Measuring Talent Marketing Impact & The Importance of Audience-Tailored Reporting
I’m saddened to see the surge in layoffs currently affecting the talent marketing and employer branding community in which I work. For those impacted, I sincerely hope you're all okay and that your search for new opportunities is progressing positively. The market looks like it might be picking up a little bit, so fingers crossed!
The rise of redundancies in our space suggests to me that those at the top of the business tree may not fully understand or appreciate the value that employer branding and talent marketing bring to their companies. And honestly, I think I get it.
Let's be candid about the core concerns of business owners and the C-suite. When we strip away all the paraphernalia, there are roughly five key things they care about the most:
- Are we generating profit?
- Are we cutting costs?
- Are we attracting new customers?
- Are we satisfying and increasing spend from existing customers?
- Are we minimising risk?
As hard as that may be for some to read, this is essentially the modus operandi of any commercial business within our capitalist society. Additionally, the shareholders or venture capitalists, who often demand these answers (understandably, since they usually have the most skin in the game), are not typically known for their patience.
I genuinely don’t say this begrudgingly or with a hint of satire. I believe it’s a fact that you're either comfortable with or not. At the risk of coming across as an embarrassing 'dad dancer’ – “don't hate the player, hate the game” (Yep. That looks as bad typed out as it did in my head. 🤦😳)
I remember an article from The Drum a couple of years ago, which reported that the average tenure of a Chief Marketing Officer had decreased to approximately 2.5 - 3 years. Some reasons cited for this decline included “severe pressure from ever-tightening budgets coupled with a need to improve return on investment” and “marketers still struggle to qualitatively prove the impact of their social media campaigns…” And that’s in 'proper' Marketing! These are folks who are pretty close to the bottom line of the P&L, usually removed by 2-3 degrees of separation. By this, I mean that when they take marketing action, they can more easily see an attributable spike, dip, or flatline on the revenue graphs.
However, when you look at Talent Marketing and Employer Branding teams, who usually sit within sub-divisions of HR departments, it's even more challenging to objectively prove our worth in a dollars ‘n’ dimes binary way that leaders at the top table care about, as we're even further away from the bottom line.
A salesperson makes a sale, and the direct impact on the business is obvious. They’re usually 1 degree of separation from the P&L. But a talent marketer? Working with or through a recruiter to communicate the company culture that attracted the salesperson in the first place? Not so. That's probably in the region of about 4-6 degrees of separation from the bottom line.
And when economies shrink and times are tough, who do you think business owners and leaders want or need more in the company? Yes, it can be perceived as short-sighted. Yes, we can say that focusing on false-economy quick wins can lead to longer-term losses (way beyond monetary) when macroclimate conditions improve. But right now, revenue, profit, and cash are even more ‘king’ than usual.
If most of us (appreciating not all) can broadly agree on what I’ve shared up to this point, even if it makes us uncomfortable, then an essential question must be, "How can employer branders and talent marketers consistently prove their commercial value to top bosses?" Because when the coffers start gathering dust, they don’t give a crap about your clicks, visits, and social media engagements. Although thinking about it, they don't care about this before the dust clouds start gathering, but even less so when they do.
Of the five things I mentioned earlier, the one that can stand out the most for talent marketers to focus on is the second - driving down costs and showing the financial benefits of doing so. This can help satisfy those who demand real ROI.
What do I mean when I say 'real ROI'?
In 2010, I came across this presentation by Olivier Blanchard (who was also known as 'The Brand Builder' at the time). To this day, it's still one of my faves when it comes to explaining this often confusing subject. I strongly urge you to fly through it. Although it's social media specific, as was my focus 13 years ago, its ROI lessons are agnostic of business areas, teams and specialisms, etc. It's brilliant.
For a talent attraction example, in another article I shared, I provided a simple model that could potentially show a $2,000,000 cost saving through better CRM adoption. But there are other ways.
As a small example, talent marketers often discuss content performance in terms of creative engagement (effectiveness). But looking at engagement without considering the cost (how efficiently you achieved it) is less interesting to those deciding which horses to place their finite chips behind to grow the broader businesses' profit margins.
I think talent marketers who get too focused on the effectiveness of things like content must start giving equal attention to financial efficiencies and impact when communicating results to top leadership. It’s not easy, and I don’t have all the answers, but a challenge facing us is finding ways to do it more rigorously and clearly.
“You got 1,000,000 impressions. HOORAH!” However, if your CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) was £5, while the average for similar engagement is £0.90, then your CFO’s eyebrow will be raised. And not in a good way.
“We used to spend £1,000,000 on job boards, but since we switched to approach ABC, we're saving the business 50% budget whilst still achieving the same (or even better) results and quality.”
“We've reduced agency spending from £X to £Y... And are now saving the business £Z.
“Our advertising media spend was £A with a return of £B – we've made changes, and now we're seeing a £££ improvement in cost per application and / or hire, with improved quality etc, which in turn is saving the business...”
There are already ways to articulate what we do in a financial way business leaders are increasingly demanding. Our challenge is finding more and communicating them in compelling ways, consistently.
Adding a positive financial layer makes your reports more appealing to those in charge of the budgets, especially if you can show how you're saving money and improving overall profit margins compared to previous tactics and strategies.
Then, when it comes to showcasing Talent Marketing's ongoing value and impact through reporting, think of it as a three-tiered cake (see the graphic below).
Understand the different audiences for your reports, their varying seniority, and differing interests, and serve them the layer they crave the most in a language they can easily digest.
This last bit if vital. It's where I believe specialists in all fields can become afflicted by their own expertise.
Non-marketers don't understand marketing jargon and acronyms. If the reports you're sharing with them include these, then take them out. They're too busy to decipher marketing code. Use everyday language that removes all ambiguity from the impact your efforts are having.
Ideally, top-tier decision-makers will then be hungry for more, as they invite more talent marketers to sit at the top table to continue serving it to them in future.
