Recruiters Don’t Have Time to Create Great Marketing. We Do.
Why do recruiters struggle with marketing?
Well, for starters, you don’t have the time. Recruiters are pros at juggling many things at once. On a daily basis, you manage to source qualified candidates while staying ahead of your clients’ needs. But let’s be honest – when it comes to this juggling act, marketing is a ball that frequently gets dropped. Something’s gotta give!
So you tell yourself it’s no big deal. You can ignore marketing today, push it off to tomorrow without consequence. Then days turn into months, months turn into years, and you realize your marketing doesn’t exist!
You can’t run a healthy recruiting business without marketing.
Marketing is invaluable in getting ahead instead of playing a daily game of catch up. Phone calls, emails, and networking can only take you so far. Sure, it makes sense that you rely on these tactics. Recruiters follow what works. You rely on repeat business, referrals and networking as the primary means of growing your business.
But you can’t control your referrals. And you can only go to so many networking events. And your clients, while they love working you, may not have another project for 6-9 months.
As a recruiter, you have a difficult job.
Sure, you have unlimited earning potential and you get to meet smart, driven people every day. Most of all, you get to help people find rewarding jobs, and that’s a good feeling. But there are some big challenges.
Challenge # 1 – Uncertainty of monthly revenues.
At 26 Characters, we call it the revenue rollercoaster. One month you’re on top of the world, and then the next minute you’re hitting rock bottom. You ask yourself – what happened? Did a client skip a payment? Or am I just having a slow month?
Challenge # 2 – The hours are unpredictable.
I’m not just talking about the long hours you work. I’m talking about when hundreds of hours of work hits at the same time. There’s just not enough time in the day. You find yourself triaging what can get done, taking short cuts that bring the quality of your work down. You hate doing it, but you need to find a way of squeezing in two minutes for lunch.
Challenge # 3 – Clients are hard to manage.
You know who I’m talking about. Unrealistic expectations, impatience, haggling about your fee – some clients have all these charming qualities. They figure they’re just looking out for their bottom line, but they’re making your life miserable in the meantime.
Challenge # 4 – Business development isn’t exactly easy.
It’s a numbers game. Some relationships take years of nurturing before they turn into something fruitful. Some just fizzle out and result in nothing. Zilch. Nada.
Challenge # 5 – Negative stereotypes about recruiters.
Clients tend to think “all recruiters are the same.” You’ve probably run into this stereotype, and you know it’s not a compliment. As a recruiter, you’ve inherited a lot of industry baggage from other recruiters with less than professional standards. As a result, getting clients to trust you is an uphill battle.
Challenge # 6 – It’s a recruiter eat recruiter world out there.
Even if you’re friendly with someone, chances are they aren’t exactly going out of their way to help you. Why? Because you’re their competition! However congenial your relationship is, at the end of the day they need to look out for themselves. It’s frustrating, but least it’s helped you develop an impeccable BS detector.
Challenge # 7 – Most recruiters work on a contingency.
It’s crazy to think how commonplace this is, but you know darn well it is. In their efforts to get a foot in the door, recruiters are willing to put up with a lot of injustice.
It’s possible to grow your business without working yourself to death.
You probably think the only way to grow your recruiter business is to outwork the competition. That’s certainly part of the equation. But there are other methods that can supplement your hard work.
Successful recruiters know it’s not about deciding between sales or marketing. It’s about deciding on both. Simply put, marketing will help you sell more. It builds awareness and trust in people who are interested in your services, and it allows you to reach a ton of people instantaneously. Whereas sales tactics are conducted one on one, marketing lets you be everywhere.
Marketing creates buzz. It gives you a reputation – a good one! When done the right way, prospects and clients reach out to you. Why? Because your marketing struck a chord. When it came time for their next project, they call you.
It’s possible to connect with hundreds of clients every day without picking up the phone.
Most recruiters don’t leverage their networks the right way. They reach out to a client or candidate only when they need something, which unfortunately isn’t the best way to build genuine relationships.
On the other hand, recruiters who use marketing the right way understand the need to constantly show people they are smart and trustworthy. LinkedIn is the perfect platform. Why?
