Top Employer Branding Strategies to Attract and Retain Talent

Employer branding isn’t just a buzzword—it’s business-critical. In a job market marked by fierce competition, talent shortages, and long time-to-fill cycles, your brand as an employer can either be your strongest advantage or your greatest weakness.

When people think about working for your organization, what comes to mind? Whether you shape it or not, the answer is your employer brand. And you should shape it. A company’s reputation as a workplace matters: 86% of women and 67% of men in the U.S. say they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation.

The good news? With the right strategy, you can build a brand that attracts top talent and keeps your team engaged. At Frontline, our partnership with Express Employment Professionals—through which we engage with over a million job seekers and 75,000 employers annually—gives us clear insight into what people are really looking for.

Here are seven strategies you can use to strengthen your brand, and how Frontline can support you along the way.

What Employer Branding Is & Why It Matters

Employer branding is the story people tell about what it’s like to work for your organization. It’s not just about free snacks or flashy perks; it’s about how employees experience purpose, belonging, and growth in your workplace.

When your employer brand is strong and aligned with your values, here’s what you can expect:

• Higher-quality job applicants
• Lower recruitment costs
• Improved employee retention
• Stronger alignment between teams and leadership

What it’s not? Just a careers page or a recruiting video. Your brand is what employees and candidates actually experience, not just what you say.

7 Employer Branding Strategies That Actually Work

1. Clarify Your Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

Your EVP defines what your company uniquely offers employees in exchange for their time, energy, and skills. Beyond salary and benefits, what do people gain from working with you? Purpose? Flexibility? Development?

When done right, your EVP becomes the foundation of all your branding and recruitment efforts and should address your current and future talent’s impact, purpose, and belonging.

• Impact: Employees want to know their work makes a difference. A strong EVP highlights how individual roles contribute to broader company goals, community outcomes, or customer success stories, helping team members feel proud of what they do.
• Purpose: Today’s workforce seeks more than a paycheck; they want meaning. A compelling EVP connects daily responsibilities to a greater mission, showing how the company’s work matters in the world and inviting employees to be part of something bigger.
• Belonging: A great EVP makes people feel like they’re part of a community, not just a company. It fosters inclusion, respect, and connection, which reinforces the idea that each person is valued and seen, and that they don’t have to “fit in” to be welcomed.

2. Invest in Your Culture First—Then Talk About It

There’s no faster way to damage your employer brand than advertising a culture that doesn’t reflect reality. Candidates can spot inauthenticity from a mile away—and so can your team.

• Start by taking an honest look inside your organization. Ask questions like:
• Do our values show up in how we lead, recognize, and reward people?
• What do employees say in exit interviews or internal surveys?
• Are there consistent themes in feedback from team meetings or one-on-ones?

Managers can also hold informal listening sessions or send out a short pulse survey to understand where perception and reality may be out of sync. From there, focus on a few small actions to close the gap, especially in areas like communication, recognition, and support.

Want more ideas? Check out this webinar and podcast on building a stronger culture within your organization.

3. Show, Don’t Tell

Anyone can claim to have a great culture. Few can prove it.

That’s where storytelling, especially through video, comes in. From “day-in-the-life” segments to leadership interviews and testimonial clips, we help organizations bring their culture to life in a way job descriptions never could.

Studies found that video content will constitute 82% of all global internet traffic in 2025. Research has also shown that people retain approximately 95% of a video’s message, whereas retention drops to about 10% when reading the same content in text form.

These stories humanize your brand and create an emotional connection with prospective hires. At Frontline, we have years of award-winning video production and interview experience based on strategic communication principles, ready to capture your employer brand story.

4. Leverage Your Current Team as Brand Ambassadors

Your current employees are your most credible—and compelling—brand ambassadors. Job seekers trust their voices more than any marketing campaign.

To put this into action:

• Invite employees to share their “why”—why they joined, why they stay, or what they enjoy most about the culture. This can be as simple as a quick quote via email or a short video recorded on a phone.
• Highlight employee voices in job posts or on your careers page. A line or two from a real team member adds authenticity and relatability.
• Spotlight team moments on social media. Share photos from internal events, celebrations, or volunteer days (with permission). Let people see your culture in motion.
• Don’t over-script it. The most effective employee stories feel genuine, not polished. Want help shaping those stories? Frontline can support you with gathering, editing, and amplifying testimonials.

Want help launching an employee stories strategy? We can help. We help companies gather, produce, and amplify these stories with the intention and care they deserve.

