Top 4 ways a Small Employer (1-500 employees) can start an employer brand strategy today!

Let’s be real—small employers don’t always have the budget (or time) for big employer branding initiatives. But here’s the thing: branding isn’t just for the big guys. A strong employer brand helps attract top talent, keeps your current employees engaged, and makes your company a place where people actually want to work.

So, where do you start? Here are 4 easy (and budget-friendly) ways to build your employer brand.

1. Define Your Company Culture (Don’t Just Talk About It, Be About It!)

Before you can convince people that your business is a great place to work, you need to understand why it actually is. Take a moment to think about your company culture.

What do you value as a company?How do you treat your employees?What makes working at your company different from the rest?

Once you have those answers, don’t just slap them on your website and forget about them—make sure they show up in everything you do, from the decisions leadership makes to the way team meetings run.

Culture is more than just a buzzword; it should guide your decisions, shape the way employees interact, and even affect how you resolve conflicts. Be consistent and genuine about it—if transparency is one of your values, for example, make sure communication stays open at all levels, from top management down to new hires.

If collaboration is at the heart of what you do, create plenty of opportunities for your team to work together and share ideas. Your culture should be something that’s felt, not just talked about.

And remember, culture isn’t set in stone. It grows and changes as your business does. So, check in with your team every so often to make sure the culture still reflects what matters to everyone in the company. When your culture is alive and well, employees are more engaged and more likely to stick around.

2. Strengthen Your Online Presence

When someone is considering applying to your company, what is the first thing they are going to do? They are going to GOOGLE YOU!

What are they going to find? Make sure your careers page is up to date, your LinkedIn is active, and your Glassdoor reviews (if you have them) reflect your company in a positive light. Work with your marketing team to understand how they can wrap employer branding efforts into the overall strategy of your company.

People trust people! (How do you think we ended up with millions of influencers?)

If you DON’T have a marketing team, then bam! Congrats! You just got a promotion! (Yay for you!) As a business owner, you are 50% CEO and 50% Marketing Manager. And if you HATE being online and can’t wrap your mind around marketing, then find professionals who offer Employer Brand services. (Like... Oh… I don't know... Acacia HR Solutions!)

Improving your online presence is going to pay dividends in both your sales pipeline and your candidate pipeline.

Humans want to see humans and how they work with each other. Your sales pipeline wants to see that, too. Run to your local tattoo shop and get a tattoo this on your palm in case you forget:

PEOPLE TRUST PEOPLE!

3. Improve the Candidate's Experience

Hear me out… Create a fake email with an alias and put yourself in the shoes of your candidates. Imagine you are two weeks away from being homeless, and you desperately want a job that aligns with your skill set. The only real thing stopping you is this application.

Put yourself into the mindset of your candidates and go through the application process.

Can you understand the job description?
Can you see how much you will be making on day one?
Are benefits clear?

If you can make it through the application process without wanting to throw yourself off a cliff, then you are way ahead of the curve. If not, then you have some work to do!

Take it up a notch! Go and apply at your competition! What did you like? What did you HATE?! Did you get a rejection email? Was it lame and impersonal?

If you get an interview (with your own company or a competitor), did you receive personal communication that was respectful and timely? Did three people reschedule with you? Did you have to do four interviews for a non-executive role? (Nobody should be doing four or more interviews unless they are in executive roles… I didn't think I would have to say that! But here we are.)

Now imagine you had THE ABSOLUTE BEST CANDIDATE for your hard-to-fill role, and they had to go through the hellscape gauntlet you call your “candidate experience.” Then, they just randomly pulled out of the running because your competition was quicker to make a decision and offered them the same role in half the time—without making them jump through fiery hoops.

How dumb would you feel?

4. Get Authentic

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: People TRUST People. So lean into the authenticity of your hiring managers and marketing teams.

There are many different ways to attract the RIGHT candidate. Using the usual channels is always best (LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.), but since you are already talking to your marketing team, utilize their resources.

If you are a hiring manager, why don't you record a video of yourself saying:

“Hi! I’m _____, manager of _____, and I’m looking for the right candidate for the _______ role! We are looking to add X experience in ___software that can manage a team of amazing people.”

Give details on what you are especially looking for. Be specific and don't be afraid to ask for soft skills that would help a candidate thrive in this role.

Show personality! Now take a look at your freshly tattooed palm. What does it say? That’s right! People trust people!!!

Ditch the Awards

Enron was named "America's Most Innovative Company" by Fortune magazine for six consecutive years, from 1996 to 2001—essentially "winning" a "Best Company" award during that period.

Soooo… Awards are useless at this point, and candidates can see right through them. The best award is the positive reviews your candidates and employees put on Glassdoor.

Invest in Your Talent Now

Your current employees are your greatest asset when it comes to employer branding. Invest in their career growth and allow them to give you feedback on how their journeys are helping them reach their overall goals.

Take that authentic feedback and turn it into quotes that you can use for social media or on your career page. It’s a cycle that keeps feeding itself and will pay dividends for years to come.

Overall, starting an employer branding program in your small business is going to take some dedication. But if you look at it as an added business strategy, you will be thanking yourself years down the road. Working with your marketing team, hiring managers, and recruiters is just one place to start.

If you’re still in start-up mode, doing it all on your own, and need some help… I think I know a company that would be happy to sit down with you and walk you through the process. 😉

Need more help attracting the RIGHT candidates?

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