The following transcript was taken from InSights, a staffing and recruiting podcast from Haley Marketing Group dedicated to providing quick-hitting takeaways on Social Recruiting, Content Marketing, and Employer Branding. To listen to the episode, click play on the player above or visit the episode page [InSights] Acquiring Clients in 2020
Brad Bialy: At this time we’d like to welcome on Brian Vaccaro, Haley Marketing’s Marketing Educator. Brian, welcome to Insights.
Brian Vaccaro: Thanks, Brad and thanks, Matt. I’m glad to be here.
Brad Bialy: Brian, for our newer listeners, why don’t you educate us real quick on what it is you do on a day-to-day basis here at Haley Marketing and how you assist our prospects with their internal marketing and recruitment marketing.
Brian Vaccaro: Yeah, perfect. So here at Haley Marketing every single day I’m looking at our client’s goals with them. We’re working through their plans, their strategies, and trying to help make them more successful at the end of the year. So we’re looking at client-side generation, we’re looking at how to get better candidates. So I am working a lot up here with Matt here as well on that recruitment marketing side of it as well. But really working through their goals to find out the best way to help achieve them through a marketing standpoint for the year.
Acquiring New Clients in 2020
Brad Bialy: Well guys, for our first topic here, we’re going to talk about acquiring new clients in 2020. Brian, I’m sure you get this a lot in that new prospect onboarding process where you’re talking to hundreds of staffing and recruiting firms every year to really find out what it is that we can assist with from a marketing standpoint to help acquire these new clients. So I’m going to pass it to you, Brian. Tell us what it is and where somebody can get started when they’re thinking about generating more of that prospect traffic, more clients in 2020.
Brian Vaccaro: Definitely. So from my point of view, we really like to look at … The very first thing really is when is that staffing and recruiting client looking for a candidate that year? So for most companies, they’re not looking to hire constantly. So when we’re looking at developing a strategy, the very first thing we need to do is we need to find out how often their ideal prospects we’ll be looking. And then that helps dictate our entire strategy because if they’re looking on an ongoing basis, then we need marketing all year round.
Brian Vaccaro: Or we could potentially get away with a three-month campaign because we know they’re always looking. But if they’re only looking for maybe one week a year, one month a year at most, if we don’t know what that month is, we have to market all year round otherwise, we may never catch that prospective staffing company or that client right when they need it.
Brad Bialy: I think volume is important too, right? If you’re an executive recruiter and you only need one individual, right? So you’re targeting a client who might have a hiring need of one, that’s drastically different than looking for a potential client who has a hiring need of a thousand. That marketing messaging becomes different. All of that verbiage shifts a little bit differently and how you can help them address and tackle their pain points shifts as well?
Brian Vaccaro: Definitely, and one of the first things you want to find out as well is the value proposition of the staffing and recruiting company. Because at the end of the day, if we don’t know why companies want to work with them, no matter the size of the candidate pool they need to pull in or the amount of clients that they need to work with, if they don’t know who they are fundamentally, we can’t help create unique marketing for them that will help them stand out and really create that wow for them.
Brad Bialy: So the first step of the process for you Brian is, understanding hiring needs. So as a staffing and recruiting firm reaches out to a potential prospect, we really need to understand what that prospect’s hiring need is going to be. Is it seasonal or is it annual? Is there a whole demand that lasts the whole year or is it kind of cyclical? Then we need to understand what kind of volume comes into that?
Brad Bialy: From there, let’s get tactical here guys and let’s think about how staffing and recruiting firms can get their messaging in front of the right prospects in 2020. Brian, what are you passionate about right now? What do you think is working really well for the individuals and the companies that you’ve had the opportunity to talk to?
Brian Vaccaro: So going directly into that very first pain point or the very first consideration of when is that company looking? I really like some Pay-Per-Click Advertising, because fundamentally we have this really cool pay-per-click advertising program called Beat The Competition. And what we can do with that is that when a client at the staffing company is going and evaluating staffing companies, there’s a really good shot that at that moment they have a need.
Brian Vaccaro: So we’re able to actually take a PPC program, target people, visiting your competitor sites down to a specific URL, and then when they go back to Google’s ad network, where there are two plus million sites, we’re able to put your branding straight in front of them. So let’s get all of the, when are they looking? Let’s get all of that and go straight to we know they’re looking because they’re looking at our competitors, they’re established and let’s get in front of them. This works really, really well with newer clients or clients that maybe haven’t done a lot of outward branding that people may not know who they are in a crowded marketplace.
Brad Bialy: I love that PPC strategy in the sense of it’s very similar to billboard marketing. You’re thinking about who is going out on the internet? The answer is everyone. If they’ve been to your competitor’s website, we’re triggering that via URL, and then we’re showing them ads for your organization and how you can assist with their challenges instead of your competitors.
Brad Bialy: So every month or every year your competitors are spending thousands of marketing dollars to also attract the same client pool that you’re going after. We’re stealing that traffic and routing it back to your URL. I love that idea, Brian.
