To stand out from the competition, effective marketing is more important than ever for recruitment agencies. Without it, your business growth can quickly hit a brick wall and force your consultants to fish in the same pool of prospects. That’s hardly enjoyable or productive (even if your consultants won’t admit to it!) In a highly competitive market, the good news is that you can optimise your costs with outsourced recruitment marketing and access capabilities that can take years to build in-house. We’ll explain why and how. The Real Costs of In-House Marketing The average marketing budget sits somewhere between 7-10% of company revenue, as surveys by Deloitte and Gartner suggest. (If you’re in start-up or high growth mode, that percentage will be higher.) Plans to increase marketing budgets over the coming years will, of course, vary by industry and business needs, but it’s clear that internal marketing teams don’t come cheap. For businesses based in the UK, the average marketing coordinator salary is in the vicinity of £24,000. With the recent increase in the employer National Insurance Contributions rate (from 13.8% to 15%), recruitment agencies are now facing significant payroll costs – and that’s before any marketing is being done to speak of! Breaking it down, an in-house marketing coordinator on a minimum salary of £22k will cost an additional £770 annually from 2025, whilst a midweight marketer on £45k will cost at least another £1,000. Add that up over a team of two to four people (or more), along with leave entitlements and other employee costs, and those pounds sure add up. Not to mention the cost of replacing and onboarding marketing employees. Recruitment agencies in Australia don’t get off lightly, either. To employ a full-time marketing coordinator, you’re looking at an average salary range of $70,000-$80,000 AUD. Add in superannuation, payroll tax, minimum leave entitlements, along with onboarding and training, the actual annual cost of that coordinator will be 1.25 to 1.4 times higher than their base salary. That’s up to $122,000 annually for one employee with a limited skillset. Here’s the catch: a junior or midweight marketing coordinator can handle the basics, but when your business needs specialised marketing skills to grow, you’ll need to hire more specialists – and that’s when your costs will skyrocket. Access to Marketing Expertise Without Hiring With outsourced marketing, you can skip the fixed, ongoing expenses of an in-house marketing team. Outsourcing gives you access to specialised skills like graphic design, paid advertising and copywriting when you need them, without the ongoing overhead of salaries and taxes. After all, your business might not need the same set of marketing skills all year. Certain expertise is more important for some campaigns and marketing plans and not others. When using an outsourced marketing agency like us, you get access to an embedded marketing team where you only pay for work you need during a given project or timeframe. We act as an extension of your business to manage your marketing, giving you a range of established skills and strategic knowledge at your fingertips. All without making a single hire. Scalability Based on Business Needs An outsourced marketing solution gives you precious scalability. As all recruitment business leaders are aware, business conditions fluctuate. Your goals will inevitably be adjusted to meet changing market conditions. Based on our experience in working with recruiters, here are common scenarios where marketing scalability is a survival issue: 1. Crowded Markets In crowded industries and sectors, recruiters face stiff competition from rivals with big marketing budgets. To stay ahead, they need smart and adaptable strategies that pack a punch without overspending. 2. Start-Up Challenges For new recruiters with limited revenue and an unproven offering, the focus is on generating interest and building momentum quickly. Outsourced marketing will provide that essential lift-off without the risk of hiring an untested marketing coordinator. 3. New Ventures and Expansions Recruitment agencies launching a new service or breaking into a new market will need a surge in marketing resources to ensure their efforts pay off. Scalable marketing means recruiters can dial their efforts up or down as needed. No overcommitting, nor missing out on opportunities! How do you achieve this sweet scalability? With an outsourced marketing solution, one that gives you flexible pricing options and a solid range of capabilities. If you want to pay on a project basis or have a marketing team on retainer, a good marketing agency will give you those options, too. This helps you forecast and manage costs over any length of time. Reduced Hidden Overheads On top of staffing costs, there are a few other cost gremlins lurking under the floorboards that most companies aren’t aware of until it’s too late. Infrastructure expenses like marketing software and tools quickly add up, especially when you need a group subscription or must pay a premium for basic functionality. An outsourced marketing provider has all these necessary tools, so you don’t need to duplicate them. Even the office space you need for an in-house team can sometimes get overlooked – an often astronomical cost that is becoming harder to justify for many businesses! Engaging a marketing agency gives you access to a marketing team at your fingertips, without the expense of bums on seats. The Final Word Of course, there are many situations where it makes good business sense to maintain or grow an in-house marketing team. The key, however, is to understand the big picture: your balance sheet, the ROI you can reasonably expect from an in-house team, and which options will best enable you to stay agile in a challenging market or business phase. Understanding these factors will guide you to the right marketing solution and avoid expensive mistakes. Outsourced Marketing for Recruiters, Done Your Way We’ve sung the praises of outsourced marketing here, but we’re also experts at helping our clients get the best out of their internal marketing teams. Whether you’re seeking marketing specialists that can dovetail with your internal team, or a standalone solution, or something else, we can do it for you. Let’s talk! Get in touch with Prominence today – we’d love to hear from you.