5. Infuse Branding Into Your Onboarding Process

The first 90 days are more than a ramp-up period—they’re the start of an employee’s emotional connection to your organization. That’s where our concept of Belongboarding comes in: onboarding that helps new hires feel not just informed, but included.

Instead of focusing solely on systems, policies, and paperwork, build onboarding experiences that reflect your culture and values. Here’s how:

• Start before Day One: Send a welcome message from their manager or team, along with a brief video or note about what to expect.
• Connect them to purpose: Share real stories about how the company’s work impacts customers or the community, and how their role fits into that bigger picture.
• Assign a peer mentor or buddy: It’s one of the simplest ways to create early belonging and connection.
• Celebrate early wins: Recognize milestones in the first few weeks, like completing training or contributing to a project.

Done well, onboarding can boost retention and turn onboarding into an experience that reinforces your brand—and makes people want to stay.

6. Align Learning & Development With Your Brand Promise

If your EVP says you invest in people, your development opportunities need to reflect that promise. When there’s a gap between what you say and what employees experience, trust and engagement start to erode.

Here’s how to begin aligning development with your brand:

• Audit your current offerings. Do you provide any kind of leadership, role-specific, or soft skills training? Are there clear paths for growth?
• Ask employees what growth looks like to them. Not everyone wants to become a manager—some may want cross-training, mentorship, or chances to lead projects.
• Tie training topics to your values. If collaboration is a core value, include communication and conflict resolution workshops. If innovation matters, support creative thinking and experimentation.

When employees see that development is part of your culture, not just a one-time event, they’re more likely to stay and grow with your company.

Need help designing a development strategy that fits your values? We offer leadership development, new manager training, and coaching programs built to support long-term engagement.

7. Keep Listening

Your employer brand is never “done.” It should evolve as your culture and workforce grow.

Regularly use engagement surveys, stay interviews, and culture assessments to understand what’s working and what’s not. It’s also a good idea to monitor and respond to your online reputation on sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, Google, and more. You can also conduct interviews with your current employees to learn why they choose to work at your company. This invaluable information will help you build action plans and coaching strategies that keep the organization moving forward.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Even well-meaning companies can stumble when it comes to employer branding. Here are a few of the most common missteps and why they matter:

• Saying one thing, doing another: When messaging doesn’t reflect the real employee experience, trust erodes quickly. Job seekers notice. So do employees.
• Focusing on perks instead of purpose: Free snacks and flex Fridays are great, but they won’t keep people around if there’s no deeper sense of meaning or direction.
• Over-marketing, under-listening: Branding efforts often focus outward—on websites and recruiting campaigns—without first strengthening what’s happening internally.
• Letting branding go stale: Your culture evolves. So should your messaging. Revisit your brand regularly to make sure it still reflects who you are (and who you’re becoming).

Avoiding these pitfalls is about being consistent, honest, and aligned rather than perfect. We’ve seen firsthand how organizations can shift from disconnected to intentional, and we’re here to support that transformation when you’re ready.

Build a Brand That Attracts & Retains Talent With Frontline

We’re more than a consulting firm. We’re your partner in telling the real, powerful story of your workplace and making sure it’s a story worth telling.

Here’s what we offer:

• Employer branding and EVP consulting
• Culture audits and consulting
• Leadership development and onboarding training
• Video storytelling and testimonial creation

We’ve helped manufacturing companies promote great technicians into leadership, and trained those leaders to thrive. We’ve helped nonprofits articulate what makes their mission magnetic to candidates. We’ve helped professional services firms rebuild from the inside out.

Let’s talk about how we can help you do the same.

You Can’t Fake a Great Employee Brand

The most compelling brands are the ones that are lived, not just marketed.

If you’re ready to own your story, invest in your people, and build a brand that reflects the heart of your organization, we’re here to help.

Reach out today to connect with a Frontline consultant.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an employer branding strategy?

An employer branding strategy defines and communicates what it’s like to work for your company. It’s built around your culture, values, and employee experience.

Why is employer branding important for hiring and retention?

It attracts better-fit candidates and helps retain employees by creating clarity, consistency, and engagement across the employee journey.

How can small- to mid-sized companies improve their employer brand?

Start with the story you’re already living. Use employee voices, clear values, and intentional onboarding to tell that story well. Frontline can help tell this story with high-quality video production to be implemented on your website, social media, job postings, and onboarding process.

What role does onboarding play in employer branding?

Onboarding sets the tone for how new hires experience your culture—done right, it makes people feel like they belong from day one.

How do I know if my company’s brand is turning candidates away?

Watch for warning signs like low application quality, high turnover in the first year, or feedback that your messaging feels disconnected from reality.