Economic recovery means a return to talent investment. It also hails the opening salvo in the battle for talent—already underway in growing sectors like technology.

So what can tech brands do to gain an edge in the battle for talent?

Most think fighting the talent wars means offering more money than your competitors. To that point, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal speaks to the pressures start-ups with more limited funds than, say, Facebook, are facing. But the article also reports how start-ups provide lures more meaningful than cash. In addition to raising salaries, for example, Tagged announced an “unlimited vacation” policy—presumably based on the recognition that such an open approach will make great performers love their employers even more and therefore even more likely to stick around. (And hey, where do I sign up?)

CEOs also seem open to fighting the talent battle with something other than cash. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 14th Annual Global CEO Survey, 65% of CEOs surveyed said that in the next 12 months they plan to “use more non-financial rewards to motivate staff.”

So the edge tech brands need? Building a strong employer brand.

To quote my colleague Matt Jones, “Long-term data shows that companies with unusually engaged and aligned employees do disproportionately well in terms of employee retention and financial performance. We call these experience brands, because the experience of interacting with them at every touchpoint is consistent, starting with recruits and employees. That ultimately helps with customers, too.”

Building a strong employer brand means telling your talent or potential talent not just who you are, but also what you stand for… What you believe but also how you behave, starting with how you treat your employees: if you have a terrific vacation policy like Tagged, make sure potential recruits know about it. And be sure you recruit your biggest employee advocates (sorry HR, that’s not necessarily you!) to help tell the kinds of stories that are going to resonate and sound real with their peers. 

According to the WSJ article TV’s Next Wave: Tuning In to You, TV advertising is about to get a lot more targeted thanks to tracking technology. This “Sputnik moment” for the industry comes at a time when brands are shifting more of their ad dollars to the internet, leaving “old” media scrambling to make themselves relevant. The question: will “addressable ads” create a new opportunity for brands to engage with a tighter target audience, or will TV viewers opt out?

Near field communications (NFC) will represent the future of mobile payment. Stephen Bates, RIM’s Managing Director in the UK, has boldly proclaimed that “all of our new devices moving forward” will have NFC tech built into them. This goes into everything from entry-level Pearls to top-end Torches and Bolds. Bates envisions NFC Berries providing a system similar to Hong-Kong’s Octopus card where people tap and go at subways, 7-eleven, or any retailer equipped to accept NFC payments. If a few more manufacturer like Apple, HTC, Samsung jump on the bandwagon NFC might finally break into the mainstream.

(Source: mobilemag.com)