What is the difference between employer brand and consumer brand?

The consumer brand is how customers experience and perceive you; the employer brand is how current and prospective employees do. They should feel like the same organisation but they speak to different audiences with different needs, since buyers care about the product and service while talent cares about the work, the culture and the deal. The two are increasingly linked, because candidates research your products and customers notice how you treat staff, so contradictions between them are quickly spotted. Align rather than merge them, because each audience asks different questions. The pitfall is assuming a strong consumer brand automatically carries into hiring; recognisable names still lose talent when the employer experience does not match the customer promise.