上周，全球最大的博彩平台数字公司(Manchester Digital)的凯特·威尔逊(Kate Wilson)欢迎了屡获殊荣的公关和传播机构， Refresh的劳拉·马希特和露西·摩尔，以及专业的IT网络安全分销商， Distology’s Chloe Thirlwall, to a panel discussion centring on how employer brand should be an instrumental element of any scaling strategy.
The event was the first in Manchester Digital’s Tech Bites series and covered recommendations for scaling tech companies competing in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
在过去的几年里，全球最大的博彩平台已经成为一个蓬勃发展的科技中心. From the northern HQs of global enterprises to several tech unicorns and multiple successful startups, 这座城市已经成为蓬勃发展的科技公司的著名热点. However, competing in a crowded market to attract and retain the best talent in the business can often be a challenge.
Distology是目前在全球最大的博彩平台蓬勃发展的科技领域享受乐趣的公司之一, Refresh的扩展策略支持哪一种. 这是他们在讨论中对其他处于类似情况的公司的建议……
1. Ensure your timing is right
在适当的时候找一家公关公司，不要急于求成. Following series A funding is a good time
看一下公关支持——在此之前通常有点太早了.
首先确定你的品牌代表什么和你的价值观是很重要的.
一个强大的品牌确实会让这个过程变得更容易, 公司对员工和客户/顾客的相关利益相关者更有吸引力, 你可能想要在B轮融资中瞄准的潜在投资者.
PR can then support everything from building employer brand to attract and retain talent to increasing brand awareness across new and existing target sectors/markets, and even sales lead generation.
2. Make the time and strategies
Like you would with your overall business strategy, put the time in to plan and assign a dedicated team to develop and shape your employer's brand strategy, plus put it into practice.
Further to this, 确保你设定了围绕你想要实现的目标的SMART目标, 在制定你的方法/总体策略之前，详细说明你将如何实现目标.
Set KPIs too! 与任何策略一样，衡量成功并根据需要进行调整是至关重要的. If something isn’t working, you know you need to switch your approach, so revisit frequently and track
your progress.
3. 确保你的营销和人力资源团队在你的雇主品牌战略上协同工作
To maximise your chances for success, your employer brand strategy should be developed by both your marketing and HR teams collaboratively. 这确保了它真正地模拟了业务，并结合了内部和外部的观点, your messaging is cohesive across the board and your values are not only represented but championed and embraced unanimously.
4. Start with your current people
盖洛普(Gallup)的数据证实，拥有敬业员工的业务部门不仅利润高出23%
这些企业的员工很可怜，但他们的客户忠诚度也更高.
Starting with your current workforce and putting a big focus on instilling a positive culture really does
impact the whole business.
虽然不可能凭空变出候选人, living and breathing your values internally across your current team first is essential before shouting about them externally.
This way, when the right candidate does come along, 你已经做了很多工作来支持你的文化/雇主品牌.
你现在的员工是你最大的支持者, so it’s important to start with them as they’ll
organically become your company champions.
Treat them well, celebrate their successes/milestones, 通过惊喜和快乐的包裹来奖励他们的出色工作, involve them in your mission, let them have a say in the direction of the business and inform them on how they can personally make an impact when it comes to the success of the company.
除此之外，对外宣传他们的成功，例如通过你的社交渠道. Where
appropriate, 你还应该把他们定位为公司的有名无实的领导, if they’re comfortable with
that.
使他们能够通过外部渠道对趋势等事情发表评论, is a great way to make them feel empowered.
There could also be an opportunity for them to deliver talks to university students/at relevant industry events, 专注于如何在科技领域发展事业，就像这样, when those who attend such events are ready to start their careers or are potentially looking to switch careers/jobs, your business is already front of mind.
5. 当涉及到你的雇主品牌时，实践你所宣扬的.
众所周知，科技行业正在努力弥合日益扩大的技能差距, 将吸引和留住人才作为任何商业战略的基本要素.
专注于你的雇主品牌正变得越来越重要, 人才短缺已成为全面的主要威胁. Positioning the company as a great place to work and really shouting about your positive culture will help bolster your talent pipeline.
It is however essential you really do practice what you preach when it comes to adopting a positive culture and implementing perks/benefits that affirm your company’s spot as a great place to work.
Further to this, 不要害怕询问别人对你公司的看法, both internally and externally, plus what their sentiment towards it is - constructive criticism only helps you to grow and improve.
此外，在招聘新员工时，确保他们的价值观与公司的价值观一致. You can teach
职位和技能要求，但你不能总是灌输/改变某人的价值观.
6. Humanise your brand
Beyond building your general brand, which is very much centred on the company and the work it does showcase the faces working behind the scenes across the business on your own channels (particularly your website and social media).
While general brand building really focuses on getting in front of as many of the right people with the
right messages as possible, communicating what you’re passionate about, what your offering is (from
(从产品和服务的角度来看)，以及总的来说，雇主品牌的建立
on all of this to take it to the next level.
It centres on your values, how you’re supporting your team and really tells your story as a company,
including the people behind the brand. 这篇文章特别能帮助人们理解他们是否
want to work for you, if your values align and ultimately, what you stand for – these are the pieces that are most likely to resonate with prospective and existing talent.
7. Industry awards
Awards are hugely effective and should be included in any employer brand strategy – Distology has had a lot of success in this area, winning multiple coveted awards including CRN’s 2020 Technical Employee of the Year at the Women in Channel Awards, 还是因为其对多样性和性别平等的关注而继续得到认可.
In addition, CRN named Distology its 2020 Cloud Distributor of Year and 2019 Distributor of the Year sub £250m – these have really helped build a positive employer brand, as people want to work for award-winning companies.
While in the past year alone, Refresh was named Prolific North’s tech PR agency of the year and PR Moment’s boutique PR agency of the year.
And, it’s not just winning that’s important – being shortlisted is also effective from a brand awareness/employer brand standpoint.
8. 利用你自己的渠道和可利用的资源
Social media is key here. The work both Distology and Refresh are doing to humanise their businesses across owned social media channels and essentially showcase the people behind the scenes via series such as ‘meet the team,’ has proven successful.
There’s also an opportunity to weave in messaging around really practicing what you preach from a workplace culture standpoint, which helps build a network of internal advocates, who organically share their positive personal workplace experiences across their own LinkedIn channels, 进一步帮助建立一个积极的雇主品牌.
除此之外，Distology通过其专门的职业网站取得了很大的成功. 值得注意的是，它不需要修饰，但是, 只要你有东西可以驱使应聘者, it really does help attract talent.
更新招聘广告，调整你在职位描述中使用的语言, while playing around with different job titles, 另一个确保你吸引不同人的好方法是什么.
同样重要的是，确保你的招聘广告中没有任何障碍——如果有的话, make sure there’s a reason it’s there. Ensure your recruitment process isn’t too lengthy either and involve your team in decisions on new hires – as anybody you appoint, impacts their experience at work.
Finally, capitalise on the resources readily available to you and collaborate with relevant associations/credible partners within the sector. As well as Manchester Digital, the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, Business Growth Hub and GrowthAccelerator are great resources to lean into for everything from hiring, 分享最佳实践，帮助塑造公司文化.
If you’re interested in finding out how PR could help promote your employer brand, reach out to the
team at Refresh. 如果你对科技行业的职业感兴趣，那就探索一下这些角色 Distology is currently
hiring for here.
