Marketing, Interrupted

by Dave Sutton

  4. Identify a collaboration opportunity to prove your point

  Start small with a collaborative project to demonstrate the power of shared inputs and talent. Celebrate small wins as proof of concept for larger projects.

  5. Embrace creative tension to drive change

  Embrace the opportunity to overcome organizational inertia and build an audience insights function that can become a shared services operation for the entire organization. The gap between where you want to go and where you are is also a source of energy. If there were no gap, there would be no need for any action to change. Generating this kind of “creative tension” requires clarity about your desired brand destination and full organizational alignment on the “truth about today”.

  Overcoming the challenges of misalignment between marketing and devel- opment functions allows you to get the most out of your scarce resources. This enables your nonprofit to tell a unified brand story that gives prospective donors, volunteers and program participants a reason to care, a reason to learn, and a reason to give and advocate for your cause.

  Chapter 5

  Telling a Story to Win Talent

  surion, LLC is a privately held company based in Nashville, Tennessee that provides mobile protection insurance and technology warranty support ser- vices. Their brand story is about “supporting the tech that keeps you connected.” They enable people across the globe to balance their interdependency between life and technology. Today, they assure that over 300 million customer devices and

  appliances stay online and on the job keeping people optimally productive.

  In order to fulfill their brand promise, Asurion relies heavily on attracting and retaining the brightest talent to serve their customers. However, as a “white- label” protection company standing behind big brands like Apple, Samsung and Verizon, Asurion struggles to be recognized by top talent as an employer of choice. In short, they’re one of the biggest and most advanced technology com- panies that you’ve never heard of.

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  In the technology sector, the war for talent is real. We’re experiencing one of the toughest talent shortages in a long time. The amount of “time to hire” is in a seemingly never-ending rise and 68% of HR managers say they’re having trouble filling positions. Hiring managers compete fiercely for the right candi- dates within a very limited talent pool.

  Not surprisingly, top talent is drawn to the magnetic stories of big brands like Google, Facebook and Microsoft. These brands promise their employees cutting- edge technical work, rapid career advancement, breakthrough innovation oppor- tunities and cushy benefits packages. Tech recruiting and retention has become a complex and dynamic battlefield that the human resources team at Asurion knows all too well.

  So, in 2016, the talent acquisition and retention teams at Asurion realized they needed to change the rules of engagement if they were going to win their fair share of top talent. They needed a clear and authentic story about why a technol- ogy candidate should join and why current high-performing employees should stay at Asurion for their career.

  David Marks was tapped by Asurion leadership to develop a compelling employer brand story to stand out from the ‘sea of sameness’ and differentiate the company from competing employers in the markets they serve. And then, effectively communicate that story to reach the high-quality talent they seek and assure that the employee experience is fully aligned and consistent with the promise of the story.

  David and his team conducted in-depth interviews with select employees and candidates to understand the various factors that influence their decision to join and/or stay with Asurion. They identified specific benefit corridors via in-depth interviews and verified their hypotheses through quantitative research. Data from this exercise was transformed into actionable insights through an analytic methodology to identify not only what’s important to employees and candidates, but also what ultimately drives their behavior to join and/or stay at Asurion.

  Asurion surveyed over 750 individuals currently working or seeking employ- ment within the technology sector in three specific functional roles: Technology Implementation, Research and Development, and Customer Service and Support. Below is a quick overview of the findings:

  Money talks in a competitive job market

  Unsurprisingly, high compensation is top of mind and ranks as the most impor- tant motivator for the majority of respondents for their job. Someone has to pay the bills!

  Motivations differ across roles

  When you dive into specific job functions, the data revealed that although the majority of respondents indicated they are “Progressors” (i.e. highly focused on career progression), their job motivations differ significantly.

  Specifically, for a Technology implementation role, respondents ranked job security as the strongest motivator in their daily work. While for R&D and Customer Service and Support roles, respondents ranked opportunities for advancement as their top motivation.

  For the R&D role, the respondents were much more likely to “do their home- work” before they jump into career-related decisions. Also, they desire to work for and stay with an organization that fosters career advancement and provides intellectually challenging opportunities.

  In the Customer Service and Support role, most people align with the persona of “Influencers”—they are persuasive individuals with positive attitudes. They’re typically excellent at steering customers to resolution. The data shows that they desire to join and stay with an organization that values employee contributions and invests in their growth and development.

  For the Progressors in the Technology Implementation role, most are “Visionaries”—they think big picture and conceptualize ideas to motivate others to action. They are attracted to join and stay with an organization that is forward- thinking and where they can make a difference.

