What Does Your Brand Say?
What does your brand say about your company? How does it separate you from other staffing firms? Does it communicate your key message to your target audience? What do people think when they hear of your staffing firm? How do you make sure it is always positive? Too many questions to answer; we know. The point we are trying to make is that your brand is not something you can leave to luck. It is the way you come across potential clients and candidates and it needs to be carefully carved out so that it signifies the quality of your services, as well as your superiority in the market.
Know Who You Are –Always
One of the most common mistakes that companies make when it comes to their brand is trying to portray something different than what they really are. This is not the way to differentiate your organization from the rest of the industry. Saying that you’re the best in the industry is not enough for potential clients and candidates to turn to you for help. After all, this is what everyone says when it comes to the services they offer. Your staffing firm brand needs to identify your points of differentiation and speak to them loud and clear. Understand and define what you do best and focus your branding efforts into communicating that to your audience. This is the best way to convince others to work with you.
Define Who to Serve
It is important to remember that your services are not a fit for everyone out there. No matter how good you are in what you do, your staffing firm brand needs to speak to your specific target audience. Your target audience is who you want and you must know how to serve. Use market research to identify newly created needs and keep a close eye to changes that take place in the market as well as how these changes affect your branding message. Is your audience receptive to your branding efforts? Are your services still relevant to their needs? Are your competitors having a better breakthrough, and what can you do to gain a competitive edge? Remember, no target audience means no brand.
Stay Consistent
You have unlimited ways to promote and establish your staffing firm brand. From email marketing to social media to event marketing to advertising, the world is yours. Regardless of the means you use to get your message out there, you need to keep in mind that your message needs to be consistent across all boards. Your voice needs to be the same from your blogs to your social media posts to your tradeshow booth graphics to the way your team is promoting your services. Clients and candidates always prefer to work with a brand that is represented in a consistent manner.
Keep Assessing
What your staffing firm brand says about you must be coherent to the message your team communicates to the outside world. Keep in mind that your sales and recruiting teams are your brand ambassadors and they are the ones who interact with your target audience. This enables them to witness the effectiveness of your branding efforts and provide you with feedback on what works and what doesn’t. Take advantage of this information when you evaluate your brand marketing. Sit down with them on a regular basis and listen to what is being said about your company and your services. This is a great way to identify areas for improvement and take corrective action wherever needed.
ROI
Let’s be honest. Brand matters, but not without ROI. Your brand message needs to generate a return on your investment (ROI) that justifies your branding efforts. The only way to confirm that this is the case is by keeping track of your analytics and having a clear picture of what performs and what doesn’t. Is your message coming across when you launch email campaigns? Is your target audience interacting with your social media campaigns? Are leads filling up your sales pipeline? How is your website traffic? Are your visitor numbers increasing or do you need to reevaluate your content marketing? Measure your branding efforts to make sure they pay off.
Key Takeaways for What Does Your Brand Say?:
- Your brand needs to talk to what you do best
- Your branding efforts need to speak to your niche in the industry
- Make sure your brand message stays consistent
- Hold internal meetings to collect feedback from your team on your branding efforts
- Measure your branding efforts to make sure they generate ROI
About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.