I see all of these “list” blog posts and thought, why not? So, in no particular order, here are 30 things that I’ve learned over the past six years in employer branding.

30 Things to Know About Employer Branding

1. Companies don’t own their brands, they can try to influence perceptions.
2. Doing what’s best for your company is a guiding principle.
3. Branding is more than a logo.
4. Like Rome, it won’t be built in a day. Employer branding takes time.
5. Maintaining consistency across platforms and locations can be a challenge.
6. It’s fun.
7. Coffee helps ignite creativity.
8. You can’t be afraid to ask for help (in corporate speak this is leveraging your resources).
9. Personal brand becomes entwined with employer brand.
10. Social media is a vital component to brand awareness.
11. People may go rogue.
12. You sometimes need to act as a recruiter and trainer, too.
13. Everyone has ideas and opinions, your job is to listen.
14. You’ll sometimes wish that you were a web designer.
15. The budget is never big enough for all the ideas in your head.
16. You can’t control what other people post online, but you can sure work to balance the conversations.
17. People will wonder what it is that you do all day.
18. You may wonder if it’s employment branding or employer branding.
19. It’s hard keeping track of your usernames and passwords, so you’ll create an Excel spreadsheet to try to stay organized.
20. As your brand becomes more visible, your name may, too. And, then the sales emails start.
21. You’ll see things you worked on two years ago and wonder what you were thinking.
22. Employer branding also means knowing something about recruiting, SEO, web usability, ATS, CRMs, traditional media and a whole host of other HR technologies.
23. You’ll wish there was one magic dashboard where you could do. it. all. (And then measure it all in one pretty report.)
24. Exceptional writing skills are a must.
25. There’s never enough time in the day.
26. Blogging is a great way to get employees involved.
27. There are some truly talented people in the “brand space” that you’ll meet and learn from.
28. You can’t predict some brand crises, but you can be prepared.
29. Boredom is not an option.
30. It’s worth it.

What have you learned?

If you have gleaned any other nuggets about employer branding, please feel free to share them below.