4 marketing campaigns to get recruiters up and running in 2021
We did it! The long awaited new year is finally here. It is time to leave the burden of 2020 behind and start from scratch with new ideas, new initiatives and new strategies to get going in 2021. This year, more than ever, people are eager to start with a blank sheet of paper. While there may still be challenges in 2021, the best way to prepare for the new year is to start on a high note.
So how can you start working in 2021? One way is to put together effective marketing campaigns. The more tailored the marketing campaigns are to your audience, the more successful they will be. In this article, we’ll take a look at the client and candidate email campaigns you can run to start the year strong and lay a solid foundation for the rest of the year.
Customer campaigns for recruiters
There are two types of customer campaign initiatives that we will look at. The first initiative will reach its highest performing customers in 2020 and the second will target potential customers in high performing industries.
Reach high-performing customers in 2020
If you missed our article last month, “Naughty or Nice? Staff Reports That Should Be on Your Nice List in 2021,” I invite you to check it out, as the article looks at the key reports you should refer to to determine your Top Performing Clients in 2020 These are clients you want to be close to in the new year as they are the ones who generate the most revenue and work orders.
Once you have your top performing customer list, create a customer contact pipeline in your CRM and create an email template. Since these are contacts that you have been in close contact with, please send a plain text email from the recruiter or your staffing company contact who has been in the most contact with them. A plain text email will feel more personal than a normal company marketing email.
In the email, you can simply wish them a happy new year and let them know that you are ready to help fill work orders if they have any current needs or see any needs in the near future. The email doesn’t have to be long, but something short that includes a New Years greeting and shows that you are ready and eager to help fill work orders in 2021. If you don’t get a response in a few days, follow up with a phone call to register. A simple campaign like this will keep you on top of your top performing clients’ minds and hopefully even bring in some new work orders to start the year!
Target high-performance industries
The next type of campaign targets prospects in well-performing industries. This is where you can use the search capabilities in your CRM to find customers you are not yet doing business with in high-performing industries, such as food / alcohol / grocery, medical personnel / devices, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, delivery services, trucking. / rail, etc. Depending on the industries you want to target; You can create a pipeline of contacts by industry and create your campaigns. Each campaign must be tailored to the industry to be most effective.
You’ll want to think of a catchy subject line that will draw the recipient to your email. The more tailored you are to the industry, the more likely they are to open it up if they feel it is relevant to them. Some examples include, “How can we help staff your nurses in 2021?” or “Find drivers faster in 2021 with YOUR COMPANY NAME”.
In the body of the email, include sales pitches to work with your company. This can be done through testimonials, a case study with a client, through an infographic that includes statistics that promote why they should partner with you, etc. You can also create a downloadable whitepaper of why they should partner with you for your staffing needs compared to another staffing company. The more personalized this content is by industry, the better. If you don’t have the means to personalize everything by industry, personalize it as much as you can so that the recipient can still relate to it. Also, if there are common pain points that you often mention about staffing in the industry, try to address them in the content you are providing and see how working with your staffing company will solve those pain points.
Both customer campaigns target companies that are doing well. By starting the year by working closely with your top performing clients and targeting prospects in high performing industries, you can help prepare for a successful 2021.
Candidate campaigns for recruiters
Next, we will analyze two candidate campaigns. The first campaign will target candidates you have been in contact with in the last 6 months and the second campaign will target candidates you have not been in contact with for 6 months or more.
How to contact the candidates you recently contacted
The first candidate campaign allows you to get in touch with candidates that you have been in contact with in the last 6 months, but have never been placed for one reason or another. You can use your ATS to search for these candidates and add them to a candidate portfolio. A relevant subject line might be something like “How is your job search going?”
Since you recently contacted these candidates, you can compose a plain text email from the recruiter. A plain text email will make it more personal again. The body of the email can be a simple base of contact to see how they are doing with their job search and if it can still help them find their next job.
Adding personalized videos to emails is also becoming more popular. If you want to take email to the next level, you can create a quick 30-60 second video per candidate. The video should be informal to let them know that you are here to help them find their next job. Include your name in the video and also the industry or position you are looking to work for. Again, the more personalized the video, the more likely you are to hear a response from the candidate. While creating a custom video per candidate can be time consuming, you can create a script that you can use for each video. You can also select the best candidates that you would like to create a video for. For candidates for whom you don’t create a custom video, you can create separate videos by industry or field. That way the video won’t include your name, but there’s still some customization.
Another creative way to engage with these candidates is to include a message at the end of your email that asks, “Are you still looking for a job?” You can then include a “Yes” button and a “No” button. Both can lead to different landing pages. The “No” button may lead to a page that says something like “Thanks for letting us know! If we can help you find your dream job in the future, feel free to reach out to us. In the meantime, follow us on social media” . Even if they are no longer looking for work, this helps determine that so you don’t waste time communicating with them. Providing a plugin to follow your business on social media is also good to help them stay engaged with your business. For those candidates who click “Yes,” you can take them to a different landing page that shows them a list of jobs that they would be suitable for. You can also include a note: “Are you not interested in these positions? Contact us and we will help you find your dream job.”
Getting in touch with candidates you’ve been in contact with in the last 6 months is a great way to help re-engage candidates and see where they are in their job search. This will also help you decide if these are candidates you should continue to communicate with or focus on other candidates for the time being.
Reaching out to candidates you haven’t been in contact with
Another type of candidate campaign that you can run is a campaign targeting candidates that you have not been in contact with in a while. You can use your ATS to search for candidates you have not been in contact with for a long time and build a portfolio of candidates from this search. An attractive subject line for these candidates might be something like: “Ready for a new job in 2021?”
To open the email, you will probably need to include a reintroduction of who you are and how you can help them find their next dream job. Additionally, you can include candidate testimonials and a list of jobs that are currently available that you might be suitable for. Again, you’ll want to target this email by industry if possible and include appropriate candidate testimonials and job listings. At the end of the email, you can even include a call-to-action button to send you your latest resume. That way they can apply for a job from their email or if they are not interested in a job on the list, you know that they are still interested in a new job by submitting their resume.
Another unique way to capture a candidate’s attention is to include a BuzzFeed®-type questionnaire in your email, such as “What job would be right for you in 2021?” They can answer a series of fun questions and then receive a summary of the type of job they would be suitable for in 2021 and a list of the current jobs you have available that match your outcome. Whether in a magazine or online, everyone likes to take these types of quizzes and it would be a fun way to engage the candidate with your company.
Both candidate campaigns help to re-engage candidates you were in contact with recently and also help you reach a new candidate base that you have not been in contact with recently. By exiting these two campaigns, hopefully you will be able to determine which candidates you should keep in close contact with to start in 2021 and which ones you should not spend time contacting.
Ready, set, launch!
Personalized marketing campaigns will be important in 2021. Using this approach to execute client and candidate campaigns will help make your campaigns more effective. We just reviewed 4 campaign ideas to help you get up and running in 2021, but the possibilities are endless! Take your creative idea, adapt it to your audience and launch 2021!