David Searns | Co-CEO
I need to apologize for my negativity.
Last week’s SMART IDEA was a rant about why digital-only lead gen is failing, and today, I’m taking on all of your marketing.
Sorry about that. Well, sort of.
I’m not really being negative—just trying to poke holes into some of the things we do as staffing industry marketers (and yes I'm guilty too!).
Today’s SMART IDEA is actually based on a Marketing Mastermind I recently facilitated for the members of ASGroup (Affiliated Staffing Group).
BTW - if you’re not familiar with ASGroup,
check out their website. They’re a national staffing industry association of independently owned staffing companies that work together for the common good of the industry. Great companies. Great people. And yes, they’re looking for more members!
Back to my negativity.
13 Reasons Why Staffing Marketing Fails
- No goals…or unclear goals
- Bad strategy…or no strategy at all
- Marketing isn’t aligned with sales (or recruiting)
- Chasing tactics (e.g., the hot new trend or social site)
- No clear differentiation
- Lack of a systematic process for lead generation
- Marketing is underfunded
- Inconsistent or reactive efforts
- Wrong people running marketing
- No accountability or metrics that matter
- Buyers are tuning out
- Over-reliance on cold outreach
- Marketing isn’t built for a commoditized market
So…what can you do about these marketing problems?
You can do what I did.
Ask ChatGPT for help.
I told the AI that I was preparing a presentation about why marketing projects fail.
I prompted the AI with background information on the staffing industry and the target audience for the presentation.
I asked ChatGPT to ask me any questions it had in order to formulate recommendations for this presentation.
And then we had a fascinating conversation.
I spent about 10 minutes answering all the questions that the AI asked me about the staffing industry, how staffing companies market, the complaints and challenges I hear about their marketing, and more.
My AI friend (yes anyone or anything that can cut my presentation research time by 75% is a friend!) then gave me a top 10 list of staffing specific marketing fail points.
We reviewed each fail points, one at a time, and developed strategies staffing companies could use to address each item on the list.
And just for good measure, I asked ChatGPT to convert our conversation to presentation slides.
Without further ado, here’s what an AI recommends for your marketing (with a little embellishment and a few extra ideas from me):
1) No goals or unclear goals How to fix:
- Tie marketing goals to business objectives
- Define SMART goals for each marketing outcome you want
- Define how you’ll measure success
2) Bad strategy or no strategy How to fix:
- Brainstorm multiple ways to accomplish each goal
- Prioritize the best strategies
- Layer marketing tactics to maximize response
3) Marketing isn’t aligned with sales How to fix:
- Hold regular marketing-sales alignment meetings
- Develop shared goals (e.g., appointments, SQLs)
- Create content to supports common sales objections
4) Chasing tactics How to fix:
- Create a 12 to 18-month marketing strategy
- Develop quarterly priorities and implementation plans
- Test, measure, and re-invest in what works (and keep doing those things until they stop working)
5) No clear differentiation (you sound like everyone else) How to fix:
- Audit competitor messaging (AI is great for this!)
- Identify and highlight your key differentiators—the things that matter most to your ideal clients
- Use case studies, testimonials, and data to prove value
6) Lack of inbound lead generation (you’re not generating interest) How to fix:
- Create educational, pain-solving content that can be used as a conversation starter
- Use SEO and paid ads to drive traffic to that content (mail and drop offs work too...maybe even better!)
- Add calls-to-action and lead magnets to your website
7) Marketing is underfunded (tiny budget = tiny results) How to fix:
- Benchmark against other industry norms (5–10% of revenue outside of staffing) and compare to your spend as a percentag of gross margin
- Start small campaigns and prove ROI (then scale up!)
- Reallocate low-impact spend from other areas of your business to marketing
8) Inconsistent effort (marketing only happens when sales are slow)
How to fix:
- Break your marketing strategy into 90-day implementation plans
- Assign ownership to tactics and automate repetitive tasks
- Establish a marketing rhythm that runs year-round
9) Wrong people running marketing (too junior/non-marketers) How to fix:
- Invest in training or fractional marketing leadership
- Hire experienced marketers or specialized agencies (particularly for tasks requiring specialized expertise or tools like SEO, PPC, programmatic job spend management)
- Dedicate regular time and focus to your marketing function
10) No accountability for metrics that matter How to fix:
- Define KPIs: leads, appointments, conversion rates
- Use tools like UTM codes and Google Tag Manager for attribution
- Review and report results monthly
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