On the second day of the NAPS conference, I had the pleasure of introducing Jenifer Lambert, and her presentation Making it Rain – From Pounding the Phones to Making It Pour. Jen’s talk was all about marketing, and needless to say, I was pretty excited about the ideas she shared!
Full Disclosure…Jen is Director of Training for TERRA Staffing Group. She’s also a long-time client of Haley Marketing, and her presentation at NAPS showcased many of the marketing tactics that TERRA Staffing so effectively implements. So pardon the self-promotion you’ll find below, but it really was part of Jen’s presentation!
Recruiting in not just a phone business anymore.
- To thrive in recruiting, you need to understand marketing.
- 60% of business purchase decisions are made before the first call with the vendor.
The danger of 100% outbound selling:
- Missing opportunities (you can’t reach everyone).
- Not working smart (paying for wasted activity).
- Working too hard (50 calls for 1 appointment is tough!).
Mind shift – from pushing to pulling:
- Help clients to buy (educate them).
- Surround prospects (become unavoidable).
- Simplify getting a response (reduce barriers to the first contact).
You need to switch to multi-modal lead generation:
Twitter -> blog -> website -> white paper – > case study -> email -> sale
- Use multiple channels to reach your audience.
- Create warmer leads, people who are more predisposed to buy.
- It’s less expensive than sales reps.
- Puts you in control over how you are seen.
Where to start your marketing plan:
- List every marketing activity currently being done and the results.
- Determine what competitors are doing. Do more than them or something different.
- Determine what fits your target audience (what style of communication and content).
- Determine where to outsource – it’s often cheaper and more effective to get help.
- Determine where to partner – partners can be a great in help promoting content (e.g., find a co-sponsor for a webcast).
Top four marketing tactics:
- Turn your website into an ATM.
It will become your #1 lead source. Good prospects will come to you from search engines, and all prospects will have reviewed our website before your first meeting. - SEO
Optimize your website to get found in many different types of searches. Your goal is to be in the top 4 results – 18% click on first link in Google results, 10% on the second, 7% on the third and 4% on the fourth. Haley Marketing recently developed an SEO plan for our website, and now we are #1 for staffing agency in Seattle. - Get smart about social media.
Get your sales reps and recruiters trained. Show them how social media can be used to network and brand your firm — and how now to use it so they don’t waste time. - Produce kick-ass content.
Content attracts clients and job seekers. HR loves information, and they love to be scared (e.g. Ways you can get sued).
Creating kick-ass staffing content:
- Thought leadership about staffing and labor trends in your market.
- Answer questions to your clients’ biggest challenges.
- Entertain – give people a reason to smile.
- Improve SEO – get found for more keywords and get ranked higher.
Top formats for content marketing in the staffing industry:
- Webcasts
- Articles
- Blogs
- Public speaking
- Video
Maximizing the ROI on your marketing plan
- Monitor people coming to the website and taking action.
- Invest more in traffic drivers. Cut things that don’t work.
- Double up or triple up on marketing activities to leverage the cost and time.
- Get the team involved in producing and sharing content.
- Get help where you need it to be successful.
How the sales funnel is changing in staffing
In the past, the funnel was simple. Prospect (cold call), appointment, call, call, call, and if all goes well, client. Today, the funnel is vastly different:
- Discovery – be found by employers and job seekers.
- Consideration – make a positive first impression, educate buyers.
- Conversion – get people to take action that starts a dialog.
