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A lot has happened in the marketplace over the last eighteen months. We’ve had multiple conversations with our clients around what they now want to do, the candidates and the clients they want to attract. [As usual, excuse any weird typing errors; this is a direct transcription for those of you who prefer to read.]
All good news provided you get your positioning right.
That’s why I thought this particular topic would be relevant for many of you who want to end the year strong while planning for an epic 2022.
We work on the positioning area consistently with our clients at Superfast Circle, but I wanted to share some ideas and thoughts that might help you guys around how you now start to attract the people you want, the people you can place.
Before we do that, you know the drill.
If you’re new here, welcome; it’s great to have you.
If you are reviewing your marketing currently, it’s always good to do an audit, what’s working, maybe what’s not working, what could work better. A good place to do this is to ask yourself some questions. We have a report that you can download. It’s a great checklist; 30 very straightforward questions to answer that will inform you of your next steps.
You can grab a copy of that by going along to www.superfastrecruitment.co.uk/mcl.
Now let’s talk about this particular topic that I think is as relevant today as ever. Let’s start talking about positioning you and your brand.
Decide On Your Ideal Candidate and Client
Over many years Sharon and I have been consulting and coaching recruitment business owners.
There’s one concept that we teach repeatedly, and that is deciding on your avatar.
It’s relatively straightforward and practical. It’s probably why people need consulting services in the first place.
It pulls together many business, marketing and sales ideas into one cohesive force.
When you get it right, you have the successful formula for your recruitment business, and let’s be frank, any business at all. You may need to experiment overtime to get your positioning in a place that works.
However, it’s well worth pursuing when it comes to scaling and moving your brand forward.
What I’m talking about here is the connection between who you serve, that’s the sector that you’re in, the clients, and candidates, what you sell, as in your recruitment offer.
I know for many of you listening to this podcast, you will have reworked your offer or are thinking about;
“How do I improve what I’m offering to candidates and clients?”
Then finally, how you market and distribute your new recruiting offer to candidates and clients you want to work with.
This is the age-old concept of positioning, and it’s one of the first marketing concepts I ever learned as a sales representative and business owner.
I was taught about positioning in the context of competition.
Back in the old pharma days, I used to sell a product called Voltarol. Some of you may even know it over the counter now as Diclofenac.
Ciba Geigy, the company I worked for, had a massive competitor called Naprosyn, another anti-inflammatory product, so we had to position our brand against their product.
Now, in today’s marketplace, it’s not always the same, particularly when it comes to services versus products. In the context of recruitment, the point of positioning is really to make sure that a certain group of candidates and clients come to a decision and then, particularly in today’s marketplace, that it’s your recruitment company they want to work with because your offer is the right fit to solve the problem that they have.
You could be selling something similar; your current recruiting service could be similar to another recruitment company. However, how are you communicating what you do? Could you frame it in another way?
Create Your Recruiting Offer
It’s interesting because we’ve had a few conversations with some of our clients about their positioning and offer over the last couple of days. After all, if you don’t have your positioning developed in such a way, then you become a commodity; you become the same as everyone else in the market.
That’s when you get into price battles, where people will only pay 15%. They don’t consider it worth paying more
Here is where you need to communicate your position; you communicate that you are a specialist. You demonstrate that you work differently.
Now, it depends on your market; you may have to add different things into your service. Yes, there may be a cost attached to that.
However, if that means that you can raise your fee level to 25, 30%, you might have to up-level your website.
It might be that you have to add personality profiling as a standard. I’m saying personality profiling – I’m talking about testing, it could be McQuaig, it could be MBTI – whatever it might be, you might want to use that.
In addition, use some of the video interviewing platforms. All of this will position you in the service you offer as something different, but of course, your positioning has to look at what your clients and candidates want?
How can you identify what their big issue is that you can solve? Because the more you can solve for them, the better it is.
To get your head around this concept, I’ll share the positioning of our Superfast Circle Brand.
Many recruitment business owners and marketers came to us for training which they loved. Then they wanted coaching and consulting that went along with it, and they also wanted some content and campaigns.
What we did is we looked at, “Okay, so how do we give our clients everything they need, so it’s a one-stop-shop for people?” This has attracted more people to the Circle and us because they know that their bases are covered, and they’ve always got somebody on hand that they can have a conversation with.
Now, what is your equivalent when it comes to positioning your recruitment brand because the issue and the challenges around candidates shortages will not disappear in 2022.
You have to move towards that;
- Okay, so what can I do to stand out differently?
- What can I do to be front of mind for candidates?
- What added value can I bring so working with me is the logical choice?
Marketing is the key driver.
Yes, it’s great that you’ve got clients now coming to you, but how do you position yourself to candidates in the market?
Are you standing out head and shoulders above other people because of you and the service that you offer?
Positioning is a key area that many recruiters who want to grow are looking at now. I hope that’s you. If it is, you know what to do.
Get in contact with one of us; let’s have a conversation, and we can show you how we can help you with your positioning so that you get your brand out in front of the people that are important to you.
How We Can Help
We have many clients on track for their best year ever because they implement what we teach and utilise the content and campaigns we give them. If you want a quick chat to see if we can work for you, book your call and demonstration here.
Thanks,
Denise
