Marketing Tactics that Actually Work: Staffing Firms Weigh In

Marketing can be a tough nut to crack for staffing firms. You know it could help, but you don’t know how much to spend or where to put your dollars to best use. To help, we asked several staffing firms what they are doing that’s working. Here’s what they said.

What’s Working?

In the competitive world of staffing, successful marketing tactics can make all the difference. When we asked several staffing firms to weigh in on what was effective lately, a few trends emerged: leveraging the power of social media, mastering search engine optimization (SEO), and managing online reputation.

Social Media Marketing….Especially on LinkedIn

For staffing firms, LinkedIn is more than just a social network; it’s a vital tool for both reaching potential clients and scouting talent. Firms are finding success by actively engaging on this platform through content sharing, direct engagement with clients and candidates, actively posting in peer or networking groups, and running LinkedIn ads campaigns.

While LinkedIn is prominent, it isn’t the only social site that’s working. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok were all mentioned as positive ways to reach audiences. Mariah Garcia, Marketing Coordinator at United Employment Solutions, mentioned short-form videos as a big focus for their marketing.

“I’ve been focusing lately on short social videos, keeping up with TikTok and Instagram trends. It’s a fun way to get in front of candidates,” Garcia mentioned.

Another staffing firm owner we spoke to had an unconventional approach that has worked well for them: Reddit and Discord groups.

“I’m a part of quite a few industry group forums within our niche, which is accounting and finance. There’s a big opportunity there to make connections.”

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO – which is another way to say being found online in search results – is crucial for staffing firms looking to capture the attention of job seekers and employers alike. By optimizing their websites and content for search engines, firms can increase their visibility when it matters most.

Betsy Cerulo, CEO of AdNet, mentioned that their recent efforts were very effective.

“Our website visits continue to rise each month based on our SEO.”

Garcia also had notable results to share.

“Eight months ago, we began to really focus doing SEO optimization on website, and it’s been working very well. We have seen huge percentages of increase. I believe it was a 227% increase over the past couple of months.”

How best to optimize your content? There are several ways. Many staffing firms focus onkeyword optimization, which means includingindustry-specific keywords throughout their website, in blog posts, and in online job listings to attract more relevant traffic. Local SEO, or optimizing for location-based keywords, is crucial for firms that operate regionally.

Managing Online Reputation

In the staffing industry, reputation is everything. Online reviews and feedback can significantly impact a firm’s ability to attract and retain clients and candidates.

Garcia says that United Employment is so committed to Google reviews that they have been doing internal campaigns to encourage them.

“We closely monitor our Google Reviews. For in-house employees, we do internal contests where the branch that gets most 5-star google reviews gets a reward,” says Garcia. “And there’s definitely a correlation in more 5-star reviews and visits from qualified candidates. We often hear from a candidate that they chose us over other options because of reviews.”

Cerulo also mentioned online reviews as a big focus. “We are always looking for ways to encourage our employees and clients to leave a review for us on Google.”

What’s Not Working As Well?

Email Campaigns

Several firms we spoke to weren’t having as much success as they used to with email campaigns – but that’s not to say that they don’t work. It’s all about finding the right message and the right timing.

“Email campaigns are not working as well as they used to, but we believe that consistency is key,” says Cerulo. “Our team works weekly to come up with different strategies on what time of day is best to send out communications to potential and existing employees.”

The accounting staffing firm, conversely, mentioned that email is their biggest lead generator, but that finding the right message to get attention requires creative thinking.

“We’re getting all our traction right now through marketing email campaigns. Since January, email has helped us grow about 200%. We are focused on sending candidates out to decision makers in the market. The biggest challenge is finding the right message to get attention, it requires thinking outside of the box. Lot’s of others just throw generic stuff at the wall, and we don’t want to do that.”

Garcia mentioned that while United is not doing much emailing currently, it is on their radar to implement in the future – particularly after events where they provide a list of attendees.

Job Fairs

Garcia said that while United does attend job fairs, they have noticed that they aren’t getting high quality candidates as much as they want.

“It’s a situation where we call them back, they don’t answer. But of course there are always diamonds in the rough. Tradeshows and job fairs are great in terms of brand awareness but it’s tough to get the ROI. We have shifted focus to holding events at offices, actually – we bring our mascot, Ernie the eagle. Those tend to work better.”

The accounting staffing firm also mentioned that in-person events were a tough sell in terms of ROI.

“If I spend the money to go, I might shake a few hands, but at the end of the day, what am I really getting from it? My focus is much more in online industry groups and email campaigns. In this business it’s all about personal outreach. You can reach way more people that way at a lower cost.”

Job fairs and other in person events can have a benefit, of course, especially in the local community and depending on your niche. Cerulo mentioned that AdNet has more of these events on the radar.

“Our Production Team definitely has plans to attend more in-person events such as job fairs to make AdNet more well-known in the community.”

What are the Biggest Challenges?

Time Constraints

Garcia mentioned that it can be hard to find the time for video strategy with an extremely busy team.

“Our biggest challenge with it is just finding the time for filming. We have a team of about 40-50 people, and they are all super busy,” she mentioned. Her solution? “I’m finding it’s easiest to film at events. If we can knock out a few at a time, even better!”

Manpower

The accounting firm is a small team, and it can be hard to devote time to marketing.

“We’re essentially a two man team, so obviously finding time is a challenge. You really have to focus in on the things that are important and that will bring value. In this industry, it’s all about building relationships.”

Cost

Most staffing firms are working with a limited budget. Garcia mentioned that the majority of their resources go to location-based advertising dollars.

“Most of our resources go to advertising – digital and print billboards, print ads, Spanish language magazines, etc. We try to stay local to LA County and the surrounding areas. Google ads are targeted to those areas as well.”

Cerulo mentioned that AdNet has plans to send out printed materials to clients and candidates in the near future, which will incur a cost – but one that she anticipates will be worth it.

“You put your resources towards what you know will have an impact.”

Where Do You See Opportunities?

When talking about plans for the future, the main takeaways that emerged were video and other content.

Video

Cerulo mentioned that video is a large part of their future focus, and AdNet had plans to devote more resources to it. “We would like to start releasing more video content on our website and social media pages,” she said.

And she’s far from alone. According to the 2023 Video in Business Benchmark Report by Vidyard, video creation is up 29% by businesses across the board, and marketers who use video grow their revenue 49% faster. Businesses that use video in their marketing see 41% more traffic from search engines.

Content

Garcia said that United had plans to build up their blogs and other content sources in the future.

“We are definitely planning to do more content in the future. We do have some blogs, and are looking to build up that on our website. The plan is then to use that info across multiple channels, such as social and email.”

The accounting staffing firm was interested in content, but had a different angle – commenting.

“There are tons of blogs and posts out there, and commenting is a huge part of it. It gets your name out there, helps make connections, shows you are interested and engaged. And what’s more, 99% of other staffing firms aren’t doing that.”

Thank you to the staffing owners who generously contributed their time and input for this article!