Are You Splitting Your Employer Brand Budget Across the Funnel?

In marketing, a balanced funnel is critical. You invest at the top to build awareness and brand affinity. Then you nurture and convert.

But in employer branding? We often go straight to performance media... job ads, LinkedIn campaigns, quick wins. The bottom of the funnel is overfunded, while brand storytelling and awareness efforts are undernourished.

If we only pay for clicks, we forget what drives them.

Photo by Sanket Gupta on Unsplash

Top-of-funnel investment 

builds familiarity and trust long before a candidate actively searches for a job. And when you skip that? You pay for it later in drop-offs, low-quality applications, or worse—your ideal candidates never consider you at all.

Media Mix Matters More Than Ever

Here’s where the Nielsen data really hits home. While digital channels are easier to track, they’re not always the most effective. Their report found that traditional media like radio and podcasts delivered stronger ROI than expected, often outperforming digital in brand impact.

For employer branding, this means we need to rethink our channel strategy. Yes, digital is efficient, but don’t ignore offline channels like campus events, employee-led storytelling, podcasts, and even out-of-home (OOH) formats that can deliver lasting impressions. The best talent doesn’t live only on job boards... they live across media moments.

Data... or Data Gaps?

The biggest challenge is still measurement. Only 32 percent of marketers today can measure across both digital and traditional media channels in an integrated way. That’s a problem in marketing... and a crisis in employer branding.

We often rely on vanity metrics – views, impressions, and clicks – because that’s what’s available. But that doesn’t show true intent or long-term consideration. Without proper data infrastructure and attribution models, we can’t prove what’s working across the funnel.

This creates a cycle where we keep funding what’s easy to track... not what actually works.

How to Rethink Your Employer Brand Investment

If you’re planning your next quarter or year’s strategy, consider these moves:

1. Audit your funnel spend

   What percentage of your budget goes to awareness versus conversion? Adjust accordingly.

   
   

2. Diversify your channel mix

   Don’t chase the same digital formats everyone else is using. Test where your audience actually pays attention.

   
   

3. Invest in better measurement

   Even if you start small, align stakeholders on what success looks like and build a consistent feedback loop.

   
   

4. Build for the long game

   Employer branding is not just a campaign... it’s a system that builds over time.

Final Thought

You can’t performance-market your way to a strong employer brand. It takes a blend of storytelling, strategy, and smart measurement. And just like in consumer marketing, the most effective teams are the ones that balance the short-term with the long-term... and optimise for both.