An effective company branding strategy to attract top talent should be realistic and bold. The goal is to stand out from the competition, while highlighting your organization’s best attributes. It is important to focus on key touch-points in the employment life cycle–from applicant to tenured staff–when developing an employment brand. The brand promise should match the best experiences of both employee and candidate, whether or not they are hired. This means getting the input of managers, recruiters, and interviewees to develop and execute branding strategy. There are five key ingredients for effective company branding:

What value proposition does your company offer employees? Talk to the most valued members of the organization, at all levels, to determine the key attributes of the company. This will help you identify what the organization believes in and values most. The story of the company’s history and priorities are also important. When talking about your company’s value proposition, be prepared to talk about how you compare with others in your industry in terms of compensation, benefits, and culture.

Do your processes reflect your identified values? The experiences of job applicants, those who receive offers, employees, and former employees should reflect the branding of the organization. Review your hiring processes. Solicit feedback to determine if there is consistency and authenticity of your message.

What is your company’s unique culture? An organization committed to maintaining its unique culture must first identify what that is. Knowledge gained from your interviews researching value proposition should also help identify your unique culture, priorities, and goals.

What does it mean to be a good corporate citizen? Company loyalty could mean employees who are committed to long-term employment as well as the overall well being of the organization. Members of your organization who participate in charity events and fundraising reflect a loyalty to the company’s goals of giving back to their communities.

Are those responsible for company branding consistently sharing the message? Your branding message should be shared with both: your customers and employees, future and current. Share the brand message with those tasked with marketing the organization and anyone in charge of recruiting, interviewing, or hiring. Make it a priority to hire individuals who strongly identify with your employment brand.

A successful employment brand is built on clearly identified values and culture, and making sure that they are reflected, upheld, and acted upon. Building an employment brand is a wise investment in the future. The time and effort invested in identifying the key ingredients to your company’s employment branding will be beneficial not only in developing the brand, but also in analyzing all areas of the organization, from talent acquisition to employee retention. Next time, we will continue this series with a look at broadcasting and managing an employment brand.