offers? What kind of content about employers do they find valuable? Do they spend time on social media? Are they active or passive job seekers?

Once you have answers to these questions, it is much easier to define what type of employer branding content should be created and through which channels this content is best promoted.

Implementing successful employer branding campaigns

A well-planned employer branding campaign that integrates videos, social media and the company website can effectively strengthen the employer brand. According to LinkedIn, 69 per cent of companies plan to expand their employer branding measures via the company website and 47 per cent via social media. One example of this is the successful campaigns in the IT sector, where everyday working life is often communicated through videos and blogs.

A clear advantage of these measures is that not only is the employer brand strengthened, but the company's general branding also benefits, leading to greater trust among both applicants and customers.

Engage your employees

The most effective employer branding activities are those that showcase your existing employees. According to LinkedIn, companies whose employees share their brand's social content see an increase in the views their job offers receive.

Involving employees in your employer branding campaigns is crucial as they have great power to increase trust in the workplace. If you can encourage employees to share their own stories and become your employer brand ambassadors, your external communications will appear much more credible and attractive to job seekers.

Here are some examples of employee-generated content that is valued by applicants:

1. "A day in my company" - the stories around the kind of work the employees do and the working environment show.
2. Stories in the sense of "Why I applied and why I stay", which explain why employees have chosen this company and are satisfied with it.
3. Stories about "how working in my company is different", describing how working in your company is different from the way they used to work.

These stories can be shared on social media, stories, live sessions, career pages, YouTube videos, local media publishers, events and many other channels.

Human resources, HR and talent management departments are usually responsible for developing employer branding strategies. They often also work with marketing and communications teams to ensure consistent communication among employees and customers.

However, it is important for organisations to understand that their employees are the most important employer brand ambassadors. According to Edelman Trust Barometer the voices of employees are perceived as 3 times more credible than those of CEOs when it comes to working conditions in a company.

Furthermore, employees are the most trusted and influential source of corporate news and information, ahead of the company's CEOs, customers and media spokespeople.

Cross-media employer branding: synergies through cross-channel measures

A successful employer branding approach in B2B requires a well thought-out cross-media strategy that is implemented on several channels in parallel and in a coordinated manner. Content such as employee stories, employer branding videos and infographics are distributed on platforms such as social media, the careers page and in employee magazines in order to effectively address different target groups.

The synergy effects of these cross-channel measures are considerable. Consistent communication across different platforms strengthens the employer brand and ensures that the employee value proposition (EVP) and company values are communicated clearly and uniformly. Using multiple channels, such as LinkedIn, Instagram or your own career pages, creates a broader reach and more touchpoints with potential applicants.

Measuring and optimising success

Measuring the impact of your AE activities is important to improve them in the future and achieve the highest possible ROIs. To measure the success of your employer branding campaigns and activities, you should refer to the defined objectives and carry out a before and after analysis.

Although 96 per cent of companies believe that employer brand and reputation can have a positive or negative impact on turnover, less than half (44 per cent) monitor this impact.

Conclusion: Employer branding in Austria - rely on a strong brand

In the current market environment, with increasing competition for top talent, building a credible employer brand and positioning yourself as a great place to work is a crucial factor for small and medium-sized enterprises. A strong brand This influences whether qualified candidates decide to join your team - or accept an offer from the competition instead.

Are you looking for an experienced agency to help you build a strong employer brand? Then B2IMPACT is the right place for you. We provide you with customised content marketing, social media and video content to achieve your employer branding goals. Our team will help you to communicate your brand in an authentic and targeted manner. Contact us now and make yourself even more attractive as an employer!

Article created by Dusica Pavlovic, former project manager for content marketing & social media.
Revised by Barbara Plöchl, Project Manager for Content & SEO