Articles 
In our blog, Why Email Marketing Matters for Recruiters, we delved into how one of marketing’s most established tools is still one of its most potent. In this blog, we’ll establish how to make your email campaigns stand out from the rest of the noise in your candidate’s inbox.
In today’s passive talent marketplace, top talent generally isn’t paying attention to the work your organization is doing, or why your job opportunity might be great for their career. As a recruiter you’re competing for their attention, and you’re up against a myriad of distractions, from tonight’s basketball game to their next vacation. And that’s not even taking into consideration the hundreds of emails they receive in a day. This is where the art of content and email marketing comes in – it is your not-so-secret weapon in the never-ending struggle to engage passive talent.
The art of content marketing means getting the right content to the right audience at the right moment. This may sound intimidating, but you don’t actually need to be a marketing ninja to create great recruiting content.
With a few simple tips and tricks, you can make an impact in no time at all.
Tip 1: Know Your Audience
Before you even begin writing your emails, it’s crucial to identify your target demographic – whether they be recent or soon-to-be graduates, veteran management, or thoroughly experienced engineers. Their current location, area of interest, the length of time they have been in your talent pool, their GPA or current salary is all pertinent information that can be leveraged for your email marketing success – but only if it is segmented within your CRM. Once you segment, you can easily identify what type of content will drive the most conversions through each stage of your recruiting process.
Tip 2: Craft Your Message
Once you’ve identified who you want to target, the next step is defining your email’s raison d’etre — the objective behind hitting the send button. As a recruiter, the purpose of your email is usually to open and promote a relationship with a potential candidate and get them interested in your company. If you build your content around this reason, relevant prospects will inevitably feel compelled enough to engage, click or reply. As we all tend to scan our emails, your messaging needs to be highly personalized and immediately relevant.
Tip 3: Watch Your Timing
When it comes to engaging with a candidate, timing is everything. Imagine sending an offer letter to the perfect candidate, only to realize that they accepted a job offer at a competitor the day before. Perhaps you’re sending emails to graduates who are in the height of their exam season, then wondering why they’re not responding. Or it may be that you are emailing happily employed passive candidates during work hours so your messages are falling on deaf (or busy) ears. Connecting with these candidates during their commute home, or perhaps Friday afternoons (as people wind down from the work week) may result in a better chance of engagement.
Tip 4: Try Something New
People’s personal and professional lives change all the time. Rather than simply sending information to a potential candidate, you might invite them to actively do something, such as updating their profiles, sharing their daily activities with you, or answering a short, fun survey. This enables you to build a richer picture of their current work situation, making timing an easier obstacle to overcome for future messaging.
No matter when you reach out to a candidate, your email has a better chance of success if its content is both engaging and relevant. But this is just the beginning – a truly great email marketing strategy also depends on segmentation, AB testing, and so much more.
