How vital is organizational branding to the success of your company? When staffing technologies are already ubiquitous, how can branding your business according to your core purpose be used as leverage to stay above the fray?
Staffing Technologies and Branding Your Business: The Current Scenario
In a fresh benchmarking report, 78.6 percent of staffing professionals believe that the industry is on an upward trajectory this year and in the next one to two years. This rosy outlook, though, comes with tougher competition among staffing agencies.
Two major influencers in the last five years have made it more challenging than ever for recruiting firms to compete:
The pandemic shifted everyone’s perception of what it means to be a good service provider.
While the job market is still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, it has completely disrupted the world of work and how job candidates view and position themselves against the many possibilities in the labor market brought by the pandemic.
As a result, many recruiters must now accommodate new demands from candidates who have a taste of flexibility working amid a pandemic can provide. For instance, many top professionals joined the Great Resignation because they did not want to return to working onsite.
What’s more is that many job candidates have now become wage-sensitive, especially in the tech industry where demand remains competitive—46 percent of workers this year are planning to look for a new job in search of higher pay.
Therefore, many job candidates now prefer to work with staffing firms that can cater to their new post-pandemic preferences.
Staffing software providers are helping to even the competitive playing field by improving employer and candidate experiences through the use of technology.
The said benchmarking report also revealed that a great majority of staffing firms have already invested heavily in digital transformation.
Sixty percent of staffing industry professionals are firm believers in technology being a major driver of competitive advantage in their business. This is also why, according to the report, fast-growth staffing firms have utilized chatbots, 88 percent are very likely to use automated referral management systems, and 54 percent are more likely to have mobile apps.
Staffing firms have largely embraced technology and incorporated it into the most crucial aspects of their recruitment. Virtually all staffing firms have recognized that there is no way to go but to digitize.
When Technology is No Longer the Game-Changer and the Market Demands the Extraordinary
With all staffing firms fully embracing the power of technology in recruitment, how do you go further into bringing your A-game?
These days, no one staffing firm commands a considerable lead when it comes to its tech stack. In fact, most staffing firms use the same “best” recruiting software to reach out to job candidates.
So, if your staffing firm’s tech stack is no longer the clincher in differentiating your staffing firm from all the rest, how do you leverage it? How do you make a difference as you respond to the market’s extraordinary demands?
The answer lies in the power of your brand.
What You’ll Need for A Successful Branding Strategy
Technologies are the only tools in orchestrating your true strength as a company. It is a strong brand that will always make you special. Let’s revisit below what makes up a brand that’s uniquely you. These are the four factors you should focus on in developing a successful branding strategy.
Your Core Purpose
What is your brand’s big picture?
Your brand’s big picture is your company’s “forever.” It’s the reason why your company exists. So even when you take out financial projections, recruitment strategies, and other forms of execution, your core purpose should be very clear to you and your team.
A clear core purpose acts as a north star for you and your team. It must be a source of guidance and inspiration that outlasts any period of growth or decline for your firm.
Most importantly, your core purpose should be able to inspire and excite not only you but eventually your team and the clients that you will represent.
Your Proprietary Process
Your proprietary process transforms your staffing agency from being just “one of them” into “the one and only.” It serves as your company’s “secret recipe.”
This should empower you to talk about your staffing agency in a manner that is clear, personal, and impactful. This is also directly derived from your core purpose.
Your proprietary process should clearly explain why you are different from the rest and that you offer personalized attention and care to the goals of your prospective clients and candidates.
Your Productized Services
Productized services allow you to make your business scalable.
Are the prices of your services as a staffing agency competitive? Is the scope clear, and will it not be a cause of confusion for your prospective clients? Is your pricing considerate and mindful of your target clients?
These considerations are important because they form the basis for transparency between your staffing agency and your clients.
Your Brand-Centric Competitive Offers
A brand-centric company is one that has shifted its focus on the brand and its values.
Being brand-centric is knowing who you are as a company and using that sense of identity to your advantage. It enables you to be consistent in your daily operations and how your staffing firm relates with your clients – companies and job candidates.
This centricity allows your staffing agency to grow amid the chaotic and highly competitive staffing industry.
LEARN HOW TO LEVERAGE YOUR ORGANIZATION’S CORE PURPOSE IN THIS HIGHLY COMPETITIVE STAFFING BUSINESS.
As you hinge your staffing efforts on your brand, you can go to market with offers that are true to your staffing firm and are aligned with your existing process and tech. Remember that the effort in this strategy comes from the orchestration of the offer, the education, and the delivery, and not the infrastructure buildout or tech tools.
If you want to know more about this topic, Allied Insight CEO Jeff Pelliccio discussed this further in The Staffing World 2022 Convention, hosted by the American Staffing Association, which took place in Las Vegas on October 25-27. This event brings together the leading figures in the staffing industry and convenes them to discuss the current state of the staffing industry and to flesh out how to improve the industry at large.
Allied Insight is a full-stack marketing agency that integrates your entire digital strategy into your business ecosystem and tech stack. Founded on the principles of Accessibility, Impact, and Development, we support the entire marketing infrastructure to help staffing firms elevate their brands, scale their businesses, and learn the benefits of leveraging marketing best practices.
Beyond marketing delivery, Allied Insight helps clients to build brand-centric competitive advantages and productized services to further insulate the brand, the offers, and the market position. Reach out to us today to get expert help in branding your business!
