Latest / Recruiting Evolution / FDE Workshop | Beyond the Logo: Branding for Staffing and Recruiting Firms
Transcript
- Katie Jones [00:00:00]: By not doing branding, you are missing out on developing really key emotional connections with candidates and clients. When we think about building key accounts, Kortney, I think we did this episode two years ago now somehow, but we did a whole episode on key accounts and building that key account is in a large part because of your branding and the emotional experience that you're getting with the client. If you're like, I don't have time for this, that's a sign to me that you absolutely need to do it, that it is absolutely critical because the brands that are making time for this know how valuable it is. Kortney Harmon [00:00:36]: Hi, I'm Kortney Harmon, director of industry relations at Crelate. Over the past decade, I've trained thousands of frontline recruiters and I've worked with hundreds of business owners and executives to help their firms and agencies grow. This is the full desk Experience, a Crelate original podcast where we will be talking about growth blockers across your people, processes and technologies. Welcome to another episode of the full desk experience. Thank you everybody for joining us. Love that we have a crowd today. We switched it up on topics today and usually you get to hear me talking the entire time we've switched seats. I'm going to be manning the chat. Kortney Harmon [00:01:26]: I'm going to be kind of interacting in that way. And Katie is actually taking the reins and she's going to be sharing her expertise with us in the marketing arena. I have not only learned so much from her in the past two years, but she is here to help you in this area that she is so specialized in and she has so much information to share. So I'm so excited you have a chance to ask her anything. So whether it's in the chat while she's having this conversation today, feel free to write anything in the chat or we can do an ask me anything at the end of today's session. So if you're thinking of a question, I am sure others are too. So ideally, we'd love to bring you up on stage to chat with the two of us at the end, live on camera and all. Otherwise I can read your questions aloud. Kortney Harmon [00:02:12]: For those of you who have create questions, you can actually do one of two things you can do send an email, support.com. i mean, they're best suited to answer all things crelate. Or you can join us. I believe it's next Thursday, we're going to do another crelate and conquer. That's one of those sessions where we come back and we actually say how this webinar applies in our software. So we kind of bring it full circle for you. So I hope you get a chance to mark your calendars for that second session for curlate and conquer. We're going to be focused on those marketing strategies that Katie's going to be talking about today and really see the AI in action and how you can use it to be the best tool for your organization. Kortney Harmon [00:03:00]: So can't wait. Chris Hessen, if you've listened to our podcast at all, he's actually going to be manning that session with Katie and myself. He is amazing and you don't want to miss Chris demonstrating how critic can supercharge your marketing and AI efforts. So that's going to be a hands on session for anybody who has any questions and really looking to one up their game. In the meantime, we're here to listen to Katie. So I'm going to step back. Like I get to pull myself off stage. I'm super excited. Kortney Harmon [00:03:29]: I'm going to pull myself off stage. Katie Jones [00:03:31]: Go for it. I don't think you've ever done that before. Kortney Harmon [00:03:33]: This is never done that before. Katie Jones [00:03:34]: I'm super excited. Feel free. Kortney Harmon [00:03:37]: Keep telling us where you're coming from and then write any questions in the chat. If you want more details, we will be sure. I will chime in and we'll get at Katie to give us all the wonderful knowledge in her brain. So, Katie, I'm going to pull it off to you. See you later. Katie Jones [00:03:49]: Thanks, court. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today's live session of the full desk experience. And thank you, of course, to Kortney for sharing this screen with me today. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Katie. I'm the senior marketing manager here at Crelate and I'm also the producer of this podcast. Today's topic is going to focus on branding for your staffing and recruiting agency. I've been a marketer for 15 years and through those years I have heard so many misconceptions about what branding is and isn't. I've heard that it's the way your website looks, the font in your logo, and what paper you print your business cards on. Katie Jones [00:04:30]: And if you believe those things, then you're right. Branding does encompass those things. And those things are important. After all, first impressions really do count, especially in the talent business. Have you ever judged a literal book by its cover? If you put the book back on the shelf without flipping open the pages and opted not to read it, then the branding on the front of it didn't appeal to you as much as it would a book that you would read. So visual branding does matter. Likewise, if all you've done to build your brand is have a pretty website and nice business cards, then all you're ensuring is that somebody opens the book. But if that's where you stop, then you're doing your business a great disservice. Katie Jones [00:05:19]: Brand image is huge, but I'd argue that brand feeling is even more crucial to the success of your firm. So what is brand image? What is brand feeling? And what is the importance of the emotions in business? To get started and to get everybody's mind kind of going. I'm going to talk about a few companies. These are going to be popular brands. And in the comment section, I want you to write about what each logo makes you think of. First, we're going to talk about Coca Cola. Go ahead and write in the chat what you think of this brand. Oh, my goodness. Katie Jones [00:05:58]: Almost instantly. Polar bears. Yes, absolutely. What else do we think of when we think of Coca Cola? Maybe the Britney Spears Beyonce commercial. Or was that Pepsi? Next up, Apple. What do we think of when we think of apple? Oh, I got Christmas in Santa Claus for Coca Cola. Amazing. Love it. Katie Jones [00:06:19]: Thank you, Heather and Ellie. Oh, Steve Jobs. Oh, enjoy. With blank some more Coca Cola references. I love it. White. Aubrey, I assume that you're talking about the white branding and computers. Heather. Katie Jones [00:06:33]: For Apple. Both great