Trends in the human resources industry have been changing rapidly in recent years, such as the promotion of work style reform, the rise of HR tech, and the continuing seller’s market for new graduates and mid-career recruitment.
As the industry changes, a wide range of companies are entering the human resources industry, from startups to small, medium-sized, and major companies.
The human resources departments of companies that are targeted by the human resources industry have different characteristics from other departments, and the range of influence they have on marketing is also different.
This time, we will introduce the key points of an advertising strategy that specifically targets corporate human resources departments.
Advertising strategy for human resources department is based on BtoB marketing
Of course, since we are targeting corporate human resources departments, the basic idea of our advertising strategy is BtoB marketing.
There are three characteristics of BtoB marketing:
- Decision makers and users are often different. In addition, decisions are made by multiple people, including a contact person and an advisor.
- Based on service content such as functions and fees, management cost-effectiveness (ROI) such as business performance expansion and cost reduction is used as the criterion, and emotional and subjective factors are removed to make rational decisions.
- Compared to individuals, the number of target corporations is reduced, and it is compatible with advertisements such as email and DSP, which allow detailed communication tailored to each company’s issues.
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These characteristics remain the same even when the company as a whole is limited to the human resources department; it takes multiple people to consider the contract and a long time to receive an order, so inquiries acquired through advertising can quickly become orders. There is little that happens.
Marketing and sales will be involved as potential customers (leads), and will take them all the way to the order receiving phase.
In addition to these, it is also necessary to grasp the unique characteristics of the human resources department.
Features of the human resources department that are different from the sales department and marketing department
Many of you reading this column probably belong to sales or marketing-related departments.
I think both sales and marketing are using the PDCA cycle every day, formulating and implementing strategies to achieve their company’s target budgets. The results can be clearly measured in numbers.
On the other hand, what about the human resources department of a company?
We have put together a list of the voices we often hear from human resources personnel.
- I don’t know what measures to take
- I would like to have performance data so that I can learn from success stories.
- Not being able to effectively explain or appeal to management about cost-effectiveness
Because the human resources department is an independent department with a small number of employees within a company and little collaboration with other departments, it tends to lack sufficient information to solve its own problems.
Additionally, because the targets of the measures are employees, it is difficult to quantify the expected effects, which is unique to human resources.
Key points for developing an advertising strategy
We will introduce key points for formulating advertising strategies based on the characteristics of a company’s human resources department.
◆Cost, difficulty, immediate effect
When placing an advertisement, you need to judge the necessary cost, level of difficulty, and how effective the advertisement can be expected to be.
We will introduce a list of advertisements used in general
BtoB
marketing.
Programmatic advertising is diverse, such as listing ads and display ads, but it has the advantage of being able to change budget allocation at any time while monitoring the effects.
The level of difficulty increases as specialized knowledge is required for operation.
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There is a wide range of prices depending on the menu, such as media for HR and events for HR, so you will be able to choose an advertising menu that suits your budget.
For media, you need service materials and white papers, and for events, you need lecture themes and speakers, so you need know-how and knowledge to prepare each type of content.
◆Product understanding and knowledge (literacy) of human resources personnel
As I mentioned earlier, human resources personnel tend to lack information and often lack understanding (literacy) of new tools and products.
First of all, we recommend that you provide sufficient information such as the process to promote understanding and the provision of content that suits your literacy level, and then consider the lead time for inquiries and contracts based on this information.
In addition, if you quantify things that can be quantified, such as expected effects, as much as possible, and prepare implementation examples, etc., you will increase the possibility of shortening the lead time until receiving an order.
Lead nurturing that is effective for human resources departments
As mentioned earlier, even if you develop an advertising strategy and receive an inquiry from a company’s human resources department, it is unlikely that a contract will be signed immediately.
Lead nurturing is recommended for passing internal approvals, from the person in charge’s own understanding to gaining the understanding of the person making the decision, to winning approval.
Lead nurturing is the cultivation of prospective customers, and lead nurturing promotes understanding of the product at the point of inquiry, increasing the order acceptance phase based on problem recognition, interest, and consideration/comparison.
It can be said to be the most effective marketing method for human resources managers.
summary
◆Since the target is the human resources department of a company, the basic idea of advertising strategy is BtoB marketing.
◆Characteristics unique to human resources, such as insufficient information to solve the company’s issues and the inability to express expected effects and work results in numbers.
◆Lead nurturing for the prospects (leads) acquired after advertising is extremely effective for corporate human resources departments.