Reason # 1 – You already have an audience based on your connections
Reason # 2 – It’s the most trusted social network
Reason # 3 – It’s the only social network dedicated exclusively to business
Reason # 4 – Your content is seen 24/7, not just when you are on the phone or grabbing coffee
Reason # 5 – You’re not interrupting someone. People log on because they want to consume content
Reason # 6 – It complements your other sales and networking efforts
Reason # 7 – It keeps you top of mind
Reason # 8 – It’s free! You can publish as much content as you want without paying a dime
When you look at it this way, LinkedIn is a recruiter’s best friend. It’s always there for you, ready to sharpen and amplify your message without asking for money in return
You’re already using LinkedIn, but just not the right way.
LinkedIn has evolved over the years. Once a simple means of connecting professionally, the platform has all kinds of capabilities now. But most recruiters aren’t taking advantage of these capabilities.
So, what’s the most effective way to use LinkedIn? By publishing content. After all, what’s the point in having a great network if you’re not doing anything with it?
When you make a habit of publishing, you show up in your network’s feed as a thought leader. This makes you memorable – and more importantly, it makes you trustworthy. Every time you share your perspective on an article or a trend, your network learns a bit more about what makes you tick. “How might they be able to put that big brain to work for me?” they ask themselves.
Here’s an example of why staying top of mind is important. Say a potential client is evaluating two recruiters. On paper, they’re the same. But “Recruiter A” publishes content every day while “Recruiter B” doesn’t. The prospect has read 25+ status updates from “Recruiter A” over the last nine months, and they like what they see. Which recruiter has the advantage here? The answer is obvious.
Once clients see you as a thought leader, they’re more likely to work with you.
LinkedIn did some fascinating research with Edelman to understand the decision-making tendencies of buyers. The research found that thought leadership had a profound impact. 63% of decision makers were influenced by thought leadership. What’s more, 75% of buyers said that thought leadership factored into which vendor they put on their short list.
Data like this underscores why regularly sharing content on LinkedIn is important. On the other side of things, the implications of not publishing content are pretty bleak. If you don’t publish…
1 – Clients will see you as merely a connection (as opposed to someone they want working for them)
2 – Your network will only know you from the few one on one conversations you’ve had with them
3 – You’re giving recruiters who do publish a huge advantage by letting them dominate your network’s feed
As a recruiter, you are your own brand. There’s no material product that you can hold out and say “Look, I made this!” As a result, you need to build credibility and trust – in many ways, that is the product you offer.
If you aren’t publishing, you’re placing a limit on how far your product can go. If you want to really grow your recruiting business, you need to connect with people that haven’t yet experienced your brilliant work.
But there’s another problem: Creating high quality marketing is hard work.
As you can imagine, creating content takes time – a lot of it. And even if you had room in your schedule (which you don’t) you might not have the writing skills necessary to produce polished materials. Or maybe you’re a great writer who writes kind of slowly. You sit down to write one small thing and, poof! Thirty minutes disappear as you work to think up a concept and then research, write, and edit it. Sometimes this work is kind of fun, but mostly it’s just a headache.
When it comes to creating great marketing, you have a few options
Since you now understand the value in publishing content, it’s important to walk through the different ways to create it. Here are some options to consider:
Option # 1 – You can hire a freelance writer.
This is probably the most attractive option. With gig services like Fiver and Upwork, you could find someone to write your marketing for you, or maybe you already know a writer. The problem is that you can’t be sure they understand the business of recruiting. The even bigger problem is that you’re going to spend a lot of money. Hiring a freelance writer means you have to be comfortable dropping $750-$3,500 for high quality content each month.
Option # 2 – You can hire an agency.
This is a good option for a larger recruiting business. But again, the cost is a bit staggering. If you work with a recruitment agency, you’re probably going to spend anywhere from $3,500-$5,500 per month on the volume of content you need to stand out on LinkedIn. Plus, you still need to work with the agency by giving them direction, reviewing work in progress, and maintaining a dialogue with the account manager. Suddenly, this isn’t saving that much time.
Option # 3 – You can give it to your assistant.
Why not? Your assistant can just do it. The problem with this is that your assistant might be too junior to really understand the industry, making their content hollow or inaccurate. Plus, their writing skills might not be reliable. This option is economical, but you risk getting shoddy posts.
Option # 4 – You can hire an intern.
