Advertising and driving awareness around one’s employer brand through proactive marketing initiatives is becoming increasingly imperative for those companies aspiring to win the attention of SA talent, especially when it comes to sourcing ‘best-in-class’ and high demand skills.

(Jobvite found that more than a quarter of recruiters say lack of brand awareness is one of their biggest challenges in attracting top talent with 46% of recruiters reprioritizing their budgets towards focusing on employer branding).

Companies can draw a strong alignment/comparison between product marketing and recruitment marketing because it has been proven that both play an integral role in unifying their corporate brands. The focus of a company’s supply chain involved in promoting and selling a product or service to customers is no different to that of a company marketing itself as an employer of choice in the candidate market place.

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The Age of the Customer is now with customer-centric candidates expecting easy, at-their-fingertips access to information. As you address an informed talent pool, proactively advertising, promoting and packaging your employer brand is critical in placing you ahead of your competitors.  Historically, companies have overlooked the necessity to implement an employer branding and recruitment advertising strategy, impulsively advertising vacancies only when the need arises, i.e. when undertaking ‘crisis manning’ . Ongoing brand reinforcement and activation is necessary in order for companies such as yours to build a real brand presence and reputation, thus easing the difficulty in sourcing talent to fill critical skills.

Fortunately we have different print media publications with which to address and target our diverse rainbow nation and the unique characteristics of each region.  The outcomes of the AMPS 2015 publishing survey reported continued growth within core titles in the Times Media stable, despite the -3.6% overall drop in newspaper readership in SA. This research clearly indicates that there is a captive target audience of established communities and a great foundation available for companies wishing to leverage off in promoting a robust employer brand presence BEFORE having to advertise their posts.

Change is constant and we must embrace it by becoming innovative in seeking creative ways to converge print with online recruitment advertising. The AMPS 2015 results indicate that newspapers are still a valuable and highly used medium for passive high performers as well as job seekers. This means companies still have an ideal platform available to visually showcase their Employer Brands, ensuring that they maximise on the perfect opportunity to produce unique, exciting, informative and attractive ads, clearly standing head and shoulders above their competitors.  Showcasing one’s employer brand through impactful print media advertising constitutes the start in the candidate experience journey with numerous touchpoint following thereafter on which to deliver on the company’s employer brand promise.