Are you looking for new, innovative ways of marketing your recruitment agency? If you are reading this, you will already know that the days when a mixture of hitting the phones and networking were the only way to promote your recruitment company are long gone. But what alternatives are companies using to win new clients and stay ahead in what is an extremely competitive market?
Alastair Campbell of the Ideal Marketing Company explains the three key areas that every recruitment consultancy should be putting at the very core of their marketing strategy.
Some people believe that selling and marketing is purely a numbers game. In their eyes it’s a question of getting out there and speaking to as many people as possible, but sadly this line of thinking is outdated and only part of what has become a far more complex picture. Think of it like this; if you wanted to make a hole in a wall, would you run up and hit it as hard as you could? You’d knock yourself out; then when you regained consciousness you’d walk back 20 feet and run at it again, only a little harder this time. You could do this all day, but would you really make much of an impression on the wall? I’d suggest the likelihood is that you’d end up in a worse state by the end of the day than you were at the start of it.
But what if there was a better way of knocking a hole in the wall, or perhaps better still, finding a way to walk around it?
I’d suggest that a way of getting around the wall is to focus on the three essential areas of marketing:
Attention
Conversion
Retention
The problem is that if we put all our new business focus on any one of these (and ignore the others), then the results we see are likely to be patchy at best. So here are a few ideas for some specific marketing in each area and how to apply them so that they all work seamlessly in conjunction with one another.
Grabbing people’s attention
You can’t sell to somebody until you have their full attention. To gain this, you need to interrupt people’s thought pattern with your message before you can explain the service you offer. Few people walk around thinking ‘I need to speak to a recruitment company’. But they might be thinking ‘it’s a nightmare trying to fill this vacancy’ or ‘how do I find the right people to interview?’ If this is the ‘itch’ that people have then your job is to come up with ways of helping them to scratch that itch. One of the best ways to do this is to create an information- rich product with a compelling headline. Consider some of the following:
- A free report on how much time/money it costs companies to hire the wrong person.
- A free tips booklet showing job seekers how to improve their CV.
- A free e-book with salary survey for particular job roles / industry sectors
- A simple 10-step guide on best practice interview questions
- A short video which shows the process used to match candidates to job roles.
In each case, you are creating a valuable but low cost product that is of great interest to a targeted group of people. Most people are not interested in how recruitment companies match candidates to roles, but if they are faced with a large pile of CVs and are struggling to pick just a handful to interview, then the video you are offering is certainly going to be of interest to them as an aid to creating a suitable shortlist.
Marketing a recruitment agency by HELPING people with useful information works!
Any of these guides (and hundreds of variations) will get the attention of the people you want to speak to, when you want to speak to them.
Once you’ve prepared the guide(s) you then have a reason to speak to people, call them, write to them and e-mail them. You also have something to blog and tweet about and post on LinkedIn and Facebook. Also, each time there is something in the news about the subject, you have another reason to repeat the message with a new topical twist.
Converting the curious
Getting people’s attention is the hard part. However, even when you have a prospect in front of you, it’s easy to let them slip away. High pressure sales techniques are almost certain to do more harm than good, so here are a few ideas to gently give confidence in your services if you are meeting clients at your office.
Make the meeting room comfortable, uncluttered and professional. Messy files piled high, a bulging in-tray or a constantly ringing phone give the impression that their work won’t be given the priority it deserves.
What proof do you have of your previous success? The evidence doesn’t need to be strong enough to stand up in court, but four areas are particularly helpful:
- Awards, accreditations, qualifications – any certificates, awards or photos of prizes being handed over all help to add credibility to your professional status, so display these with pride on your meeting room walls.
- Media coverage – have you been featured in the press commenting on unemployment figures, helping community causes or perhaps winning some of the above mentioned awards? If so, why not highlight this press coverage in a cuttings book on the table? A second copy of this book could be used in your reception area.
