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The When of Marketing Strategy

May 20, 2014 Marketing Strategy 0 Comments

Marketing your staffing firm is not a task to be taken lightly. Marketing StrategyMarketing budgets are usually set at the beginning of the year, but before embarking on a campaign it is important to plan out a comprehensive marketing strategy. As we have detailed in earlier blogs, the first step is to determine your target audience, or the Who and Where of your marketing strategy. Next, you need to establish goals and clearly identify the message you hope to convey in your marketing efforts, or the What and Why of your staffing firm’s marketing strategy. The final steps in developing a successful marketing plan are identifying How and when to execute your staffing firm’s marketing strategy.

Prioritize
Determining when to execute your marketing initiatives is directly linked to the goals you set and the methods you have decided to utilize. Take a look at your marketing budget and assess whether your goals are realistic. Prioritize which campaigns are feasible given your budget constraints, and choose those initiatives with the potential to deliver the most bang for your marketing buck.

Set Realistic Expectations
Beyond the individual marketing goals you have set such as, increasing your qualified leads or solidifying your brand within a particular staffing niche, you need to set realistic expectations for what you hope to achieve over the course of the year. There are two major schools of thought in terms of how to effect measurable change in your business flow. Most professionals agree that, although it would be the most desirable outcome, trying to achieve a level amount of business throughout the entire year is almost impossible. Across any given year, there are bound to be peaks and valleys in sales and recruiting activity, so the smartest way to approach your marketing strategy is to figure out ways to minimize the really low periods and maximize your business peaks.

Add To or Supplement?
Analyze your staffing firm’s annual business cycle to determine where the peaks and valleys are occurring. If you see extreme valleys during certain months or seasons, plan marketing initiatives geared toward adding new business during those traditionally slow periods. Take advantage of the peaks as well by focusing your marketing efforts on increasing business during the busy times. Those looking to achieve a more constant business income across the entire year must strategically plan ways to supplement the valleys and spread some of the peak business over a longer period of time in an attempt to level out the business cycle.

Schedule
Business valleys are the number one enemy of any staffing firm, so try to influence a change in this behavior by carefully scheduling your marketing initiatives. Planning when to execute your staffing firm’s marketing strategy requires a detailed calendar of events to ensure that you target those specific areas of concern. Do you want to spread your efforts out evenly over the entire year, or do you want to utilize your entire marketing budget to cover a few key periods during the year? Consider scheduling different types of activities such as campaigns, events and promotional contests to vary your marketing approaches and attract the attention of your audience. Extend your social media efforts over the entire year as a way of providing a constant, inexpensive source of marketing for your staffing firm.

Be Creative
Brainstorm creative ways to extend your staffing firm’s business such as staggering client contracts throughout the year. Spreading contracts throughout the year provides a more reliable income source and means less stress at the end of the year when you would be faced with renewing all of your contracts at the same time. A big part of planning when to execute your staffing firm’s marketing strategy is creating unique promotions that attract the attention of your target audience. Work with your marketing agency or team to design innovative ways to market your staffing firm and make sure the marketing timelines make sense from a business perspective.

Key Takeaways for the When of Marketing Strategy:S.J.Hemley Marketing

  1. Evaluate your marketing budget and determine which initiatives make sense
  2. Determine which approach you want to use to influence change in your business cycle
  3. Assess whether you want to add to your current highs and lows or whether you want to supplement your sales and recruiting to level out business across the year
  4. Carefully schedule all of your marketing initiatives
  5. Come up with creative ways to spread business across the entire year and avoid low periods

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.



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