things to remember. Another one, Toyota. What does Toyota make you think of? Are we thinking forerunner? Sequoia. I know they're having a lot of warranty issues right now. Trucks. I see lots of trucks. Awesome. Katie Jones [00:06:53]: Those things that we just listed, that is brand image. It's a recollection of what you, the customer, remembers about each brand. It's the commercials you see, the billboards you drive past every day, and the ads you see online or in magazines. That's brand image. As a marketer, when I start working with a new brand, the first thing I do is build out a brand guideline document. The guidelines typically focus more on the visuals of your brand and outlining things like main colors and fonts, secondary colors and fonts, the logo and logo variations, acceptable use, and an outline of the types of visuals that are okay to use in conjunction with the brand. For Crelate, we have brand guidelines that mean our main color is blue, this beautiful blue behind me, and then our secondary colors are our rainbow tiles. Up above, we have three main fonts that we use across all of our forms of media. Katie Jones [00:07:59]: Think of the icons you see on social media. Our case studies, quote cards, marketing collateral, the website and our booth. If you're going to stopping world that way when somebody sees something from us, the consistency keys in their brain. Oh, this is crelate. Likewise. Oh, that's Coca Cola. You know that it's Coca Cola. Just by looking at the polar bears, you don't even need to see the logo. Katie Jones [00:08:29]: Now let's go back to each of these brands and I want you to tell me in the comments section how each brand makes you feel in the same order. How does Coca Cola make you feel? I'll give you guys a second to chime in. Thirsty? Yes, thirsty for sure. Maybe happy. A little bit nostalgic. Thinking back to the vintage look of the polar bears. I know it always takes me back to Christmas at my grandmother's house. Kendall says, happy and social, those are really great emotions. Katie Jones [00:09:02]: What about Apple? Now, Kortney doesn't get the answer because she's mad at Apple today. But how does Apple make you feel? Cool. Yes. Amazing. Maybe like you're part of an elite group. Maybe even empowered and strong. Okay, moving on to Toyota. How does Toyota make you feel? Do you feel rugged, outdoorsy, tough? I see tough, smart. Katie Jones [00:09:35]: I think smart was probably referencing the Apple, but it could apply to Toyota, right? Maybe even like a cool mom. I know Kortney and I both drive Toyotas courts in a bigger suv than I am, but it definitely makes me feel like a cool mom. We off road in our Toyota. So it definitely gives me that rugged feel. Things that I want to identify with. Right. So that right there, that feeling, thats the next level of branding. It's the emotion evoked from you, the customer, by the company. Katie Jones [00:10:09]: And it is powerful. Powerful enough that when it's time to upgrade our phones, my husband wants to wait for the latest iPhone release next month. I think powerful enough that when the waitress asks me, is Pepsi okay? I say, no thanks, I'll have a root beer. You see, emotions play a powerful role in our decision making. Thinking back to where we started a couple minutes ago, in a business to business world, it's important to know that humans are behind the decision making, not a business, humans with emotion. So it's so important to remember that, in fact, according to a Gallup poll, 70% of decisions are based on emotional factors. 70%. And that translates into the business world as well. Katie Jones [00:11:03]: So let's bring it back to you, the staffing and recruiting team leader. Think about your candidates and clients feelings and emotions. How do you think your brand makes them feel? And more importantly, how do you want your brand to make them feel? And how far off base are those two things. Anytime your candidates or clients have an interaction with your brand is an opportunity to deepen the emotional connection they have with your business. How can we ensure a positive experience with your brand? Well, after I've built that brand guideline document that outlines the visuals, I move into a brand voice document. The brand voice outlines the tone I want the brand to carry. Think of it as an avatar for your business. For a manufacturing company that I used to work for, I picked a brand that was professional, knowledgeable and compassionate. Katie Jones [00:12:06]: And from there I outlined acceptable words to use in advertising and collateral, along with a list of words we should never use. The goal here is to give your company a brand voice that makes it feel human. People like to buy from people, but not just any person. It has to be someone they like, someone who makes them feel a certain positive way. And the brand voice document outlines just that in staffing and recruiting. When building out a brand voice document, it is important to identify emotions for both your clients and your candidates. You may even have slightly different brands and brand voices for each audience. They are different and you probably wouldn't talk to your candidates the same way you talk to your clients, for obvious reasons. Katie Jones [00:13:00]: So some emotions to think about wanting to instill in each group are trust, confidence, relief for clients and hope, excitement or security for candidates. You'll want to pick emotions that you want your clients and candidates to feel when they work with you and then build everything else that you do off of that. Those emotions are what keep your clients coming back to you time and time again. And it's what makes your candidates eager to refer their friends and maybe even reach back out when they're ready to find a new job. I'd argue that branding is even part of your culture because it is something that every single one of your employees plays a part in. Make sure brand voice document covers how you want your employees to interact with your clients and candidates. Any interaction with your team is an experience with your brand, and happy employees give your candidates and clients good experiences, the kind that builds trust, creates relationships and ultimately turns into more dollars for your firm. So a good team culture will foster a brand that provides these types of relationships. Katie Jones [00:14:14]: Circling back again to brand image your brand itself goes beyond professional website fancy business cards and active social media pages. It goes into a really, really great customer service and aligning everything you do with your brand, it's crucial to align your visual elements with