Why is recruitment marketing one of the most creative applications of content marketing?

As we claw out of recession, a now-searing job market has been flipped in the pan. Those with experience and marketable skills are finding they now constitute choosers as opposed to the beggars of years previous. Although there is still plenty of competition, skilled graduates now have scope to play hard-to-get with recruiters. This is why I think, that one the most competitive applications of creative content marketing right now is in recruitment. So, what’s the return on investment (ROI) for a recruitment areerontent strategy? You could say that staff retention and productivity are obviously measurable vectors, and on a macro-economic scale, ones that go hand-in-hand with our needs as a nation.

Skill shortages and Graduate needs

Findings by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published last…

Census of Digital Marketing Managers reveals improved integration needed in many businesses

Over 200 Digital Marketing Managers in the UK, working in companies with turnovers over £2o million, were contacted by an independent research agency commissioned by Marin Software for this census. The top 5 priorities revealed from their research were themed on integration; 46% of respondents will be focusing on improving their on and off-line integration, 37% working towards integrated digital marketing disciplines and Managers will be working across teams, more closely with their IT/Tech departments. In terms of digital marketing integration, 12% were not integrating it in their organisation and only 27% felt it was fully integrated. Download Marin's Software's 'UK Digital Marketing Manager's Census' Report for more details (registration is required). To help marketers find the right job in…

The biggest gap is surprising..

Where are marketers most keen to improve their skills in digital marketing? Since all the tools in our digital marketing library are aimed at helping members improve their digital skills we were interested to know where people felt confident and where they want to top up their skills. So we asked this question in our recent research looking at how digital marketing is managed in 2015. The chart shows that over half of respondents feel confident in their own skills or they know sufficient although there is still a huge appetite to learn 'across the board' as shown by the red bars: We might expect from what's discussed online, that the gap would be social media, content marketing or strategy, but when looking at the highest percentage of those that need to improve their depth…

Re-imagining the recruitment process in a digital world

Using digital to provide a human touch In relationships between two people, the person instigating the break up may feel they may have little to lose, especially in the early days of the relationship. 'You never return my phone calls, my emails. You never told me why you don’t accept me for who I am? I just get voicemail. Tell me why you don’t love me.'

Unnecessary behaviour

This behaviour appears to me, to often also manifest itself in the HR recruitment processes of companies. Even in a digital age when a prospective employee could also be a customer or even a shareholder. They could be left thinking that if this is how they treat their prospective employees then this is how they might treat their current employees. Worse still, it could mean they walk away as a customer or shareholder. Marketing Directors and Customer Service Directors are…

My top 10 tips to help you secure your digital marketing graduate job

There’s something nostalgic about looking back at your time at University – especially when looking to offer advice. Like that one time you were stranded in the library preparing for your last exam. Or the time you were rushing to print your coursework and realised you had run out of print credits. Frustrating at the time, but when you look back, there’s always a lesson learnt. University offers so much, yet it’s often under utilised by students. This is sometimes only realised by graduating students when it’s too late to seize those opportunities. So this is me, who has been there, done that, passing the baton of advice on to any Under-grad or Post-grad students who may be considering their future in digital marketing. The following tips are lessons I…

 Some practical tips based on 10+ years of marking exams

I was first involved in setting and marking exams in digital marketing around 2000 for the pioneers taking the Chartered Institute of Marketing E-marketing certificate or award as it was known then. Since then I have marked many exams and assignments and a few years ago I posted this note on my personal blog in response to requests. Recently, I have had some more requests for tips on taking exams although I'm no longer directly involved with marking since I'm focusing on developing resources for Smart Insights with our team of writers. You will see that these tips are based on obvious, but nonetheless common failings in approach, it's natural that a logical approach will "go out of the window" under exam pressure, but hopefully these tips may enable you to have some "grace under pressure". …

How e-marketing talent can be improved with digital marketing training simulations

Business owners and agency executives are looking to provide marketing and sales staff with access to the latest technologies for reaching out to potential customers while creative leaders are looking to enable lean teams which use online tools to plan and execute complex action items with predictable results. The cloud is now enabling a new range of simulation services which can help improve the operational skills and decision-making abilities of marketers through training. For businesses reliant on digital marketing which experience turnover of personnel that holds different levels of expertise we see two areas that will be transformed by simulation: first, on-the-job training and sourcing candidates for project assignments. Since the advent of readily available computing resources, simulation has been used in training military staff, in medical schools and in the nuclear energy sector. Simulations provide considerable learning value where there is high-risk…

Ideas for developing your digital marketing skills

In previous posts we have looked at how marketers can stay relevant by developing their digital marketing skills. Simon Swan asked Are you a T-Shaped Marketer? which is an interesting way of reviewing the depth and breadth of your digital marketing skills and I summarised another infographic showing how the modern marketer needs to be Part Scientist and Part Artist. We also interviewed online recruiters to find out what industries were looking for when employing digital staff and reviewed typical digital marketing roles in our marketing job descriptions outlines. 

In this infographic, we look at social media marketing skills . This shows how soft skills such as listening, nurturing and patience are just as important as some of the hard, technical skills. We're not sure they need to be 'superpowers' though!

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From social media marketing to Google Analytics

Feeling jolly at Christmas, I wanted to be useful . And thought, if you find a little time in-between now and the New Year, it’s a good opportunity to do a little social media housekeeping. Here are immediate future’s top 14 recommendations (seriously, we are doing our tidy up too!) that will improve your social footprint no end. Get them all done and you’ll hit the ground running in January!

Verify your Google profile – Google+ made huge advances this year but try some simple updates. If you haven’t already, customise your URL so your company page is legitimate and easier to find and share.

Prepare for a crisis – While it’s quiet, take a step back and look at the risks and vulnerabilities in social. Where could you improve? How will you go about making change? Who else in your company could you tempt…

Key ingredients of the modern marketer's portfolio

For many new graduates encountering the job market for the first time, they’re discovering a very harsh and competitive environment. In the UK, unemployment has been falling recently, but the number of long-term jobless has hit a 17-year high illustrating that competition for jobs has never be tougher for both young and experienced professionals.

However, with the explosion of social media and other digital communication channels, it’s sometimes difficult to understand why prospective employees still rely primarily on the trusty 2-page CV to promote themselves. Whilst still a very important tool, the CV often paints a very one-dimensional picture of one’s professional history, skills and achievements.

In contrast, digital channels such as websites, blogs, podcasts and social networks can be used to build up a much deeper, more fluid representation of one’s interests, passions and professional experience. When we look at what these channels…