Recruiting Industry Series: Your Target Audience

April 24, 2012 | By Ilfusion Team

With a variety of B2B and B2C clients, Ilfusion doesn’t tie itself to one industry- but that doesn’t mean we don’t have specialties. One that we’re particularly fond of is recruiting companies, thanks to our long history of developing successful marketing strategies for them. In this series, we’ll discuss some of the most important aspects of developing a marketing strategy for a recruiting firm or a staffing agency.

 

The first and perhaps most important element of a marketing campaign is your target audience. Marketing to your target audience requires deep introspection: Who are you trying to reach with your campaign?

A general answer is obvious: companies looking to hire employees. That’s basically true for just about any employment agency, but it’s also much too general to base a marketing campaign on. To better determine the target market for your staffing agency, let’s narrow it down a bit.

Think about the following three things:

What industries does your business have the most experience in?

Many recruiting firms wind up working in a particular industry because people within a given industry talk; you can build a strong reputation via word-of-mouth. If you’re just starting your firm or don’t have a particular industry that you’re focusing on, you might consider whether there’s an industry you could specialize in.

Talk to your employees to see if anyone has any particularly strong “ins” in an industry, such as experience or a family history in a given field. The best target audience for recruitment agencies is those that have a niche, so to speak, in a given industry because they’ll be able to offer the most value to firms in that field.

Where is your business located?

This element can be a little varied. For example, a creative staffing agency in Dallas/Fort Worth, where Ilfusion lives, may need to narrow down its region to start with, as it’s a large metropolitan area. An agency based in a smaller city can more reasonably aim to become the premier employment agency for their region in a smaller span of time.

Additionally, the location of your business can also play a role in determining your target audience and their needs. For instance, an agency located in a hub for startups and tech companies would have a different focus than one located in an industrial town with manufacturing plants. For example, a Dallas recruiting agency for small businesses may want to tailor their services and fees accordingly, keeping in mind budget constraints.

Do you tend to place entry- to mid-level workers, or more experienced seniors and executives? Do these positions require college degrees?

If you’re having trouble narrowing things down in either of the above categories, consider this. A staffing firm that places a lot of entry- and mid-level workers has a younger audience on average than a firm that focuses on senior and executive job searches. Similarly, there’s a big difference between placing high school seniors and college seniors. The marketing tactics you choose may depend heavily on this demographic.

Generally speaking, you should be able to narrow your target down by two of these elements. For example, you may focus on placing seniors and executives in the city where your business is based; you might place entry- and mid-level workers within a particular industry; or perhaps you stick to an industry with a major presence in your city.

 

Determining your target audience is a vital first step to developing your strategy, and will impact how you reach out both to clients and job candidates, which we’ll discuss more later.

Don’t worry- picking a target does NOT limit you to only working with that demographic! The goal is to determine your strengths so that your marketing campaigns can play to them. If you’re having trouble figuring out who your target is, give us a call and we’ll help you out! 888.420.5115 or send us an email.