Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing have gone from HR buzzwords to must have recruiting strategies. However, many HR professionals are still puzzled by these terms and they can’t tell the exact difference between them.

Can you explain the difference between Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing?

Posting your job openings to the job boards and waiting for the talent to come to you is simply not enough anymore.

In today’s job market, the best talent has many options to choose from. Consequently, you need to have a competitive advantage over other companies who are looking for that same talent.

In order to differentiate their company from their competitors and attract top talent, clever recruiters have started using marketing methods and tactics.

As a result, we hear the leading HR professionals talking about Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing. A lot! In a very short amount of time, Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing have gone from HR buzzwords to must have recruiting strategies.

However, many HR professionals are still puzzled by these terms. How about you? Can you explain the difference between Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing?

In order to the clear up this confusion once and for all, here is a detailed explanation of the difference between the Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing.

But first, let’s find out what these two terms have in common and why are they so often mistaken for each other.

What do Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing have in common?

Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing are both concerned with the same thing - your company’s Employer Brand.

What is Employer Brand?

Employer Brand is your company's reputation as an employer.

A strong Employer Brand communicates that your company is a good employer and a great place to work.

What are the differences between Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing?

Difference #1: Employer Branding implicates defining, and Recruitment Marketing promoting your Employer Brand

Employer Branding is the process of defining your company's Employer Brand.

Recruitment Marketing is the process of promoting your company's Employer Brand.

Employer Branding is the process of defining your Candidate Persona, your Employer Brand and your Employee Value Proposition.

Recruitment Marketing is the process of promoting your Employer Brand by creating interesting and engaging recruiting content and sharing it via different channels such as your company’s career site and blog, job boards, social media, email campaigns, talent networking events, job fairs, etc.

Difference #2: Employer Brand comes first, Recruitment Marketing second

Employer Branding comes first, and Recruitment Marketing is built around it, with additional methods and tactics.

Before you start promoting your Employer Brand, it is crucial to articulate a clear and precise definition of it. Otherwise, you risk your message sounding inconsistent which will make you look distrustful in the eyes of candidates.

Difference #3: Recruitment Marketing may evolve, but your Employer Branding remains the same

Recruitment Marketing is constantly evolving in a response to industry and cultural trends.

Modern recruiters and marketers come up with innovative strategies for attracting candidates, new communication channels (such as social networks) appear, content trends are changing (for example, the video is becoming more and more popular), etc.

Surprising your targeted audience in new and exciting ways is necessary to keep their attention.

On the other hand, your Employer Branding is more consistent and constant.

Your Employer Branding should be based on your company’s core values, vision and mission. It is a long-term promise and an ongoing commitment you make to your existing and potential employees.

Even if you make some smaller adjustments in your Employer Branding strategies in order to better target your perfect candidates, your overall message should stay consistent with your original promise.

Deepen your understanding of Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing

Hopefully, this article has helped you clear your doubts and misunderstanding of Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing and now you are able to tell the difference.

If you want to learn how to implement your Employer Branding strategy in 5 simple steps, you should check out this informative infographic. If you are looking for some new Employer Branding ideas, you can learn a lot from big brands like Hubspot and Facebook.

If you would like to learn more about Recruitment Marketing, this Recruitment Marketing 101 guide is a great place to start.