We all know the old saying: “a picture paints a thousand words”. An image, colour or symbol has the power to evoke complex ideas and feelings which words alone can’t. Your recruitment brand is that picture for your business.
Building your brand identity is the fast track to gaining recognition in your niche and building relationships with key clients and candidates. It’s how you’ll stick in people’s minds, and earn enough of their trust that they give your services a go.
But what is your ‘brand’, and what should you be doing with it? Let’s look at some ideas.
What is brand identity?
Your brand identity is how you look, but also how your agency feels and the way it’s framed in people’s minds. It's your reputation, how people associate you, and what they tell their colleagues.
While basic recruiter branding is primarily focused on visuals like colour, design and logos, brand identity also goes beyond. For example, how does your brand compare to competitors? Do the values of your brand align with people's personal values? How do the combination of visual elements and messaging make people feel?
It’s important when building a brand identity to consider three key factors:
Consistency. Your brand should be expressed in the same way across every medium. From social media to your website to advertising, your brand should communicate the same message and evoke the same reactions in your target audience across all touchpoints.
Relevancy. The way your brand is constructed should reflect the needs and values of your target audience. A brand’s visual elements, such as font and imagery, plus the message being shared, should be relevant and (to a degree) expected by potential and current users.
Expression. Ultimately, the aim of your brand is to accurately share what your company does and what it stands for – at a glance. If your brand identity isn’t clearly aligned with these elements, users will simply not understand how you can address their problems or requirements.
How to build a recruiter brand identity
Building a brand identity can take a bit of effort, but you don’t have to do it all straight away. It starts with a visual rethink and grows from there – enhanced digital presence, more content, better advertising, attending more events, running webinars, speaking and so on.
Start small. That will allow you to test ideas, get feedback and learn as you grow, saving you money in the long run.
Need ideas? Check these out:
1. Define your organisational values
The first point to consider is what your recruitment agency stands for. What are its values, ambitions or goals? Additionally, what is it that you do differently from other recruiters?
Your unique selling points (USPs) to clients and candidates should help you to determine, with a few key words, how you want to be perceived by your audience. Write down what makes you you, then you can review the core components of your recruiter brand identity (see next point below) to determine if they match the points of difference that you've identified.
Examples
If your organisation claims to value the ‘human touch’, but the website only talks about your advanced recruitment technology, there may appear to be a gap between what you say and what you do.
If your organisation’s USP is that your services are specifically tailored for executive search, but your blog articles provide advice primarily for those newer to their career, it will attract the wrong audience.
2. Build your recruiter brand identity
Your recruiter brand identity is made up of three components:
Its visual identity, i.e. logos and colours.
Its tone of voice, i.e. how it comes across.
Its reputation, i.e. what people think of when they encounter your brand.
That last one is built over time as clients and candidates interact with your recruitment firm. The first two we can tackle now as we build up your brand basics.
Tone of voice
Don’t skip straight to logos and fonts – it helps to start with tone of voice because your tone will help to define the brand elements that fit your intended look and feel.
Tone of voice is: Your agency's personality – how it sounds, the specific words you do and don’t use, the overall language, colloquialisms, humour and the level of formality.
To identify your tone of voice, ask yourself one simple question: If your recruitment firm was a person, who would they be? Think about how they speak, what they wear and how they come across to others.
Write down this persona. Whenever you aren’t sure how to word something, or what something should look like, go back to it and ask if you can imagine them saying it, or wearing it.
Brand visual identity
Your brand visual identity comprises all the visual stuff – the specific elements that your audience will learn to associate with your company, and which best represent your tone of voice, brand goals and unique selling points.
Brand visual identity is: Your logo, colours and typography. It also includes your style, including the types of icons, designs and layouts that are appropriate for your audience.
Use these questions to hone in on the visual ideas that feel appropriate for your agency:
What attributes and/or emotions best represent your brand? And which don’t represent your brand?
How would you describe your brand to a friend?
How would clients or candidates describe your business to others?
What other brands would your brands be friends with, and why?
If your brand was a car, what car would it be?
What logos inspire you?
What colours represent (or don’t represent) your brand?
Which words would you and wouldn’t you use to describe your brand’s image?
Desired outcome
At the end of this process, you should have written down lots of ideas about how your brand looks, sounds and feels. Compare that to your intended audience, your organisational values and your unique selling points – does the personality of your brand convey the right information to the right people?
If yes, you're onto a winner.
If no, keep brainstorming. Remember, you can always come up with a few options and test them with actual clients or candidates – get real feedback.
3. Invest in a consistent digital brand presence
A strong digital presence is vital for ensuring your brand is visible across platforms. Every aspect of recruitment marketing offers a new way for people to find you, and to build a connection with your brand. This is what we mean by ‘branding’ going way beyond simple logos and colours.
Social media and digital advertising put your brand message in front of clients and candidates while they scroll their regular news feeds.
Content marketing (like blogging) allows you to offer tailored, practical advice on your website and social feed so that your brand becomes a valued resource.
Email marketing takes the conversation to people’s inboxes.
SEO transforms your website into the answer to everyone’s key questions.
And beyond!
Each of these ‘brand touchpoints’ keep your recruitment agency in the front of people's minds, adding to your authority and creating connections. Even if someone isn’t ready to utilise your services straight away, because you’ve taken time to build a consistent brand presence, and you’ve built trust, when that time does come, they’ll think of you first.
4. Don’t forget your personal brand too
In recruitment, personal branding is just as important as agency branding.
Your presence in the industry, and the presence of your consultants, has a big impact on the success of your business. Clients and candidates need to learn that they can trust you personally, not just the name of your agency, if they’re to rely on your services.
Learn more about this topic in our personal branding guide here.
Need help with your brand? Call in the experts
Worried your brand isn’t living up to its potential? We can help.
We’re Australia’s recruitment marketing experts, offering a range of digital marketing and branding services to help recruiters find their place online, claim it and grow their business.
Learn more about our branding services here, or get in touch to chat about your unique business.
