Your employer branding strategy will make or break your organization in 2027. Consider this scenario.
She read the job description. She was more than qualified to do everything on it. But she never applied for the role.
It wasn’t the job description that turned her off, it was the company name alongside it. Its employer brand spoke volumes: it wasn’t a business she wanted to work for.
What is an employer brand?
Your employer brand is what people outside of your business think of you. If you don’t take steps to control it, it will run away from you. It’s a lot more difficult to fix a negative employer brand than to keep building on an already positive one. So your employer branding strategy needs to be a priority.
Why does employer branding matter?
83% of job seekers research a company before deciding whether or not to apply for a job, with 62% looking it up on social media. Even if someone is unemployed, 81% wouldn’t join a company if it had a bad reputation.
Should a candidate have a negative experience, 72% of them will share it, online or directly. Further increasing your time to hire and cost per hire.
In fact, companies with weak employer brands have a cost-per-hire that’s almost double what it is for those with strong employer brands. Companies with strong brands also increase their retention rates by 28%.
If those kind of savings aren’t incentive enough to invest in your employer branding strategy, I don’t know what is.
What to include in your employer branding strategy
The biggest thing you need to consider in your employer branding strategy is how you want to be perceived by the outside world. What do you want people to know you for?
Your employer brand should align with your company values and mission, too. If they’re contradictory, your new hires will feel like you’ve misled them. They’ll be more likely to leave. There’s nothing worse than being told that a company culture is one thing, only to find that it’s the polar opposite.
Get everyone bought in
A lot of advice on employer branding strategy will tell you to get your managers and C-suite bought in. That’s great. They’re likely to be influential in the hiring process. But they aren’t the ones who matter the most to your hiring efforts.
What your employees say — or don’t say — will hold more weight for a candidate and new hire than what your executives say. It feels more real because employees are less invested in your company success than a shareholder or decision maker.
If employees don’t talk about you online, or your Glassdoor is full of negative reviews, that speaks louder than any press release.
Employees who love where they work will share your content on social media without marketing having to beg. They want the company to succeed, so they’ll do what they can to support that goal.
That employee sharing matters, too — employee shares drive at least twice the reach and click through rate that brand posts do. Having worked for companies in the employee engagement and employer brand space, I’ve heard that number as high as ten times the company page reach on LinkedIn.
If employees are disengaged, they won’t do that. They’ll quiet quit, doing the bare minimum just to get their paycheck and health insurance. Doesn’t that sound like a fun atmosphere to be in?
Communicate your values
Part of getting everyone onboard means communicating your values with everyone.
Make sure employees can see your values and are reminded of them, such as by putting them on the wall in an office or at the bottom of HR emails.
Everyone within your organization should take actions that follow your values, too. If you value radical candor, that includes your executives, not just your new hires.
If you’re in the process of reshaping your values, why not include your employees? Sending out feedback surveys and asking for their thoughts on where the company is now, and where it could go, allows employees to feel heard. Which helps to increase engagement and improve your employer branding strategy.
And, with tools like Workrowd to look for patterns in responses, there’s really no excuses for not asking employees what they think. You can get more meaningful, in-depth answers faster, helping you to grow quicker.
Use social media
Social media is one of the most powerful tools a modern workplace can use for its employer branding strategy. That includes everything from the posts you engage with to what you say (or don’t say).
For instance, in June 2026, fewer companies than ever changed their logo for Pride. Even Target’s Pride display was barely noticeable if you weren’t looking for it. That makes it pretty clear those companies didn’t value inclusion, they were merely following trends they thought would make them more money. Rainbow capitalism at its finest.
Of course, adding a rainbow to a logo was only ever lip service. What actually matters is the environment you create for your employees. How does underrepresented talent feel working for you? They’ll talk, online and offline. For better or worse, word of those experiences will spread.
And just like there’s no smoke without fire, even if someone thinks there’s only a rumor that your business is unwelcoming to those outside the majority, that rumor may well be enough to turn future applicants off. Your employer branding strategy has to be stronger than unfounded rumors. (If the rumors are true, you have bigger fish to fry.)
Ask your new hires
Your new hires are goldmines of information. They can tell you what they thought going in, what your hiring process was like, and how you can improve it. They can also tell you how you’re perceived on the outside compared to the inside. Don’t lose that! Their insights are valuable to help you improve in the short- and long-term.
Sending surveys to your new hires means you can collect this information and use it to reflect on your employer branding strategy over time. Using Workrowd, you can automate survey sending, asking questions at key milestones in an employee’s lifecycle.
Know when to pivot
If something isn’t working, pivot! Don’t sit there trying to find ways to improve it if it looks like it’s a waste of time. Over time, you’ll only lose more money and your results will get worse. Your employer branding strategy should be proactive, rather than very slowly reactive.
Conclusion
Just because it’s a recruiter’s market right now, that doesn’t mean your employer branding strategy isn’t still important. If you want to hire the best, you still need the best employer brand. Should a prospective hire get word that your competitor treats employees more fairly, they’re going to choose the company that pays better, has better health insurance, or values them more.
How you support your employees beyond their work matters, too. A thriving employee experience isn’t just a nice to have. Connecting team members to events, programs, and groups that improve their work and home lives can be your secret weapon when it comes to employer branding strategy. If you’d like to get more out of your employee experience, get in touch to find out how Workrowd can help.