the emotions you want to evoke. But don't forget to start with the human side by tapping into these emotions, you can create stronger connections and drive more business decisions in your favor. So now you might be thinking, great Katie. How do I know where my brand stands with clients and candidates? Well, dynamic and competitive world of staffing and recruiting. Your brand is your most powerful asset. It's not just about placing candidates, it's about creating a memorable experience for both clients and job seekers at every touch point as staffing and recruiting leaders, understanding and optimizing your brand experience is crucial for your long term success. So let's dive into how you can elevate your brand experience and stand out in a crowded market. Katie Jones [00:15:25]: In this industry, brand experience encompasses every interaction and impression, both big and small. It's the sum total of a candidate's first view of your job posting the initial outreach from one of your recruiters the interview preparation process a client satisfaction or dissatisfaction with this placement the onboarding experience for place candidates, your firm's presence at industry events and job fairs client interactions during business reviews and strategy sessions. We'll touch on more on this in a second and the content you share across your social media platforms. Each of these touch points contributes to the overall perception of your brand in the minds of your clients, candidates, and yes, even your own employees. A stellar brand experience in staffing and recruiting can lead to numerous benefits. This includes increased client loyalty and repeat business. Clients who have a positive experience are more likely to return for future needs, therefore reducing your client acquisition costs. Higher candidate referral rates. Katie Jones [00:16:39]: Because satisfied candidates become brand ambassadors, referring friends and colleagues to your firm, you'll be better able to attract and retain top talent yourself. Great recruiters want to work for firms with strong, positive brands. You can increase your market share because a superior brand experience can help you expand into new industries or, or new geographical areas. And all of this means that you can actually charge a premium for your services. Clients are willing to pay more for a staffing or recruiting firm with a stellar reputation and amazing grant experience than they are for just your status quo or lackluster experience. So to improve, we must first assess. When it comes to evaluating your brand, you might feel a little bit lost on where to start. The first thing you need to consider is what people are saying about your staffing and recruiting firm when you're not in the room. Katie Jones [00:17:41]: And you might be like, well, Katie, how am I supposed to know? They're never going to tell me to my face. You're right, they're not. But you can monitor industry specific review sites like indeed for candidate reviews, g two for client reviews and this one is important Google for local reviews. If you don't have a Google listing for your firm, even if you're a fully remote firm, I highly suggest getting one because it allows people to leave you Google reviews and that other people will be able to see and therefore help elevate your brand. My favorite place to look for what people are saying the comment section of LinkedIn posts anything about your firm to see a more unfiltered view of what your clients and candidates think. It's also a good idea to conduct anonymous surveys with both place candidates active clients and this is my favorite one, clients who haven't used your services recently. You can potentially find ways to work with these clients again beyond the placement by providing industry news or stats for upcoming board meetings. Find ways to be a good partner regardless of their placement needs. Katie Jones [00:18:52]: That's where you get key accounts and develop an experience that goes beyond the status quo. But don't just stop with your candidates and clients. Remember your third audience, your employees. You'll want to encourage honest feedback from your internal team. This includes your recruiters, account managers, and even your back office staff. Each play a critical role in your agency's success. Don't forget to check in with them. Through all of this, you want to keep an eye on the prize, your key metrics. Katie Jones [00:19:28]: This includes looking at your repeat business rates, our clients coming back. Don't forget about the candidate redeployment rates on the staffing size and also analyze why candidates and clients are or are not returning. Speaking of candidates and clients, how do they feel after interacting with your recruiting team? Ways that you can discover this again is implementing post placement surveys for candidates. This immediately means sending out surveys after initial placement and again three months into their placement. You'll want to ask questions about job satisfaction, job fit, and culture fit within the company. This can show you how well the placement was actually made, not just how well it felt at the beginning. On the client side, send surveys after each placement as well, and then quarterly. Like I mentioned before, for ongoing needs. Katie Jones [00:20:22]: This will help keep a stronger partnership with your clients because you'll have multiple touch points with them throughout the year. Beyond just asking for their business. This might be a more controversial or unused tactic, but have you ever conducted stay interviews? Doing so with long term contractors and clients with managed service agreements can help your firm solve problems with each party. Before either feels like walking out the door. I'd recommend doing these with your own team, as well as they might provide insight into why culture and or brand is poor within your firm or why it's stellar. Another pro tip here. Analyze communication patterns in your ATS and CRM systems. You'll want to check for things like call times, last activity date, last reach out date, and occasionally check in with what the written communications actually say. Katie Jones [00:21:18]: You may even be able to pull a list of people who have applied for a job that you haven't reached out to yet. If your ATS isn't giving you activity suggestion nudges, you could also be missing out on additional touch points. If you don't have a set workflow or sequence for following up with candidates and clients, set one up within your ATS so your team never forgets this step. Bonus points for using a system that has templates so you can have a consistent message across your entire team. The consistent