And marketing can link up to good effect

term success and retention.” John Denholm, managing director of the specialist marketing recruitment firm, Denholm Consultancy, the award sponsor, comments: “Nowadays, companies need to use modern marketing methods to attract another elusive group – potential employees. Good candidates are increasingly scarce as the economy improves. It’s no longer a buyer’s market. So firms must use sophisticated techniques, in traditional and social media, to showcase themselves as top employers. Marketing and HR functions will need to work together, and the easy connections within a small market such as Scotland help us compete in a global talent market.”

A recent article from the Harvard Business Review picked up on the recent trend of Marketing and HR collaborations and highlighted a couple of good case studies.

When Xerox re-branded as a document solutions leader, its joint HR and marketing team used videos, events and facility branding to demonstrate demonstrated what this should mean to employees and developed interest and support for the new brand promise.

Following the financial crisis, Lincoln Financial Group created a HR–marketing partnership to foster deeper engagement with its 8,500 employees and 1,200 independent financial advisors. In both examples, the HR and marketing collaboration had initial difficulties – but led to impressive resultss. The pain was worth the gain and in the end it was a win-win result. l Graeme Atha is director, T he Marketing Society. For further details, see www. marketingsocietyscotland. com/stars2014 from the end of October