Who owns Marmite?

A view on recruitment branding

Dear Marmite opinion holder,

Let’s think about where the word brand comes from.

Whether you brand cattle or roman gladiators, the reasons are always the same – to show ownership, raise awareness and ensure your stock doesn’t go where it shouldn’t.

You may immediately react, ‘ah yes, that’s one of Lucius Maximus’ slaves!’

Perhaps you know Lucius Maximus is a cruel man who punishes his cattle for not creating a ruckus at every opportunity.

Or maybe you know he rewards his fighters for good behaviour in public.

Maybe you know that whatever the outcome in the arena, it will be a damn good slaughter, so you’ll definitely go see that one.

While if you go to a cattle market, the brand may be a mark of good quality or one whose meat is so tough you can make shoes out of them, creating a bias that you’ll never buy from there again.

The common link is how you link your knowledge and experience of the brand to your interaction with the stock.

What you know and experience of a brand can lead to a decision, buying or otherwise.

Not the brand itself or something that happens in an instant.

See that brand without context and prior knowledge, and you can only assume it’s there for the reasons all brands are.

What if brands are there, only because it’s what everyone does, not because of what sets them apart or how they can serve their customers?

Looking at you: personal brands that are defined by selfies, photos of tweets and generic advice.

If everyone has a brand, and all are indistinct from one another, how will you differentiate one from the other?

How will you remember which one’s which?

Some current examples, then the crux of this message.

Isn’t it funny that one of the most memorable new brands, is Asda’s yellow unbranded line?

Cheap products that cause controversy because you could see what was in another’s shopping trolley, casting judgement on their budget.

A conversation starter, nonetheless, and you’ll know where to go if you want to cut costs.

Or how about the food brand everyone has an opinion on – Marmite?

Whether you buy it or hate it, it’s likely you admire the brand.

Unilever knows that full well and leverages your opinion universally.

This brings me to the point of this email, and why I think most companies get it wrong.

A brand isn’t what you project. It’s what others experience.

Unless you know who your ideal consumers are, and which experiences matter to them, branding becomes a popularity contest, in a market of generic employers.

Any medium that allows you to get a message across publicly is an opportunity to build a brand – whether that’s LinkedIn, your website, a branded company car, your receptionist greeting an interviewee, or unexpectedly providing constructive feedback to an application.

Yet, unless it has meaning for the people you want to talk to, branding is an endeavour in make-work.

From a recruitment perspective, I expect the people you want to be aware of your brand to be the people you want to hire.

And the people you want to hire, are those that will complement your culture and values while thriving in roles that push your business forwards.

This means that branding should lean into what makes you ‘you’ as a business, and every post, photo, video or other should be in line with this ‘you’.

Your brand should be Marmite.

No doubt this will push some people away – those who aren’t interested in ‘you’, those whose values or aspirations conflict.

Those you don’t want to employ but do want to get talking about you.

Whenever you do anything to publicise yourself as an employer, think about how it complements the brand your ideal next employee needs to perceive.

Whether it’s your employment value proposition, your LinkedIn selfie post, your job adverts or an interview in the press –

what should your ideal candidates experience?

Does that experience make them more likely to want to work for you, or at least talk about you?

The answer should always be yes.

And like all things recruitment, a good brand is good candidate experience.

If you need the detail on how to create better candidate experience, to help build a good brand, just check out my earlier emails.

The next email is on context, the c more important than culture.

Thanks for reading.

Regards,

Greg

p.s. While you are here, if you like the idea of improving how you recruit, lack capacity or need better candidates, and are curious how I can help, these are my services:

- commercial, operational and technical leadership recruitment (available for no more than two vacancies)

- manage part or all of your recruitment on an individually designed basis for one client

- recruitment coaching and mentoring (one place available at £200/hr + VAT)

- recruitment strategy setting

- outplacement support

Just hit reply to check if my approach is right for you.