Want to know the fastest, most sure-fire way to build brand credibility for your staffing/recruiting firm? The formula is simple:
- Invest in your brand identity
- Create credibility with follow-through
In this blog, we’ll discuss why building your brand should be seen as an investment. In the next installation in our series, we examine how to create brand credibility by living out the same values your business partners are looking for in their job-seekers and recruits:
- Professionalism
- Authenticity
- Honesty
- Adaptability
- Expertise
- Reliability
By following through on your company values you will then be able to reap the many benefits of solid brand credibility.
Why Brand Credibility for Staffing and Recruiting is so Important
If your staffing or recruiting agency isn’t building brand credibility that projects the same qualities you’re committed to nurturing in your clients and in your talent, you are missing out.
Brand credibility – especially for staffing and recruiting agencies – is the best way to turn potential clients into actual clients. What’s even better, companies that go all-in on their brand strategy are best positioned to realize the rewards of a fully credible brand for the long term.
Broken brand credibility for a company could be ruinous. At Parqa, we like to compare it to attending a client meeting in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Not only can bad branding repel valuable leads, but in the highly competitive market of staffing and recruiting, where so many other agencies are constantly jostling for a leg-up, an inconsistent brand could relegate your business to obscurity in short order.
Not to mention, the damage caused by an inconsistent brand message can have lasting effects that are very difficult to overcome.
How Inconsistent Branding Can Compromise Credibility
Inconsistent branding might not be something that is clear right away – but sometimes, it’s plain and simple. Here are a few ways you can diagnose whether your staffing or recruiting firm is suffering from an inconsistent brand.
The obvious indicators are things like:
- Misuse of your company logo
- Inconsistent color schemes or font hierarchy
- Different taglines used on your website than in social media content
- Discrepancies in the tone, voice and personality of your content marketing efforts
- Inconsistency in the language each of your internal teams uses when talking to clients and candidates
However, in many cases, it’s more a gut feeling or a broken experience. That’s the feeling or question that arises when, for example, a marketing agency that specializes in social media management has no social media presence for itself. Or a search company that focuses in recruiting technology leadership roles, but has a clunky, outdated website.
It might seem like a small thing, but a broken brand experience can carry enough weight to completely dismantle the brand’s credibility. If the agency’s messaging is inconsistent, it would be reasonable to assume that the quality of the agency’s talent would also be lacking.
Do The Work and Brand Credibility Will Follow
Think of building your brand as an investment. Credibility is the payoff.
This is modeled every day in staffing and recruiting. With every job placement, there is a period of investing time and resources to train a new hire and get them up to speed. The idea being, eventually the new hire will catch on and get to work and accomplish great things. The same goes for your brand.
When you put the time and effort into building your brand – intentionally and strategically – eventually your brand will build and retain credibility. It will take a lot less effort to maintain solid brand credibility than to repair the damage caused by a broken brand promise.
The Connection Between Your Brand Promise and Company Values
It’s important to differentiate your brand promise from your company values. A brand promise is more of a statement of who you are, and the services or product you offer. Some good examples of well-known brand promises:
- Mcdonald’s: “To provide simple easy enjoyment to every customer visit.”
- Nike: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”
- Starbucks: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”
Your company values, on the other hand, are critical to your brand credibility. Your values and the length to which you follow through on those values can either give your brand legs or undercut its credibility.
Following Through on Your Company Values
If branding is all about telling the world who you are and what you stand for, then following through on your company values completes the message and builds credibility. We believe this is the most effective way to create buy-in among your potential clients, stakeholders and job seekers.
Stay tuned for part two of our series, where we go more in-depth on how to build credibility by investing in your brand and doing the work so that later, your business can enjoy the benefits (and all the leads) of a unique and outstanding brand.
Discover the world of branding for staffing and recruiting agencies. Download Parqa’s eBook on brand strategy to learn more.
