Marketing Your Recruitment Agency: Why It Matters
There’s no doubt that Australian recruitment agencies are increasingly aware of the importance of recruitment marketing: a quick browse of social media platforms highlights that the overwhelming majority are using them in a bid to engage with prospective candidates.
Many agencies produce blogs for their own websites or have hired a full-time marketing specialist to handle their content and social media. However, many more are still finding their feet and are not yet at the point where they are really making the most of the opportunities that adept marketing brings. Communications expert and chief of Digital Conversations Tanya Williams agrees. In the past year, she says few agencies have marketing proficiency.
Jobs and Blogs – A Missed Opportunity
The recruitment market is overcrowded: there are around 7000 hiring organisations in Australia alone. It can be a huge challenge to stand out from the crowd and attract candidates and clients.. And, of course, this is the key aim of any marketing strategy. At a webinar run by Phenom People, Lori Sylvia, CEO of Rally Recruitment Marketing said that the success of recruitment marketing should be measured by “the adding of new contacts to the talent pipeline.”
However, Williams notes that a number of agencies are less successful at doing so because their marketing consists mostly of what she describes as “jobs and blogs syndrome”. She argues that few know how to interact with their target audience: “You go on most recruiters’ social media sites and that’s all you see. There’s no engagement; it’s just job post after job post.” So, how can marketing be used to far greater effect?
Make Potential Candidates Aware Of – and Interested In – Your Company
It makes sense that the more times you get in front of people so that they remember you, the more likely it is that they will use your services. Certainly, consistent blogging, sponsoring events and other promotional activities may make a chunk of your accessible market aware of who you are.
During a Captain’s Table event, hosted by Navigator Consulting, marketing expert and director of Eloquent, Sean Withford, explained that the challenge goes beyond just building general awareness. Effective marketing means ensuring that candidates who are open to opportunities are the ones your brand is getting in front of. Successful strategies will highlight your agency’s niche to the right people, not just the fact that it exists to the entire population.
Position Yourself as the Agency of Choice
You’ll stay front of mind so that when candidates need help finding their next job or businesses want their next vacancy filled, they’ll choose you. When agencies use the same platforms and deliver similar content, there’s very little to differentiate them. Instead, there needs to be a strategy which aims to boost brand perception and allows people to discover what you have to offer.
If you position yourself as thought leader demonstrate that you can add real value. In addition, content marketing which is useful for clients and candidates, such as the sharing of advice or creation of white papers, helps build relationships and highlights your company’s culture of knowledge sharing.
Carolyn Hyams, the digital marketing director of leading Australian recruitment brands Aquent, Vitamin T and Firebrand, wholeheartedly advocates this concept: “When it comes to recruitment the industry doesn’t have a great reputation as a whole. So being able to build relationships through that trust, reputation and that value you add beyond people thinking that you just put bums on seats – that has a huge impact.”
Target Passive and Hard-To-Reach Talent Pools
Figures released by LinkedIn suggest that a hefty 70% of the global workforce is made up of passive candidates who aren’t actively job seeking, it’s a challenge for recruiters to find ways to source and attract those individuals. This is where it pays to reach out to them in creative ways which engage their interest. Here, an inbound marketing strategy which is specifically aimed at attracting the candidates that are the best fit for your clients is crucial. The most successful agencies will have a strategy to put their business in front of relevant professionals through the channels they use most naturally. Building relationships which provide the right amount of nurturing and communication will foster these leads and demonstrate that your agency will understand their needs when they do look to make their next career step.
So, there’s no question that an effective marketing strategy really makes a difference – agencies which use the right tactics can attract individuals and businesses that were previously off the radar, convert these into leads and then develop them into new clients or candidate placements.
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