An organization's brand image is of critical importance. It conveys a message or personality to the companies' desired markets and serves to position the company against competitors. Employers also have an employer brand -- the image presented to potential and current employees. Corporate communication efforts can impact branding efforts in both positive and negative ways. A quantitative survey can be a useful feedback tool to measure these impacts and can provide information about efforts that should be continued and those that should should be modified or eliminated.
Baseline
The use of a quantitative survey (a survey that provides statistically significant and reliable results based on a scientific sample of respondents), can provide organizations with an objective view of how their employer brand is viewed by important publics. The starting point in this feedback process is the identification of desired brand attributes -- for instance, "commitment to work/life balance" or "competitive pay and benefits." Once the employer has determined what its desired brand attributes are and how it wishes to position itself against the competition, it will survey the target market (perhaps potential employees within a certain job classification within a certain geographic radius) to determine how it currently views the organization.
Evaluating Against Competitive Organizations
In addition to learning about where it stands in terms of potential employees' perspectives, companies will want to use the survey tool to get a sense of how these individuals view other employers that they may be considering. A credit union for instance, may develop a survey that asks the target audience to evaluate it, another credit union and two other financial institutions across various items. The results attained through this tool provide an indication of areas for focus, or areas where the company may already excel in terms of brand perception.
Identifying Gaps
Once results have been attained, the organization will identify gaps between how its audience perceives its attributes, and how the audience perceives competitive organizations. These gaps will be prioritized to identify areas of strength where no action may be needed, as well as areas where actions must be taken to improve the organization's ratings. Because the survey is quantitative, the company will be able to look at areas of statistical significance, as well as areas where there is no discernable differences in the minds of the respondents.
Taking Action and Remeasuring to Determine Progress
A quantitative survey is a powerful tool for identifying areas where action should be taken. The organization will review results and establish strategies and tactics to improve performance or perception in certain areas. For instance, results may indicate that the employer is not viewed as "family-friendly," while its most challenging competitor scores high in this area. The survey may further indicate that this is a very important attribute for respondents. Actions will then be identified to impact these perceptions, and progress will be monitored over time. The process will be repeated on a regular basis to evaluate changes and the need for new actions.
Tags: areas where, quantitative survey, audience perceives, brand attributes, brand image, credit union