The talent research you need to build a strong employer brand

Why do you need research for your employer brand? 

Research is instrumental when it comes to building a strong employer brand. When your aim is to reach a certain group of talent, you need to focus. Taking a data-driven approach to your employer branding efforts, doesn’t end with your Employer Value Proposition development, or taking a data-driven approach to brand management. You must also take a data-driven approach to how you target and attract talent. Use the data and insights at your hand, and target specifically those people most likely to be attracted to your company. This is your target audience.

Why do you need a target audience? 

A target audience is a certain group at which a product or solution is targeted. It is the group of individuals that you want to reach with your marketing messages. Effective communication requires that you stand out from the crowd with a message that is tailored to fit the receiver. At Universum, we see an opportunity to reach your intended target audience more accurately by using more data points in the strategy behind your targeting. By combining unique data points and tailor the message to fit a specific target audience, you will have the upper hand against your competition.

Today information flows quicker and social media feeds are becoming larger. The consequences for your messaging are evidently to your disadvantage. Standing out from the crowd has become harder than ever before. As messaging increases in speed and mass, it also means that each person receives a constant and ever-changing flow of new content within their channels. People are exposed to new messages, information and advertising from their social networks all the time.

How to reach your target audience?

People are now more connected than ever before. Especially for the younger generation (Gen Z), the importance of tailored messaging has increased. This is a generation that is entering the workforce for the first time. A generation of digital natives that have lived their whole life connected, requires special attention. You need to do your research and understand your target audience. Find out where they hang out and learn how to speak their lingo. Perhaps even more important is to discover what they are looking for in an employer—an area in which Universum can help you a great deal with.

Today, most interactive communications happen on social media, but how can you stand out from all the noise, and how do you measure ROI? You have to approach your target audience with content that stands out. Most social media channels use algorithms to feed the interests of people with content that engages them. Consequently, information that they are likely to demand will appear more often. For employer branding purposes, reaching your target audience demands that you get your message, channels of communication and targeting right. However, getting the message right alone is not enough. The likelihood that your message ends up with the intended target audience decreases if you don’t have a targeting method in place. Let’s explore this more.

How to utilize research for your employer brand?

When you have your sights set on a target audience, it is time to execute your targeting strategy.

Targeting demands that your company knows:

• What you want to communicate

• With whom you want to communicate

• When to communicate it
  
  

It’s essential that before you start communicating your message, you have the data to support your communication strategy. If you know where your talent target audience is geographically located, for example in Paris, would it make sense to try to reach all talent in France? Of course not. Why not? You need to focus. Talent is everywhere, but it doesn’t mean that you should search for them everywhere.

Consider this example as a blueprint for your targeting method:

Let’s say that you are a recruiter at a company that enters a new market. You need to attract local talent in the capital/CBD of the market, and you have the data to support what attracts talent for the individual market. By utilizing talent research in your communication strategy and using this to target your audience of choice, you will be able to reach more relevant candidates and deliver a more accurate message.