How to brief employer branding suppliers

What to take away

Before approaching suppliers, define the audience, objectives, scope and measures in the brief.
Four supplier models dominatefull-service employer branding agencies, recruitment marketing agencies, freelancers or consultants, and self-serve advertising platforms.
Day rates and retainers vary widely, so a written brief with named scoring criteria matters more than a polished pitch.
Self-serve advertising suits teams with creative and targeting skills in house. Agencies suit teams that need strategy and production together.
Run the same due diligence on every shortlisted supplier, whatever their size.

For an employer branding project, write down what the work actually is before you approach suppliers. A careers site rewrite, a recruitment advertising campaign and a candidate research project attract different bidders. A vague brief produces vague quotes.

What to put in the brief

Use this outline and complete it before approaching suppliers:

Project and decision:what you are commissioning, why now and who will approve the work.
Objective:the change you want to achieve. For example: “Improve qualified applications from [audience] by clarifying [message or candidate touchpoint].”
Audience:the candidate groups you need to reach and any relevant locations or role types.
Scope and deliverables:the work required, what is out of scope and the outputs you expect, such as research, messaging, creative or campaign activity.
Inputs and constraints:available research and brand assets, approval requirements, systems access and any dependencies.
Timing:milestones, decision points and required delivery dates.
Budget:the budget guardrail and whether it includes media, production and expenses.
Success measures:how success will be defined, what baseline information is available and when results will be reviewed.
Supplier response:ask for the proposed approach, deliverables, work plan, assumptions, named team, relevant evidence, itemised fees and data arrangements.

Set criteria before bids arrive

Choose criteria that reflect the work and weight them according to your priorities. Score each proposal against evidence of audience understanding, the fit of the proposed deliverables, the quality of relevant work, the named team’s capability and capacity, the measurement plan, commercial clarity, candidate-data handling, and ownership and handover. Record the reason for each assessment rather than relying on pitch polish.

Start with the audience. The GOV.UK working, jobs and pensions section sets out the employment context you are hiring into, including rights and pay topics candidates ask about. Use it to frame the brief in terms your procurement team recognises.

The four supplier models compared

Typical scope

Full-service employer branding agency: Research, EVP, creative, careers site
Recruitment marketing agency: Media planning, campaign delivery
Independent consultant or freelancer: Strategy, messaging, one workstream
Self-serve advertising platform: Targeting and reporting

Commercial shape

Full-service employer branding agency: Project fee plus retainer
Recruitment marketing agency: Retainer or media-linked fee
Independent consultant or freelancer: Day rate or fixed project
Self-serve advertising platform: Ad spend plus platform costs

Watch for

Full-service employer branding agency: Scope creep
Recruitment marketing agency: Media margin
Independent consultant or freelancer: Limited capacity
Self-serve advertising platform: You supply creative

The self-serve route is the cheapest to trial. LinkedIn's advertising platform lets a team run targeted campaigns without an agency in between, which suits quick message testing (LinkedIn Ads self-serve platform). The trade-off: targeting, copy and creative all sit with you.

Four employer branding supplier models

Full-service agency

Typical scope: Research, EVP, creative, site
Commercial shape: Project fee plus retainer
Watch for: Scope creep

Recruitment marketing agency

Typical scope: Media planning, campaign delivery
Commercial shape: Retainer or media-linked fee
Watch for: Media margin

Freelancer

Typical scope: Strategy, messaging, one workstream
Commercial shape: Day rate or fixed project
Watch for: Limited capacity

Self-serve platform

Typical scope: Targeting and reporting
Commercial shape: Ad spend plus platform costs
Watch for: You supply creative

Model choice also depends on who holds the brand knowledge. Where marketing owns the careers site and HR owns the message, an agency often works as translator between the two. Where both sit in one team, a platform plus a freelance strategist can cover the same ground.

How supplier fees are structured

No public price list covers employer branding, so treat any figure as illustrative. For example, a team paying £400 a month for retained freelance strategy support is buying about two days of senior time.

Illustrative employer branding costs

£400 a monthretained freelance strategy support
About two dayssenior freelance time for £400
Four linesstrategy, creative, production, media
Media at costsometimes plus management fee

Ask every bidder to break the fee into strategy, creative, production and media. That structure makes bids comparable and separates a fixed project fee from an open-ended retainer.

Retainers spread cost across the year and suit always-on hiring. Fixed project fees suit one-off work such as a careers site rebuild or an EVP refresh. Media spend is normally passed through at cost, sometimes with a management fee on top, so ask which applies before comparing totals.

Checklist before you shortlist

Written brief with audience, objectives and success measures.
Named people doing the work, not just the pitch team.
Two references from similar sectors, called directly.
Fee breakdown by workstream, with media shown separately.
Data protection terms covering candidate data: specify how it will be used, accessed, retained, secured and deleted, and whether sub-processors are involved. Check the terms against the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, and identify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as the regulator.
Exit terms, asset ownership and handover obligations.
Insurance and professional indemnity cover, checked against your own risk threshold.
A first phase you can stop if it underperforms.

Due diligence should match the risk. A freelancer handling public messaging needs lighter checks than an agency processing candidate data. For document requests, see our guide, “Five checks in employer branding vendor due diligence”.

Choosing between an agency and a platform

When an agency earns its fee

Choose an agency when the problem is strategic: an unclear EVP, a careers site that does not convert, or a reputation problem in a tight market.

You are buying diagnosis and production together, hard to assemble in house at short notice. Ask for a diagnosis before a proposal.

A supplier who names the problem in their own words is easier to hold to a measurable outcome later.

When self-serve advertising is enough

Choose a platform when your messaging is settled and you need reach. You keep control of the budget and see performance data directly. Without a clear proposition, you pay to distribute a weak message faster.

Many teams run both: an agency for annual narrative work, self-serve advertising for always-on roles. If you do, separate the responsibilities, deliverables, budget and measures for each in the brief.

Common questions

How many suppliers should we shortlist?

Three is usually enough to compare approaches without turning procurement into a full-time job. Score each against the same criteria and keep the written notes.

Should we ask for a paid discovery phase?

Yes, for anything substantial. A small paid phase tests how a supplier thinks and gives you usable output even if you do not continue.

Can a freelancer deliver a full employer branding programme?

Sometimes, if the scope is strategy and messaging rather than production. Check capacity for design, development and media before assuming one person covers everything.

What should we check before signing?

Confirm data protection terms, asset ownership, notice periods and who does the work. Ask for these in writing rather than accepting verbal assurances.