message is part of your brand, and you can use these workflows for additional revenue generation, like asking for referrals. And when you go back out to check for references, you can also ask for referrals that way too. Okay, if you've ever listened to a celebrity interview, you'll hear them say this. Don't google yourself. Katie Jones [00:22:11]: However, if you aren't checking out what people are saying about your business online, you can be missing key insights. Like I mentioned before, you'll want to monitor social media for unsolicited feedback. I know Twitter is a controversial place to be sometimes that's a great place to see what people say unfiltered. They tend to be a little bit less professional on Twitter than they are on LinkedIn. And don't forget about industry forum discussions specific to the markets you serve. Oh, I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head, but there's a really good one. I'll try to mention it again at the end. So we've talked about like evaluating written words so far, right? Well, not all forms of communication are written, so there's some key emotional indicators that you'll want to keep an eye out on. Katie Jones [00:22:58]: Like time to offer offer acceptance rates, you'll want to check out for candidate dropout rates at various stages. And don't forget client requisition fill rates. There's a lot of information to be gleaned from the unwritten word, and any misstep in these metrics can be signs of a larger problem. Something that we do here ourselves at crelate and that I always encourage people in the business to business world do is analyze your net promoter score in the staffing and recruiting industry. This means you want to check both on the client and the candidate side so you'll regularly track your NP's to gauge loyalty and satisfaction and staffing. It's crucial to measure this for both sides of your business. On the candidate side, measure after placement and then at regular intervals during assignments. But on the client side, measure after each placement and quarterly. Katie Jones [00:23:55]: For ongoing clients, it's not just enough to take the temperature check and be done with it. You'll want to benchmark your NP's score against staffing industry average and top performers in the staffing and recruiting industry. An NP's of 50% is considered excellent. Anything above 70% is thought of best of breed, but it should also be noted that the average NP's for staffing consultants is 22%. So as you can tell, lots of room for improvement. So now that we've checked in with the clients and the candidates, we've run our surveys and we've taken a pulse on what they're saying, it's time for that internal review. And I'm not just talking about the employees this time. You're going to want to conduct a comprehensive brand audit. Katie Jones [00:24:52]: This is less complicated than it might sound, I promise. But it's important to understand how your brand is perceived across different touch points. A few things that you can look at include job postings. Are they compelling and reflective of your brand? Voice LinkedIn company pages does it showcase your expertise and culture through both the description of your company and the posts that you share? Recruiter outreach messages are they personalized and add value? Do you have an SOP or written guidelines around these messages? Or is it the wild wild west where every recruiter is doing something different? Client proposals do they clearly communicate your value proposition? Are they used to demonstrate what the client will gain? A by working with you and not just focused on you? The company onboarding processes for both clients and candidates. Is it smooth and informative? Or do they feel lost and like they don't know what's coming next? Marketing collateral I know, I know. I said this wasn't the focus today, but it still matters. Brochures, white papers, case studies do they tell your brand story effectively? Website user experience is it intuitive, informative and reflective of your brand? Is it easy to use? Or do people feel lost and like your website is clunky? So after we've looked at all of the things, it's time to enhance your brand. Here are some strategies tailored for staffing and recruiting firms just like yours. Katie Jones [00:26:38]: First, optimize touch points throughout the recruiting journey by mapping the journey for both candidates and clients on the candidate side. That's everything from a job search to post placement support. On the client side, that's everything from identifying a staffing need to post higher evaluation. You've likely already identified the problem areas like lengthy application processes, unclear job descriptions, a clunky website, and slow response times from either party. Knowing those things, you can start working on some improvements like client industry reports showcasing your market knowledge, video introductions of candidates to humanize that process, see if you can't evoke emotions that way. Regular check ins with place candidates and hiring managers. Something that can be overlooked through this is to implement technology that streamlines that communication. Choose an ATS and CRM that integrates well and offers mobile access, and also use scheduling tools like calendly to eliminate back and forth on interview times and implement chat bots for initial FAQ handling and after hours support. Katie Jones [00:27:58]: Second, we're going to go back to that third audience again. Okay, it is so important to train your recruiting team on consistent brand messaging. Going back to the guidelines that I talked about in the beginning, make sure your employees know them too. Brand experience is anything where a customer client candidate touches your firm in any way, and that includes your employees. They have to know the guidelines. So that includes not just the written word, right? It goes beyond that into how to discuss your firm specialties and deliver your unique value proposition. The tone and style for different communication channels, phone, email, text, social media. I would never write when I write in a text and use the same tone on LinkedIn, for example. Katie Jones [00:28:47]: And then also this one's a good one. Court's going to love this one. How to handle difficult conversations. They're going to come up, you're going to get rejections, you're going to get counter offers. So how do you help your teams with those interactions? Court says it all the time. You should role play anything that might be difficult. This can include salary negotiations, client objection handling, delivering constructive feedback to candidates, and pitching your services to