Recruitment Marketing: Using Marketing Techniques For Hiring

If your company is struggling with talent acquisition—and these days, whose isn’t?—it’s time to consider recruitment marketing.

Recruitment marketing is among the most-promising hiring and recruiting strategies around right now—which is why it’s becoming increasingly popular with employers. 

What is recruitment marketing, exactly?

Recruitment marketing is the practice of applying time-tested marketing strategies to the talent acquisition process. 

Recruitment marketing involves attracting potential candidates the same way businesses attract customers: by learning about their wants, crafting their offers to appeal to them, and reaching out to them via marketing techniques, like targeted advertising, employer branding, and analytics. 

Recruitment marketing has only been around for a decade, so employers and recruiters are still exploring its capabilities. 

Key Components of Recruitment Marketing

Chances are, you’re an HR pro, not a marketing pro. No worries: you’re also a consumer—and, as such, know much more about marketing than you may think. Consider these three core components of recruitment marketing.   

Targeted Talent Acquisition

Think about how retailers study their target customers, learning their buying habits so they can offer them just what they want. Well, targeted talent acquisition works the same way. 

The more you know about your ideal candidate, the more directly and authentically you can appeal to them in job posts and communications. And the more you know about their job-seeking habits, the more effectively you can reach them—simply by meeting them on their turf.

Effective Employer Branding 

A company’s brand is its image—i.e., the qualities that consumers associate with its name, whether quality, product innovation, etc. Similarly, when you engage in employer branding, you’re building an image designed to appeal to target candidates—whether it’s your warm company culture or employee-centric philosophy. 

No, burnishing your employer brand doesn’t happen overnight. But it starts by identifying your “selling points,” building on them, and broadcasting them.

Leveraging the Recruitment Funnel

A sales funnel defines the journey that consumers take when making buying decisions. Likewise, the recruitment funnel represents the stages candidates go through seeking employment, which include:

• Awareness – the candidate becomes aware of the employer brand and/or a job opportunity
• Engagement – the candidate becomes interested in the employer/opportunity
• Consideration – the candidate’s interest intensifies
• Application - the candidate acts on their interest by applying for the job
• Interview – the candidate navigates the interview process
• Offer – the candidate receives/accepts a job offer from the employer
• Hire – the candidate is hired!  

You’re already familiar with the latter stages of the recruitment funnel but focusing on those early stages will allow you to finetune your recruitment marketing strategies.

Crafting Effective Recruitment Strategies

With that in mind, here are some hiring and recruiting strategies you can also put to work for your organization.

Optimize Job Marketing

Job marketing means creating enticing job listings and communications as well as distributing them through the most effective channels. It often includes optimizing job descriptions, using relevant keywords, and posting regularly on job boards and social media platforms. The point is to be strategic in how you communicate with candidates.

Develop a Compelling Employer Value Proposition

An employer value proposition is the unique set of benefits an organization offers employees—i.e., the value they receive in return for working there. Crafting a compelling employer value proposition involves understanding candidates’ wants and needs and aligning the benefits you offer accordingly. A robust employer value proposition doesn’t just attract candidates, but helps to retain them.

Leverage Data and Analytics

Data-driven decision-making is crucial in recruitment marketing. For example, analytics can be used to monitor the effectiveness of various job boards, candidate engagement on social media, and even the conversion rates at each stage of your recruitment funnel. In short, analytics can help you measure and refine the effectiveness of your recruitment strategies.

Using the Latest Innovations in Recruitment

Technological innovation is also driving hiring and recruitment strategies. For example, some HR software uses artificial intelligence (AI) to screen resumes, while chatbots are automating candidates’ interactions with employers. In addition, employers are using technology to not only make data-driven hiring decisions but also predict future talent needs, making recruitment more proactive.

Embracing Recruitment Marketing for a Successful Future

You don’t need to be a marketing whiz to use recruitment marketing techniques—any more than you need to be a tech whiz to use Namely’s user-friendly recruiting software. For more tips on attracting top talent, download our ebook, The Power of a Positive Candidate Experience.

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