We can’t think of a single instance of a recruiter saying they love admin. And yet, administrative tasks eat up increasingly large chunks of a recruiter’s workday. It’s a given that job application volumes will keep rising, leaving recruiters with shrinking resources to carry out other vital functions – like nurturing passive candidates, engaging clients, or building a social media following. Marketing automation can solve many of the resource problems recruiters face. Trying to juggle activities like generating leads for new clients and candidates alongside the day-to-day practicalities of sourcing, interviewing and client consultation gets painful fast – unless you have the right tools to automate the process. We’ll explain how marketing automation for recruiters works in the wild, and how you can use it to connect with your target audiences. How Marketing Automation Helps You Target Clients Marketing automation for recruiters can be applied to every stage of the sales funnel, from raising awareness of your brand to building relationships with your long-term clients. Its potential for generation BD leads is second to none. Generating leads is one of the most effective uses of marketing automation and is generally an ‘always on’ feature, as long as you’re in business! Email Marketing

In an era where it feels like everyone, including the neighbour’s dog, has a podcast, it’s tempting to dismiss the idea as just another marketing trend. That, however, would overlook the immense potential podcasts hold for BD in recruitment. We love podcasts for their versatility, their ability to be consumed anywhere and as a vehicle for demonstrating your subject matter and industry expertise. As a recruitment marketing tool, podcasts aren’t just about the number of listeners per episode, the size of your subscriber base or the number of clicks. Podcast marketing gives recruiters that essential foot in the door in BD campaigns and gain plenty of other hot leads besides. We’ll explain how. Give Recruiters a Reason to Pick up the Phone Think about the typical recruiter approach to a business development call. It often starts with something along the lines of, “Do you have any vacancies you need filling?” Now, while that question might get straight to the point, it’s hardly the kind of opener that’s going to blow their socks off. But imagine flipping the script entirely. Instead of the usual pitch, what if you reached out to a potential client with a question like this: “We host a podcast focused on the (insert your recruitment specialisation here) industry, and we’d love to have you as a guest to discuss the challenges in developing the future workforce.” Suddenly, you’re looking at buy-in. What would usually be a cold call can quickly become a warm one – and make for a faster connection with your prospect. You’re not just another recruiter trying to win placements, you’re a thought leader offering them a platform to share their insights – a flattering proposition! This approach is far more engaging and offers potential clients something of real value. They get an opportunity to raise their brand awareness among candidates and demonstrate their expertise. Before trying this approach, you will of course do solid research on your prospect and be ready to explain why they would make a good guest on your podcast. Spice Up Your Lead Generation With well-crafted podcast content, you’re creating a goldmine of recruitment marketing material that can be repurposed across multiple channels, expanding your lead generation potential. Key moments from a compelling podcast episode can be turned into snippets and used virtually anywhere. Highlighting a thought-provoking quote, a surprising statistic, or a powerful insight is perfect for bite-sized content. By transcribing your episodes, you can easily identify these highlights and transform them into punchy graphics with quotes, video clips, or text posts to drive engagement on social channels – and attract more clicks to your website. Podcast episode highlights are also excellent material for your blog posts, newsletters, and email marketing. When launching an email campaign centred around a specific theme, you could highlight snippets from a podcast where the same issue is discussed. Used in this way, podcasts can really add depth to your messaging and reinforce your authority as a subject matter expert. Direct Listeners to Purpose-Built Resources Landing pages pair with podcast marketing like wine does with cheese. Throughout your podcast episodes, make it a habit to guide listeners to a dedicated landing page where they can access free and valuable guides. Think salary reports, whitepapers, how-to guides for hiring managers or candidates – the sky’s the limit! These resources are just a quick form away – listeners simply enter their name and email address to download the content. This simple step turns casual listeners into potential leads. Once they’re on your list, you can nurture these connections through targeted email marketing, using newsletters to engage and convert them. Use Follow-Ups and Collect Feedback Following up podcast episodes with surveys is another way to produce solid leads. After each episode, you could send out a brief survey that includes a question like “Are you planning to hire in the next three months?”. Those clicks are currency! (Even if they’re not hiring immediately, you’ve planted a seed.) Invite listeners to complete polls and give feedback on each episode – e.g. “Who should we bring on as a guest next?” This can also draw in guests who become your clients. Tools to Get Started with Podcast Marketing The cost of producing a podcast will vary, but there is no need for overkill, especially for your first few episodes. When you’re just starting out, aim for clean audio and tight editing without extra frills. Investing in a couple of professional-quality microphones is easier than ever – your typical tech retailer will have a range of affordable options to choose from. Make sure you buy two, so you can record your host and guest properly! There are plenty of affordable editing software tools out there for turning out polished recordings. If you’re willing to engage a freelance editor , you can save time and get a truly professional-sounding result. Finally, you’ll need a reliable hosting platform that gives your listeners easy access through a range of devices. Get Tailored Advice on Creating Your Podcast Podcasts for recruiters are an excellent channel for demonstrating all that valuable expertise you’ve built up over years in the industry, whilst developing a connection with your audience – and warm leads! At Prominence, we’ve helped dozens of clients successfully launch podcasts that have helped them smash their marketing goals. Contact us today to get help with developing your podcast marketing strategy.

Resources like salary reports, industry surveys and how-to guides are like bread and butter in marketing for recruiters – staples that appeal to a broad audience.