How to build an employer brand in a low-awareness category

Starting from zero

If you apply to work at a well-known retailer or airline, you already have a mental picture. The culture, the atmosphere, a feeling about the brand. Candidates walk in with expectations. But what if you manufacture precision components, run a logistics operation, or provide industrial services? Nobody has ever thought of you as an employer.

That is the starting point for employer branding in a low-awareness category. You are not recruiting in a vacuum, but you are building from zero. Candidates need to understand what you do before they can decide whether they want to work there.

At Livewall, we regularly work with organisations that do excellent work but are completely invisible as employers. What we have learned: building awareness requires a different approach than maintaining it. You cannot launch campaigns as if people already know you.

Step 1: explain what you do, not what you offer

Most employer branding in niche sectors opens with a list of benefits: salary, development paths, pension scheme. That does not work when your awareness is at zero. Candidates who have never heard of you do not care about your secondary benefits yet.

Clarity beats appeal. Start by explaining clearly what the organisation actually does, what problem it solves, and for whom. Only once that is understood does everything else carry weight.

This means concrete content: videos of the actual work, explanation of processes, the daily reality of the job. Not polished stock photography with inspirational slogans. Real people, real workplaces, real stories.

A strong working-at website is not optional here. It is the foundation. Candidates who do not know you are actively searching for information. They want to understand, not to be sold to.

Step 2: use your employees as evidence

In sectors without name recognition, your current employees are the most powerful communication tool you have. Not because they are enthusiastic, but because they are credible. A candidate trusts a colleague who has worked on the production floor for two years more than any recruitment campaign.

This requires more than a few testimonial videos. It requires giving employees space to be honest. About what is difficult, about what they did not expect, about why they stayed anyway. That honesty attracts the right people and keeps the wrong ones away. That is a feature, not a side effect.

For PhotonDelta we built a recruitment campaign that made the real-world impact of photonics tangible for students and engineers. That is the principle: make the work understandable for people who have never encountered it before. Not more attractive, but clearer.

Step 3: build a platform, not just a campaign

Campaigns are good for building awareness. But in a sector where candidates do not know you, campaigns only work if they lead somewhere. A careers page that consists of a job listing and three bullet points is not a platform. It is a missed opportunity.

A strong employer branding platform tells the story of the organisation, shows what the work involves, and gives candidates enough information to form an honest picture of themselves in the role. It filters candidates before they apply, which significantly improves the quality of applications.

For Efteling, Livewall built a recruitment platform where candidates could explore roles through employee stories and see what working behind the scenes at the park actually looked like. The result was not just more applications, but better ones. Candidates arrived better prepared and with realistic expectations.

The same principle applies to any employer in an unfamiliar sector: give candidates the information they need to make a considered choice.

Step 4: preboarding as part of the brand experience

When someone signs the contract, the real work starts. The window between offer acceptance and day one is especially critical for low-awareness employers. Candidates who took a chance on a brand they did not know are quicker to doubt. They compare with other offers, talk to friends who question the choice.

A well-designed pre-boarding tool addresses this. Not by burying new hires in admin, but by reinforcing the sense of belonging before day one. Videos from future colleagues, a walkthrough of the work environment, answers to the questions people were afraid to ask.

For Trekpleister we built a preboarding platform that made new employees feel part of the team before their first shift. For Kruidvat Preboarding we did the same. In both cases, early dropout dropped significantly.

This approach carries even more weight for employers with lower recognition. The temptation to second-guess is higher, but so is the potential for a positive first impression that sticks.

Step 5: EVP development that starts on the shop floor

An employer value proposition in a niche sector only works when it is anchored in reality. Candidates who have no prior knowledge have no preconceptions, but also no soft landing. They believe what you tell them, and if it does not match, they leave fast.

That means solid EVP development starts with research among the people already doing the work. What do they value? What do they miss? What do they tell their friends about their job? Those insights form the foundation of a proposition that is believable, not just appealing.

For sectors with limited awareness: do not differentiate on what everyone claims to offer (growth, great team, challenging work). Differentiate on what is genuinely unique about this work at this company. That specific truth is exactly what attracts the right candidate and keeps the rest from applying. That is not a drawback. That is the point.