According to a surveyby iHireon employer branding conducted in 2019, 59.3% of companies either don't have an employer branding strategy or don't know if they are taking a particular stance on it.

If you're one of those companies, it's time to take the bull by the horns!

The rules of recruiting have changed. Candidates now expect much more than an attractive salary to be convinced to join a company.

Other criteria that make up the EVP (Employee Value Proposition) of a company fit into important selection criteria for candidates.

The job market is saturated which means that many companies are fighting to attract the same talent.

The public perception of your brand (the candidates themselves but also those around them) is therefore more important than ever in the digital age.

How do you find and keep the best people? Do you unite them around a shared vision?

By creating an employer brand strategy that helps you communicate who you are, you make yourself unique, which is why people should want to work (and continue to work) for you.

Your attractiveness comes down to how competitive your employer brand is

Before you can do that, however, you need to understand the state of the hiring market in your industry and how you stack up against your competitors when it comes to recruitment.

Here, we'll walk you through a step-by-step process to conduct a competitive analysis of your competitors' employer brands.

You will then be able to gain valuable insights that will help you position your employer brand more effectively and attract top talent.

What is an employer brand competitive analysis?

Similar to a traditional competitive analysis, an employer brand competitive analysis is a simple audit of how your competitors present their employer brand to the public.

By examining all their strategies in place, from their value proposition to their mission to their social presence, you can gain valuable insights into your competitors' strengths and weaknesses, how you compare and how you can differentiate.

This allows you to approach your own employer brand through a more strategic lens and ensure that you are representing your brand correctly.

Step 1: Compile a list of all your competitors

The ultimate goal of this exercise is to understand how others are positioning themselves so that you can use that information to improve your own employer brand.

Warning, this does not mean you simply look at your competitors' failures in order to avoid them. More importantly, you need to analyze how the most successful brands organize their strategies to get inspired by them.

For this reason, start by noting all the competitors you can think of in three main categories:

• Your direct competition: Who is most likely to attract one of your talents? An easy way to find them is to look at LinkedIn's Talent Insights talent flow tool, which allows you to keep a history of the companies your employees leave and arrive at.
• Industry Competitors: Who do you want to compete with? What are the big brands in your industry that you would like to disrupt.
• Patterns: which brands do you admire? Who has a culture you aspire to? Who attracts the type of talent you wish you had? These brands may not be your direct competition, or even in the same industry, but they may be role models for how you shape your employer brand (e.g., Apple or Warby Parker).

Once you have this list, narrow it down to 10-15 top competitors. (You'll probably want to include one or two of your model brands in this list.)

Step 2: Begin the competitive analysis of your employer brand

Your employer brand must be better than your competition

Now it's time to do some research. Here's a list of things you can consider. You can document additional items in your analysis, but be careful not to be overwhelmed with too much data.

Research one competitor at a time and document what you observe about the important points of their employer brand, which includes:

• The EVP (Employer Value Proposition)
• The core brand (purpose, vision, mission, values)
• The websites (career page, team page, about us, testimonials)
• The social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)
• The different recruitment channels
• The content of emails
• The profiles of career sites (LinkedIn, Monster, Indeed, etc.)
• Locations of company sites.
• The preferred formats (videos, articles, publications, etc.)
• The brand's positioning
• Reviews on review sites (Glassdoor)
• Job descriptions and ads
• The technology used for recruitment (AI, CRM, etc.)

Employer branding is more than just a message

Of course, brands won't necessarily post their strategy, however, you can make your best guesses.

Note where the brands' websites seem to be leading you, and you can make hypotheses about the hierarchies of what they are trying to communicate.

Pay particular attention to the core ideas that a brand seems to convey with unique and intentional wording or phrasing, as well as the themes that are clear from the various brand statements.

Step 3: Synthesize your results

Once you've collected your data, you can perform an in-depth analysis of your competitors' employer brand strategies.

What major trends have you noticed? For example, if they all have behind-the-scenes videos and you don't, you might be missing out.

What do you have in common? How do you differentiate? What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? Can you tell their brand voice? How do they use it most effectively?

What lapses have you noticed in their messages? For example, if they focus on their work but don't say much about their values, you may be able to differentiate yourself by directing your strategy toward your core brand.

What tools do they use? Are there things that make their application process more efficient that you could benefit from as well (e.g., automated forms or personalization)?

How are they positioning themselves? Where do you fit in?

Try to sum things up in "points of parity and differentiation." In other words: what are most competitors saying (so that it almost looks like table stakes in your landscape), and what are individual brands uniquely saying?

With this information, you should be able to identify your market position more clearly.

Step 4: Shape your strategy accordingly

Now that you've completed this exercise, you should have more clarity about the unique traits of your brand, feel more able to attract top talent, and be inspired to reorganize your employer brand at all levels.

Now it's time to put your energy into your own employer brand!

• Carry out an audit of your employer brand. Now that you've looked at your competitors, you should look at how your own brand stacks up by also taking into account the opinions of your employees.
• Draft your employer value proposition. Your EVP is a powerful tool for getting people to work with you. List the benefits you have to offer talent as well as your core values that guide your decisions. (And will trump the competition).

• Map your employee journey. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your employee experience to improve the journey at every step.
• Tell stronger stories. Keep your messaging consistent and tell interesting stories about your culture.

In conclusion, employer branding is the differentiator that will drive a candidate to apply and then accept a position with your company. Inspire yourself from your competitors to keep your employer brand at the top of the game and add your personal touch that will make your proposition unique.