Green lights and red flags in recruitment marketing

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It has been established a long time ago that content marketing is one of the best ways of growing your readership and, as a result, persuading more people to become your customers. However, high-quality content can also be used for another purpose. Just like you would rely on it to turn your audience members into prospects or customers, you can also use it to target some of the best talents in your field and convince them to join your company, regardless of whether they are actively looking for a job or not.

This is also known as recruitment marketing. To help you navigate its waters, we have prepared a list of dos and don’ts of recruitment marketing, so keep on reading.

Green Lights

1. Have a Strategy

While you are using content in both cases to target the people you want, recruitment marketing does differs from content marketing in some aspects. In both cases, however, you do need a well thought-out strategy. 

"While you can be a bit broader when trying to engage your target audience with content marketing, when it comes to recruitment marketing, you need to have a very clear idea about what kind of talent your company needs, what sort of skills and knowledge they need to have, as well as personal skills, so they can fit in with the rest of the team." - Margaret O. Bennett, Senior HR Manager at CareersBooster.

2. Produce Exceptional Content

In this case, you are using compelling content to show the potential recruiters what your company is all about. By introducing them to its culture, as well as all the benefits they would enjoy by working for you, you are helping them realize why it’s better for them to join your company than stay at their current job. Whereas content marketing is geared more toward promoting your product, recruitment marketing is aimed at introducing your company to top talent out there.

3. Rely on Your Current Employees

There is no way for you to get into the minds of the people are trying to recruit via recruitment marketing. But, you can pick your employee’s brains. Why would you want to do that? Having your employee provide you with an insight from a worker’s perspective can help you tweak your content to make it more appealing. Also, this sort of content creates an unparalleled level of transparency, which is not a usual practice among companies, and which should provide you with a competitive edge.

Red Flags

1. Not Posting Specific and Interesting Job Descriptions

Simply posting a list of requirements a potential employee for your company needs to have is not only dry and boring, but it’s also all about you and your company. Those considering joining your company need to be able to see what’s in it for them. They want to know what an average day at the workplace would look like, what sort of role they would be required to fill, and what sort of job atmosphere and company culture your business is trying to cultivate.

2. Your Application Procedure Is Overly Long or Complex

Since you are trying to recruit top talent to join your company, you need to realize that they are also constantly being courted by lots of other businesses. One of the things that will dissuade them from choosing your is an overly convoluted or complicated application process. Instead of suffering it, they will most likely go somewhere else. So, once you have them hooked, make it as easy as possible for them to apply. They should also be able to apply via their mobile devices.

3. Failing to Follow Up with Them

After getting some of the best employees out there interested in your company, you’re not always going to wind up hiring them. You may find your employee through other channels, but since they have invested their time and effort to learn more about your business, the least you can do is reciprocate. Don’t just send them an automated response. If they did the same, you would most likely ignore their application. By letting them know personally about the situation, you are not shutting that door forever.

Conclusion

While not exactly the same as content marketing, recruitment marketing is not that much more complicated. All you have to do is create content that is personable and informative, and approach the problem from an employee’s point of view.