Employee branding is about influencing the behaviour of your employees. It's the practice of aligning your employees' behaviour with the image that your business wants to project to its customers and external stakeholders. Employee branding "infects" employees with the organisational brand - the characteristics and attributes that your business wants to project about itself.
The purpose of employee branding is to produce "on brand" behaviour that displays and expresses the attributes that your organisation wants as part of its brand and reputation. It affects the interactions between employees within your organisation as well as between employees and clients / other external stakeholders.
The real power of people to drive up brand equity is often undervalued, as some businesses are more focussed on embedding their brand in the hearts and minds of their clients. External engagement first, internal engagement second. But this approach skips over the latent collective voice of those delivering the brand.
Successful organisations tap into the amplification power inherent in employees. As the power of social media continues to increase, the vocal power of employees via LinkedIn and other sites to create and represent the brand experience is one of the most powerful marketing tools an organisation can activate. And, in an environment of ever-decreasing marketing spend, activating the voice of your employees is a cost-effective way to build your brand. Tapping into employees in this way also creates a brand authenticity that a marketing communications program cannot replicate.
For more on employee branding, you may like our blogs, Harnessing the power of employee branding to amplify your brand, and Employee engagement and branding: why invest?