Marketing tips for recruitment companies

21 Feb, 2017

Today's candidates need to be courted. You can't wait for them to come to you in droves, you need to actively seek them out. That's because a large portion of today's top talent comes from passive candidates – professionals who aren't necessarily looking for a new job but are open to the idea.

"If the only candidates you have are the ones that come to you when they are ready, you will only have candidates that other people have too," explains global recruitment expert Greg Savage.

"Your job is to unearth unique candidates. We have to build long-term relationships with candidates who have not yet started to apply for jobs."

What does this mean? How do you better attract clients and candidates?

In order to build these long-term relationships we have to first attract candidates and then nurture these connections. The solution is marketing. Recruiters need to take note of consumer-marketing techniques and apply them in real time to their strategies for attracting candidates.

This leaves us with one question: How do you market for recruitment? Fear not, we've compiled a list of marketing tips for recruitment companies.

1. Understand the different approaches

In marketing, there are two general approaches – inbound and outbound. For recruiters, inbound marketing comes in the form of creating content that draws candidates to your services, explains technology company Oracle in an article on marketing for recruitment. Effective inbound material is aligned with your audience's interests and communicates on the right channels.

Outbound marketing is a more direct approach. It is when you reach out to your candidates in a very straightforward way – either with catered job postings or paid advertisements for your recruitment service, notes Oracle.

2. Identify who you want

Marketing today is not about throwing out random ads and hoping they reach the right people. New technologies can help you to identify where your target audiences lie and reveal how to reach them. Are you aiming for males aged 30-50? Is your demographic new university grads? Before you start creating and disseminating content, identify what kind of candidates you are trying to attract.

3. Use the right channels and content for your market

Once you have identified the kind of candidates you are trying to attract, do some research about the preferred channels and content for their demographics. Should you be reaching out on Twitter? Should you be publishing thought leadership blogs on LinkedIn? Putting the right content in the right place at the right time is arguably the most important aspect of marketing.

4. Keep it consistent

Once you have your marketing techniques in place, be consistent with them. Engage your current candidates on a regular basis, interact with prospective candidates and always be on the lookout for new ones. The future of successful recruitment lies in effective marketing, so you should start mapping your strategies now.