Does the prospect of recruitment marketing immediately make you nervous? Does all that data confuse you? Maybe you prefer to work from behind the comfort of your desk, using traditional ways to source talent. There’s nothing wrong with relying on trusted methods but with today’s recruitment landscape, those tactics alone might not win you the results you’re hoping for. In today’s job market, your success as a recruiter or hiring manager depends on how well you can understand candidates and reel the right ones in. And recruitment marketing in one tool in your toolkit to help you do that more effectively.

What is recruitment marketing?

Modern recruitment marketing is the strategy by which recruiters implement systems that help the organization source, attract, screen, and engage job seekers to produce more qualified candidates for every job. Most recruitment marketing platforms assist human recruiters with ensuring there are less resumes to weed through so that time is spent on interviewing well-matched talent. But this is only half of the challenge.

Recruitment marketing uses the sales funnel approach to create awareness about the organization. This can attract passive candidates who may not otherwise know about your business. Employer brand building is facilitated through marketing and social media campaigns. As the brand becomes more recognizable, it peaks the interest of potential talent. With brand familiarity comes a deeper interest until an individual can picture himself working for your company and decides to submit an application. In order for this sales funnel to work, recruiters must understand how to get candidates through each part of it.

Read more: How do consumer branding and employer branding work together? 

Why is recruitment marketing so important?

According to Roy Maurer who contributes to The Society of Human Resource Management, “organizations are adopting consumer marketing strategies and tactics for recruiting to more effectively engage with potential talent and educate them on the employer and its job opportunities.” He adds that this is one of the fastest growing sectors of the HR technology market due to its strategic nature.

Companies are in a daily battle for talent, therefore they must use all available resources and tools to better attract candidates. Recruitment marketing helps to understand candidate behavior and design marketing that appeals to them. Recruiters are enabled by technology to streamline processes, which frees them up for additional networking and managing of candidates.

How does recruitment marketing impact companies?

Companies with great people thrive. Recruitment marketing is a large part in helping companies attract and obtain top talent. It is an extension of other marketing activities that the organization participates in. Oftentimes, the very first impression that is made on an individual is based on the ability of recruitment marketing to send a positive message. It’s akin to outreach, only with the ultimate goal of attracting talent. If a company doesn’t engage with talent, the impact is fewer suitable candidates and an unknown brand that won’t appeal to many.

How is recruitment marketing different from employer branding?

It is important to note that recruitment marketing is different from employer branding though they are often lumped together. A company develops an employer brand through a variety of activities. This brand is designed to attract candidates so that they eventually become employees. Here is where recruitment marketing efforts pay off. If you’ve effectively been marketing directly to candidates and building out your talent pool, then when you need a candidate you’ve got a few in mind. Recruitment marketing is limited to talent acquisition tasks, while employer branding is dedicated to making the employer more appealing to candidates.

Pro-tip: Make sure you track these 5 key employer branding metrics

How do you create a strong recruitment marketing strategy? Where do you start?

An organization that wants to hire the best has many options when it comes to creating a strong recruitment marketing strategy. There is a good chance that there are already a number of recruitment marketing activities going on, such as posting new job advertisements to social media profiles or collecting testimonials from employees to share on the corporate career website.

To get more focused, every company needs a starting point. Seek out a data-rich recruitment marketing platform that brings all critical tasks together into one place. Assign a central person who is well-versed in marketing and recruitment methods to administer things. Focus on engaging with candidates on every occasion and medium.

5 tips to get you set up for success in recruitment marketing

Companies that excel with recruitment marketing take advantage of traditional and new methods of connecting with candidates. Here are five tried-and-true ways to get you set up for long term success.

1) Know what your goals are: Before engaging in any recruitment marketing efforts, be sure you are clear on what your objectives are. Is it to fill skill gaps, increase diversity, or grow the organization with trainable people? This will determine how recruitment marketing will best be utilized.

2) Understand your target candidates: Get to know who you are trying to attract and their motivating factors for seeking new opportunities. For example, Millennials are mostly looking for career-building and flexible work experiences. Gen Z is usually looking for the opportunity to learn new skills and increase their network influence.

3) Review your employer brand: What does your current brand say about your company? Look at it from the eyes of a job seeker. Is it representing an authentic and transparent view of your corporate culture? An example of a company doing well with its corporate brand is TechSmithCorporation.

4) Cultivate a talent network: Take the time to build a network of talent through social media groups like LinkedIn and Facebook. Contribute industry-relevant content to attract passive and active talent. Invite applicants to learn more about career opportunities here as well.

5) Encourage employees to participate: There’s a good chance that your current employees are already active on social networks and professional associations. Boost your reach by putting the green light on employee sharing. This can increase the number of internal referrals that are a powerful source of new hires.

These are just a handful of quick tips you can use to increase your ability to market to more talent out there. Keep things consistent and continue to improve your employer brand with every interaction with candidates. Once you have your recruitment marketing approach running at full steam, you’ll see those great candidates come your way faster than ever before.