David Searns | Co-CEO
Shhh! Don’t tell anyone.
I stole this idea. Okay, let’s call it “borrowed.”
Nah, I directly ripped this off from Brad Bialy, our Director of Digital Marketing, and some really insightful comments he made on a recent episode of our Secrets of Staffing Success podcasts.
So, here goes…and THANK YOU, Brad!
It’s time to put an end to “check-the-box” marketing in the staffing industry.
So, what do I (or Brad) mean by check-the-box marketing?
It’s the 101 stuff we see so many staffing companies doing.
People call us all the time saying things like:
- We need to be blogging.
- We’re not doing enough on social media.
- We need a plan for Instagram. Or LinkedIn.
- We need SEO.
- We should be doing more Google ads.
- We need AI automation for cold prospecting.
In fact, in just the past week, I read posts from two other staffing industry marketing professionals telling people that these are the things they should be doing.
Sorry, folks, these are not the secrets to success.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not against blogging, SEO, automation, PPC, or social media (okay, I actually hate social media—but that’s more about the negative impact on kids than the marketing value).
All of these tools CAN be part of an effective marketing strategy—but they are not the strategy!
In staffing, great marketing depends on five things:
- Your goals
- The services you sell
- Your ideal client
- How you sell
- How your competition sells
If you need three new clients, the strategy is very different than if you need 300.
If you sell IT staffing, your strategy will be very different than if you sell commercial staffing.
If you have just 100 prospects, your strategy will be very different than if you have 10,000.
If you have dedicated BDRs making prospecting calls for an account executive, the strategy will be different than if you have full-desk recruiters.
And if your competition is super strong or aggressive in a specific area, your strategy should be different than theirs.
So, what is the opposite of check-the-box marketing?
- It’s creating a strategy that is specific to your situation.
- It’s choosing the tactics that will allow you to effectively engage your ideal clients.
- It’s playing both the short game (marketing focused on immediate sales) and the long game (marketing focused on positioning and building brand preference).
- It’s about aligning company goals with strategy. And then strategy with tactics.
- It’s about understanding psychology…and what motivates people to act.
- It’s about developing compelling offers and building tactics around them.
- It’s about integrating marketing with sales and customer service.
- It’s about using data to get feedback and make adjustments.
- It’s about being smart. And being persistent.
If I can steal another line from my friend Brad Bialy, when he talks about social media, he always reminds people that “every post has a purpose.”
When it comes to marketing, every dollar and every hour needs a purpose.
You do want to check the box, but in a way that those boxes align to a strategy that gives you a competitive advantage in the market. |
