“Unmatched customer service,” “comprehensive product knowledge,” “strong customer relationships,” “high product availability,” “fair pricing.”

If you ask ASA distributor members how to describe their company’s brand, it is statements and sentiments like these that are typically repeated.

At the recent ASA LEAD Strategic Leadership Summit, nearly 100 member volunteers agreed that people are the strength of our industry. Which brings me to another industry trope all of us have heard repeated. “People are our greatest asset.”

Are they? Really?

Given the competition for talent, have you asked yourself how prospective employees would know this about your company?

With a company’s website and social media accounts being the first places candidates often look to learn about opportunities, it’s surprising how many in our industry offer little or no information about what it’s like to be an employee at the company. There is an abundance of product, warehouse and truck images on these sites and accounts, but very few people…”our greatest strength.”

With the fight to attract talent continuing in the PHCP/PVF industry, the time is now for ASA members to expand their brand messaging typically targeted to customers, to also consider their employer brand.

What is employer branding?

In traditional company branding, an organization’s brand is the essence of the value it provides customers. When a current or potential customer is asked to describe a specific business, the answer is that company’s brand, good or bad. This is why many businesses have invested in brand management as it has become so important in business particularly in an age where customers can share their opinions so easily and broadly.

Employer branding is the same concept, but the goal is to convey and influence a company’s reputation as an employer, its culture, and its value to current and potential employees.

Corporate branding is designed to sell more goods and services to customers. The goal of employer branding is to position a company as a great place to work with existing and prospective employees. An employer brand can help attract the type of candidates a company desires and ideally positions it ahead of the competition.

Why is employer branding important?

As mentioned earlier, the competition for talent is strong. Companies are not only vying for talent with their direct competition, but with every other business and industry. Firms that are winning the war for talent are using employer branding as a strategic advantage.

Companies who invest in employer branding are more likely to attract the candidates who not only have the right skills and experience but fit best with a company’s culture and values.

Employer branding also gives businesses the ability to compete for jobseekers on more than just compensation. It’s often said that successful distributors don’t compete on price but on the value of relationships and service. The same holds true with employer branding and finding talent who consider a company’s promise and employee experience with equal weight as pay.

Using employer branding to show what it’s like to work for a company and examples of successful employees sets an expectation for incoming employees and eliminates potential surprises or the perception of bait and switch. Articulating your employer brand not only helps with recruiting but retention also. A study conducted by LinkedIn showed employee turnover can be cut by almost 30 percent with effective employer branding.

Aside from these benefits, there’s also the potential downside of not investing in employer branding and simply continuing with recruiting practices that may have been effective in previous years or decades. Like the adage about employee training that asks, “what happens if I train my employees and they leave?” compared to “what happens if I don’t train my employees and they stay?” The current labor landscape is simply too competitive to not include employer branding as a recruiting strategy.

How ASA can help with employer branding?

ASA’s Project Talent, one of the association’s key strategic initiatives, was born to help brand the PHCP/PVF industry as an attractive, viable career destination, and provide members with recruitment tools and resources.

Among those resources is the online Recruiter Toolbox available on ASA.net. Within the Recruiter Toolbox are tools to help you craft your employer brand.

Comprehensive messaging is available with research-tested themes and phrases to explain the benefits of working in the industry to four key audiences: students/recent graduates, women, former military, and mid-career professionals.

Also available is a checklist of best practices members can use to ensure their websites and social media accounts are optimized for attracting potential candidates.

The proper attention and focus on a company’s employer brand can help your company rise above the rest in its recruiting efforts. This combined with the ASA’s industry awareness work and the tools and resources available to ASA members give PHCP/PVF distributors, manufacturers, and reps a fighting chance in the ongoing battle for talent.