potential clients. You might be like, yeah, Katie, this is great. Katie Jones [00:29:23]: I know to do those things, but how do I get buy in from my employees? Well, there's definitely a way to get them more involved. I find that most people like recognition in different ways and they feel valued in different ways. Right, because our employees have their own emotions and we should be trying to evoke emotions from them that are positive. So you can highlight recruiters who exemplify your brand values, including publicly for your emails, newsletter and on social media. You can share success stories in team meetings and company wide communications. And you can offer incentives for consistently high NP's scores. I know I'd do anything for a dollar 50 Amazon gift cardinal so third, knowing that brand is comprised of physical and invisible items, you need to ensure that your staffing firm's values are reflected in every interaction. Some of my favorite ways are to align your recruiting processes with your brand values. Katie Jones [00:30:26]: If you want transparency, share market salary data openly. Everybody loves, especially candidates, to know what the open range is for their market. If you prioritize work life balance, you need to respect the work life balance of your candidates and clients as well. If innovation is key, you might want to showcase your use of cutting edge recruiting technology. Use that as a value prop into why your firm stands out among the crowd. I touched on it a little bit earlier, but you'll want to develop templates for common communications that reflect your brand voice. You can do this inside your AP's and I would definitely pick an ATS that a allows templates and B has workflows and sequences built in so that your employees never miss a step. It will include things like reminders hey, call Kortney today because it's been a year since she was placed. Katie Jones [00:31:24]: Or follow up with Greg because you sent him interview suggestions a few days ago. So continuing into those values and knowing that your business thrives when your teams place the right candidates in the right role, you should be regularly auditing those placements to ensure qualities too. That's placement reviews at 30, 60 and 90 days, and then this is especially important. You'll want to analyze any early terminations or mismatches. You want to look at those because that will affect your brand and you want to be able to improve future matches. Number four, not all clients are the same, we know this. But you can and should craft a unique experience for each client through personalizing the placement process. You can customize your approach based on client characteristics, size of the organization, industry specific challenges, hiring volume and frequency. Katie Jones [00:32:28]: Likewise, you can tailor the candidate communications based on career stage, active versus passive job seekers and past interactions with your firm. Go back to that brand voice document so you know best practices in talking with each audience. Five, honesty is the best policy and not every client is a good fit for you. For example, if you're an executive, search for marketing warehouse staffing might not be the best foray for you to go into, and your brand experience should speak to the types of clients and candidates you want to attract. Embrace the transparency in the recruiting process and be open about your firm's specialties and limitations. Provide clear timelines and communicate early and often. This is a two way street right and so you have to be sure to set clear expectations about follow up and feedback with your clients. Like I said, if you want to place marketers in the executive search world, your branding should speak to that, so that way you never attract a warehouse staffing needs. Katie Jones [00:33:37]: Six invest in your digital presence. So I've touched on it a little bit already, but it's probably not what you're thinking. Sure, it's important that your website is pretty and follows your visual brand guidelines, but don't stop there. Your website should also be a showcase of your expertise and provide valuable resources if you want to be the expert in your field. And if you want your candidates and clients to feel like they can trust you, you need to create that brand experience online. If you're not getting the types of candidates you'd like, take a look at your job descriptions. Are they optimized for search? A good SEO firm can help you with that. Kortney and I know of quite a few, so if you have questions about that, feel free to drop your questions in the chat. Katie Jones [00:34:25]: And you'll also want to make sure that your job applications are mobile friendly. Think about how your candidates might be applying. Almost everybody has a smartphone these days and website needs to be ready for that. If your application process is too clunky or not mobile optimized, you could be missing out on key candidates. I just mentioned valuable resources on your website. You want candidates and clients alike to come to you for your tips and tricks. This can include a blog series where you regularly publish posts. You can have webinars relevant to your industry, for your clients, or on how to interview well for your candidates. Katie Jones [00:35:06]: Don't just stop there though. You need to be using social media to share the content you're publishing on your website. The blogs, the job openings, any company news, those are all branding items that you need to be sharing openly. Use it as a platform to showcase your brand as a knowledgeable and trustworthy partner. But don't just stop there. Go a little bit deeper and engage with industry discussions and use hashtags so that other people can find you easier. Don't forget to showcase your company culture and team events because that is part of the branding process here. Seven leverage recruiting technology wisely. Katie Jones [00:35:50]: Pick a platform that provides analytics and reporting in real time. The numbers may not show quality, but they are the first sign that something might be off in one of your processes. I said it before, but I'll say it again. Your ats should have sequences and workflows so you set up the right way for everyone to work in your firm. This ties back into your metrics and therefore shows you signs of discord through your KPI's eight create memorable moments in the staffing and recruiting process. There are tons of ways where you can make candidates and clients feel special. One of my favorite ways on the candidate side is to send a personalized congratulations package once they've been placed. You can offer interview coaching and resume review services, and