The Goal
Simon knew Melbourne’s tech recruitment marketing space was on the verge of enormous growth and development. Digital transformation was a priority for many businesses, and promising local startups were making a splash on the global stage.
The skills shortage created a situation that was favorable to job seekers. Wages and benefits were rising, with counter offers and headhunting standard practice. Many firms were slow to react and were getting left behind.
Capitalizing on this emerging market required showcasing Crew’s capabilities and deep understanding of employee marketing and SaaS recruitment in general.
Crew needed to help SaaS businesses recruit top talent, and we needed to help them do it.
The Challenge
While Crew is a successful and profitable business, it’s lean. They can’t afford to throw around 10s of thousands of dollars on marketing agencies that don’t deliver results. So our first challenge was that we needed to be very deliberate and precise about the strategies we employed.
The second problem we faced was that Melbourne has a lot of talent agencies. Competition is stiff, so we had to find a way of standing out if we wanted Crew to cut through the noise. That involved showcasing Crew’s value proposition to an audience that mattered.
The Solution
Before engaging with In Motion Marketing, Simon had recorded a bunch of interviews he did over Zoom and published them on YouTube. The subject matter was on point, and there were a lot of valuable insights in those videos.
However, Crew’s target market wasn’t spending time on YouTube. Instead, they were with the rest of the business crowd on LinkedIn.
We determined that Simon was sitting on a goldmine. We turned the videos into audiograms to share some of these nuggets of information. Bite-sized videos are perfect for busy professionals scrolling through LinkedIn.
Next up, we updated Crew’s brand and simplified its messaging. This process involved a completely new website and a content marketing plan focused on its target audience of tech employers and recruitment teams.
The Results
The results of our work together were substantial. Crew has grown its business and reputation and has captured some big-name clients, such as Zendesk, FlyBuys, Culture Map, and more.
Crew has become a leader in talent recruitment in Melbourne by connecting with the right market and developing solid, strategic partnerships. Producing engaging content has also grown through thought leadership and authority building, becoming a trusted voice in the Melbourne tech recruitment space.
Examples
Digital Marketing Strategy
A solid digital marketing strategy is essential in modern business – especially in tech recruitment. We had to consider many things as we strategized with Simon on a plan of attack that would cut through the market.
The main aim was to generate a lot of content on a small budget. Our content marketing would play to Simon’s strengths so we could compete with better-funded rivals in the space.
Simon is a great communicator. He’s engaging, naturally charismatic, and a good listener. Allied with his experience in this space, these qualities gave us a source of thought leadership and helpful content that communicated Crew’s values and how their team works.
Producing engaging content on a budget is about removing friction. We wanted the content to be quick and easy to execute. Simon would record interviews; we would chop the highlights into bite-sized content that was concentrated and easy to digest. The added bonus of this approach is that the material felt fresh and authentic.
Marketing for recruiting agencies also requires thinking about distribution. That meant understanding who Crew’s target audience was and figuring out where they spent their time.
In Crew’s case, we focused on LinkedIn. While the platform has evolved into a business social networking site with lots of posts and content, a big part of LinkedIn is providing recruitment solutions. These characteristics made it a suitable venue for content focused on tech recruitment and the overall job market.
Brand & Messaging
Crew’s mission statement came from Simon’s past experiences in recruitment. In particular, he believed there was a better way to provide the services that businesses needed and deliver them in a valuable way.
Communicating a mission of doing things with kindness is a big part of the Crew ethos. We needed to find a way to deliver this message.
We sat down with our graphic designer and worked out a new style guide for Crew. As the brand has developed and grown, it has evolved. However, our initial work put the foundations in place.
While investing in new branding and messaging, including a new website, was a big financial commitment, it certainly paid off. Now, Crew’s brand matches its content and mission, and everything works together seamlessly and coherently.
As mentioned above, our digital marketing strategy was about generating specific content centered around Simon’s personality. The rest of our branding and messaging had to chime with that.
The results were good, and Crew has a distinct and likable brand. The website and content are slick and professional but also retain a relatable, down-to-earth edge, essential in a relationships business like recruitment.
Search Engine Optimization
A big part of our focus involved video content on LinkedIn, but we still understood the importance of search engine optimization (SEO).
We used our knowledge of best SEO practices to determine the keywords and phrases the Crew website should target. We reviewed and cleaned up the website, deleting duplicate content and ensuring that each page targeted particular key terms or phrases.
Additionally, we focused on creating landing pages for the diverse range of services that Crew offers. Each service would get its own landing page, with additional content, such as social proof, to beef up performance. We concentrated on keeping the site focused, clear, and easy to read and digest.
Salary data is a big draw for both recruiters and job seekers. Tech talent competition in Melbourne is so fierce that it’s essential to have accurate and current figures to benchmark compensation and ensure your offers are attractive.
One part of our SEO focus was capturing traffic from organizations and individuals who need this salary data. Again, we used separate pages for different roles to concentrate more tightly on specific keyword searches and not cannibalize particular words. Crew has access to this salary information as a recruiter, so we leveraged that benefit toward the overall SEO strategy.
The combined results meant our efforts were worthwhile. Crew owns the number one spot for the high-value keyword “tech recruiter Melbourne.” We’ve outperformed Australia’s biggest job site, Seek, and other larger, more well-funded businesses like Halcyon Knights.
This marketing case study shows that smaller businesses can make significant impacts by employing strategies that play to their strengths.
Social Media Marketing
As mentioned above, LinkedIn would form a big part of our social media marketing. It has a high concentration of tech HR and recruitment teams: precisely the sort of people that could benefit from hearing Crew’s message.
Again, a big focus was generating relevant content for both recruiters and job seekers. Some content centered around salary data, as outlined in the SEO section above. We also used LinkedIn to promote Crew’s Average Tech Salary report, a popular post that drove a lot of engagement.
We also focused on promoting audiograms from interviews that Simon did with various recruitment professionals. Again, this niche content is squarely aimed at a target audience of talent acquisition workers looking to stay on trend in a fast-moving industry.
Crew’s LinkedIn page also contains material that helps talent acquisition teams and job seekers up their game. Again, this is about using authority and expertise to drive helpful, insightful, and valuable content. Some posts use hashtags to connect with the target audience, while others redirect to blog posts and other material on the Crew website.
Another thing to note about Crew’s LinkedIn content is that it’s conversational and entertaining. While Crew is serious about talent acquisition, they post lots of funny content. These lighthearted posts help break up LinkedIn readers’ news feeds and help Crew stand out from the crowd.
Overall, focusing on LinkedIn has been worthwhile. When we started working together, Crew had a few hundred followers. Today, they have over 5000. These are good numbers for what is a niche, localized service.
As we keep up the content-driven strategy, Crew adds about 100 organic followers each week. Overall, these very encouraging figures underline the importance of tailored marketing for recruitment agencies.