  In the face of the currently challenging job market, firms struggling with com- municating consistent and authentic messaging that resonates with the talent they seek will continue to lose in the war for the best talent.

  The team used these new insights and many more to develop a simple, yet compelling, employer brand story. A framework was created to tailor the story to different target roles and different touchpoints in the employee’s journey to make sure that messaging was authentic and relevant to the audience.

  The early results have been impressive, Asurion generated actionable insights

  into what drives candidates to join and employees to stay with a technology com- pany like Asurion including things like:

  • Career-enhancing guidance and growth opportunities for people

  • Passionate leaders who value team success and create a rewarding and supportive work environment

  • Flexibility in time and location for people to do their work and achieve peak productivity and performance

  • Recognition of accomplishments and contributions through competitive compensation

  • An environment that champions strong social awareness and ethical standards

  • An environment where leaders authentically embody and promote the organizational core values

  • An environment that inspires a sense of pride in the work people do and the impact they can make

  Asurion simplified and clarified their employer brand story and aligned it with specific role descriptions to assure that the messaging differentiates Asurion and reinforces the desired behaviors at every step of the employee journey.

  Employer Brand Story

  If you are a tenacious professional wanting to push yourself, test your potential and exceed your limits, Asurion is the right employment choice as a leading technology company that offers career enhancing experiences where there are opportunities to learn, grow and help people get more out of their connected life.

  If the challenges faced by Asurion sound familiar to you, you’re not alone. If you’ve been trying to build your staff as a recruiter, hiring manager, business owner, or in an HR leadership position, you�
��ve most likely had some trouble. Let’s be frank… a lot of trouble.

  One of the keys to great employer branding is being authentic by presenting a

  true image of the company culture and making sure it’s aligned with the brand’s story. If you think this happens without a ruthlessly consistent effort remember- your employer brand is already being created on social media by employees and people who have interacted with your hiring process. If you doubt that, take a few minutes right now and check out your company on Glassdoor.com.

  People are already talking about your company, so you have to ask yourself whether or not you want a voice in the creation of your employer brand story. What do you do when a prospective job candidate or former employee leaves a negative review of your business?

  Here are a few tips to help you respond to poor online reviews from prospec- tive job candidates and former employees:

  • Respond promptly

  • Be calm

  • Ensure you “hear” their complaints

  • Correct inaccuracies stated in the review

  • Emphasize your strengths

  • Write like a “real person” not a corporation

  • Be consistent

  • Remember future candidates will see this

  • Be proactive

  You can use negative feedback to enhance your HR and recruiting process as well as understand what you candidates are seeking. In this highly competitive labor market, the power of an effective employer brand cannot be underestimated as it helps to effectively communicate key benefits that will attract qualified can- didates and retain current employees.

  LinkedIn’s Global Recruiting Trends Report uncovered key trends worldwide that organizations should focus on for 2016. At the top of that list was employer branding — and for good reason. It is a key component to attracting new talent and retaining current rock stars. Considering that 66 percent of companies sur- veyed report having trouble finding the right talent and 65 percent admitting this impacts their bottom line (ADP), now is the time to invest in your employer brand.

  The employer brand is essentially how a company is seen through the eyes of potential candidates and employees.

  Your employer brand is not simply a company logo or career page. Instead, it is the emotional reaction people have to the idea of working for your company.

  Authenticity Leads to Alignment

  Authentic employer branding accurately reflects a company’s culture and is clearly aligned with the brand story, strategy, and systems. Finding candidates that align with the company is one of the main benefits of investing in a strong employer brand.

  By clearly communicating the employer brand, both the candidate and company can equally assess the culture fit. Not only will this result in attract- ing the best talent out there, but it will also result in hires that perform better on the job.

  GE’s “What’s the Matter with Owen?” campaign is designed to reintroduce the 123-year-old company as a place that young technology talent can do meaningful work. In the commercials, a newly hired programmer struggles to explain the importance of his role to friends and family who are far more impressed with the guy working on the “Zazzies” app.

  “As a brand, we are constantly thinking about what’s new and next for the world with our technology, and to mirror that it in our marketing and the way we tell our story. It is representative of how we think as a company—it’s

  in our DNA.… This idea of how can we break this notion of ‘impossible.’ It is kind of a mission everyone who works at GE — particularly our scientists and engineers — wakes up and thinks about.”

  — Linda Boff, GE CMO

  New hires that don’t fill the position effectively cost companies time, money, and unnecessary mental stress. Most managers don’t enjoy firing employees; and interviewing candidates is taxing and takes valuable focus away from growing the bottom-line.

