Your brand is your name, your personality, your identity, and so much more. It’s a declaration to the public—who you are, what you offer, and how you’d like to be perceived. A well-cultivated brand sets you apart from others operating in the same space, allowing real people to identify with you and encouraging them to interact with you directly.
This holds true both for those you want to engage with your products and services, as well as those you’d like to employ. In either case, you’re essentially “selling” your brand, and your pitch must be convincing and consistent. Your success as a company depends every bit as much on growing your customer base as it does on attracting the right talent to engage those customers.
There’s a general assumption that all companies have two separate audiences—namely, the customers and the potential hires—and that their branding should cater to each group distinctly. But that may be misleading. After all, doesn’t it make sense that the best person to advocate for your product is someone who’s well acquainted with it from the consumer side? Your current satisfied customer may very well be your next Customer Success Manager—and should be treated as such. Your branding should always aim to engage the full spectrum of consumers in an ongoing conversation designed to improve their own experience and yours.
Focused branding—especially for the purpose of recruitment—is of particular importance in edtech, as this tends to be a less-than-transparent sector in general. We see evidence of this almost daily on EdSurge’s Jobs Board where opportunities posted by well-known and well-liked companies see as much as 300 percent more traffic than those advertised by companies who’ve yet to firmly establish their brand in the edtech space. That’s why EdSurge has put together branding opportunities for hiring companies to reach our audience. We do this through sponsored articles, Twitter campaigns, newsletter sponsorship and branded recruitment events. The process of branding yourself isn’t simply a marketing strategy to boost sales—although, yes, it is incredibly helpful in that regard. It’s an opportunity for self-reflection: a chance to drill down on your values and evaluate your strengths, then determine how to build upon them. This is key to attracting the best talent available. If recruitment is your concern, you must create a brand that’s aligned with your values to be showcased to those who can help you achieve your mission.
Build your brand by…
- establishing a unique and consistent voice.
- broadcasting a clear message about your mission and your company culture that highlights the particular qualities you want people to associate with your company.
- using the same kind of storytelling techniques you apply to your marketing strategy to fully develop your public persona and allow others to connect with your experiences.
- including your audience’s voice—via customer & employee testimonials—in the conversation to boost brand advocacy.
- occupying the same space as your talent pool—in both the virtual and real worlds—and catering your efforts to the kind of high-quality edtech job seekers you want to employ.
Be mindful that strategic recruitment is directly responsible for your company’s culture and, ultimately, its continued success. Supported by a well-known and well-liked brand, your recruitment efforts are likely to yield positive results. Take the steps today to set yourself up for success by making sure the industry you care about knows who you are. Then find a way to reach them.
So, now that your audience knows and loves your brand, how do you ensure quality applicants? Here’s a useful guide to locating “hidden” edtech talent.
