Recruitment PR and Marketing Blog

It’s the age-old struggle. In the left corner we have advertising, represented by Mad Men, while in the right we have PR, represented by Absolutely Fabulous. Obviously, in my eyes there’s one clear winner, however it’s probably fair to say that I’m ever so slightly biased. But what is more powerful, PR or advertising? Dated concept It would be unfair to say that advertising doesn’t have its place in the modern world, however to most commentators it’s seen as less effective than it once was in the past. If we rewound to even as recently as 20 years ago, advertising was still a powerful platform and was used to drive the consumer behaviour that organisations wanted. However, back then it was easier to convince buyers to do what you want and it would be fair to say that people were less savvy and, quite possibly, less cynical. Now in the modern, hardened, social media-led world it’s easy to see through often transparent campaigns, which can have damaging effects on firms.

PR absolutely can and absolutely should be measured. Know what your objectives are. You need to have something to measure against – and so you need context. Do you need more candidates or clients – and where? In a particular sector or geography. Do you need more people to work for you? Do you want to raise you profile as a thought leader? Don’t just share the same message across all channels, think about what you are looking to achieve and the best way to do this using each channel.

As it’s Halloween it seemed an appropriate time for the team at BlueSky PR to ask recruiters for their scariest candidate experiences. Who knew how frightening it would get… from assault, to lies, to criminal activity. Following the piece in the October issue of Recruitment Grapevine where Clayton Recruitment told tales of non-violent confusion and inappropriate attire, and One Way talked of outrageous excuses, turtle trouble and false teeth, here are a few more stories we’ve been permitted to share: Halloween Recruitment Horror Stories: Spooky “We had candidate come in for interview once who had very long witchy nails and Medusa type hair… we were more than a little intimidated.” - Anonymous Halloween Recruitment Horror Stories: Oooky “We once had a candidate come in to Branch chewing gum. We said that it is okay for a registration, although it is bad practice for interviews. When asking the client for interview feedback, the client informed us the candidate was nervously chewing gum so he asked if it was a habit or whether the candidate just forgot. In a panic, the candidate had apparently then stuck the gum to the bottom of the interview desk!” - Katie Gibson, Director at Pier Recruitment

Media consumption in the UK - what people are reading online and offline Gorkana hosted an insightful webinar this week on what people are reading on and offline in the UK, based on their latest UKPulse media research, and this is what they shared… What are millennials reading? Photo by Jean_Nelson – DepositPhotos.com Sorry to break it to you Kim Kardashian but Gorkana says you’re too old to be a millennial… when Gorkana talks millennials, it’s thinking more Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber (if they lived in the UK), and what they’re reading might surprise you. Millennials regularly read the Times, the Guardian, the Metro, the Economist and Forbes and are more focussed on traditional news topics. Although, you might be less surprised to note that 20% consider BuzzFeed a primary news source. Erica Harris, Senior Account Director at Gorkana, noted that millennials are after authenticity and honesty. They’ll forgive you if you can acknowledge when you’ve done something wrong but if you can’t… Millennials believe traditional media to be more trustworthy than social media but trust in Twitter and blogs has Photo by Jens Muller/Brunopress – DepositPhotos.com grown in the last five years. The sources they trust the most? TV and radio. And the least? Wikipedia. 34% will watch a video if this is embedded in an article. Are you taking full advantage of this additional media opportunity? Do people still read news offline?

In an ever connected world it is all too easy to send a press release to a journalist or email them with an idea for an article. Indeed, I know from the many journalists I’ve built a rapport with that it is a common occurrence for internal marketing, communications and PR teams to fire across multiple emails in the hope of a quick hit. But I implore you, please think before you email that journalist! There are so many considerations you have to ask yourself; is this the right journalist? Is this the right story for the publication? Is this the best way to contact them? Is this the best day to contact them? And so on. But none of this can really be discovered without speaking to the individual – a frustrating catch 22 situation for anyone. And that’s where a good PR firm can add real value. The stereotype of a journalist as an extremely busy individual with short deadlines to meet, an overflowing inbox and an endless stream of nuisance calls is, I’m afraid to say, true. But a good PR agency has not only built a relationship with the right journalists, but also knows when to call. And as my experience at BlueSky PR has taught me, investing the time to build the relationship with these key individuals means that not only do they take our calls with proverbial open arms, but they also call us seeking expert comment and even article ideas.

