I know you know it's supposed to work, but how do we make it work for you?
If you're like most staffing agency marketing leaders, you've been playing your hand at blogging. However, most blogs I see from companies like yours are geared toward candidates, not sales, and that typically doesn't sit well with upper management.
So, here are 6 ways you can leverage your blog for landing job orders instead of bored job applicants.
It may require changing a thing or two... or starting something completely new:
I worked in staffing for more than half a decade fulfilling a wide variety of roles, from temp recruiter to executive recruiter to account executive to branch manager. I always thought it was funny how resistant people could be to change.
However, as the landscape for cold-calling becomes even more saturated with competitors deploying the exact same sales model as your company, I can't imagine that you're not dealing with pressure to participate more in their success.
You're probably hearing about it a lot.
The reality is, you can help, and your impact can be both great and measurable. And blogging is where you can make a HUGE splash if you're positioning it a certain way.
Step 1: Let's talk about why we blog to begin with
- Attract website visitors
- Generate leads
- Thought leadership
We can't measure thought leadership, and it's not a serious goal, especially if left on its own. But you can measure website visitors and first-touch attribution for leads generated.
If you approach your blogging with the first two in mind, thought leadership should happen automatically.
Step 2: Set up your Lead Generation mechanisms
Don't just toss your blog out into the void with no plan beyond viewership. Offer something of value for taking the time to read your post.
And before you check this box, let me preface this by saying that "get a free consultation" or "find your next employee through us" don't count. Those are not offers. Those are advertisements. It's not to say that you shouldn't have something like that posted from time to time, but I wouldn't make it my go-to.
Offer something of value that mirrors the tone and purpose of the blog post. And don't forget to gate it. That's key. Make sure people have to fill out a form in order to receive it.
Here are a handful of ideas we've deployed for other staffing agencies that worked really well:
- Salary guide (Robert Half now offers theirs this way)
- Behavioral interview template
- Overtime cost calculator
- Vendor management tool
You can also try things that are industry or job category-specific.
Step 3: Come Up With Strong Blog Ideas
Start by thinking about the questions your perfect buyers are asking online. It's good to plug phrases you come up with into a marketing software that measures SEO value. Match words that get traffic but aren't too difficult to compete for with your value propositions and gated content offers.
Build a list of your favorite ideas, creating titles around high-value keywords, and just dive in!
This is about educating your prospective & existing customers along with your best recruits about things they care about and conveniently relate to your business.
Please - don't turn this into an ad platform or showcase for your philanthropic adventures. There are more appropriate places for those types of stories, like a news feed and social media channels.
Step 4: Make Them Relevant to YOUR Agency!
Do you have an event coming up you want to promote? Then blog about topics that align with your SEO strategy but also highlight some of the key ideas related to what you're trying to do.
For example if you have a networking cocktail event coming up, or you're speaking at or attending a conference, focus on topics that illustrate why those events are important. Afterward, spread out some blogs that get granular on what took place at the event, and don't forget to use the appropriate hashtags when distributing on social media.
Maybe you don't have an event and still want to attract interest from a particular client-group. You're in staffing. Your business is to connect with people and understand their business, so you can be successful in your candidate placements. Use that knowledge, and write about ailments you know they're experiencing that you can solve.
Show them that you understand them, and don't shy away from asking them to respond.
Step 5: Make them look nice
Don't underestimate the power of a good stock photo or series of them. Look at it as a marketing investment. I personally steer clear of the free websites because the best photos are used by everybody, and they are few and far between. Originals are definitely the best way to go, but they are usually cost and time-prohibitive.
Embed some photos and make sure they have alt text properly marked up to help beef up your SEO. Not sure what I mean? Hover your mouse above Grandpa Joe (pictured above), and you'll see what Google is scraping and including in their results.
Step 6: Distribute
Share them on Linkedin, Google+, Twitter, and Facebook. Try not to overload us, please. Each platform is different, and you'll want to approach them accordingly, but make sure you provide the opportunity for the public to see and share them once they are published. Social media management is a completely separate beast, and one I highly recommend you get yourself acquainted with. This is about instilling bigger picture marketing concepts to get the most out of your time or financial investment.
My prospects typically come one of two ways:
- Organic search queries that find my blogs posted on social media
- Social Media outlets that distribute my blogs that find their ways in people's email inboxes (like when LinkedIn sends group forum update emails highlighting new discussion threads - create a discussion around your blog post in the right forum at the right time, and watch out!)
Have clear goals; make a plan; get to work; stick to it; reach your goals; be happy.
Blogging with purpose means having clarity in your vision and objectives, a path for qualifying and converting your followers into leads, attracting an audience, and being consistent. One post isn't going to cut it, so be prepared to churn out one or two a week on your own sweat, or hire a freelancer.
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