by www.TalentManagementTech.com Editor

Human capital software and services firms help their clients to recruit employees and manage various aspects of their employee lifecycle, but who helps those firms with the marketing strategies that help them find their clients? Furthermore, who helps those human capital software and services firms find marketing professionals that have both industry experience and serious marketing chops?

These are good questions, and companies that fulfill these needs require a rare combination of industry savvy and strategic ability. Starr Tincup is one such firm.

Privately held, Starr Tincup is a boutique service provider with about 20 employees, all of whom work out of a loft in Fort Worth, Texas. The Dallas Business Journal recently named the company to its "Best Places to Work." Co-founders Bret Starr and William Tincup started the firm in 2000. Starr, a tri-athlete and member of the Fort Worth Opera Board, brought to the firm expertise gained from tours of duty at talent management firms such as a Deploy Solutions, a provider—since acquired by Kronos—of recruiting, hiring and retention software to large companies. Tincup, himself the holder of three degrees, was previously vice president of operations at a firm that helps clients develop Internet strategies.

Starr and Tincup originally founded their boutique to help human capital solutions vendors develop effective marketing strategies and tactics. Since then, they have added services that assist these clients with related needs such as media planning and media sourcing. A new area of focus has been to connect clients with the industry-experienced marketing talent they need in order to develop marketing strategy and execute marketing tactics. Drawing on a decade of experience in recruiting top talent at all levels, Elizabeth Lalli-Reese heads this new initiative for Starr Tincup. "Lalli" previously held HR and staffing roles such as director of operations for a legal staffing firm, senior manager of talent acquisition, and executive recruiter for a financial services firm. Recipient of the Professional of Human Resources (PHR) designation in the spring of 2007, Lalli brings to Starr Tincup the kind of experience necessary to recruit top-tier talent for the company's clients.

"Our staffing service was conceived as an extension of our strategic marketing services," says Starr. "We frequently identify gaps in marketing execution with our clients that are best filled with a new hire who has industry experience and relevant marketing super powers."

Emerging firms comprise the largest contingent of Starr Tincup's clients. Companies in this stage of development are driving revenue and, typically, obtaining venture capital. Their marketing departments typically comprise only a few people who benefit not only from Starr Tincup's strategic input, but also may need the horsepower of additional staff.

"We hear a great deal of chatter in the talent management marketplace about providing end-to-end solutions for those with human capital needs," says Brent Skinner, editor in chief of TalentManagementTech.com. "But we rarely learn of a firm with the vision and smarts to provide an end-to-end solution—including talent placement—for talent management firms themselves. In keeping with its formidable knack for marketing, Starr Tincup has positioned itself as the go-to marketing solutions provider for human capital firms everywhere."

Because the company works within a well-connected niche market space, Starr Tincup does not publish its client list. The boutique is well aware of talent management firms' need for confidentiality and knows that its own reputation would quickly suffer irreparable damage if the company were to share client-specific information across the entire clientele. "Confidentiality is one of the most important tenants of our business," says Tincup. "If we talked about the work we were doing for our clients (both current and historic), we would be out of business within a month. Our clients’ secrets are very important to them, and they are equally important to us."

More than 70 companies in the talent management technology and services marketplace have called themselves clients of Starr Tincup, whose website, built on the Ning social networking platform, reflects the company's devotion to the very latest in Web 2.0 marketing strategies and techniques.

"There is no company in the US, nay, the world, that has more experience creating marketing strategies that resonate with human capital buyers than Starr Tincup," says Tincup. "We know more about what works (and, what doesn’t work) for human capital software and services firms than anyone else. If you see a firm and you say to yourself, 'Man, those guys have their marketing right'—that’s probably our work."

About Starr Tincup
Starr Tincup (www.starrtincup.com) is a marketing firm for companies who sell human capital solutions. The company offers marketing strategy, marketing execution, media sourcing and staffing services. Unlike general agencies, Starr Tincup is all about human capital—the firm has worked with hundreds of companies in the space. Founded in 2000, Starr Tincup is located in Fort Worth, Texas. Its mission is "to innovate marketing in the human capital solutions market segment."