Brian Vaccaro: Yeah, and I know for a lot of our staffing clients out there, a number of recruiting clients out there, one of the major reasons that they’re losing clients on a regular basis is their inability to fill a job. And I’m going to touch on this a little bit later, and I will get to that one of my later points here. But when that company eventually, because there will be a point where they can’t deliver that candidate, they are now also seeing that brand for you. So that’s opening the door, for all you have to do is just have a tiny PPC budget in comparison to the usually gigantic client acquisition budgets that are needed. For a relatively small budget per ad, you can now get your brand in front of these prospective clients.
Brad Bialy: Sure. So we’ve talked PPC, what else do you have for us?
Brian Vaccaro: So I would be a little bit remiss by not talking about integrated direct marketing or integrated direct mail because at the end of the day, this really is one of the best ways to drive client growth or to drive prospects. But the problem is, is that it’s usually time-intensive, it’s usually cost-intensive, and if you have a smaller team than, or a small sales team, in particular, it may not get done. Because you can’t just look to your sales team and say, “Here’s another 20 hours of work to do this week and you still have to do your old job.” It’s just not going to work.
Brian Vaccaro: So, end of last year we actually put together a pillar content strategy that we’ve been working with some of our clients on. And it takes that same core principle of really high-value content that would be present in a direct mail campaign, but take it and shift it directly to a digital-only strategy.
Brad Bialy: I love the idea. I think if you’re looking at reaching prospects, going back to the roots and going back to the foundation of, “Let’s send a really nice postcard that says what services you provide,” great way to stay top of mind. Now, yes, that postcard might get tossed in the trash, but what if we send 13 of them over a very systematic approach, we do that direct mail approach and we’re talking about pain points. We’re talking to that hiring manager’s pain points.
Brad Bialy: Well Brian, that alluded to is pivoting that to a digital landscape using something called pillar content, which might be a really high-end ebook or a really great white paper that’s gated behind a form. Once an individual, a prospect, fills out that form saying, “I want this information,” your team springs into action, reaches out and says, “Hey, it looks like you might have a need for X. We can really help with this.” I love that idea, Brian. You’ve got a third point for us?
Brian Vaccaro: So I have the last one here, and I kind of alluded to it earlier, is actually recruiting more candidates. And this is one of the things that our CEO David Searns keeps telling me over and over again. Is that when the market demands one thing, whether it’s clients or candidates, the best thing to do is to load up on the opposite.
Brian Vaccaro: So the reason here is, is that when you eventually do find that client, you need to make sure you have the candidate to fill that job. And that’s the most important thing. Just like a lot of your competitors might be failing to fill these positions, you need to make sure that you have that qualified person when you get that one in a million prospect and the door that you need a while.
Take Skill Marketing to a Whole New Level with the Talent Showcase!
Brad Bialy: I might stay on that topic too and say that if you’re looking for potential clients, you should really skill market your top candidates. So send out an email to those prospects or to clients that you’ve worked with in the past, maybe even current clients, and send them an email of the top three candidates that are in your talent pool here, and say that they’re ready to get started next week. Say that they’re ready to get to work in a month. But really showcase that you have the talent when that individual is looking to hire. You’re ready with great individuals who are ready to go to work tomorrow. I think it’s a great idea, Brian.
Brian Vaccaro: Yeah, and just kind of jump off that a tiny little bit, when that skill marking idea, the redeployment rate and the staffing recruiting industry is quite poor. So this is another great way to make sure your candidates know that you care about them, that you’re trying to find them their next job, weeks or months at a time of their placement being finished so that they know they’re taken care of. And you’re redeploying as you’re saving all their marketing dollars and making effectively more profit for the company.
How Can You Acquire New Clients in 2020?
Brad Bialy: We broke down three tips right here on Insights for you, courtesy of Brian Vaccaro, Haley marketing’s marketing educator. The first, deploy some pay per click advertising through Google’s ad network.
Brad Bialy: The second, really think about deploying an integrated direct marketing campaign and maybe even pivot that to an integrated direct campaign that lives on digital. Think through that format and how you might be able to integrate that direct mail to what you’re doing in the digital landscape.
Brad Bialy: And then the third when you need more clients, generate more candidates first and if you can skill market those candidates to your potential list of clients.
Brad Bialy: Brian, before we let you go, I got one more question for you. I know you are a giant slot car fan. Talk to us a little bit about your passion and how you enjoy slot car racing and what you like to do outside of the office here.
Brian Vaccaro: Yeah, thanks Brad. So I’ve actually been doing this now since I was a little kid and I started out in a place pretty close to where I live now, very oddly. But it’s really cool to actually take something and it can be very minimalistic. So think of buying a bare-bones model with basically everything unpainted, and you put that all together, and then you’re able to literally put on a wood or plastic track and it zips around. And that achievement that you can get from just taking something so simplistic and putting stuff together and being successful. And then the icing on the cake is always beating other people too. So they’re doing the exact same thing as you, but you know you did it better.
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Brad Bialy: Brian, I want to thank you for coming on InSights and sharing your insights with us this week. If you have any questions about your marketing or how you can improve your recruitment marketing in 2020, we encourage you to reach out to Brian Vaccaro on LinkedIn. You could shoot him a message there or if you’re also a slot car fan, feel free to reach out and connect with him on that as well.