4 Major Reasons your Employer Brand Project will Stall

Employer branding is rarely seamless. As with any large project, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll encounter some problems along the way. But there are ways to minimise them.

In fact, there are some scenarios which cause a project to stall which are easily preventable if you make the right preparations.

To save yourself some hair pulling later down the line, it’s best to take these measures before the situation arises. But if you’re currently facing one of the following scenarios, the advice still stands.

Step back, recalibrate, make sure you have done the following steps and you’ll be back on track in record time.

The Reasons Your Employer Brand Project will Stall

Reason 1: Complexity and scale

Your company is large and complex. There are many lines of business, regions and talent profiles to consider. Trying to create a research methodology that encompasses everything feels like juggling sand.

Solution:

Break your audiences down into 3 simple categories: leadership view, employee view and external view.

Aim for 10% of your organisation to participate in the research. If your organisation is 15,000 people strong and you’ve only heard from 500, you’re not getting an accurate representation.

Consider what resources already exist that can help you understand your employer brand. For example, you can use your most recent employee engagement survey to give you volume data and supplement with smaller sample of qualitative insight, (think 1-1s and workshops.)

Reason 2: Too many cooks

You’ve got too many stakeholders who are giving direct input to the project.
Each sign off point is a blocker because you’re dealing with a nebulous decision committee, rather than a small, incisive group who are aligned on what they want out of the project. You’re jumping through hoops over too many different, (and sometimes conflicting,) opinions.

Solution:

Manage expectations and establish who your key stakeholders are from the outset. Then, create a stakeholder management prioritization matrix. Bear power and interest levels in mind and use the matrix to guide how you manage and communicate with people involved.

Reason 3: Conflicting Priorities

Other workstreams in the business have taken priority over employer brand. It might be product development initiatives, customer service enhancements, organisational restructuring, mergers or other employee engagement initiatives.

Solution:

Learn how to make employer branding a priority to your CEO, no matter the wider circumstances. Our free webinar will guide you through this process. 

Reason 4: Creative differences

Your creative isn’t being nailed because the brief isn’t clear. It’s too vague and lacks clear parameters of the creative expectations like tone of voice, brand colours, people versus stock photography, etc.

Solution:

Make your brief bulletproof. Ensure it complements the existing brand. Facilitate a brand immersion meeting to clarify the guidelines and explore aspirations for the employer brand. Share tangible examples of what “good” looks like or what other brands inspire you.

Remember that making tweaks in your employer brand project as you go along is normal. No one has a crystal ball, and unforeseen situations do arise. That’s life. The important thing is not to get sucked in to the lull and lose momentum altogether.

Use these tips to get smart and targeted with your troubleshooting.