Parqa’s new Executive Vice President, Julie Haldorson, is pretty wild about data acquisition. With the powerful potential of data, we’ve seen a key opportunity to unlock more meaningful engagements with clients and candidates. 

But, in a sea of data, how can staffing firms create more value-added marketing solutions and ultimately drive more placements?

This month, Julie is helping us with some ​​thought-provoking insights to the many benefits of data acquisition for staffing firms, and how to:

• Set up key ATS/CRM tools to glean meaningful data from your visitors
• Ensure you have the correct data to activate your communication plans
• Use key data points to engage leads in meaningful ways – all the way down the funnel

Read on for our Q&A with Julie. She’ll help us better understand data acquisition for staffing firms, why it’s important, and how strategically acquired and implemented data can give your firm a critical advantage in the industry.

Q: How can marketing content do a better job attracting potential clients?

As with any conversation, the more relevant the content is to the audience, the better the response.

Too often, marketing content is overly focused on the firm’s goals versus the client’s goals. Instead, the highest performing content focuses on audience needs and surfaces solutions to the specific problems they are experiencing.  

Here is a good example from the “don’t” category of marketing content – focused on the staffing firm, and not the audience:

“Our staffing solutions link you to remote professionals quickly. Contact us today and allow us to start connecting you to qualified applicants.”

The message is not as compelling as it could be. It’s not identifying with or solving any problems for your partners.

Here is a good example from the “do” category of marketing content where the message focuses on the audience:

“Keep projects on track with interim talent. If you need strategic staffing solutions, contact us to start simplifying your hiring today.”

At Parqa we suggest designing experiments to test content marketing. The results are always illuminating and, as always, we invite you to contact us to discover more for yourself.

Why do we rely so much on testing? Because the best content strategy uses data implementation to always improve. Create experiments that test the impact of a piece of content then:

• Analyze the results
• Duplicate positive results
• Change course on those campaigns with less favorable results (adjusting copy, design, etc.)
• Repeat! 

Q: What should data acquisition systems on staffing websites ask of clients and candidates in online forms?

Two rules of thumb to live by when collecting information with your data acquisition systems:

Never ask for more information than you plan to use.

Your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools have lots of valuable information. But what is your strategy for using that data to further your marketing objectives?

Consider the user experience in the design of your data acquisition. Avoid including fields for both phone and email in an online form unless you have a plan to use both in the near term.

Always offer something of equal or greater value in exchange.

Asking for name, email, job title, and hiring position should be met with immediate delivery of real value to the client. Consider your client and candidate interaction. What kind of products and services can you offer in return for this information?

This could be anything from a free and informative ebook or automated email marketing from a recruiter outlining a solution to their known challenge. 

Q: How can marketing for staffing firms leverage data to create more value-added marketing solutions to drive business results?

First, deliver more relevant value-add content. Communicating with a job seeker about a potential opportunity is table stakes for talent acquisition. Consider the candidate’s experience, what content do you deliver that is relevant to their:

• Industry
• Level of work experience
• Job hunting in their geography
• Remote work hacks for interim contracts
• Salary guides for their specific job title

Segmented content relies on specific data points to determine the interaction design. Your data, whether fact-based or behavior-based, can help you determine not only what content will be more relevant to an individual but when to deliver your next message.

The staffing industry inherently gathers a significant amount of personal and professional data. The good news? This data is likely readily available in your ATS/CRM tool. With a data-informed communication strategy, staffing firms could be uniquely poised to deliver highly valuable and individually relevant content at scale.

Second, deliver content when your audience needs it vs. when you want something. Here you can rely on key data points from your recruitment ATS. This data will help you deliver timely thought leadership materials or professionally relevant tools to candidates at all stages of their journey. 

Staying top-of-mind is a key to brand loyalty, can help you maintain relevance, and significantly increases a candidate’s likelihood of redeploying with your firm.

Q: How can Parqa help staffing firms to create a more positive user experience (UX) and ultimately drive more leads with better data acquisition and implementation?

Your staffing firm likely has incredibly valuable experts on staff. The more time those experts spend converting prospects to placements, the higher the firm’s return on investment for those experts.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an expert marketing team dedicated to finding and nurturing clients and candidates for you? Even better, a marketing agency that can identify and leverage key data points to inform your recruiters when your audience is most likely ready to convert?

Insert Parqa.

Our team of digital marketing experts have worked with some of the biggest brands in North America and pair their knowledge with our leadership’s 50+ years of experience in the staffing industry. Parqa is a marketing agency that understands the long-tail efforts necessary to consistently engage and energize your clients and candidates.

More on data acquisition and marketing for staffing firms

Stay tuned to learn more about the perfect partnership between digital marketing and sales!

Julie’s next blog will examine how many staffing firms have a disconnect between the level of personal service they provide and their customer’s online experience. We’ll unpack how you can dial-in your digital presence, so it is consistent with the level of expertise and care delivered by your team.

To learn more about how a key marketing strategy, informed by valuable data, can transform your staffing or recruiting agency’s lead generation efforts, contact Parqa today!