What is inbound marketing for recruitment?
Well, it’s a lot like inbound marketing for sales, but you’re looking to attract talent instead of customers. You can define it this way:
Using all channels to create a compelling and consistent brand message to attract talent.
In this first part of Inbound Marketing for Recruitment we’re going to look at three key components for developing your strategy. You need to consider your Employee Value Proposition (EVP), determine your goals, and develop your personas.
Develop Your EVP – Employee Value Proposition
Do you know what sets you apart as an employer? Do you have a clear understanding of why people want to work for you? If so, great! That’s your Employee Value Proposition. If you answered “no” to those questions, then you have a little homework to do.
Wikipedia defines EVP this way:
Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is the balance of the rewards and benefits that are received by employees in return for their performance at the workplace. Organizations generally develop an EVP to provide a consistent platform for employer brand communication and experience management.
What are the rewards and benefits you offer as an employer? Some are concrete and easy to see such as retirement plans and paid vacation. Other benefits might not be spelled out in the personnel handbook. A culture that includes frequent team lunches at the local Mexican restaurant may very well be part of your EVP. Do you offer flexible hours? The opportunity to work remotely? These can be powerful components of your EVP. Ask your top performing employees what they value about working for your organization. Their answers can help you form your Employee Value Prop.
Determine Your Goals
There is a recruitment funnel similar to the sales funnel. At the top of the funnel, you are looking to attract a lot of candidates. A low quantity of applicants can indicate you need to set goals at the top of the funnel to simply attract more potential employees.
The middle of the funnel is where candidates are researching options and considering where to interview. A lack of quality candidates from which to select for interviews or candidates declining interviews indicates you have issues at the middle of the funnel. You’ll want to set goals that will boost your middle of funnel performance.
At the bottom of the funnel, your candidates are saying yes to your offer. Or they’re saying no to your offer which indicates an issue. The issue could be within your interview process, or it could be your recruitment marketing isn’t providing enough proof of your EVP. Goals at this stage need to address gaps in getting quality candidates to say yes.
At the retention stage of the recruitment funnel we need current employees to become brand ambassadors. Do your employees talk about your company online? Are they raving fans of the organization? If not, you need to set goals to develop a culture of brand ambassadors.
Which parts of your funnel are leaky? Set SMART goals to plug the leaks and recruit top talent. SMART Goals are:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Results-focused
Time-bound
If you’ve set SMART goals, you’ll know for certain if you have achieved success with your goals.
Develop Your Personas
All content in any kind of inbound marketing should speak directly to your personas. You need to know your ideal audience extremely well so you can market to them. What is important to know about your personas?
At the very least, consider these three things:
Demographics – age, gender, education, geographic location, work experience, etc.
Goals – what does your persona want to achieve? Hint: it’s probably more than just a paycheck. Is your persona looking for a job that offers a lot of learning opportunities? Does she want to work within a team or is she looking for more independence?
Obstacles – What will get in your ideal candidate’s way? What will cause him to fall out of your recruitment funnel? Does he have particular expectations of how the recruitment process will be handled? Will she want more company information than what you have available online? Are there negative reviews that reflect poorly on your company?
Where do you start with determining the answers to these questions around persona development? Start by interviewing your recent hires. Interview your A Players. Use their answers to build out your personas—your ideal candidates and employees.
These three strategy set up elements: your EVP, your goals, and your personas are just the first steps in developing a powerful inbound marketing strategy for recruitment. Next, you need to build your brand and your content strategy.
Inbound Marketing for Recruitment Part 2: Build Your Brand – will be available 3.1.2016