- Case studies – For many companies, hiring a recruitment company may seem like a waste of money. Why should they pay someone else to do something that they believe they can do themselves? Your priority is to show them why they need you and how you can in fact save them time and money. Show them results that you achieved from other clients. A collection of case studies could include problems such as a new factory opening with limited qualified staff or an experienced employee leaving a company. Demonstrate to them how, by using your services, those companies were able find a full team for the factory or an ideal replacement who brought a new wealth of experience to the organisation. You might not always need to go into precise details, or even name names, but 300 – 500 words that explain the results you were able to achieve with past clients can be a significant reassurance to an initially reluctant prospect. When written properly, this can be one of the most effective ways of marketing a recruitment agency.
- Testimonials – similar to case studies, but usually much shorter and written word-for- word by happy clients, testimonials are an endorsement of what you’ve done. The best way to get a client to say something positive about the results you have achieved for them is to ask them – either in person, in an individual e-mail or as part of a survey. One client of ours received about three letters a year without asking, but over 60 a year when his clients were prompted gently – quite a significant improvement!
In all cases, these subtle messages are there to reassure and reinforce your words and deeds.
Another simple way to help the conversion process is simply to keep your word. If you say that you’ll send an email the next day, do it. If you say you will call at 3pm, make sure you do so – or if you don’t have the answer, still call and explain why you haven’t got the information in question and when you will have it.
The better the relationship you can build and the more confidence and trust you can create, the more likely you are to leave the meeting with a new client.
Retaining business when marketing a recruitment agency.
Some clients may be ‘one offs’ such as a smaller company that expanded their business for the first time, or an organisation that needed a particular specialist and used you as this is an industry you specialise in. In these cases the reason they are not using you again is that they do not have a high staff turnover.
A gentle, perhaps annual reminder that you are still there; still thinking about them, is always a good way to stimulate memories and subtly keep you at the back of their minds. It’s also why regular publicity in the local press is a great way to remind people that you are doing interesting and helpful things in your community.
For job seekers their need for you is dependent on their own employment situation and your focus here should be on education and support. You can do this by providing them with advice such as tips, booklets or perhaps free CV clinics where you can offer practical assistance to help them get the job they want.
If it’s hard to win new clients in the first place, the good news is that it’s relatively easy to retain them. Your job is really to keep clients updated on the full range of services that you can offer them, and explain how your services rather than cost them money, can in many cases actually save them money while finding them the ideal candidate at the same time.
Some further thoughts on marketing a recruitment agency
The three stages of marketing hold true for most industries, but they are certainly true for those in the recruitment industry. By splitting your activity into the holy trinity of marketing: attention, conversion and retention; you can be sure that you are making the most of your marketing spend.
However, nowadays, you may need to go a little further when marketing a recruitment agency. We are living in a world of information overload, where people are just as likely to learn about the latest news stories on social media as they are from the TV news. Tomorrow’s newspaper is an age away or even an irrelevance for many. With hundreds of e-mails pouring in every day, and myriad competing demands on our time and attention you need to consider carefully where your communications are going to sit with prospects and clients.
Now more than ever we need to create messages that are remarkable. Standing out from the crowd is the only way to get noticed today when marketing a recruitment agency and so, even doing all the right things is not always enough. Creating a strong benefit-led message, creating a brand around it and presenting it in a way that people will notice and remember should be central to your strategy. If you can’t cut through all the other messages, then you won’t get far.
Ultimately, effective marketing is far more than a firm handshake over a chilled glass of Chardonnay at a Holiday Inn networking event. If you are to succeed and thrive in today’s competitive economic climate, it must be a central and ongoing part of your business growth plan.
Marketing a recruitment agency – would you like more help?
Alastair Campbell is the founder of The Ideal Marketing Company, author of ‘The Marketing Launchpad,’ and 2 other marketing books. He has run seminars and helped hundreds of recruitment agencies to improve their marketing.
For marketing advice specific to the needs of your recruitment business, get in touch and speak with a marketing specialist on 01858 374 170 or email info@idealmarketingcompany.com