you can also provide a welcome aboard kit for their first day on a new job. Katie Jones [00:36:43]: Think of things that they might need, a new notebook, a pencil if they're needing to take notes in a meeting, maybe a new mug. For clients, you can deliver unexpected value like a custom market report or talent mapping that really goes above and beyond what a standard firm would do. You could host exclusive webinar events or offer complimentary training sessions on interview techniques for the interviewer and workforce planning. Remember, in staffing and recruiting, your brand experience extends beyond your website or office. It's in every job description, every candidate interview, every client meeting and every placement you make. Each team member, from sourcers to account executives, play a crucial role in shaping your brand experience. Improving your staffing firm's brand experience is an ongoing process. You'll need to regularly reassess your metrics, gather fresh feedback and adjust your strategies. Katie Jones [00:37:49]: The staffing and recruiting landscape is constantly evolving with new technologies, changing workforce dynamics and shifting economic conditions. Your brand experience should evolve too, always staying one step ahead of client and candidate expectations. By focusing on creating a positive, consistent brand experience across all touch points, you can differentiate your staffing firm. In a crowded market, you'll build a stronger, longer lasting relationship with your clients and candidates, ultimately driving long term success and becoming the go to firm in your niche. Remember that your staffing and recruiting brand is more than your logo or tagline. It's the sum of all these experiences and the emotions associated with your firm. By focusing on the emotional aspect of branding in every candidate interaction and client engagement, you can create deeper connections, drive more hiring decisions in your favor, and stand out in the competitive staffing and recruiting industry. Your brand is your promise to deliver exceptional talent and service. Katie Jones [00:38:55]: Make sure every aspect of your firm lives up to that promise. As staffing and recruiting leaders, your role is in shaping and maintaining the brand experience. By consistently delivering a superior brand experience, you not only differentiate your firm, but also contribute to elevating the entire staffing industry. In a world where talent is the ultimate competitive advantage, your brand should be the key that unlocks unprecedented success for your clients, candidates and your own organization. Thank you, court. I'm going to pull you back up on stage. Kortney Harmon [00:39:31]: Lots of things to think about for anybody who has questions. For Katie, feel free to put your stuff in the chat. There's two that come to mind right now with as people are in this situation, right. They get to the point, they're like, there's so many things to do. You know what? I'm just going to let my people kind of do their own thing. I don't have time for this. I don't have time to focus on the marketing. I don't have time to focus on what all the pieces that you talked about, that brand kit, whatever that looks like. Kortney Harmon [00:40:00]: Talk to me about what spending just a little bit of time can do for these organizations as it may not be a priority today and what difference it could make in the impact to their business. Like, you talked about all the things, but like not doing it versus doing it or just spending a little bit of time, how far can that put you ahead? Katie Jones [00:40:18]: Sure. So I think that's something that interesting that you just said was that they just don't have the time to do it. And I think not having the time to do it is actually a sign that it needs to be done. Okay. So if you're a staffing and recruiting leader and you're like, I don't have time to do the branding and to dive into it, I would recommend setting aside an hour a week, 2 hours a week, where this is what you focus on, your brand. Your brand is you, your company. It's as if you were to put a human face to the company. And as I mentioned, if emotions account for 70% of, like, decision making, then if you don't have a physical person feeling to your brand, you're missing out on getting people to be emotionally invested into your business. Katie Jones [00:41:12]: And so when you think about your favorite brands, they could be local, small. There's a sourdough company here. It's a local mom and pop shop she bakes out of her home. And I love going to pick up from her because of the brand experience that she provides. The packaging is beautiful, the orders are quick, the bread is delicious. Every time I have a question, she's quick to answer. So by not doing branding, you are missing out on developing really key emotional connections with candidates and clients. When we think about building key accounts, Kortney, I think we did this episode two years ago now somehow, but we did a whole episode on key accounts and building that key account is in a large part because of your branding and the emotional experience that you're getting with the client. Katie Jones [00:42:00]: So by not doing branding, I think that you're missing out on a whole ton of stuff. And if you're like, I don't have time for this, that's a sign to me that you absolutely need to do it, that it is absolutely critical because the brands that are making time for this know how valuable it is. Kortney Harmon [00:42:16]: So I'm going to open up the door for us a little bit. And I know because I'm here, I think from our brand, we've seen a major shift in two years. And that is attributed to kind of where you're taking us and kind of what we've done, whether it's the podcast or whatever. So can you take our situation and kind of give insight to maybe what the podcast has done for us? I know not everybody has time for a podcast, but just the recognition and how that's changed our brand as Krul eight kind of give us some insight. Katie Jones [00:42:48]: Yeah, so I talked about it about having relevant and valuable information on your website. That's the content itself. Right. Okay. So part of what has made the full desk experience brand, and by association, the Crelate brand grow so much in the last two years, is a, because I never let you talk about the product, and b, because where we're coming from is a place of genuinely wanting to help staffing and recruiting leaders grow their business. We saw a huge gap in the industry and podcasts, of reaching out to these staffing and recruiting firm leaders, the operations managers, the recruiting team manager, and going beyond the people that are