The constant evolution of social media means the way in which we communicate with each other is changing at an accelerating pace. And while traditional media continues to maintain its standing in the industry landscape, sites such as Twitter and Facebook can now boast the advantages of being more up to date and considerably easier to access. Brand Communication As a result social media has become a key pillar of brand communication. On these sites content is often targeted at a specific audience and active engagement is facilitated by the ability to easily share and respond to posts. So in sharing an article you’re not just increasing its reach and making it readily available for your target audience – but also drawing upon the merits of both the social and traditional landscapes, providing your audience with material from dependable sources that can be easily accessed and shared. Brand Engagement The aim of most social media strategies is to encourage potential clients and candidates to engage with the brand, so really the objective should be to direct to users to content on your own website. Posting links to coverage to a news feed on your website and placing them alongside industry specific resources is great way to position yourself as a thought leader.

Some say the press release is dying. Judging by the amount of awful examples peddled to journalists and editors daily many would argue that it’s not dying quickly enough.

As recruiters you have undoubtedly all utilised social media tools to help build and engage with your current and potential client and candidate communities - but how many of you have thought of it as a key element of your reputation management? Let’s take the example of a disgruntled or extremely happy client – if they communicate their experience to others over a coffee then the spread of that message will be quite slow. But with social media those messages can be amplified on an exponential level. If you doing nothing else with social media you should at least be using it to listen because as well as being an amplifier, it is also an enabler. If you can hear what those people are saying about you over their coffee – then you can do something about it!

The recent story of Richard Ross falling off the Sunday Times Rich List because he gave away 25% of his wealth to good causes should be a lesson to us all. Giving makes you feel good and while many will say that he could well afford his philanthropy, everyone has the ability to give something of value - even if it is just a good deed. At BlueSky, we like to feel good - and we like our staff to be able to feel good which is why we have decided to undertake a certain amount of pro bono work. There are two projects underway at the moment: The Give Something Back Competition Our business education practice has just launched a really innovative competition for any business school student - or group of students. The idea is that they pitch an imaginative, but robust project designed to improve the lives of disadvantaged people anywhere around the globe. It could be a social enterprise, an educational programme or a humanitarian undertaking. The winner will get 1.5 days of practical PR & media relations support from us per month for six months. And this isn't just a pie in the sky idea. Having worked with business schools the world over, one thing we have learned is that their students often come up with some of the most interesting and innovative ideas to help others in society. From the MBA student who set up a fashion business to help struggling communities in the wake of the Haitian earthquake in 2010, through to the Masters in Management student working to reduce snake bite deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa, we’ve had the privilege of working with a number of exciting projects. We know there are hundreds of great social projects being initiated every year – but that many will get very little attention outside of their immediate communities. We hope to change that and look forward to helping a worthy project get as much press as possible.

There have been long debates on the fate of print papers in the digital age. But we missed something vital. If consumers have the choice of blocking online ads, will digital advertising survive? The argument goes like this: as modern society consumes information differently (digitally), news, and implicitly advertising, moves online. The business model is changing – the internet gave users unrestricted access to news and information which in turn put a lot of small papers out of business, while some moved all of their content online. Some newspapers will safeguard their precious content under a paywall but the rest will disseminate it for free and stay afloat from digital advertising revenues. This is old news. But what happens when the digital advertising does not reach its target audience? The Financial Times published a very insightful piece, this morning, on how adblockers are messing up a £120 billion online advertising industry. An adblocker is an application which prevents advertising from appearing on webpages. According to a study by Adobe and PageFair, the number of people using ad blocking software rose 70% last year. Out of 2.8bn internet users worldwide, 144m use adblockers. Media groups such as Google, who depend on advertising – and we’re talking billions of dollars’ worth of revenue, are up in arms over this. Publishers are equally unhappy and we discover that all big digital leaders have developed various ways of fighting adblockers including lawsuits, cash and software. This is just the beginning of a long war between consumers - who feel empowered to use the internet as they wish, software developers who create adblockers, and publishers. My question is where does this leave PR? Hypothetically, if you pay for digital advertising which your target audience then blocks by using software like AdBlock Plus, what is your return on investment? Are adblockers a game changer?

