Why doesn’t marketing work?

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So where do you start a blog on innovative marketing ideas and best practices?

Well, to kick things off, let me tell you about a meeting our team at Haley Marketing (https://www.haleymarketing.com/AboutUs/team.html).

The point of the meeting was to initiate a process of seeking new and innovative ways to market. To get the ball rolling, our first step was to brainstorm the question: Why don’t more people respond to the staffing industry’s marketing?

Here’s what we came up with:

There’s too much clutter from firms selling to HR (not just staffing)
“Me too” design, copy and value propositions
The product is boring (sorry, but staffing doesn’t get people excited)
HR managers already have too much to read (and no time)
Almost every marketing piece uses the same style imagery
Staffing is not perceived as a core problem and/or HR managers don’t believe staffing firms can really solve staffing issues
Ego’s of HR managers (they think they already know everything about staffing)
Too corporate of an approach (i.e., b-o-r-i-n-g creative!)
No “wow” to the communications, nothing outrageous
Staffing firms are afraid to take risks in their marketing
There’s no compelling reason to respond, offers are weak if used at all
Recipient’s don’t see the communciations as being worth their time
Not enough fun, not intriguing
It’s all focused on business and rational appeals, not emotional connections
The materials don’t engage people mentally
The packaging of the marketing is dull
The materials are not personalized enough
The materials are not targeted enough
Many campaigns are targeting the wrong people
Most campaigns don’t address specific problems or offering a specific value
There’s no immediate need for staffing or a new staffing vendor; if the company uses staffing, they already have a preferred vendor (or two)
The materials don’t offer any “What’s in it for me” for the recipient
There’s no real product differentiation

While we didn’t uncover any “earth shattering” revelations, the simple truth is that the staffing industry faces a daunting marketing challenge. Staffing firms are almost universally using the same methods and similar messages to market a service this is generally undifferentiated to an audience that’s over-marketed and not overly interested in the message being delivered.

So is this a recipe for certain marketing failure?

No, but for marketing to work in this industry, we have to find ways to: