“The way you dress is how you greet the sun and other stars.”
― Kamand Kojouri

I’m not much of a fan of employer branding topics in HR discussions because it progresses fast into marketing and sales activities but we can’t exactly ignore it if a company wants to finalize their HR strategy. As many of us know, employer branding tactics and activities are essentially strategic moves to raise a brand awareness and increase the overall company attraction to potential candidates in the workforce or just any external business partners. The most powerful way to do it is through networking activities in which you meet other colleagues from the same industry where common interest topics are discussed and shared. Any events and conferences where there’s an opportunity for a company to present themselves and communicate any possible business interest are certainly of the highest value when we’re talking about simple brand awareness. At the moment, I need to raise the brand awareness in an area in which a younger, future workforce, who have yet to become available on the labor market, should know the possibilities of the employment and the the long-lasting business relationship is possible. As it so happened, a certain agency, which wanted to help employers and high-schools meet for a potential collaboration, hosted such a conference. So how exactly does that look like and what should be done from the organization perspective so the company is ready to present themselves in the best possible light? Let’s try and break it down.

Company presentation preparation

If your company is one of the speakers, you should definitely have a properly prepared presentation with a colleague who is well-versed in communication because sales and marketing, as mentioned before, are the key players here. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy, there should be couple of key topics which surmise the point of the event and then communicate it through presentation clearly.

Marketing materials

In these types of events, the invited guest companies usually have their own corner or a place where they can set up their promotion material and thus communicate the brand to the audience. It wouldn’t be much of an employer branding activity if there wasn’t for any promotional materials; you ARE there for promotion, after all. For specific materials, I brought the company’s pens, quarterly issued magazine and a roll-up with the company logo. I suppose the most important material is your roll-up. It’s the biggest tool in your marketing arsenal and obviously the most visible so at least that should be present. There are certainly other promotional materials like key-chains, company notebooks, bags etc. but that entirely depends on the company’s taste or choice. The most important point here is to hook the interested parties with a something that provides a contact; which I will discuss in the next paragraph, but yes, marketing materials are a must in employer branding because you’re essentially trying to raise interest by presenting yourself in the best possible light.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

It wouldn’t be much of a conference event if people didn’t talk amongst themselves. The point in the conference I was a part of was for high-schools to reach out with respective employers and learn if there’s a possibility of a collaboration between them. Each company had a little corner, with aforementioned marketing materials, and they had a chance to introduce themselves to any high-school teacher or principal who approached the booth. This is where sales and marketing comes in and let me tell you, you have to be all of those things in order to raise the interest level much higher than it was, if there was any in the first place. If approached, a company and an interested party mutually introduce themselves and see if there is a possibility for a collaboration in terms of industry, location, market labor, school trade etc. I carried a dozen of my business cards and having this is a must because I gave one to each interested party. Having a pen and a piece of paper is also fine but a business card speaks professional volumes. Exchanging contact information is essentially the point here and a clear goal of networking in these types of events. But does the next step happen or is it all just blowing a smoke without starting a fire?

A tangible result?

Many of these events look like they’re just for show and an opportunity to advertise brands and agendas but to simplify it all, it’s just a numbers game. Obviously there is some sort of a result because otherwise these events would be useless but even if collaborations dont’ happen, you still create some sort of word of mouth which wouldn’t be there without participation. To link it to my scenario, I gave my business card to eight schools; if only one of them ends up with any sort of collaboration, I would consider that as a successful employer branding result for this particular event/conference.

Takeaway

Participating in any events or conferences is an essential and the most important part of any employer branding strategy. You raise the company’s brand awareness and create opportunities for more business through networking communication. By handling these activities, you actively build your case for having more results in the labor market and business relationships which will have the impact on that last revenue number in the end; something which is the end game for any company.