Brands – we love them. Take my 15 yr old son – doesn't refer to his trainers – he refers to his Nikes My partner will go out to buy a new pair of levis – not jeans If we want to look something up on the internet we are told to ‘google it’ Even Starbucks has now dropped the coffee from its logo as it wants to be a brand that becomes known for other things And in the recruitment sector what are the brands that spring to mind – Adecco; Micheal Page ..and of course Randstad!! But what all these brands have in common are that they are large often global organisations- with large global marketing campaigns to match. But what if you are an SME or a start up – or a new division with a limited budget – what are the smaller things you can do to help build brand awareness
So lets start at the beginning – why do you even need a brand Trust and reputation – human nature is to gravitate towards names we recognise (Use Starbucks experience) Attraction – if you want to attract the best people to work for you – then at the very least you need to be on their radar Exit – what’s the long term aim – trade sale, flotation, MBO – if it is then again – you need a brand
So how can PR help build a brand If you are regularly appearing in the press talking about things you can sensibly be talking about – trends/skill shortages/what’s driving them/recruitment and retention challenges – the impact of legislation on hiring practices If you have an opinion – voice it Press coverage is a great tool to use in pitches – shows your views are sought after Much more impactful – and has more credibility than brochures/websites
Before we talk about just how you go about doing that lets dispel a few myths about dealing with the press: Lunch - most journos these days are freelancers – time short – working from home – want to get paid and move onto next story. That's not to say that it doesn’t help to build up relationships but this will happen naturally if you can provide them with material that will make it easier for them to do their jobs. A journo may regard you as their best friend but cant or wont write about you if you have nothing useful to say!
You’ll just as likely get a better result by picking up the phone and having some good pics Exciting is great but far more important is interesting, useful, insightful and newsworthy I’ll come back to that one!!
So How do you go about it: Find out who the business editors are on your local papers – websites can tell you Research your key industry press – what do your candidates and clients read – who are the news editors. Maybe as something as simple as you exist – have your finger on pulse in relevant market/sector/location and therefore can offer comment whenever they are looking for something – better to have something concrete! Media likes surveys – news and are views of group rather than an individual Don’t need to be huge samples – reason to call your clients – comments can be anonymous. Ageism/sexism examples Piggybacking – what's going on in the news that you could piggyback – apprentice; budget; jargon Human Interest – Interesting placements – good way to get your clients PR as well – bungee. Bob Hoskins Build into team meeting. Trends/predictions – market report Announcements – good for rec press as employer of choice – growth/expansion/new offices/new appts Box clever – when are the big guys putting out their surveys – time yours to coincide – often you can get in on the coat tails
Lets look at an example
Over next three moths Are you hiring /Are you firing/are you planning to hire/are you planning to fire Carried out by own consultants – great reason to pick up the phone – clients get copy of report at end We analyse data – write a narrative around results Tailored press releases for each country – each office gets how to guide – how to approach the press – keeps costs down – no expensive wire services
Now currently doing tenth edition – journos now ring up to see when next edition out – as do clients Lots of coverage including TV – released at same time as manpower – hence FT
Results speak for themselves – ROI is obvious
But what about other elements of PR for building your brand – PR is about using all the channels at your disposal– not just the press Newsletters – you all have databases – keeping in touch on a regular basis – good way of reviving past business. Focus on material of interest to the reader. Awards – and I dont just mean thw annual boozefest at the Recruiter awards but Sunday Times Fast Track; Local Business Awards; Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year CBI Growing Business Awards National Business Awards ( orange) - Growth strategy award; Entrepreneur of Year; National Training Awards And what about your own people – easy when you are small but as you grow have a system in place to share good news with your own people – internal newsletter/intranet etc – doesn;t have to be expensive – think about a close LI group as an alternative to an intranet
And no presentation on PR and branding would be complete without reference to this – I could do whole presentation but just a few points
Visibility – have you got a co page – is it updated Look at your profile – and those of all your employees – parts of that are incredibly seo friendly – has it got all the right keyword in it - pr for recruiters Status update – Google loves refreshed content Use the applications to incorporate your blog if you have one – again refreshed content Groups – great way of very quickly expanding your network and therefore your brand visibility – you can send a message to group members just like 1 st degree connections
Blogging is big – again great for seo – remember that example of pr for recruiters – refreshed content Get clients to guest blog Flag up posts to journos – WIT example E-mail sign off/twitter/LI and FB
Agreat way to build brand loyalty – look at at the way big brands are building talent pipelines using them. ELA – multilingual recruiter – huge increase in website traffic 1200 followers – invisible before – now we can interact
If you have never used it then you probably wont know what I’m on about and it could take up a whole new presentation but.... Its a good way of showing and sharing your knowledge – which in turn promotes your brand. It’s an invaluable monitoring tool for finding out what is being said about you, your sector, your competitors, your clients. ( use nspcc) If someone says something bad about you – it can be all over twitter in seconds ( alex epstein) but if you know about it you can do something aiout it ( BA)
But think about all channels – press/marketing collateral/awards/and web 2.0 Drip feed sustained approach is much better than a big splash and then nothing for 9 months Social media is not a fad – get with the programme – or get left behind. That’s not to say it cant be a distraction – you just need a strategy.
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