5 Key Features of a Lead-Generating Newsletter
Effective recruitment newsletters include timeless advice that help clients make informed decisions.
They solve pain points with solutions that are easy to action.
Whether you send it out by email or create LinkedIn posts (or both, or more!), here are 5 elements make up an effective newsletter.
Embrace these for an efficient marketing approach that can generate roles consistently and at scale.
Remember, no matter which ones you choose you must be consistent.
Consistency is more important than perfection. Perfection slows progress, consistency wins business.
The 5 key features of an effective recruitment newsletter:
- Evergreen content
- Educational
- Keep it positive
- Demonstrate expertise
- Keep it simple
Let's break each one down…
1. Include evergreen content
Guess what kind of marketing has the longest shelf-life? Marketing that contains something helpful or educational.
Talent acquisition teams will encounter a challenge more than once. In fact, the longer they spend in the game, the more it will feel like ground hog day.
You can address and forecast issues by providing timeless advice that helps clients. In the world of recruitment, having solutions on a plate keeps you ahead of your competitors. It keeps you relevant and front of mind.
Timeless recruitment advice is evergreen content. It stays fresh and never goes out of season.
Here's an example you can send out this week:
2. Educational (and succinct)
We all love to have our problems solved.
How they are solved can be the sticking point.
If you have the option of learning a solution during a 3-hour meeting versus reading a 2-minute article you’ll probably pick the latter.
Imagine how your contacts feel when they pick up useful insights every time they read one of your newsletters?
When you take a problem they face and distil the solution into small, bite-sized chunks.
What if they actually looked forward to receiving your newsletter?
It's possible when you get the content right (more on that shortly).
For now though, here's a Quick & Dirty Guide you can use straight away.
3. Keep it positive
One thing that attracts opportunities like a moth to a flame - positivity.
Effective newsletters are upbeat at all times, focussing on the positive aspects of the current market, the opportunities available and the light at the end of the tunnel.
Not in a boring old 'it's a great time to market your role' kind of way but something more like...
"We're seeing increased activity in Policy and Digital domains compared to last month, especially in the Tier 3 and 4 levels. High-quality candidates continue to be snapped up as the market turns the corner. We have several high fliers coming onto our books to organisations needing immediate starters .."
Change it up each time you send out your newsletter. Keep it short and snappy. 1 or 2 sentences are fine.
Pro tip: Include a comment outlining any talented candidates (no personal details) as this creates urgency. The goal is to help your clients through your networks and expertise.
Here's an example of staying positive when times are tough:
4. Demonstrate expertise
Most recruitment consultants miss this fundamental aspect when marketing themselves.
If you want to reinforce your value to existing clients and attract potential clients you need two things:
- You need them to know who you are.
- You need them to know you're an expert.
Your marketing needs to build a profile (so more people know who you are) and demonstrate expertise (so they know you're good at what you do).
Most marketing focuses simply on profile ("Look at me, I'm in recruitment!") and does nothing to establish credibility.
Demonstrate proficiency in your email newsletter by including recent market analysis info and writing about challenges clients face.
The more you use their language the more credible you will be. Even better when it helps them squeeze value out of a seemingly mundane task.
5. Keep it simple: easy to build and quick to send
For a recruitment newsletter to be truly effective, it needs to be consistent.
The challenge is that once you start sending a high-quality newsletter, you'll start to get some traction. You'll get busy, meetings will flood your diary and you’ll be filling more roles.
Most consultants who reach this point get too busy and stop doing the one thing that got them that success in the first place: They stop sending a regular newsletter.
If you want to avoid the famous recruitment income roller-coaster, then you need to stay consistent and keep sending your newsletter out, even when you get busy.
For that to happen, your newsletter needs to be easy to build and quick to send.
You need a process that doesn't take much time. A process you don't have to think too hard about. Once the phone starts ringing non-stop it gets very hard to sit down and write an 800-word newsletter!
That's one reason we started Top Biller Club. We want to free up your time so you can focus on what you’re good at.
As a Top Biller, you have access to a library of income-generating articles. Ideal content to build your newsletter in minutes. Information you can share with your database to add value and create listing opportunities.
These are white-label articles. Which means you can take them and use them as your own.
You can find ideas on how to use it here:
Top Biller Club articles are designed to work in all markets.
High or low, domestic or international, our global audience is a testament to our proven recruitment consultancy content.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. How often should I send out a newsletter?
For email, we recommend sending out a short, concise newsletter with a Smart Recruiter article to everyone on your database, every single week.
Fortnightly is okay but in our experience, weekly produces the best results.
For podcasts, LinkedIn contributions or other social media content, fortnightly is fine.
TIP: Most salespeople do not send their newsletter out often enough. When it comes to marketing, repetition is the key to success.
2. What about branding? I don't have a nice template!
When it comes to email, plain text is fine, and in fact, it's preferable if you don't want to end up in a spam folder.
3. But I don't have any new roles!
That's another reason why we created Top Biller Club.
There’s strong evidence that people take between 6-9 touchpoints with a seller before they choose to buy. Many contacts on your database probably aren't looking for a candidate right now.
By giving them value every week, you can be front of mind when roles become available.
Between phone calls or meetings with them, you are creating weekly touch points.
4. But I haven't emailed my database in ages. What if they all unsubscribe?
If they unsubscribe to your next email, they probably weren’t going to list with you anyway.
This situation is unlikely though.
Why? Because you are solving their problems with practical solutions. You are also asking for nothing in return.
Besides, the alternative is you don’t send them anything. You remain invisible to them and join the rest of the pack.
5. Got a question about sending out your regular newsletter?
Get in touch and let us know.
For a downloadable version of this article, please click here.