This interview is with Heather Wilson, MHRD, CMP, CITI, Owner and Managing Director at The Brand Strategy Tank.

Heather Wilson, MHRD, CMP, CITI, Owner and Managing Director, The Brand Strategy Tank

Can you tell us about your journey into the world of employer branding and recruitment marketing? What inspired you to specialize in this field?

The moment I wrinkled my nose and said, “Eww, HR?” I had no idea I was about to step into one of the most defining chapters of my career.

At the time, I was a long-time marketer who had been hired into the wrong role at a startup – what they really needed was a trade-show coordinator and a lead-gen person. It wasn’t a great fit, but we didn’t want to lose each other. So they asked if I’d consider joining the People Experience team to build out employer branding and recruitment marketing. I gave it some thought and realized this was an area of business I didn’t know much about – the people side. But people build and service products. People are the company. Surely there was an opportunity to grow here.

I didn’t expect to love it. But I did.

I found this space where brand, culture, and people strategy all connect – and where storytelling has real impact. We built a strong remote employer brand, and ultimately, I was part of the change management when the company became part of the largest acquisition of a fully remote organization ever acquired. That experience completely shifted my perspective and helped me figure out what I really wanted to be “when I grow up.”

It also led me to pursue a doctorate in organizational development, where I’m now exploring how organizations grow, learn, and attract the right people at the outset of building a company, working from the inside out.

You’ve mentioned bridging corporate marketing with organizational development. How did your unique background shape your approach to helping businesses with talent attraction and retention?

I started out in traditional marketing, focused on brand strategy, experiential events, and growth. Over time, I realized the strongest brands aren’t just built through ads or campaigns – they’re built from the inside out. What a company believes, how it treats its people, and the stories employees tell carry just as much weight as any external message. Sometimes even more.

That shift led me into the world of employer branding and recruitment marketing, where I could connect the dots between how a company shows up externally and what it actually feels like to work there. My marketing DNA helps me understand how to position a company and speak to what matters to different audiences. And my training in organizational development and HRD gives me a solid foundation in behavior, systems thinking, and culture so I can help organizations not only attract the right talent but keep them engaged once they’re in the door.

My approach has always been to make sure the story we tell candidates lines up with the experience employees have. When those things are in sync, that’s when the real magic happens – hiring gets easier, engagement goes up, and people stick around because they feel connected to something real.

In your experience, what’s the most overlooked aspect of employer branding that companies often miss when trying to attract top talent?

Companies often overlook how important it is to make employer branding personal and relevant. Too often, the “brand” is telling the story when it should really be the people. Candidates don’t want stock photos and corporate taglines (BLAH); they want to see real humans, real roles, and real growth stories.

The canned boilerplates can lead to blind spots in not tailoring messaging to your audiences. A campaign that works in New York or San Francisco might completely miss the mark in rural Arkansas or the Midwest. Talent attraction isn’t one-size-fits-all; you have to localize, adapt, and speak directly to the priorities of the people you want to reach. Way too many companies are missing the mark here.

You’ve worked with organizations going through significant transitions. Can you share a specific challenge you faced in aligning people, culture, and strategy during one of these transitions, and how you overcame it?

One experience that really sticks with me was working with a large company based in a major city; I was asked to help grow a regional market that was completely different from their core audience. The challenge was that corporate wanted to apply the same playbook across all markets, without accounting for local culture or behavior. It quickly became clear that what worked in a big city just wasn’t going to land the same way in a smaller, more rural community, 2,000 miles away.

In the beginning, it felt like I was constantly justifying why the standard approach wouldn’t work rather than doing the actual work to gain success. I tried to advocate for a more customized strategy, but I wasn’t getting much traction. The truth is, sometimes you can’t force alignment; you just have to adapt and find a new way forward. For me, that meant leaning hard into the data. I focused on showing results, not just saying things weren’t working.

Over time, the numbers started to tell the story. We saw 133% growth in that market – significantly outperforming others – and that finally shifted the conversation. It was one of those moments where persistence paid off, and it reminded me that data is one of the most powerful tools we have when trying to bridge gaps between strategy and culture.

As someone who’s both a consultant and a small business owner, how has your perspective on employee culture changed? Can you give an example of how this dual role has influenced your advice to clients?

Wearing both hats helps me to continue refining how I think about culture. As a consultant, it’s easy to recommend best practices. But as a small business owner, I’ve had to make my own tough calls, balancing what’s ideal with what’s actually doable. That perspective has made me much more empathetic to what founders and leaders are juggling, especially in growth phases or when resources are limited.

