In order to be a successful staffing firm, you need to market your services in order to secure two things: clients and candidates. What are the most successful strategies for securing solid clients with the potential for multiple hires? How do you go about attracting the top talent in your niche of the staffing market? Ensuring that you have a constant stream of both clients and candidates is the challenge. Check out the following staffing firm marketing strategies.
Research Your Target Audience
In order to effectively market your services, you must first understand who your target audience truly is and determine how you are going to fulfill their needs. Start out by identifying your ideal client. What size organizations do you want to do business with? Do they have the potential for a steady stream of job openings? Are their openings varied within the market or do they only need help securing one specialized type of talent? What geographic area do you want to focus on and are there a good number of qualified candidates located in this region? Take the time to completely research the critical characteristics of your primary market and begin to craft a marketing plan to attract those ideal clients. Study the company dynamics to find out who has final authority with regard to hiring and target your marketing efforts to those decision makers. Now is also a great time to identify a secondary market for your services. A secondary source of potential clients is a great way to expand your reach and grow your business.
Differentiate
Take the time to lay the proper groundwork in order to ensure your agency stands out from the rest of the competition. Evaluate your staffing firm and determine where you and your team excel within the industry. Do you know the ins and outs of the IT industry? Are you located in an area where medical and scientific staffing is in high demand? Identify your strengths and incorporate them into your brand message and all of your marketing efforts. Potential clients and candidates need to associate your staffing firm with their niche, so don’t miss any opportunity to let your target audience know who you are and what you do well.
Prove Yourself
The first rule of staffing firm marketing is to provide high quality service to your clients and candidates. Clients want to see that you have a strong talent pool to pull from and the only way you are going to attract the top talent is to show them that your goal is to match them up with positions at great companies. Discuss with your team how important it is to establish and maintain relationships with clients and candidates. Encourage your recruiters to attend networking events as a way to continually build your candidate base. Direct your email campaigns to selected groups of clients or candidates and ensure that the message is targeted to the appropriate audience.
Integrated Efforts
In order to ensure the success of your staffing firm, you must have all of your staff working together. Let your sales team know that they do not bow out after sending over a job opening to your recruiters. The sales professionals need to communicate with both the recruiting team and the client to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Is the client becoming increasingly frustrated because the candidates being sent over for interviews are not properly qualified? Are your recruiters throwing up their hands because the client is presenting them with an unattainable list of requirements? Likewise, recruiters who are networking effectively must pass on leads to the sales team for follow-up and potential future business. Ensuring that everyone’s needs and expectations are fulfilled is the key to a successful staffing firm.
Provide Value
Marketing your staffing firm is sometimes an uphill battle due to the sheer number of agencies and the fierce competition to attract clients and candidates. It is important to show your target audience that you are not just worried about your bottom line. You must communicate that you are interested in sharing knowledge and providing value to your clients and candidates. Work with your team to create educational materials and share them on your website. Sponsor educational events that allow candidates to further their knowledge in certain areas or qualify toward continuing education credits for licensed professionals. Providing value is one of the most effective staffing firm marketing strategies.
Key Takeaways for Successful Firm Marketing Strategies:
- Do your homework to ensure that you understand your target audience
- Evaluate your services and make your staffing firm stand out from the competition
- Provide top quality service to your clients and candidates
- Integrate your sales, recruiting and marketing efforts
- Generate and share information with your target audience
About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.