Today more than ever, recruitment agencies need to enlist relevant and effective strategies. These strategies are a pivotal aspect in deploying and retaining quality talents, which will contribute significantly to a company’s success.

If you think about it, marketing and recruitment have some obvious similarities. In both of these fields, you need to scale and know your target audience, be visible, gain the interest of your audience, sell brand messages and convert regularly.It’s safe to say that a number of marketing strategies or tactics are applicable to recruitment – in fact, headhunters are probably already using them without even realising it.

Here are five key campaigns that can be plucked from marketing and effectively applied in recruitment:

1. Referral

A headhunter normally gets referrals from existing or former employees. The great thing about referral marketing is that it’s fast and cheap. Since they already have an idea of your company and  how it operates, referrals tend to stay longer than new hires. While this isn’t always the case, referral strategy is still helpful in finding qualified applicants to fill in empty positions quickly.

2. Social media

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are saturated with users from all kinds of fascinating industry backgrounds. As such, you’ll find your typical recruiter oftenusing various social mediachannels to scout out their next talent. Social sites makes it easy to track life events and/or employment data. Recruiters can then refine their searches to group sets of candidates. You can use these programs to find good talents per open position available.

3. Content

Content marketing is the creation and distribution of valuable and relevant content, which aims to attract an audience and generate more sales. In recruitment, content marketing is extremely useful in curating and pinpointing a talent pool because it can take on a variety of forms, such as blogs, infographics and videos. Clean, well-written content is helpful in providing information as well as successfully engaging with an audience and showcasing your brand’s thought leadership.

4. Brand

The term ‘brand’ goes far beyond just the logo or service a company offers. ‘Brand’ is the company itself – it’s the organisation’s identity. Therefore brand marketing is crucial to development and expansion. In the same way, a recruitment agency is the representation of a firm’s brand. So ask yourself, does your HR system send a strong and positive brand message to potential prospects?

5. Testimonials

In marketing, professionals occasionally interview a handful of people who have tried their brand and were satisfied. Good testimonials or reviews are great for a company because they give potential clients, investors and hires a credible reason to partner with the firm. For recruitment online, it’s easier to accumulate reviews since a variety of tools enable people to leave feedback on websites nowadays.

6. Paid

Paid marketing or advertising has a variety of approaches. In essence, one pays a certain platform in order to air or show the material provided by the firm. Similarly, recruiters use several programs or mediums to attract talents. One of the more advanced methods these days is what they call internet marketing, such as PPC (pay-per-click advertising).

7. Public relations

Public relations (or simply ‘PR’) is the business of generating awareness of a brand or product – for instance, holding press conferences. Some recruitment companies engage with this strategy by hosting or participating in job fairs to draw in fresh talents. One of the core benefits of job fairs is thatthey tend to attract hordes of people who are likely to pass information about companies and job opportunities on to their friends. The downside is that you are up against plenty of competition, so it’s important to find ways to make your company stand out.

Other marketing strategies that are popular today include email, viral, outbound, freebie and newsletter campaigns. Which marketing strategy do you find yourself relating most to? Both direct recruitment and online recruitment can benefit from old and new marketing tactics. The key is in identifying which campaign works best for your organisation. Consider mixing a few strategies from the list above.

You could also go completely digital if you think your recruitment team is savvy enough to handle digital marketing tools and HRIS software. After all, almost everyone has a social media account these days,while plenty of job-seekers resort to their mobile phones to apply for jobs. Keep up with the trends, establish your brand, and deliver optimal customer service. You’ll surely find the best talent for your company. For more information on career and recruitment, feel free to contact us at one of our offices in the Contact Us page.