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Hi, this is Sharon Newey from Superfast Recruitment.
It’s right that business owners want immediate results.
What’s not right, though, is when you appreciate that at any one time, there is literally between 3% and 7% of people who are ready to actually invest and buy your services.
So if you’re thinking about scaling a recruitment company, you can’t possibly expect to do that when you focus your marketing solely on that 3% to 7%.
And yet sadly, that is what some business owners do because they don’t have a multitude of strategies to target the other 93%.
Now, let’s be straight.
There are strategies that you can use that focus on that 3% to 7% because you do want immediate results. However, what I’d encourage you to do is start to think about how your marketing addresses the 93%.
And this is where the buying cycle comes in.
Nurturing the 93%
Because you want to have marketing strategies that create awareness of your business – so if people don’t know about you, when they go looking for you, they can find you on social media. They can find great value-added content on the website; you’ve got strategies to keep in touch with them.
Now, as they get to a point where they are thinking about bringing in some temporary workers, about filling some critical permanent roles that they’ve got, that they want to start engaging with a recruitment company.
Maybe they haven’t used recruiters before, maybe they’ve been dissatisfied with another recruitment company, and they’re looking for somebody new; so they’re starting to go out looking for what kind of specialist recruitment company can they partner with.
Understanding Buying Habits
It’s no different, is it, than if you are thinking about investing thousands in a new kitchen or you’re investing in a car?
You don’t just go and make a snap 30, 40, £50,000-pound purchase, unless, of course, you’ve got that winning lottery ticket.
You do your research, and you think about what car do you want, you think about what kind of kitchen do you want, what kind of company do you want to work with to install that new kitchen.
And then, at some point, you get to that point where you’re ready to make a decision, and you then go and you engage.
Well, your clients are no different.
They’re going to go and do their research, check you out, look at different reviews about good and not so good recruitment companies, and then when they are ready to start working with you, they will get in touch, they’ll have some conversations.
How to Market to the Different Buying Cycle Stages
Now, you want to make sure that the different marketing activities that you are doing are nurturing people through that journey of being aware of you and your business; considering who you are, what do you do, should they work with you versus somebody else, and through to that decision-making process.
And there are specific marketing strategies that tie directly into those three levels.
So when you’re reviewing your marketing, and you are thinking about up-levelling your marketing in order to get your business in front of the right clients and the right candidates right now, make sure that you’ve got strategies that meet awareness, consideration, and decision.
And you will get business today from those strategies that will accommodate the 3% to 7%, but you will also make sure that you’re getting a constant flow of leads when they are ready to buy and engage with you.
So the buying cycle – does your marketing meet all the different stages of it?
For more information about lead generation, plus all aspects of marketing your recruitment business, click here to read our latest blog posts, or head to our downloads page here to get your hands on our free recruitment marketing guides.
That’s Sharon Newey from Superfast Recruitment.