It’s helped me understand that culture doesn’t require a huge budget or a big HR team – it just needs intention and consistency. In working with a client who felt overwhelmed by the idea of “building culture,” they thought it meant launching a bunch of programs or hiring an HR partner. I shared how I started with simple but meaningful steps with my own teams, like setting up consistent check-ins, encouraging open feedback, and creating shared rituals. The little things are the big things – and those little things added up and created a strong sense of ownership and belonging.

That helped shift their mindset. They realized they could start small, be authentic, and still have a big impact. And that kind of cultural foundation ends up scaling far better than anything that feels performative or forced.

You’ve mentioned the importance of collaboration between marketing and HR teams. Can you describe a successful project where this collaboration led to a particularly impactful employer branding strategy?

I joke that I am a reformed marketer, and I love this question because I know first-hand the ownership marketing feels over the visual brand story. One of the most impactful projects I’ve led was the #RemoteLife docu-series at TaxJar, a recruitment marketing campaign that featured nine employees sharing their real stories of working remotely across the U.S – and a testament to the power of visual storytelling.

There was definitely some tension between the People team and the Marketing team. Marketing wanted ownership over look and feel, while People felt they should own the employee stories. But we needed each other. Once we leaned into each other’s strengths, whether it was storytelling, design, compliance or candidate psychology, we created something that didn’t just grow our talent funnel, it grew ARR. Customers loved it, too. They felt a stronger brand affinity because they saw the same values in the people behind the product. It was a win across the board.

In your doctoral research, you’re exploring how recruitment marketing shapes organizational culture in team building. What’s one surprising insight you’ve uncovered so far that could benefit our readers?

There are surprises at every turn, but one of the most prevalent insights from my research is how the absence of systems thinking in many organizations fundamentally limits the effectiveness of recruitment marketing and, by extension, team building. Too often, recruitment marketing is treated as a standalone function focused solely on attracting talent, without considering how it integrates with broader organizational systems like leadership, internal communication, onboarding, and ongoing culture development. This siloed approach creates disconnects that not only impair hiring outcomes but also weaken team cohesion and culture over time.

When organizations fail to view recruitment as part of a dynamic, interconnected system, they miss opportunities to build authentic, sustainable cultures that truly support and engage employees from day one. Incorporating systems thinking can transform recruitment marketing from a transactional activity into a strategic lever for shaping cohesive, resilient teams aligned with organizational purpose.

You’ve predicted that purpose-driven storytelling will be crucial in marketing by 2025. How can companies start preparing now to authentically integrate their organizational culture into their marketing narratives?

Companies can start by gaining a deep understanding of what truly drives their employees, such as their values, motivations, and everyday experiences. This means actively listening to employees’ stories and perspectives, and involving them in shaping the brand’s narrative instead of relying solely on leadership-crafted messages (this really needs to stop). When marketing reflects the authentic culture inside the organization, it resonates more deeply with both current and potential customers.

Tactically, this can be done by creating employee storytelling programs where team members share their experiences in their own voices through videos, blogs, or social media takeovers. Companies can also run internal workshops or focus groups to uncover the values and stories that matter most to their people. From there, marketing teams can collaborate closely with HR and leadership to align messaging with these genuine insights. Another great collaboration opportunity, right?

Investing in building a strong, purpose-driven culture internally makes it much easier to communicate that purpose externally. When employees feel genuinely connected and proud, their authentic stories naturally bring the organization’s mission to life in marketing efforts. Starting this process up front helps companies build long-term trust and differentiate themselves in overly saturated, crowded marketplaces.

Lastly, you’ve emphasized the importance of emotional intelligence in the workforce. Can you share a specific strategy you’ve used or seen implemented successfully to develop EQ within a team or organization?

For developing emotional intelligence (EQ) within teams, especially in startups where rapid growth and pressure can make this challenging, integrating targeted EQ training into ongoing learning and development programs for both employees and leaders is not optional. It’s a must. Startups often struggle with EQ because their focus tends to be heavily on speed and execution. TalentLMS’ research tells us that nearly 40% of employees say their workplace doesn’t support emotional well-being. This is sad, but not shocking, as we know EQ continues to be talked about as a struggle. This eventually impacts collaboration and retention. Addressing this requires intentional efforts beyond just individual coaching.

A successful approach includes workshops that focus on self-awareness, empathy, and effective communication skills. Leadership development programs emphasizing EQ are equally important because leaders set the tone for culture and interpersonal dynamics. When leaders demonstrate strong emotional intelligence, it sets an example, and the rest of the organization is more likely to follow.

We’ve also seen success pairing training with ongoing support, such as peer discussion groups or EQ-focused mentorship. This helps embed these skills into daily workflows, making emotional intelligence a living part of how teams operate rather than a one-off session. THAT is the key to EQ becoming a pillar of an organization vs. a “one-and-done” training session.