  Tap into your Employees

  When it comes to finding talent, employees are valuable brand advocates. Not only does it takes a shorter length of time to hire a qualified candidate via employee referral, but referred employees also have a longer tenure.

  Employee referrals typically mean that the candidate has been pre-screened and identified as a good culture fit. One employer brand that is on-point is MailChimp, an marketing automation company based in Atlanta.

  “I only hire weirdos, basically, and I just let them fail all the time. It just makes perfect sense to me.”

  —Ben Chestnut, MailChimp CEOs

  By investing in your current employees and empowering them to do work that matters to them, you foster a loyal and dynamic team. Every MailChimp employee who has posted reviews on Glassdoor said they would recommend the company to a friend, and 100% approve of the CEO.

  “We provide an environment that allows for, and encourages, acting on spontaneous creativity.”

  —Dan Kurzius, MailChimp co-founder

  To understand the general perception of your employer brand, external research can be conducted through applicant surveys, Internet searches, or social media. A telltale sign your employer brand needs work is a lack of employee referrals.

  Simply stated, if the employees don’t feel good about the place, they’re not going to subject to their friends to the environment. What kind of friend does that?

  Your employer brand has a great impact on the recruitment of potential can- didates and retention and engagement of current employees, both of which are keystones to sustainable growth. It’s your responsibility to understand the current perception of candidates and clearly communicate your story.

  Behind the Scenes on Social Media

  A seemingly obvious channel in which to tell that story is social media. According to a recent Universumglobal study, in the next 5 years there will be a 70 percent increase in the use of social media for promoting employer brand.

  Zappos is an excellent example of how to do employer branding right on social media. The company’s Instagram page, InsideZappos, gives a real inside look into

  what it is like working for the company. By sharing pictures, blogs, and videos through the company’s social media channels, Zappos is able to help positively shape its employer brand.

  You’ve also got to consider the way the competition approaches the same candidates. Your brand story involves more than just what you say about your company—it also involves positioning the competition so that the debate is on your terms. Control the dialogue, control the message, and you control the com- petition—don’t let them go putting ideas into your candidates’ heads!

  Finally, keep in mind that preference is perishable. Just because someone has an affinity for your brand story today doesn’t mean they’re going to hang around and wait for you to make an offer. If you don’t reevaluate your brand story in the marketplace to keep up with employee attitudes, you’re likely to find yourself without any suitors at all.

  Every organization’s reputation as an employer — whether it’s positive, nega- tive or “meh” — will become increasingly important to attracting and retaining the best and brightest minds. Telling a simple, clear and fully aligned employer brand story will move your company to the TopRight corner of the markets where you compete.

  Chapter 6

  Telling a Story in Emerging Markets

  he Weber-Stephen company was facing what seemed to be an incredibly difficult task: successfully launching their classic outdoor barbecue grills in India. The iconic “Weber Kettle” had no local brand awareness and a “backyard

  barbecue” culture was non-existent in the country.

  Enter Sivakumar (“Siva”) Kandaswamy, the man who Weber tapped to take on this challenge. Siva knew that Weber’s successful market entry in India would depend largely on creating demand for its brand while simultaneously creating an entirely new category for outdoor cooking. The cultural differ- ences in India were one of the first obstacles he faced. For example, the typical Indian male does not cook, most
Indians believe that barbecue means non- vegetarian food, and “do-it-yourself ” outdoor cooking is uncommon. Siva also faced challenges like highly fragmented distribution channels, limited space

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  available at retail, language diversity (23 official languages!), and aggressive price competition from many Chinese and local manufacturers. Significant headwinds for a US-based barbecue grill company!

  Siva recognized the solution would require building the category and the brand from the ground-up in India. With no data available on the current sales or consumer behavior in the category, he gathered consumer insights through primary research. Insights gave Weber a springboard for launching a differenti- ated Brand Story in India. He followed that up by developing a multi-channel strategic playbook. This helped him to articulate the plays he would need to run on the ground with dealers and distributors across the country to get the Weber

  Story in front of the target audience. Finally, he put the Systems (people, pro- cess, and technology) in place to execute the Strategy with ruthless consistency and enable Weber to scale up across the country.

  Thanks to Weber, a backyard grilling culture has taken hold in India. Indian families enjoy outdoor grilling and Weber delivers additional benefits by pro- viding consumers with tips, tools, and localized recipes. Weber has been able to “grow elsewhere” by tapping into one of the world’s largest markets and expand- ing their global brand footprint in the process.