After the disruption to businesses presented by COVID, you may still be keeping your marketing spend under close scrutiny. However, don't underestimate the importance of marketing. Previously, many businesses were dismissive of the influence of marketing but now many recruitment professionals realise how, especially digital, can elevate businesses of all sizes to achieve goals and objectives.
In this blog, we look at some practical steps you can take immediately:
Understand the market dynamics
Since March 2020, the market has changed from client-led to candidate-short market, and talent everywhere now holds the aces. Where you were previously chasing clients, you’ve had to change tact to gather talent and this is proving tough for many agencies. Recruiters, globally, are experiencing similar challenges.
What's the direction you're taking?
Whilst clients are important, attracting candidates has become your focus. Devising a marketing plan that is intertwined with the business objectives will help deliver RoI, understand trends and create a buzz around your agency. Create buy-in so everyone is saying the same thing so it will be easier to take consultants, management, resourcers – everyone in the business – on the journey.
Focus on who you are targeting
Together with your plan, knowing the personas of who you are targetting will be crucial to perfecting your messaging. Are you focused on candidates? Or are you client aligned? Developing campaigns for these two vastly different audiences will focus on their pain points and how you can help them.
Your website is more than a shop window
Is your website performing? It might echo your brand but can you trace how many visitors you've received in a period, where your candidates are coming from, or how many applications you've received? These are just three questions but they are incredibly pertinent.
How easy is it for candidates to find your jobs? Is the user experience intuitive to encourage clicks and applications? Are the calls to action obvious and enticing for candidates and clients to find out more? Your marketing budget might be under scrutiny as a result of a number of lean months, so there’s extra justification for your website to work even harder.
Volcanic’s platform is made for recruiters to attract candidates. Featuring a number of benefits, GoogleForJobs enabled posts, secure candidate portals, Apply with LinkedIn enablements, and more, your website can harvest more talent than ever before. Remember, your website is always on – so make sure it performs 24/7.
Making sure your website is integrated with your CRM and job multiposters enables you to maximise job posting and attracting candidates. Your website should be considered as important as a job board and when you combine the reporting capabilities of the Volcanic dashboard, you can analyse and direct your efforts efficiently.
All these fantastic characteristics will be wrapped up in an attractive design that continually radiates your brand.
Keeping it fresh
A website never stands still. Google and the search engines love fresh content – this could be a weekly blog, case study, jobs, meet the team and more, and when you write 300+ words you’ll be on the right track.
To further extend the potency of your fresh content sign up for a Google Search Console account – free – and start analysing keywords that will attract candidates to your recruitment website and then you can write content that attracts clients, engages candidates, and enhances your brand’s digital profile.
Be social
The power and influence of social media is growing by the day. The variety and creativity you can have on your social channels mean these are channels in which you can exercise your messaging and as it’s always on 24/7, candidates and clients (prospect and current)can tap into your posts throughout the week.
Make sure you put all your testimonials, case studies, blogs, events, and your charitable efforts on these channels. Don’t forget to tag clients and colleagues (where relevant) and tinker with the message depending on the social media – shorter for Twitter, you can be slightly more illustrative on LinkedIn.
Now might also be the time to look at new platforms? TikTok maybe?
Personal brands
In most recruitment firms the majority of staff are likely to be sales-focused, meaning they have a personal vested interest in promoting your business. Failing to tap into them as a channel to broadcast your brand messaging and jobs is simply a wasted opportunity. Investing in training and tools to help them amplify your message should provide a measurable return on any investment. We recently hosted a webinar about amplifying your business through the power of your consultants' personal brands – you can catch up with it here.