Interns usually know social media very well. Plus they’re cheap. Problem solved! Right? Well, not really. Interns will not know the industry. And even if you get lucky with your intern hire, they’re eventually going to find an actual job. Bottom line: they’re a temporary solution, and after they leave you’ll find yourself training new interns on the same material. Over and over again…
Option # 5 – You can do it yourself.
You’re a hard worker with an entrepreneurial mindset. You can pull this off, right? Working for yourself is free, and you can rely on yourself to deliver results. But as you know all too well, there’s more to it than that. The time spent researching, writing, editing, and proofing your posts eats up your schedule. Is this really sustainable? Should you be spending 5-10 hours each month churning out your own content?
After reading the options above, most recruiters come to the same conclusion. They look themselves in the proverbial mirror and say “I’m going to make the commitment to publishing content, and I’m going to do it on my own.”
They treat it like a New Years resolution – which is to say, they have trouble sticking with it. They start strong. But soon that discipline falls apart. Like other resolutions, the demands of everyday professional life undermine their resolve.
Let’s be honest: you’ve already made this commitment to yourself a couple times, and you could never quite sustain it. Believe me, we get it. We know this stuff isn’t easy.
What if there was a shortcut?
When we started the Recruiting Content Treasure Chest, we did so because we realized the five options above just weren’t enough. After hearing our clients tell us over and over that they were “stuck” trying to market themselves in a cost effective way, we wanted to help them out. And we did.
The Recruiting Treasure Chest. Major Impact. Minor Effort.
The Treasure chest contains ghostwritten content exclusively for recruiters. Our content creators, who have expertise in recruitment, create 40 pieces of content for you each month. You decide what you post. Each post contains personalized information about you and your business.
You provide us with content ideas, or we brainstorm content ideas. We use AI to generate the post, and then a human editor makes changes.
The 26 Characters team sources recruiting news & stories and brainstorms ideas to provide posts to multiple clients. Each post is written by a human and then customized by AI based on your recruiting profile and writing style.
5 - 10 Custom LinkedIn Posts
(AI Written with Human Edits)
40 Personalized LinkedIn Posts
(Human Written with AI Edits)
These interesting and aesthetically pleasing tiles will grab the attention of people scrolling through their feed and give them something to consider. Tiles feature inspirational quotes and information that will motivate the reader and let them know you are an ambitious professional.
Featuring news and commentary specific to talent acquisition, these newsletters help you keep in touch with the people that keep your business moving. With one newsletter for your clients and one for your candidates, you can be sure you’re attending to everyone’s needs.
30 Branded LinkedIn Tiles
2 Email Newsletters
What is it? Well, if I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise! This piece of bonus content is designed to give your marketing a little something special each month. In the past, these surprises have ranged from LinkedIn profile refreshes, to candidate interviewing kits which increase the chances of you placing someone.
Give your website an extra visibility boost. Send us the topic, audience, and any other details you want to include, and we'll send you a blog post of up to 1,200 words.
1 Monthly Bonus Surprise
1 AI Written Website Blog Post
What Topics are Covered in the 40 LinkedIn Texts Posts?
Motivational & Inspirational (5)
These posts turn common wisdom into inspirational content that will motivate your clients and recruiters. Aside from the obvious benefits of this motivation, these posts subtly let your readers know that you are driven to deliver results.
In Season (5)
These are posts relevant to holidays and other events to help you join the conversation. Time-specific posts to recognize the occasion will keep your content timely and engaging.
Employment News & Trends (10)
These posts cover the most essential and up-to-date information impacting both recruiters and the people they work with. Demonstrating that you are keyed into this news lets clients and candidates know your expertise can be trusted.
Recruiter Opinions & Polls (10)
These are posts which take a point of view on HR-relevant
subject matter or current business news. These posts and polls are focused on sharing or soliciting opinions
Helping Clients: Sales Pitch (5)
These posts are focused on how you can help clients with your services. They act as miniature sales pitches, presenting an argument about how you could help them solve their staffing problems without being too pushy.
Helping Candidates (5)
These posts are focused on how you can help candidates find jobs they love. They cover the fundamental benefits that come with working with recruiters in order to sway potential candidates that might be on the fence.
Interested in Saving More Time? Copy. Paste. Done.
Publish the content directly into LinkedIn or use a social media scheduling tool. Hootsuite offers a free version that allows you to schedule up to 30 posts at a time. It's the ultimate "set it and forget it"!
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