An untapped marketing channel
Yesterday I had the pleasure of eating lunch with a marketing exec from Western Union. We had an interesting discussion about the power of corporate recruiters as brand soldiers. This group is an often-overlooked face to the outside world; a group of people who represent their brand to consumers every single day.
In today’s job market, the recruiting process touches hundreds of consumers every day. Each one of these touch points is an opportunity to acquire a customer or create a brand advocate. Right?
Well, maybe. Recruiters are focused on finding good talent and they are primarily the buyer, less so the seller. Even when they do sell it’s about a specific job, not as much about the company or its products. Regardless, any job candidate coming in to contact with a company today is a prospective customer. Unfortunately, with online job applications and other automated systems that help recruiters, the brand experience for job seekers is usually lackluster. Often it’s very impersonal and leaves a sour taste with those excited by the prospect of working for a company they admire.
We concluded that we’re guilty as marketers for overlooking this ‘low-hanging fruit’ opportunity to market to a captive audience. Wouldn’t it be amazing if job recruiting had a strong branding component built right into the process? One example that comes to mind is for someone applying to work at Starbucks. The recruiting process for that candidate could and should embody the same unique brand experience one has when buying a cup of coffee from a Starbucks store. Then, even if that person is not chosen for the job, they have been left with a positive feeling about the brand.