The top five PR and marketing tips your recruitment business shouldn’t ignore Whilst the recession certainly reduced the size of the UK staffing sector, today’s market is crowded and full of agencies vying to compete with and overtake their competition. Despite this, however, too few look at PR and marketing as a tool to not only differentiate themselves from their competitors, but to also position themselves as the ‘go to agency’ for clients seeking staff and for candidates looking for their next role. There is perhaps a tendency to view marketing and PR as a time consuming and often costly exercise they can do without. Wrong. If done effectively, it can help a staffing company reach its objectives and facilitate growth. Here are my top five tips: Create original, engaging content Perhaps an obvious statement, but any material you create – whether this is a newsletter, mailer, brochure, or media article – needs to not only be compelling, but it also needs to grab the reader’s attention. Like me, most of you will be inundated with content from third parties and, if they fail to draw me in, they not only don’t get read but the brand in question doesn’t strike me as an authoritative voice in their market. Your content needs to be engaging and offer the audience added value. Target your content correctly

The company Twenty Recruitment is one of the world’s fastest expanding independent recruitment businesses. In January 2009 while the recruitment sector was suffering from the effects of global financial meltdown, it was rewriting the rule book and setting up the next generation of recruitment business. From a standing start in the very depth of the recession, the company is profitable, has multiple business streams covering 7 industry sectors, a global client base & offices in London and New York. The challenge While BlueSky had secured an impressive level of press coverage in both broadsheet and sector specific press, Twenty was also keen to feature in the broadcast media in order to influence and share opinion on pertinent business issues. The solution BlueSky has always been of the opinion that PR is not just about the press but about creating compelling content that is not only read – but also shared. BlueSky already created content for Twenty’s company blog and ensured that it was disseminated through other channels such as Twitter and LinkedIn. We knew that to get the attention of broadcast journalists we had to contextualise the news and comment on something that there was already an appetite for. As Twenty has a financial services practice – and there were several thousand column inches in the press devoted to the public backlash over bankers’ bonuses and executive pay – we piggybacked this with a blog suggesting that it was time to stop bashing the bankers as the financial services sector was really the only thing left that the UK was any good at! We ensured that it had all the relevant keywords as tags and shared it through LinkedIn and Twitter ensuring that we targeted broadcast social media channels.

As recruiters look to maintain a competitive advantage, get in front of key clients and attract some of the best candidates, many will turn to PR for support. However, it is all too common to find organisations jumping head first into PR without the necessary in depth planning. Any communications activities such as this are strategic, long term investments which will require a level of forethought in order to be truly successful. So, if you're looking at PR as an option, what do you need to consider? Take a look at our top five tips we shared with TIRA readers:

Could there be a worse time for a London Newspaper to get it wrong? The 21st March saw the arrival of the much-anticipated Budget for 2013 – though some managed to see it sooner than intended, as shortly before the Chancellor’s speech was due, the details were revealed on Twitter by the London Evening Standard. The paper had been given details of the Budget’s main themes prior to the speech under a press embargo until later that afternoon. The embargo was still in place when the Standard tweeted a picture of its front page to its followers – a front page full of Budget information. This was unfortunate for all involved, including George Osborne who was faced with the opposition party mockingly waving copies of the front page at him from the benches. Though a swift apology from the editor of the paper was made, and the offending tweet was removed, the damage had already been done. The journalist responsible was suspended, and the newspaper is now rumoured to be denied future access to the exclusive briefings given in advance of both the Budget and the Autumn Statement. For the London Evening Standard, this is a particularly big loss as, being London’s evening newspaper, it was often the first to distribute the news of such events. We often hear about the responsibility those working in PR have to the journalists they communicate with, and the need to be honest and trustworthy, but what about the responsibility the press has towards its sources of information? The Standard’s situation clearly demonstrates how important it is for a journalist to uphold their end of the deal when it comes to handling sensitive information.

This year’s Budget wasn’t without its hitches, and The Evening Standard’s premature publishing of the results will lead to a review on how information is released in the future. It’s clear that George Osborne brought some welcome news to Britain though; September’s 3p fuel duty rise is to be scrapped, beer duty will be cut by 1p, and a 20% tax relief on childcare up to £6,000 per child is to be implemented from 2015. But how have the outcomes affected the recruitment industry?