just running a desk while we do service them as well with some of our content, that we found this niche where people wanted help, needed help, didn't know where to look, maybe weren't part of associations or networks that could help. It was coming off the tails of COVID when people still weren't traveling that much. And so, yes, what we've done, an emphasis on the value that the content provides. Katie Jones [00:43:57]: When we write blog posts, when we do podcasts, when we film short videos, it's coming from a place of wanting to inform and not from a place of wanting to sell. What we want to do really goes back to Crelate's core value, which, if you don't know, Crelate stands for create relationship. Okay. And how do we create those relationships? By providing exceptional value every single week through things like the podcast. We have a blog series, we have a newsletter. You know, we're very active on social media. There are all sorts of ways that we try to come in and help the industry. And so I think that if your content does that, that speaks to your branding. Katie Jones [00:44:39]: Right? That speaks to the emotional connection that you're trying to create in building these relationships. Kortney Harmon [00:44:44]: Good. Good insight. There is a question, and the question is, first off, Andrew. Yes. This will be available for recording for reference. So it will be dropped on the podcast next Thursday. So search the full desk experience on any podcast platform and you'll be able to listen to it. But Katie, for someone who is like, all right, I need to start. Kortney Harmon [00:45:03]: Today's the day you've motivated me to do this. I don't do any of these things. Well, what's the first place I should start? Where's the first thing that needs my attention today? Katie Jones [00:45:13]: Oh, that's a good question. Oh, that's tough. I think so. You can start multiple places, but if you're a little bit overwhelmed and you're not quite sure of where to start, I'd get really comfortable with reaching out to your internal employees first. They are on the front lines. They might be hearing things that they're not sharing with you. They might be hearing things in the rejections that they're not sharing with you. I would really start with your internal team first because they are the front lines of your brand and you want to evaluate everything that I talked about. Katie Jones [00:45:46]: Right. You want to evaluate the communication, the actual written communication. Call times. If you have a call recorder, it might be nice to listen into some of those calls. I know that a lot of our customer insights come from our recorded conversations. And so do a deep dive and start with your internal employees because they'll probably help you find the problem areas faster than going external. And so start with the internal and then kind of build out from there. Kortney Harmon [00:46:12]: Okay. Great suggestion. There is another question, though. I love how this is posted. So one of the issues we run into with branding is how to remain very professional executive search firm without coming off as old and boring. Like old school and boring. Do you have any suggestions? Katie Jones [00:46:33]: Savannah, I love this question so much. So I have worked in b two b for 15 years. Okay. And the brands that succeed are the brands that have a little bit of personality. Right? So just because you're professional doesn't mean that you can't wear a hot pink shirt under a blue blazer. Right? And so there's definitely little elements that you can add some funk and personality into. And just because it's high end executive search and a boutique recruiting firm does not mean that you have to be staunchy. And I think that's such a common misconception. Katie Jones [00:47:07]: So when you start thinking about that, start thinking of ways where you can, like, inject a little bit of wit. And some of this is knowing your audience too, right? So if you know that your audience are like, I hate to say it, mostly men who are of a certain generation and you think that they drive these kinds of cars, like, make references to that, you want to get to know them so intimately that you can build a brand voice that they resonate with. Right? And so maybe they, they don't find such and such funny, but there's other ways that you can spice it up and be interesting without being boring. Some suggestions I can think of might be. So part of our brand voice is professional, but witty. And so we always, like, you'll see us, like I said, a blue blazer, a hot pink shirt, still a little bit of personality. And so think of that kind of concept when you go to meet with these people. Like, you still want to come off professional, but you want to come off human too. Katie Jones [00:48:10]: Because I think that the boring brands are the ones that, that might have a hard time building that emotional experience with. Right. And so there might be ways where you can rely on nostalgia to help tie in the emotion, like get to the emotion of what is going to drive business decisions with this audience and kind of go from there. I hope that that kind of answered that. But Savannah, I'm happy to have you hop on and love it. Kortney Harmon [00:48:33]: And honestly, Katie, even some of the images we use, like, it resonates home alone or like, the images that we use really resonate to the genre of the buying community. Right? So I love that. Kendall has another follow up question from this. Katie, you're like, going hot here, going off this topic, what are good ways to attract more C suite job seekers who are often passively looking? What would resonate with them? Katie Jones [00:48:59]: Okay, so I think that you've actually just hit on a couple, two things. So you've identified C suite and passive job hunters. Okay, so. Oh, court, remind me on the numbers, is it like only 20% or it's less than that of job seekers are active and then everybody else is like, passive? It's like 80% passive, I think. So that's a big audience, right, Kendall? It's a huge audience. But I think knowing that they're passive, you can do things like write blogs or newsletters or send emails or even social media content that talks to the passive candidate themselves. So this can be like, what to look for in your next job or how to tell if you're unhappy or if there's, if it's time to move on or what's behind the next C suite door. So picking blog topics and social media topics like that, where you can provide insight into somebody who's like, oh, I'm so not enjoying my vp of sales role anymore at this company, but I just, I'm not ready to leave by providing them. Katie Jones [00:50:02]: Think of it as a