HR and Marketing – The New Collaborative Relationship The HR managers are today positioning their companies as the employer of choice in their markets

For decades, Marketing and HR teams have lived in the same friendly work ambience but have never had a collaborative relationship. Marketing has been focused on positioning their firm in way that would help them garner new businesses, whereas HR has been focused on talent acquisition, performance management, employee engagement and more. Honestly, there has not been a reason either for these verticals to collaborate. But now with the increase in competition, the constant changes in trends in the industry and in order to gain a competitive edge, it's become very important for these two to align with each other. Let's look at few ways that can be done.

Alignment of the Company's brand

While the branding and visibility of a company is managed by marketing externally, the same is managed internally by the HR through the company's culture and employees. Infact, the company's culture and the company's brand are the two sides of the same coin. The Marketing and the HR team should ensure that the messaging that is being shared outside is the reality of your company's internal culture and the employees. They also need to be on the same page to deliver the promises that are being made to the external stakeholders.

Also, these days there has been increase in the focus of what we are calling "Employer Branding', here as the HR managers are now positioning the company as the employer of choice in their market. Collaborating with the marketing team will help them capitalize on this through the marketing tools and expertise.

Recruitment through Marketing

When there is a business pitch to win, the marketing team works on a strategy for it; same can be done for recruitment as well. For e.g. LinkedIn is the best marketing channel available for it. It gives you an extensive understanding of your candidate, besides making it simple for you to narrow down your search and shortlist the candidates as per your requirements. Your company website is another big channel for recruitment which is managed by the marketing team. Come to think of it, attracting the right candidate is same as attracting a potential client.

Internal Communication

Employee engagement is one of the HR's most important roles, this is to make sure that the employee besides staying updated about the company also feels a part of the organization. An internal newsletter, quarterly summary, new wins/losses, new hires are few of the messages that the HR constantly needs to deliver to the employees. Today's HR team dons a lot of hats and it's difficult for them to do everything, especially all the communication. This is where they can collaborate with the marketing team as their primary role is delivering key messages to all the stakeholders, internal can also be a part of it.

Brand Ambassadors

Your employees are your biggest brand ambassadors; everyone would agree to that. Their social media network and connections are the biggest source that will help strengthen your brand. As they say "Content is the king', once you have strategized that, then the question is which platforms to share the same on. Reach out to your internal brand ambassadors, research says employee advocacy has resulted to 5% increase in web traffic and 25% additional leads. A collaboration on this vertical will help you not just with your marketing goals but help create a huge employee engagement as well.

Create a Marketing Mindset

Now what does this exactly mean, how do you create a marketing mindset? You can begin by including marketing in your company's induction and training programs. New and existing employees should be aware of all the marketing initiatives taken by the company in respect to brand building. You can arrange for lunch or informal meetings to share the recent trends and marketing practices with your employees and brainstorm in it as well. The HR manager can also plan recreational activities or contests for employee engagement and route it through the marketing team to gather maximum attention.