Are the sources you’re using for marketing and advertising bringing you the results you want?
Is it doing the most for your recruitment and retention initiatives? Does your marketing and advertising serve the needs of your organization?
“Work smarter, not harder” is a great tip we’ve heard often from business experts.
If you’re working harder rather than smarter — when it comes to getting what you need from your marketing sources — it might be time to review them.
If you’re only using old tried-and-true methods, such as internal data, competitive intelligence and marketing research results, you might need to add a few new ones.
How about your sources for advertising? Are you employing the usual ones, such as employee and colleague referrals, staffing companies, connections with local colleges and schools of nursing, popular websites, social media or job boards? Perhaps your advertising needs some updating too.
The concept of working smarter begins with defining your problems. For example, your budget provides you with adequate advertising dollars, but the returns often are disappointing.
Or, you get good candidates for interviews, but they end up not being great hires. Perhaps you have been fortunate to recruit some good employees, but you aren’t able to hold onto them.
Sound familiar? If these are some of the issues you are having, it’s probably time to work on your marketing and advertising sources. When it comes to success with recruitment initiatives, good sources can make all the difference.
Let’s define marketing and advertising
There are many ways to define marketing. But at its core, marketing is a way for businesses to communicate with their target audiences. Advertising, which is part of marketing, has a primary goal to influence buying behavior.
The two work in tandem. One helps get you in front of your audience, while the other works to get the audience to respond to you.
They are business tools used to tell audiences what you have to offer, and then get those audience members to want it.
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as a “set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.”
And value is changing all the time. Advertising aims to “persuade people to act or respond in a particular way,” according to Upwork.com.
Is your advertising persuasive enough, and is it providing you with the responses you need?
Ask questions to stay informed
One key tactic is to examine your marketing and advertising plans. Spend time studying the infrastructure of both. How well are the tactics put together, and how strong are they?
Look also at the big print-or-digital question with which everyone struggles. Some say print is dead, while others say online is a more cost-effective way to go. Others say a combination of the two is best.
A recent blog published by the Hightower Agency had some interesting takeaway points on the pros and cons of print and digital.
Regarding print, the pros included:
- Credibility
- Validity
- Tactile experience
- Ease of purchasing
- Lending and sharing
Print cons included:
- Lack of interactive content
- Limited feedback
- Inability to publish in a timely manner
- Inability to stay ahead of the news
- Real-time communication
- Social sharing
- Enhanced content
- In-depth analytics
- Multiple ads in one space
- Flexibility with ad campaign time frames
Digital cons included:
- More distractions
- Online plagiarism
- Additional costs
- Need for expertise and up-to-the-minute tools
Set goals, make changes
Yes, there’s a lot to think about. But armed with good information and advice, you can set goals and objectives on new and better ways to measure how your sources are contributing to the success of your recruitment goals.
You also can decide which newer advertising options in the marketplace make sense to add. Change is good, and the marketplace is changing all the time. You must change with it.
There are countless ways to market and just as many ways to advertise. But the goal is to choose and use the right ones for you and your organization.
Do your homework, research the best sources, stay in touch with your colleagues and keep abreast of market changes.
Follow these additional pieces of advice to ensure your marketing and advertising plans stay up to par.
- Focus on how to do things better because there’s always room to improve.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of your sources. They are key to your success.
- Quantify your real marketing and advertising needs, not the ones on your wish list.
- Employ diversified marketing and advertising plans in a variety of sources.
- Remember the important question is not whether you advertise, but how.
- Look at how you do business and who you do it with, and ensure both are the best.
- Stay informed, facile and conversant with the best new sources available.
- Focus on content and branding in your marketing and remember your message matters.