3 Recruitment Marketing Tips for Weathering the COVID-19 ‘Storm’
As I’ve embarked on the launch of the UK office, I’ve been speaking to as many recruitment professionals as possible to get their thoughts on the market over the last 6 months, and their outlook for 2021. On the whole, the outlook is optimistic! Things are starting to pick up again, and lockdown 2.0 hasn’t come with the same ‘panic’ we saw back in March.
One thing is clear though – as more and more people are confined to their homes, and that not looking like it’s going to change any time soon, there are more eyeballs than ever on the screen, so it’s never been more important to be on top of your digital marketing game.
With that in mind, I thought it was a good time to share some tips for ‘weathering the storm’ that is COVID-19:
Content is Key
Content marketing has never been more important. With everything a bit up in the air, it’s going to be even more difficult for recruiters to do business development activities. Marketing items like salary surveys or reports on the market are priceless resources for two reasons:
- Cold calling or emailing becomes that little bit warmer if recruiters have something to talk about. It’s much easier to get a potential client on the phone if you have the figures from the latest salary survey to discuss and advise on.
- Big ticket marketing items are great for gated content (people have to fill in their details to download it), which means a nice long list of potential clients to reach out to!
Remember, the content you produce doesn’t have to be ground-breaking, but it does need to be useful and relevant. Even though your competitors may be producing similar material and advice, don’t let this be a barrier to your own efforts. If you do, your brand will fade into the background, making your recruiters’ jobs twice as hard.
This is not to say there is no room for innovation, of course there is, like this charity initiative for example.
Make the Most of your Database
One of the interesting effects of more people being at home is that we’ve seen a significant increase in open rates on database mailers. If you’re sending monthly newsletters with industry updates, ‘hot jobs’ and company updates, you’re doing the right thing. If you aren’t, it might be time to think about starting! Re-activating the dormant leads in your ATS is a sure fire way to see an increase in activity within your recruitment business.
Re-examine Your Paid Advertising Spend
It’s a difficult time for job-seekers as there is a lot more competition on the market. As a recruiter, you might find you’re spending even more time scanning CVs for the right candidates as job applications have increased.
If you’re running paid advertising campaigns, either on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or Google (or maybe you’re one of the cool kids using Snapchat or TikTok!), it might be a good time to reassess your client and candidate priorities. Keep spend to a minimum by being as niche as possible so you’re not wasting time and money scouring CVs that aren’t relevant right now. These kind of campaigns are easy to switch on and off, so you hit go again come the new year!
It’s been a difficult few months, but I’d like to think the worst is behind us. Take some time this side of the holidays to think about your recruitment agency goals for 2021, now is the time to be putting your marketing strategy into action so you can come out of this ‘storm’ with a tangible plan of action.
I’m excited for what the next six months will hold for the recruitment industry!
If you’re thinking about how best to position your recruitment agency on the market, get in touch and let’s talk marketing strategy! Or if you have any questions about the content of this article, feel free to drop me an email at amber.loach@prominence.social and I’ll happily help where I can.
All the best,
Stay safe,
Amber Loach
