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Today, we’re talking about multichannel marketing and how it could change your impact next year.
[As usual, this is a direct transcription for your benefit. Please excuse any rogue typing errors.]
This particular podcast is continuing our series on different ideas, techniques, tactics and strategies that you want to deploy next year as you market your recruitment and staffing organisation.
If there’s ever a time to download our checklist, it’s now. If you’ve already got a copy or a recent copy, because we updated it a couple of months ago, then print it off and assess where you are now. That will help to highlight the areas where you’re succeeding and areas where you probably need a little bit more work.
It’ll give you a sense of what you need to do now. You can find that by going to superfastrecruitment.co.uk/mcl. Also, there are various places on the Superfast Recruitment website where you can download this.
Let’s get into talking about multichannel marketing. Whenever I think about this, I always think about a famous Harry Nilsson song. Now, you may not know Harry Nilsson for some of the younger listeners.
He wrote one of the most famous songs of all time, “Without You.” He also wrote another number called “One.” I always have it going around in my head when I’m talking to people or teaching multichannel marketing. One of his songs was “One.” It was, “One is the loneliest number,” and it most certainly is when it comes to marketing.
Why Should I Use Multichannel Marketing?
It most certainly is when it comes to marketing your recruitment company. For many of you listening to this podcast, you probably think, “I use LinkedIn, so it’s fine, Denise. I don’t need to do anything else, and we’ve got the phone.” I suppose you could say that’s two channels that you’re using. However, in today’s market, you will need to do more than that to stand out in front of your candidates and your clients.
Why the big push around multichannel? Let me take you back. I’m only going there for a short time. I’m going to take you back to 2020. Suppose you remember that fateful weekend when we all realised that we weren’t going to be able to go anywhere. Many of us jumped on Zoom and did the Zoom quizzes and other things. Also, what happened is people went onto social media in droves.
I think even LinkedIn recorded a phenomenal increase in the volume of people that were registered on the site. It’s now well over 700 million. For the first time, Facebook broke the 3.2 million ceiling of members. Similarly, with Instagram, YouTube had its best months ever. Not surprisingly, people were going on there looking at videos. When you consider all of this, you realise that people were, and are, using multiple channels.
It Gives You Credibility and Authority
Because of that, your audience is everywhere. When it comes to making an impact with the leads you have and the people you want to bring in, it makes a huge difference to your credibility and authority when you are seen on multiple channels. Even though you may think, “Nah, my market isn’t on Facebook,” or “Ah, my market isn’t on Instagram.”, it must be.
I know some of my old neighbours are on Instagram. You would not have thought that they would be the sort of individuals to do that. Remember that, when you can be in front of your market consistently, sharing value, being present and demonstrating your authority, you will be streets ahead of people that are just on one channel or just that person that picks up the phone and sends the odd random email, which still happens for some recruiters.
It Allows You To Stand Out
If you are in front of more people in more places in different ways, that will make a huge impression on your market, and your brand awareness will start to go through the roof.
Before I share a few strategies, as you’re implementing the strategy, think about the fact that when people see you in multiple places, they feel that you are much bigger and more relevant to them than they ever appreciated in the past.
At the same time, because people are being touched in multiple ways on multiple platforms, this approach accelerates and compounds everything you’re doing.
I don’t know about you, but when I see an advert somewhere and suddenly, I get retargeted, and I see an ad. I realise that this person’s on Instagram, this person’s on Facebook, this person’s on LinkedIn, this person’s on Google, they’re stalking me around every website that I go on.
Once I start to experience that, I don’t consider it a negative. I think, “Hmm, this person’s doing their marketing well.” It wakes me up to go and look at that brand because I think, “Oh, they’re on Instagram, they’re here, they’re wherever, maybe I should just go and check out the website.”
We experience when we have run a campaign on LinkedIn or Facebook a lot more visits to our website because people are starting to see more and more of us, and they go and check us out.
This is available for you in your market too.
The last 12 months have been a challenging time regarding candidate acquisition. Remember, your candidates will be everywhere. They will be on Instagram; they will be on LinkedIn; they’ll be on all these different channels. Depending on which sector you’re working in, they might even be on TikTok. Think about this as you plan your strategy.
How Do I Use Multichannel Marketing?
Let’s look at the strategy around multichannel and what you need to think about.
The first thing is, remember, you now have the ability, when you use multiple channels, to always be in front of your client or candidate, at the right time, in the right way for them.
For example, let’s talk about only relying on email for candidates. If you’re sending an email, let’s say it’s a candidate email you’re sending out to a Gmail or Hotmail address. I have an email address that I use for my personal communication, and I don’t go into it every day.
That might be the same for your candidates as well. If you were relying on email alone, there might be an issue. If you are in front of them on Instagram or Facebook, that will make a difference because you are there. You’re interacting; you’re showing that you want their business because you are on different channels.
Remember, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater here because multiple channels can also mean the phone. It can also mean a networking event; it could also be a local BNI meeting; it can also be a local IOD meeting because you’re everywhere. It could be PR in your local newspaper, on your local radio station, whatever that might be for you, remember, be everywhere, and it’s so easy to do these days.
It Increases Your Brand Awareness
From what we just said, brand awareness is key; no matter what you think, people love a good brand. By being on multiple channels, the more your brand is out there, the more likely people are to find you and remember you because you’re constantly around. As an aside, a little Denise story here for you.
I’ve been fascinated watching the recent launch of Adele’s new CD, download, whatever you want to call it.
Adele didn’t allow her music to be streamed back in the day, but now she does. It’s been fascinating watching the whole launch of her new album and how that is now on multiple channels because I’m even on her email list. Believe it or not, she uses good old Mailchimp to email out, but she’s done something on ITV; she’s done something in the US.
She’s all over Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and I noticed a few people had shared things around the recent audience with Adele that ITV did.
When you look at how somebody launches a huge brand like that and they do it on multiple channels, it shows you the impact it can have. The benefits, I’m sure you’re getting a sense now that they’re going to be there for you.
The more touchpoints you can build into a process with someone, the better because, the more places they see, the more they believe you are the person to work with.
I was reading some research on the Lead Forensics blog, which is useful for some of the benefits and the data people see around multichannel marketing.
They said that businesses that use more than four digital channels will outperform those using a single channel by upwards of 300%. If that doesn’t convince you to be in more places, in multiple ways, nothing will.
In some ways, it’s better to make sure you have a consistent brand image, a consistent message that goes out, so people feel familiar with it. There is no point being super, super quirky on Instagram, and mister or miss conservative on LinkedIn; you need the same approach across all channels.
One of the many benefits now is there are, of course, multiple automation tools that you can use that will help you do this. It’s not going to be mega difficult.
You write your social media, or in the case of our Circle clients, we create social media for them that they can tweak. Still, for you, if you write social media, then you can share it on Instagram, you can share it on LinkedIn, you can share it down your LinkedIn company page.
There are so many opportunities for you to be in front of your market. If there is one thing I would say that could shift your impact next year, it is to get in front of your customers in more places, in more ways.
It works.
We still have our offer for Superfast Circle. We’ve got a new version to support your marketing by providing collateral for you and the consultancy and all the training you need. It is a one-stop-shop with us these days. If you want to know more, there is still time to get in touch. We are not finishing till the middle of next week.
Thanks,
Denise
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 provide. If you want a quick chat to see how Superfast Circle can work for you, book your call and demonstration here.
