Today’s guest blogger is Colin Smith from Loxo. 

Recruiting firms offer a vital service and are constantly in demand, but with so many recruitment companies out there, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. A good practice to have for your firm is a well thought out marketing strategy for client acquisition. Whether you’re running marketing ops yourself, or have a team, it’s good to have an idea of the work involved in building a great marketing strategy for your firm. Marketing agencies can be used to achieve a number of goals such as getting more traffic on your website or getting an article published in a nationwide outlet, but there are plenty of marketing ideas for recruitment firms that you can implement on your own that we cover in this post.

Incremental Client Acquisition

Everyone wants to hire agencies that have worked with big names in your industry of focus, and getting some big names on your client roster can be a huge boost to your agency’s stature. The tricky part, is getting your foot in the door.

To land a contract with a serious player in the industry or industries you serve, you need to follow an incremental client acquisition plan, wherein you leverage client relationships to elevate your stature to a level where best in class companies feel comfortable contracting you.

It can take a while to achieve this goal, so create a long-term plan for landing a big fish and you’ll be on your way, step by step, to reeling them in.

1. List the most prestigious companies in the industry you serve and the major partners, vendors, contractors and service providers they do business with.
2. Then, make a list of the runners up (fairly prestigious companies but not top tier) and their major partners, vendors, contractors and service providers.
3. Finally, make a list of the most prestigious companies companies remaining in the industry you serve and their major partners, vendors, contractors and service providers.

Now that you’ve identified the big fish you want to land, start working your way towards them by leveraging the work you’ve already done in your industry. Even if you’re starting from below the runners up category, there’s no reason that you can’t make your way to the top!

Here are some strategies for marketing staffing companies to increase the prestige of the clients you serve:

• Explore LinkedIn and other social networks to see if:
  • Your company has worked for companies that provides services to or does business with a target top tier or runner-up company.
  • You, a partners or an employees has a connection to a decision maker within a top tier or runner up company.
• Leverage past work with clients in the industry you serve in the form of customer satisfaction surveys, case studies and company/recruiter satisfaction ratings, all of which can be used in your pitch to more prestigious companies.
• Focus on securing the business of companies that are just above the level you are used to working with, not the top companies you want to reach eventually.
• Prioritize contracts with companies of a similar size/focus as your target companies, to build up a portfolio you can present to target top-tier companies.
• Work your way up slowly, focus on your ultimate goal and build your stature organically as you take on more prestigious companies and complete more challenging recruitment projects.

Creating Content for your Target Audience

Creating content is a great way to provide value to potential, new and existing clients alike.

Here are some examples of content your recruitment agency can create to make your clients happy and impress potential clients.

Resources

The baseline content you create should be resources targeting the industry you serve.

For example, if you primarily hire for companies in the healthcare industry, you could create a white paper like “How to Create Job Descriptions for Nurses” or “How to Assess and Interview Visiting Physicians.”

Even if you don’t have a huge following online, creating resources can be quite helpful to your clients and can be shared through word of mouth if it saves time for them or otherwise provides them with some value.

Sponsored Content

Sponsoring a study, an info-graphic or another valuable asset can be a great way to increase stature in your industry. If you can provide statistics or a study that make it into a major publication or becomes the month’s top shared piece of content, then your agency can be front of mind for the exact companies you want to be in touch with.

For example, if a tech recruitment company was able to publish a study on the growing number of business models that rely on data scientists, companies relying on analytics are likely to see this article and contact them in hopes of connecting with data science talent.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is a great (and free) marketing tool you can use for marketing staffing firms and

increasing awareness of your agency in the industries you serve.

Through posting, following and engaging, you can build your brand on social media and make your profiles a powerful attractive force for new clients considering your agency.

Brand Building

Social media platforms are a great place to build your brand as a skilled recruitment firm. The following are all great brand building activities that you can conduct on various social platforms.

• Posting pictures of recruiters hard at work in your office, having fun during team building activities/outings, attending industry meetups, etc.
• Posting video interviews with your recruiters discussing their favorite part of serving clients in your industry or videos of your recruiters talking with executives about the finer points of hiring in their industry.
• Sharing relevant content that is on-message with your firm’s focus, and adding your company’s voice to the conversation with the caption or introduction of your post.

Audience Engagement

Unlike other advertising channels, social media gives your audience a platform to interact with your brand and the content you post, so don’t miss your chance to engage with your audience.

• Replying to comments, mentions, etc. as quickly as possible (social media time is measured in seconds and minutes, not hours and days).
• Tagging clients and candidates in relevant posts or in pictures taken at industry meetups.
• Sharing content that’s put out by your clients and give them a shout out.

Content Distribution

Your social media profiles are excellent platforms for marketing for recruitment companies through the content you distribute, allowing you to engage, inform, assist and even entertain potential clients.

• Posting thought leadership posts on LinkedIn.
• Sharing newly released industry studies on Facebook.
• Sharing a video interview with a popular executive or thought leader in your industry on Instagram.
• Linking to content your agency has co-authored while Live Tweeting a conference where your co-author is speaking.

By marketing your recruitment company using these strategies, you can increase awareness of your agency to start getting more and better clients.