Stop saying what sounds good. Start saying what’s true.
Companies often try to build employer brands by highlighting what leadership says. Microsoft took a different approach by showing what employees actually experience.
They did this by grounding their messages in reality and dropping overly promotional statements, said Jen Crum, director of marketing and communications for HR programs at Microsoft.
“We had to ask, are we sure that’s what we want to say? And then we were like, no, we need to let the data speak,” she said during a presentation at Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference.
Instead of defaulting to familiar talking points, the team examined employee data, focus groups and external perception to build their brand.
Let the truth shape the message
Leadership initially leaned toward themes like high performance and AI leadership.
But the data told a more nuanced story, Crum said.
“Microsoft isn’t the highest-paying company in tech. AI is exciting, but also uncertain for many workers,” she said.
And like any large company, it has layers and bureaucracy. So instead of brushing over this, the team leaned into it.
They listened to employees across the company and compared their input with how talent outside the company viewed Microsoft. This helped form a messaging strategy that showed a real experience.
When messaging reflects real experience, it becomes more believable. When it doesn’t, it falls apart quickly, she said.
Cut the buzzwords
After weeks of research, Microsoft landed on a simple framework. Work with great people. Do meaningful work. Change the world.
They stopped using jargon to talk about the company. There were no overused words like “innovative,” Crum said.
“Be simple, be clear and lose a lot of the buzzwords,” she said.
This decision came directly from employee feedback. People didn’t want more carefully crafted messages. They wanted to hear something that felt real to them.
If your message could apply to any company in your industry, it’s not doing much work. Simplicity forces clarity. It also makes messaging easier to use across teams and audiences, she said.
Don’t ignore the tension
One of the most useful parts of the process was identifying gaps between what leadership wanted to say and what employees actually felt.
For example, saying the company was “high performance” didn’t fully reflect employee experience. Leading with AI didn’t align with how people thought about their day-to-day work.
Instead of forcing alignment, the team addressed those tensions.
“We said if that’s not true, I’m not going to sell that,” Crum said.
For comms teams, this is where stronger messaging often comes from. Being honest about the tradeoffs and realities inside an organization shows transparency and helps build credibility over time.
Build something people recognize
The framework worked because employees could see themselves in it, Crum said.
It wasn’t introduced as a big internal announcement. Instead, it was woven into executive communications, recruiting and everyday messaging across the company.
When messaging reflects lived experience, it becomes easier to repeat, adapt and scale, Crum said.
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Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at courtneyb@ragan.com.
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