funnel, right? Think of it as your sales funnel, similar to how you would do sales funnel. You've got top of funnel, which is this passive audience. So you want to create content that's top of funnel, that is relevant to them. But that doesn't talk about switching jobs right now. That doesn't talk to them about how to complete a c suite job application because those are more mid and bottom funnel candidates. So I think understanding your funnel in that way and knowing that passive is way top of funnel and providing them content and value that is up here or maybe even blogs about how to feel happier in your c suite job would be a great place to go with that. Kortney Harmon [00:50:40]: Katie, what are your thoughts about stats? I'm a sucker for stats. Stats pull me in. So 72% of c suite executives feel like. I feel like I would go to that. What are your thoughts on using stats and numbers? Katie Jones [00:50:56]: Okay, so I don't know if it's just because my five year old loves to watch number blocks, but I also love numbers. Something that you can do is they call them listicles. Okay, so similar to stats, like, you can say 75% of c suite executives hate their job. Like, I'm just pulling that number out of the thin air. But you could also say, here are the top five things that you can do to make your c suite job more enjoyable. Anytime that you can bring in numbers. Like Kortney said, that's a great point. Is awesome. Katie Jones [00:51:24]: People think about, like, scrolling through your LinkedIn feed. What kinds of things do you click on? How do those things make you feel? Do you find value in the things that you see on your LinkedIn feed? And, like, feel free to steal other people's ideas, because that's all that new content is. It's just somebody else's idea. Kind of regurgitated. But definitely throw in numbers as often as you can, because quick hit tips that you can read in like under two minutes where you can just scroll and be like, oh, tip one, this, and there might be more information under there if you wanted to do a deep dive. But then quick tip two, this. And like, think about, they're busy. You want quick hits and numbers are great. Kortney Harmon [00:51:59]: I love it. I love it. I love it. By the way, there are lots of amazing things in the chat that this is amazing. So helpful. What else, Katie? What else do you want to share with us before we only have like five minutes left? Is there anything else that you can think of that we haven't talked about? I mean, what is this world of podcasting I'm going to ask that for? I mean, because I'm going to tell you, whenever we got hired, I was, like, baffled to be like, this is a thing. And then the more we get into this space, I'm seeing staffing and recruiting offices run podcasts because it's actually dual purpose for content and stuff. I mean, is the podcast relevant for the staffing and recruiting industry? I'm just throwing it out there. Katie Jones [00:52:39]: So I want you to think of it a little bit differently. I love that. Yes, the answer is not no. So like I mentioned, it's important to know what kind of content your audience consumes. Like, we know that our audience consumes different formats of podcasts, even. But think of it differently, right? Like, think about, do you want to have a candidate focused podcast? Do you want a client focused podcast? Do you want to talk about market trends and say you're in manufacturing, staffing, or even, like Kendall said, like a C suite executive firm? Like, do you want to talk to the client side and talk about the best practices there and what you're seeing in the industry? And not just from a hiring perspective either, right? It's about providing value to people who aren't necessarily looking, but that way when they are looking, they're like, oh, yeah, there's the full desk experience. They are from crelate. We got to go talk to them when they do come into market, right? So, yeah, I think podcasting is great, but it's also knowing about, like, what different formats work on different platforms. Katie Jones [00:53:42]: Like right now, video is killing it on LinkedIn and long form content without pictures. It's like the two ends of the spectrum, right? Like, think about how many times you're like, oh, see more. And then it's like this wall of text, but you read it, right? And so there's different types of content for different platforms that you'll need to keep in mind, too. And then just like I said, not every client is meant for your firm. Not every platform and type of content is right for your firm either. But it's about knowing your audience, knowing what kinds of content they consume and then building, like we call the content engine or pillar content around that. So podcasting is great. I think that maybe we can do another deep dive on podcasting, maybe later this year. Katie Jones [00:54:29]: But I know I love it. It's been the ride of my life. Kortney Harmon [00:54:32]: So you have to say that because I'm on the call with you. Katie Jones [00:54:36]: I love it. Kortney Harmon [00:54:37]: For those of you, again, reminder, this is going to be put into a podcast so you could listen to it at any time, on any platform or share it with your teams. For those people who are really that you want them to get the insight on the marketing strategy, send it to them and join us next Thursday as Chris Hessen really takes this overall look of marketing content coupled with AI and really puts it into play. For your firms that are using Crelate today, or if you're not using Crelate, come see what it can do. It's really amazing. Whenever Katie talks about the templates, the streamline, the processes that you can make just your new recruiters level up from a c or a d level that are walking in the door to really mimic those patterns of your a level recruiters, your time to profitability skyrockets. So come join us next Thursday. Thank you so much for joining us, Katie, thank you for being amazing. Such good feedback in the chat. Kortney Harmon [00:55:41]: Thank you so much for leading us through this. And if you guys have questions, feel free to reach us@fulldesk@crelate.com. and maybe if you're interested in the podcast, let us know and we can kind of follow up with that in the end of the year as well. Have a great day, guys. We'll see you soon. I'm Kortney Harmon with Crelate. Thanks for joining the full desk experience. Please feel free to submit any questions for next session to fulldesk@crelate.com or ask us live next session if you enjoyed our show. Kortney Harmon [00:56:13]: Be sure to subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen, and sign up to attend future events that happen once a month.