"We need an employer brand so we can attract great talent."
We hear this a lot. FWIW, I'm happy people are thinking this way. Brand is meant to be holistic, not just a customer-facing asset.
The good news is that building an employer brand isn't a separate, mystical exercise — it's simply branding. Branding that matches and embraces your internal culture. If your customer-facing brand promises innovation, but your workplace is rigid and outdated, you're holding up a facade, not building a brand.
Your company has a single reputation. Customers experience it, and employees experience it. Both should exude the same values, culture, and behaviors. An employer brand is just your brand doing its job – if you've built it right.
Here are three things you can start doing today to boost that effect:
1. Make your internal joy external: Humanize your brand. Build credibility by giving candidates a glimpse into your culture; share those human moments. Everything doesn't need to be about business. Share team member wins, funny cultural dynamics, team outings, and the day-to-day life inside the brand walls. Showcase faces and emotion in your content on LinkedIn and Careers pages. At Focus Lab, we love sharing images of our unique team patch ceremony and weaving our core values into how we work with clients through detailed blog posts and YouTube interviews. Who we are and how we serve is a single thread, not two different components.
2. Write your job listings like a human, not a robot. Typically, job listings are a snooze fest. They feel flat and lifeless, or are trying too hard to sell the organization. Ensure you're bringing clarity to the experience of working in your org, not just the role. Lean into your authentic voice and tone. At Focus Lab, we have a playful side that shows up in our job listings by asking each applicant to use the word Applebee's in their application. It's a fun way for us to nod to our Applebee's origin story while also judging how creative and detail-oriented each applicant might be.
3. Elevate your onboarding experience. Review your onboarding process and add small, memorable touches that reflect your culture: a personalized welcome video, a branded welcome kit, a fun introduction at your all-hands, or a "first week coffee chat" with different team members. The tone you set in onboarding carries enormous weight.
We don't call ourselves an "employer brand" at Focus Lab, but we 100% have one. Most recently, it resulted in 450+ applicants for our latest design opening in just two weeks' time. People mention aligning with our values, which are clearly showcased on our website; they call out the clarity and humanity in our job listings, and they feel seen and appreciated in our application process, even if they're not selected.
The best "employer" brands don't invent a new identity — they live their company brand so publicly and consistently that the best talent can see themselves in it.
Work on that, and you'll attract the right people.
Bill Kenney
ROI OF BRANDING
94% of marketers agree that trust is the key to B2B success. Source: Trust Is the New KPI
We talked about the importance of trust in this very newsletter two months ago. But in a world of AI-generated everything, authenticity is harder to convey, and skepticism is high. LinkedIn's 2025 B2B Marketing Benchmark shows that brands earning trust are the ones leaning into clarity, consistency, and human-centered storytelling. While the report points to video content and influencer marketing to build trust, Bill chose a less-polished photo for LinkedIn precisely so it wouldn't be perceived as AI-generated (even though it wasn't). It's a reminder that every brand decision, whether visual, verbal, or strategic, is a chance to signal humanity. And in today's landscape, that signal needs to be unmistakably real.
NOTEWORTHY
1. Why Brand Gravity Beats Lead Chasing in Today's B2B Market
Last month, Bill discussed brand "pull," a term 2X's CMO Lisa Cole would call "brand gravity." She advises, "Shift your mindset: don't focus on capturing leads, your goal is to earn a place in the buyer's process."
2. Podcast: Liquid Death's Dan Murphy on the Entertainment-First Branding That Gets People to Stop Scrolling
While Liquid Death lives firmly in the B2C world, its entertainment-first approach to branding offers a sharp reminder for B2B marketers: When you lead with creativity and cultural relevance, people actually pay attention.
3. Forrester: AI Search Is Reshaping B2B Marketing
As Forrester found, "Buyers are consuming more content through AI platforms and arriving at vendor websites more informed, with higher intent to purchase." Brand messaging needs to pivot away from product specs and focus on being "authentic, specific, and quotable."
