On the hunt for top talent? Recruitment content marketing helps you cut through the noise and show candidates why you're the employer for them. Learn the 7 secrets to successful recruitment marketing here.

1. 7 steps
to recruitment
content marketing
success

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Recruiting in 2016
Candidates have become more discerning.
They’re more likely to research potential employers to
assess company culture and levels of staff satisfaction.

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Did you know…
* Source: Software Advice
think employers
don’t do a good job
of reinforcing why
their companies are a
good place to work*.
of job seekers
said they would
accept a lower salary
if the employer
created a great
impression through
the hiring process.
68%
29%
but

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Competition
is fierce
Companies need to woo potential employees…

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Recruitment meets marketing
Many organisations are using traditional marketing
tactics to showcase their culture and attract the
best and brightest…

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Introducing...
recruitment content marketing

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Definition of content marketing
Content marketing is the marketing and business process
for creating and distributing relevant and valuable
content to attract, acquire and engage a clearly defined
and understood target audience – with the objective of
driving profitable customer action.
The Content Marketing Association

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Recruitment content marketing is the business process
for creating and distributing relevant and valuable
content to attract, acquire and engage clearly defined
and understood candidates – with the objective of
developing a talented workforce.
OUR Definition of recruitment content marketing

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The 7
steps...

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step 1

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Develop your strategy
All successful marketing starts with a clear strategy.
This is your long term vision, taking into account your
company’s distinct characteristics and challenges.
Tactics are your short term tools for getting to your
destination. We’ll come to those later.
Remember,strategy isn’t tactics.

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Develop your recruitment marketing strategy
Where are you now in terms of your recruitment and where would you like to be?
How do you think you might go about getting there?
Does anything need to change in order to achieve that position?
Do you have clear company values?
How will you ensure they shine through?
What’s your employee value proposition (EVP)?
Strategic questions to consider...

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step 2

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Set clear KPIs
Web traffic to your careers site / join us page
Bounce rate on your careers site / join us page
Pathways through your careers content
Cost per hire
Length of time to fill positions
Number of applications
Quality of applications
Diversity of applications
Think about what you will need to measure in order to
understand if your strategy has been successful...

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step 3

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Secure stakeholder buy in
Budget holders are often stuck in their ways when it comes to recruitment…
…you need to convince them there’s a better way.

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Secure stakeholder buy in
Do your research and present stakeholders with facts to support your case.
Look at what your competitors are doing.
Are they ahead of the game, or can you steal a head start?
Anticipate objections to a recruitment content strategy and prepare a
response. Visit howtoconvinceyourboss.com for inspiration.
Start small – suggest a trial with a few key hires.
Once you have buy-in, track and measure results and report
successes far and wide.
How to get important stakeholders on your side...

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step 4

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Create candidate personas
This is a classic marketing technique where you build up a profile of the kind
of person you’re targeting to help direct your communications activity.
Start by speaking to line managers and those in similar roles to get
first hand insights into the kind of person who’s right for the job, then
fill any knowledge gaps with desk-based research.

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Questions to consider
Why might they be interested in this job – what are their needs and what
benefits does this role offer?
What are their values – do they match your company values?
What kind of personality is likely to suit the role in question?
What do they read, watch, listen to, engage with?
What messages and tone will attract their attention – do they want to be
informed or entertained?
Remember, these things may vary depending on their
age, gender and level of experience so you may need
to create sub-personas.

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step 5

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Produce a variety of content
Careers sites and join us pages
Social channels
Employer brand videos
Job advert videos
Blogs
Jobographics
Job profiles
Q&As
Slideshares
Podcasts
Different people respond to different types of content.
Here are a few things to try...

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step 6

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Amplify, amplify, amplify
Promote your content across relevant channels, informed by your candidate personas.
Different social networks are suited to different audiences.
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
Twitter
18 to 29-year-olds 30 to 49-year-olds 50 to 64-year-olds
87% 73% 63%
53%
23%
37%
25%
31%
25%
11%
30%
12%
You’ll find loads more social demographics here.
Remember, direct contact from an employer
is more valuable than from a recruiter.

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Consider paid promotion
Organic reach on social media is declining.
Content posted on your corporate social channels is being seen by fewer people.
Time to consider social media advertising to boost those views.

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step 7

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Get employees to tell your story
Need convincing?
Salesforce.com – rated by LinkedIn as one of the top 10 most in
demand companies to work for in 2014 – saw a 60% increase in
employee referrals after CEO Marc Benioff asked employees to
help promote high-priority roles on their social networks.
Your employees’ connections are likely to be the sort of
people you’re looking for.
Your staff are living the story you’re trying to tell so the message
will be more personal and credible.
People are more responsive to content shared by people than brands.
Reasons to ask your employees to share your content...

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A few helpful tools
You might want to use an employee advocacy tool that facilitates the sharing
of your content across large numbers of employees.
It’s wise to provide your staff with the content you want them to share and
guidelines on how to do it. This doesn’t have to be prescriptive, but you need to
let them know what you’re trying to do and the message you want to get out.
Also check out employee review site Glassdoor to find out what people are
saying about your company.

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and
finally...

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It’s a marathon not a sprint
It’s competitive out there, but it’s possible to cut through
the noise and reach the candidates you want.
Successful content marketing takes time.
With a clear strategy and trackable goals it’s possible
to adapt and do more of what works to attract quality
candidates.

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