Before companies implement operational employer branding measures, they should dedicate themselves to brand management. It forms the strategic basis for all further activities. This is because external and internal employer branding has one main goal: to make the previously defined employer brand tangible. It reflects the identity and culture of an employer and is based on identity-relevant plan variables and attractiveness factors such as career paths, work-life balance and work-life balance. The most important component of the employer brand is the employer value proposition (EVP), which is based on those identity-relevant factors that are developed in the strategic branding process. Because one thing is clear: if you want to be remembered, your employer brand has to be convincing - and this is often where you have a problem differentiating yourself from the competition. Companies should therefore take sufficient time for the four steps of the branding process:

1. inventory: To begin with, all available information about the company - from existing communication, employer rankings, social media channels, etc. - is collected and evaluated. It is important to keep an eye on all of the company's brands, including the corporate and product brands, as key characteristics should match. Especially in this phase, an external perspective can be very helpful. A competitive analysis must also be carried out.

2. internal survey: The external view is followed by the internal view: An employee and management survey provides exciting and crucial insights. After all, no one can answer questions about the culture, values and experience of the employer better than the people in the company.

3. analysis: In the next step, all the results are compiled and so-called profile fields are developed on the basis of them. An example: Statements such as "latest technologies", "inventiveness" and "progressive" show the common feature that the company is innovative. This characteristic thus forms a profile field.

4. summary: At the summary stage, you are on the home stretch of the strategic brand process. Messages can now be derived from the four to five profile fields that were previously developed. For example, the core message for the profile field "innovative" would be: "We work on the technologies of the future using state-of-the-art technology". The profile fields and their messages can now be used to define the EPP and thus the strategic umbrella for employer communication.

Bringing the employer brand to life

In order to create target group-oriented brand experiences, a touchpoint analysis must first be carried out: At which touchpoints do companies and (potential) applicants or employees meet? The Employer Branding Journey defines three different phases for this: Finding employees - Attracting employees - Retaining employees. This approach forms the basis for all employer branding activities. The aim is to reach candidates, trainees, specialists and managers with the right topics, individual messages and measures at the points where they come into contact with the company as an employer. Every experience should be a motivating one, resulting in a positive candidate experience. This refers to the sum of the perceptions and experiences that a candidate has with a potential employer - and which then ultimately transforms into an overall positive employee experience.