Better Employer Branding
For Every Company

Not just branding.
Business growth.

Better candidates?
Lower ad and agency spend?
A talent pipeline that fills itself?
More effective recruiters?
Delighted hiring managers?
Leadership that actually notices?

Employer branding designed to deliver  results to a company of your size.

Feeling the squeeze?

You're being told to do more with less, but your hiring managers didn't get the memo—they're still frantic to fill positions.

What you need isn't more work, but more impact from everything you're already doing:
🚀 Social posts people actually notice and click
🏮 Job descriptions candidates find irresistible
🧬 Authentic content that explains why you're different—not just "great"
💪 Glassdoor responses that strengthen your brand instead of sounding defensive
📈 A career site that creates genuine excitement
🏎️ Hiring managers who become social recruiting champions
🚰 A pipeline that attracts great candidates—even when you're not actively looking

You need an employer brand that works. But not just any employer brand.

All employer brands are not created equal

Most are just whitewashing—making companies look generically "attractive" with empty claims about "great culture" (never described), "competitive benefits" (just like everyone else's), or paid-for awards nobody cares about.

These fashion-over-function brands force companies into an expensive cycle: chasing trends, breaking out the checkbook for more ads, more creative, more promotion—just to stay visible.

What if there's a better way?

An employer brand built on your differentiated value changes everything:
📅 Developed in weeks, not months
⏳ Costs a fraction of traditional approaches
⏱️ Immediately implementable in job postings, outreach, and every candidate touchpoint

That means you're just three weeks from having a brand and six weeks from seeing real results.

Better yet, a brand built on what actually makes you different doesn't just power recruiting—it gives your marketing team authentic people stories that create emotional connections with customers.

An objectively better process for building employer brands?
Let me show you my process and case studies.

I serve companies who thought they couldn't afford an employer brand

Traditional employer branding was built for giants—50,000+ employee global corporations. Their brands cost a fortune because they're far more complex to build and implement.

But what if we reimagined the process for companies like yours?

No endless meetings. No generic "attractiveness" claims. No ocean-boiling. Just laser focus on what an employer brand should actually achieve for you.

Companies as small as 250 employees can now have powerful employer brands that drive growth—affordably.

A different brand development process

Drawing on my decade-plus experience building brands for Roku, Recursion, Groupon and others, I stripped employer branding back to its essentials.

What drives success? What's merely theater? How do we bypass the fluff and get to what matters?

My approach:

💻 Uses AI to provide objective perspective on your competitive landscape—in a day
🧰 Leverages proprietary frameworks that dramatically accelerate brand development
⌚ Runs focused group sessions that are actually focused (No more "I like the people" answers that tell you nothing)

Most companies need just one or two focus groups, not dozens. And you get a briefing paper with your brand, proof points, and a functional playbook for immediate implementation.

Best part? Minimal time commitment from you. Fill out an intake form, meet with me once or twice, set up the focus groups—then essentially "set it and forget it."

A different way to activate your brand

Here's the secret: the best employer brands are supported organically, in-house.

The goal isn't being "attractive" to everyone—it's becoming irresistible to the right people.

Unlike agencies charging hourly fees every time they think about you, my activation process is designed to make you self-sufficient.

Over 6-12 months, I'll deliver a steady stream of branded content:

🚀 LinkedIn posts for hiring managers and recruiters
🚀 Testimonial images from real staff
🚀 Compelling job postings
🚀 Effective outreach messages
🚀 CRM sequences
🚀 Glassdoor response templates
🚀 Employee spotlight videos

It's like sushi on a conveyor belt—take what you need when you need it.

As this content flows, your teams learn to use the brand in every candidate interaction. Eventually, they become experts themselves, and you won't need me anymore.

That's the point.

Who is a perfect client?

This work helps companies attract, identify and hire amazing people faster.

That requires your recruiting team to change what they do.

Not every team is ready. But those feeling exhausted by 12-hour days, sourcing at 10pm with one eye on Netflix? Teams working harder but falling further behind? Those are my perfect clients.

I focus on companies with:

💼 Generally 2,000 employees or less
🔍 Minimal consumer brand awareness
🗂️ Often in "boring" industries (fintech, construction, manufacturing)

Curious how this would work for you? Let's talk.

How will you know it's working?

A strong brand should lower your ad and agency spend by at least 10% with no ill effects. A brand that doesn't decrease your spend isn't a brand—it's just a pretty picture.

What to expect:

First: Your materials align, creating a coherent story that reduces candidate ghosting
Next: Hiring managers see higher quality candidates
Then: Recruiters and hiring managers collaborate more effectively
After 6 months: Significantly higher offer acceptance rates
After 12 months: Measurably lower RPO/agency spend—savings that far exceed your investment

FAQs

"What about my existing tech stack?"
Workday? Greenhouse? Teamtailor? BambooHR? It doesn't matter—a strong employer brand increases attraction and engagement regardless of platform.

"What if my priority is..."
More applications? Higher quality? Better conversion rates? Increased offer acceptance? Less agency dependence?

"What do I tell my CHRO?"
The path to better hires isn't spamming strangers with generic messages. It's telling a compelling story about what makes you unique, reaching people before they're actively job hunting, and equipping recruiters with messages that actually work.

"What do I tell my CFO/COO?"
Real ROI. Smaller price tag. That's employer branding that makes business sense.

It's so nice to meet you!
Let's connect!

Talent strategy isn't "off the rack." It's uncovering and leveraging your unique advantages to hire better.

Real ROI.
Smaller price tag.
That’s the power of a strong employer brand.

That’s what you’ll get from Employer Brand Labs.

Curious to see what a strong and actionable brand can do for you and your company? Let’s grab some time to discuss it.

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Hi! I'm James Ellis

With over a decade of experience building employer brands and EVPs for companies like Groupon, Roku, Webflow, Recursion, ASICS, TradeShift, and Telecare, I specialize in helping businesses that can’t afford to waste time or money. My focus? Creating employer brands that don’t just attract talent, they drive business growth.

Want to learn more about employer branding? I set up a dedicated Employer Brand Resources page, containing books, courses, videos, ebooks, articles and podcasts to help you with your employer brand journey.

-James Ellis

Employer Brand Labs, LLC

EBL is dedicated to bringing the power and value of employer branding to every single company, regardless of size, industry, or region.

You can be an employer not just of "choice," but of desire.

If you're ready to start attracting great talent to you instead of chasing it, reach out.
Contact:
James Ellis [LinkedIn]
[employerbrandnerd@gmail.com]
421 W Melrose St
Chicago, IL 60657