Most businesses appreciate the need to market the goods and services they offer to consumers, but far fewer have embraced the idea of marketing a company’s employer brand to potential job seekers, also known as recruitment marketing.
Recruitment marketing uses the same basic methodology as traditional marketing but focuses instead on hiring goals. Instead of targeting potential consumers, recruitment marketing targets potential job seekers.
Recruitment Marketing “Sales” Funnel
One can think about the recruitment marketing process in terms analogous to the sales funnel. A major first step in any marketing effort is building awareness. In the context of traditional marketing, that means building awareness of a corporate brand, product, or service. In the context of recruitment marketing, it means generating awareness of a company as an employer.
After awareness comes engagement, which may include information interviews, visits to a company’s job posting page, etc. The ultimate goal, of course, is to drive qualified applicants to apply and accept a position with the company.
Recruitment Marketing Best Practices
Entire books have been written on the subject of recruitment marketing, but in the limited space we have in this post, we’ll point out a few key best practices for recruitment marketing.
Define the Intended Brand
As with any marketing, it’s crucial to start with a clear definition of what is being offered and why people should want it. That might mean flexible hours, remote work, opportunities for travel, work-life balance, benefits, salary, bonus structure, meaningful work, etc.
It’s important to remember that while companies can strive to define their brand, it’s ultimately in the hands (or, more accurately, the minds) of the market that truly defines a brand. The best companies can hope to do is leverage their resources to influence their brand in the right direction.
Monitor Social Media
Companies should be paying attention to what current, former and potential employees are saying about them on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Glassdoor, and other social channels. They may be surprised how their employer brand is viewed outside of their organization, or even within the organization by current staff.
Active Engagement
Monitoring social media is a great start, but it’s inherently passive. Companies should also work to actively engage with potential recruits. This could include responding to comments posted about the company or on the company website or by directly reaching out to individuals who seem like good fits via job sites like LinkedIn.
As noted above, there is much, much more to recruitment marketing than we’ve covered in this short post. Hopefully, however, this has spurred interest in the subject for those who have not had recruitment marketing top of mind.
In a tough employee market for certain positions, it should be!
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.