Employer branding · Marketing and media services
This industry is small enough that a candidate rings your last leaver first.
Employer branding for a public relations agency has to survive a phone call, because everybody in this trade knows everybody.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Employer branding for a public relations agency has to survive a phone call, because everybody in this trade knows everybody. It covers the practice areas, the media relationships and the crisis rota, and GullySales writes the careers page and job posts that match what your people say.
Also written for
Public relations agencies, Communications consultancies.
What we do not do
We do not recruit, supply candidates or run payroll. We help candidates see the employer you already are.
Where this sits
For public relations agencies
Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.
“Reputations travel faster here than anywhere”
A candidate messages two people before replying to your mail, and both worked with somebody who worked with you. Nothing you publish outruns that.
“Coverage trackers are the first year, so say it”
Juniors expect media relations and get reporting decks, group chats and clipping sheets. The ones told in advance stay, and the ones who were not leave by March.
“Practice area decides a PR career”
Technology, healthcare, consumer and financial services build different address books. A candidate choosing an agency is choosing which journalists they will know in five years.
“Crisis work happens at midnight and nobody is rostered”
The hours are not the objection. Being called at midnight with no arrangement about who does it and how often is the objection.
What we do
What we deliver for public relations agencies.
Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.
Practice areas written out
Which sectors your agency serves, the kind of clients inside each, and which teams are growing.
Result: Applicants choose you for the address book they want, and the wrong ones stop applying.
The first year, described accurately
What a trainee does daily, when they first pitch a journalist, and how much of the week is reporting.
Result: Trainees who arrive expecting the actual job.
Who owns the media list
Whether relationships belong to the agency or the individual, and what a senior takes with them. It is the unasked question in every interview in this trade.
Result: Seniors negotiate on facts instead of assuming the worst.
A crisis rota, published
How out-of-hours coverage is shared, the notice people get, and what the firm does for them the next day.
Result: A candidate with a family can see whether this fits before the offer.
Job posts for consultancies, not corporates
Written in the language of the trade, naming the clients you can and the sectors you cannot, and honest about billing pressure.
Result: CVs from consultancy people rather than from corporate communications teams.
Alumni quoted, including the critical ones
Short interviews with people who left for client-side roles about what the agency taught them.
Result: A page that agrees with the phone call a candidate is going to make anyway.
How the result is measured
- Applications received per open role
- Careers page engagement and time on page
- Candidate drop-off during the interview process
- Referral hires as a share of total hires
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
How it works
How the work runs for public relations agencies
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Talk to current employees
We interview a cross-section of staff honestly, including some who might raise uncomfortable points.
- 2
Find the genuine reasons to join
We identify what is actually true and attractive about working there, rather than generic claims that could apply anywhere.
- 3
Build the careers content
The careers page, job post templates and employee stories are written from what staff actually said.
- 4
Review the candidate experience
We check what happens between application and offer, since branding cannot fix a process that loses candidates through delay.
- 5
Hand over and refresh periodically
Content is handed over for ongoing use and revisited periodically as the team and roles change.
Before you hire anyone
The first thing to do yourself.
Read your company the way a good candidate would, before you change anything.
- Search for your company name with the word jobs, and read the first page of results as a candidate would.
- Read your last ten reviews and list the points that appear more than once.
- Ask your three newest joiners why they said yes, and what almost stopped them.
Judge any provider
What to ask any agency or ghost-writer.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- Will you work from what our people actually say, or from a template?
- Do you do recruiting or supply candidates, or only the employer-brand work?
- Who approves anything that speaks for our staff?
- Which of our existing job pages and profiles will you change, and which will you leave alone?
- What do you count as a result, and what will you not promise?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Do you take over recruitment?
Our staff will be honest with an outsider. Is that risky?
Can we write this ourselves? We are communications people.
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Marketing and media services
Employer branding for the rest of the marketing and media services.
Or start from employer branding.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.