An Employer Brand strategy is not created with a single decision. It is a process in which the individual components of the Employer Brand are gradually put together. Identity (EBI) determines who the organization wants to be, the offer (EVP) formulates value, and communication determines whether both will translate into a meaningful and unique experience.
In the previous parts, we covered the basics. First, we looked at the fundamental principles of EB strategy, then we focused on Employer Brand Identity. This next part concludes the entire strategy with a look at communication.
Communication is the moment when strategy comes to life. This is where the organization’s intentions meet the reality of people. Without communication, Employer Brand remains just a set of well-intentioned theses.
Communication as the Driving Force behind Employer Brand Strategy
Communication is not the final step. It is the driving force that sets the Employer Brand strategy in motion. Without it, the identity remains static and the offer unexperienced.
Communication connects the individual parts of the strategy. It conveys meaning, creates understanding, and gives people the opportunity to experience the brand in practice. Thanks to it, the concept becomes a real experience.
Communication takes place every day. It arises in conversations, decisions, and small interactions. It is the sum of these that forms the real image and position of the Employer Brand.
Communication as a Tool for Connection
Communication is not just about conveying information. In Employer Branding, it primarily means connecting people around a shared understanding and purpose. It is about how people talk to each other, work together, and make decisions.
Communication does not only take place externally. It also takes place within the organization between teams, managers, and employees. Every such contact creates an experience with the brand.
Experience is stronger than communication. People do not perceive a brand based on what it says about itself, but based on what they experience with it. Communication is the carrier of this experience.
According to the Great Latin Dictionary (Thesaurus Linguae Latinae), the basic meaning of the word communicare is “to make something common, to share or to connect,” which comes from the root communis – “common.”
Communication cannot be separated from strategy. It is an integral part of it and connects identity with offering. Without this connection, both levels remain separate.
Identity provides direction. Offering defines value. Communication ensures that direction and value meet in specific situations.
Strategic communication works with time. It does not perceive individual outputs in isolation, but monitors the long-term impression that people take away with them. It is this impression that shapes the Employer Brand.
The RACE Model as a Communication Framework
We need structure to work with communication. One useful framework is the RACE model from Smart Insights. It helps divide the experience into clear stages.
The RACE model works in four steps: Reach, Act, Convert, and Engage. These stages describe how people gradually encounter an Employer’s Brand.
Reach – the purpose of this phase is to create initial awareness of the Employer Brand. It is not yet about recruitment or persuasion, but about getting the brand into people’s mental maps and starting to be perceived as a relevant option.
Act – the purpose of this phase is to generate active interest and interaction. People begin to examine the brand more closely, compare it with alternatives, and seek answers to the question of whether it makes sense for them.
Convert – the goal of this phase is to move from consideration to cooperation. In Employer Branding, this includes not only the decision to join, but also onboarding and a trial period to verify that expectations match reality.
Engage – the purpose of this phase is long-term engagement and relationship. It occurs when the cooperation continues and the employee truly identifies with the brand and participates in its further development.
RACE in this form serves as a map. It helps identify brand touchpoints and identify where and how the brand communicates. This is an important but still largely descriptive step.
Examples of Tactics according to RACE
Reach – social media content building awareness, Employer Brand campaigns, PR and media coverage, participation in conferences and trade fairs, employee referrals, visibility of company leaders and experts, basic presence on career platforms
Act – career website and its content, authentic employee stories, videos from the company environment, open positions clearly described from the candidate’s perspective, interaction on social networks, answers to questions, online and offline events for interested parties
Convert – recruitment process, communication during the selection process, speed and quality of feedback, onboarding plan, welcome to the team, adaptation process, support during the trial period, initial evaluation, and development interviews
Engage – employee development, internal communication, feedback and evaluation, working with managers, internal training, involvement in projects, ambassadorship, internal communities, caring for long-term employee experience
RACE as a Path to Experience
Mapping alone is not enough. If we want to really work with the Employer Brand, we have to embark on a journey. The Employer Brand comes to life when we start working with it in a targeted manner over time.
RACE then ceases to be a marketing funnel. We begin to perceive it as an axis from left to right, along which people gradually move and gather experience. Each phase has its own goal and specific role in the overall image of the brand.
In practice, this means that we consciously formulate a goal for each phase that we want to achieve. It’s not just about performance or numbers, but about a shift in people’s thinking, decision-making, or relationship to the brand.
These goals are linked to metrics that we use to verify whether we are actually moving in the right direction. In some phases, this will involve reach or interaction, while in others it will involve the quality of experience, feedback, or the degree to which expectations match reality.
The next step is to choose the approaches that are relevant for the given phase. We work differently with communication when we are just introducing a brand than when people are checking whether they can trust it.
Only on this basis does it make sense to plan specific activities across channels. Not as isolated outputs, but as a thoughtful sequence of steps that build on each other and together create a consistent experience.
This way of thinking corresponds to design thinking. It does not focus only on structure or process, but on people’s experiences at individual points along the journey. The brand thus becomes the result of a consciously designed experience.
Communication across the Entire Organization
Employer Brand communication is not the role of a single team. It arises across the entire organization in its day-to-day operations. Every employee contributes to it through their behavior.
Employees are the bearers of the brand. Not through content, but through their actions, decisions, and approach to others. This is where the credibility of the Employer Brand is tested.
It is crucial to maintain a balance between what the brand says and what it actually does. Words create expectations, but actions determine whether people believe them. If communication is detached from reality, tension arises between promise and experience.
Communication is therefore inextricably linked to culture and leadership. The Employer Brand becomes part of company management and everyday practice. Only then can it function in the long term.
Conclusion: Communication Brings Strategy to Life
Communication connects identity and offerings to specific situations that people actually experience. Without it, strategy remains abstract and distant from reality.
The purpose of Employer Brand communication is not just to inform. Its task is to create understanding, build trust, and align what the organization says with what it actually does in the long term.
The basic principles are simple. Think in context, work with experience over time, and perceive communication as part of everyday practice. Every contact with the brand is an opportunity to confirm its meaning.
Perhaps the most important question at the end is this: What experiences in your organization today truly confirm who you want to be as an employer?
I enjoy connecting people who belong together, supporting their cooperation and inspiring them to find new solutions. I help companies create an attractive employer brand. I am interested in design thinking, lean approaches and agile marketing. You can also meet me as a lecturer at our workshops.
