Business is all about competition among companies selling a similar product. It’s no different in recruiting. You have to stay ahead of the competition to snag the prospects that you want. Marketing plays a key role in beating out the competition, even though it may not be the way we typically think about a job search. So what are some key parts of an excellent marketing strategy and how can we apply them to recruiting?

Market Research

If you want to take your recruiting to the next level through marketing, you will need to understand who your competitors are. Conduct in-depth market research to identify who they are, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Perhaps your competitors are all within a local region, or an industry, or are more specific to the types of roles that are open.

After your research, figure out the gaps that your competitors are m

issing and your applicants need, then pursue them. Do you offer better benefits? Are you closer to public transit? Are you closer to a popular university? Often times recruiters miss a big opportunity by failing to mention some of the less-known benefits of working for their company.  

Excellent Website

The current generation relies on digital means to research and make purchasing decisions. For this reason, it is crucial for your business to have a user-friendly and attractive website. Make your careers page easy to find, and keep it full of valuable information. A site with these qualities shows that you’re a serious business, draws in applicants, and it improves their experience when in the recruiting process.

Use your website to make it clear what sets you apart from your competitors. Research your competitors’ sites and find a way to be better. If your competitors have better websites than you, you will be at a disadvantage.

Own Your Online Presence

Another way to draw in applicants is to take advantage of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. When using social media, create a community and a conversation about your products, your business and make it cool to be part of that community. Show your applicants that your business is made up of people that care about what they do, rather than just posting photos of your products or your logo. Give the members of your company a face and an identity and it will get prospects excited. Follow the conversation on your social channel and a

ddress comments and questions in a positive and professional manner. People want to work with people! Show them you’re people, not robots.

Statistics show that visual content generates 50% likes when compared to plain content. It also increases click-through. Use video and images to take advantage of this trend. Create a video about a typical Wednesday afternoon in the office. Interview your CEO or some team leads. Take advantage of the fact that many viewers watch video without sound; use closed captioning services for videos to make your content stand out. If you’re trying to attract applicants for a multilingual position, use subtitling services instead.

Useful Blogging

Maintaining a blog can position your business as the subject matter expert in your industry. Who doesn’t want to work for the expert in the field? To achieve this, make sure that your content is useful, timely and well-written. If you don’t want to manage a blog on your own site, partner with other influential voices and blogs that reach your target audience.

Know Your Limitations

Never ignore your strengths and or weaknesses when developing your marketing strategy for recruiting. Just because a marketing trend works well for someone else or seems cool and cutting-edge doesn’t mean it will work for your process. Take stock of what makes you different and better, and go be different and better. Don’t force a recruiting strategy because it “should work.” Test things out until something does work.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a good recruiting strategy. It’s a learning process but it will pay off if you take the time to chase down the results that you’re looking for. Once you get it right, you’ll wonder why you ever doubted yourself.