How The Muse Helped 84.51° Win at Employer Branding

Named after the longitude of its Cincinnati headquarters, 84.51° is the data science, analytics, and marketing company that uses Kroger shopper data from more than 60 million households to provide meaningful insights for more than 1,250 consumer-packaged-goods companies across the U.S.

Given the growth in the dynamic data-science space, 84.51° needed to expand their team fast. But, they faced three major problems while trying to achieve this goal.

1. Their more technical approach to talking about their data-driven culture wasn’t resonating. How could they tell the average person what they do and what it’s like to work at 84.51°— in a way that also helps candidates outside their local talent pool understand the value of relocating to Cincinnati?
2. Without a dedicated budget for paid social media initiatives, they hadn’t seen much growth on their channels in three years. How could they expand their digital presence organically to reach new talent?
3. To help support their talent attraction efforts, they were also in the process of rebuilding their corporate website. How could they strategically showcase their brand, culture, and open jobs in the interim?

In search of a solution that was straightforward and compelling, 84.51° turned to The Muse.

“One of the biggest draws to working at 84.51° is our culture. The Muse has empowered us to be able to tell that story in an authentic way across all of our channels.”

— Katie Baran, Marketing Specialist at 84.51°

The team at 84.51° knew they had captivating, qualitative stories to share about their company and the employee experience, but they needed help capturing and presenting those stories. The Muse offered a platform to authentically showcase their culture and work environment.

Together, The Muse and 84.51° created a company profile with photos of their office space in Cincinnati, video testimonials from their passionate employees, as well as their open positions.

The whole process provided 84.51° with a treasure trove of employee-focused content that they could re-package to use across their various employer branding platforms. The Muse worked with the 84.51° marketing team to develop a plan for repurposing its “evergreen” content both on 84.51°’s social channels and its soon-to-be newly redesigned website — saving time and resources.

“The Muse is an easy, intuitive, and cost-effective way to authentically bring your brand and your company to life. When considering working with their team, it was a no brainer.”

—Kim Wiethorn, Chief Marketing Director at 84.51°

Within the first month of launching its company profile on The Muse, 84.51° saw its month-over-month follower growth go from 2% to 10% across their social media channels, and a 25% overall growth in followers across their platforms — a significant sign of improvement after three years of little to no change. “I attribute a lot of this growth and visibility to The Muse and the fact that people are hearing straight from our employees about what it’s like to work here,” says Kim Wiethorn, Chief Marketing Director at 84.51°.

Building on the idea of telling its story through the eyes of its associates, 84.51° has turned employee advocacy into more engaging, employee-centric content, including a “Day in the Life” blog series and employee Instagram takeovers. They have also recycled content from their employee testimonial videos on The Muse to create quote GIFs.

Additionally, having a profile on The Muse allowed 84.51° the flexibility they needed to build a new, engaging company website while using The Muse as their website in the interim. Since the launch of the new 8451.com in mid-October, 84.51° continues to use the photos and videos captured for their Muse profile to highlight Life at 84.51°. A click on the stories featured in their Employee Spotlight section is directed to The Muse to watch the respective employee testimonial.

84.51°’s partnership with The Muse has saved their team significant time and cost while also getting their company and culture in front of The Muse’s audience of over 75 million people.