When it comes to spending precious resources on advertising, firm owners and managers have more options than ever--newspapers, trade publications, job boards, recruiter networks, even TV and radio. Advertising placement and consulting services, including agencies and publicists, are also available to help design or fine-tune strategies. Plus, there's the need to balance job listings with promotional and brand-building activities.

As this tale of two successful recruiters reveals, what works well for one firm does not necessarily work for another. There are, however, a few rules of thumb that staffing industry experts recommend for planning a well-apportioned advertising budget.

Calling All Candidates

"I got out of print advertising completely a year ago," says Susan Ascher, president of the Ascher Group, a New Jersey-based provider of contract human resources professionals. "We now broadcast our open jobs exclusively over the Internet using two of the major job boards. They definitely bring in numbers of resumes, although naturally the candidates are not pre-qualified." Even more efficient, she suggests, in terms of yielding likely prospects, is her firm's own database of screened and vetted performers. These desirable candidates are kept current and allegiant through regular communication and "touching" by Ascher and her staff.

Says Ascher, "Aggressively keeping abreast of our candidates and constantly talking to them about their networks and their recommendations of others have been much more effective investments of time and resources for us than years of quarter-page display ads." While she admits that she would "never say never" to print advertising again, Ascher and her team are focused on building and solidifying relationships with candidates and clients through more personal means.

By contrast, Tali Nizic, founder and manager of Controllers On Call, uses a mix of media that is heavy on both newspaper and trade publication advertising. Nizic's firm, which supplies accountants and controllers to businesses in the Toronto area, also posts jobs online and frequents the Web sites of professional associations to advertise jobs and harvest candidates. She assiduously tracks candidates' responses and inquiries by source, and regularly adjusts the mix to maximize pull.

"You can't use a knee-jerk approach in switching your advertising dollars around," cautions Nizic. "What works beautifully this month may bring much weaker results the next. You have to look at the trends over time. Generally speaking, we plan for a 10% increase in promotional spending year over year, but the actual costs of advertising jobs will vary with the level of search activity."

More predictable for both Nizic and Ascher are promotional advertising costs. But their strategies for building brand identity and market awareness of their firms vary in media mix and execution. Here again, Nizic has had success with print. She annually budgets for and regularly advertises in trade publications, including new periodicals that look promising. "I'll start with a business card-size ad in a new publication and run it more than once to get a feel for how readers respond." She also participates in industry and regional business conferences, and occasionally mails the firm's corporate brochure to lists of targeted clients.

Controllers on Call recently sponsored its first sporting event, a hockey tournament for area youngsters. "That was an experiment," says Nizic, "but one that may very well be worth repeating. Every tournament participant received a souvenir trophy with our name and logo on it, and we received some nice coverage in the newspapers and on local TV."

Ascher's approach to publicity and promotion is less diversified but no less effective than Nizic's. "About five years ago, when we pioneered the interim executive concept, we took the bold step of hiring our own full-time PR specialist. It's a significant expense, but one that has worked well for us, both in terms of broadcasting the firm's focus and offerings and in showcasing me." When it comes to the annual budget, Ascher starts with her publicist's salary and then adds in the estimated costs of job-boarding, a newswire service and attendance at a single annual HR industry conference. "I only attend to keep in touch with the mega-trends. It's not really the greatest venue for candidate or business development as far as I am concerned," says Ascher.

Brand Aid

There may not be a one-size-fits-all formula for brand-building, but there are some well-tested techniques for making your chosen media channels work smoothly and effectively. J. Walter Thompson's Specialized Communications Group recommends that employment firms and advertisers take the following steps in planning promotional strategies:

1. Develop a Brand Image. Your brand image or vision should be effective, thoughtful and honest. It should also reflect how your organization is viewed from the outside and how your employees see it from the inside. An essential element of effective branding is your organization's unique value proposition. Cultivating a strong value proposition enables you to establish and sustain a dialogue with prospective candidates and employees. In addition, a clear and memorable brand vision influences all your recruitment activities and increases awareness among active, passive and inert job seekers. Developing a distinct brand vision requires some up-front research to understand your potential candidates' needs and desires. You'll also want to find out how you are perceived by them now. Branding your practice is an investment of time and dollars that results in a solid ROI.

2. Nurture the Relationship Aspect of Your Brand. Your employer brand represents the relationship between your organization and current and prospective employees. Advertising is only one part of that relationship. There also publicity about your firm and its employment practices, the appearance of your employment lobby, how your hiring managers treat candidates during interviews, how quickly you acknowledge receipt of resumes, and so forth. No employer is perfect, so there's always room for improvement.

3. Consistency is Key. Appoint a steward of the brand to ensure quality and consistency across all media. This won't preclude customizing campaigns for specific business groups or markets.

Once you've laid out the basic architecture of your brand, you'll be able to leverage that image to link all of your ads (including job listings) conceptually and graphically.

Next issue we'll present the latest expert advice on ways to make your job listing ads pay off for you, your clients and the candidates you want to attract.