I’ve been helping to promote the David Meerman Scott event coming to Sydney this September. Here’s my guest post from the Social Media Masterclass blog that looks at how Robert Half International has incorporated the New Rules of Marketing and PR.

Robert Half International (RHI) is winning at the Recruiting game by playing by some new rules. [...]]]>

I’ve been helping to promote the David Meerman Scott event coming to Sydney this September. Here’s my guest post from the Social Media Masterclass blog that looks at how Robert Half International has incorporated the New Rules of Marketing and PR.

Robert Half International (RHI) is winning at the Recruiting game by playing by some new rules. I recently had an inspiring conversation with RHI’s Alan Chapman, Director of Marketing & PR, Asia Pacific to learn how the influence of one book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR played a role in steering their present marketing strategies.

RHI is the world’s largest specialised recruitment firm in accounting, finance and banking.  Alan has been with the business for 6.5 years, but it was about 18 months ago when he read David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules. He shared this book with the RHI APAC Marketing & PR team and its concepts instigated some new thinking at RHI.  Alan shares,

The most compelling aspect about David’s New Rules principles is that you can implement many of them quickly and easily into your organisation. After reading the book, my team and I were reporting positive results within weeks, particularly in optimising press releases for our direct audiences (buyer personas). We introduced several new online initiatives directly as a result of reading the book and two years on we know there’s more we can do using David’s principles.

Benefits from adopting the new rules (and new tools)

Alan shares that social media marketing enables them to do more with less (and get better results!)

We have a greatly increased speed to market with online content and we continue to build a relevant database. In fact, in the last three months many fruitful leads across APAC have been generated from these online efforts. The Robert Half websites outperform many of the major job boards as a generator of new candidates and placements demonstrating that the strategy is working.

Another key benefit of delivering content direct to our audience is that there is a far greater control over core messages, supported by a reduced possibility of any misrepresentation or misinterpretation. When disseminating this much information, this is an imperative. They have achieved both increased volume and continuity in our marketing messages.

Here, Alan explains more:

RHI have historically relied on a good relationship between their sales team, their online marketing and their PR efforts demonstrating the New Rule that states “marketing is more than just advertising”. They’ve used online tools like the RHI website, a strong keyword campaign and a growing email database. In the time that has transpired since reading the New Rules…, they have demonstrated a continuous commitment to supplementing their marketing toolkit to continue to create value for both clients and candidates.

Podcasts

The New Rules espouses that “companies must drive people into the purchasing process with great online content”.  RHI believes that they were the first recruiting firm to begin podcasting on various topics for the Australian and New Zealand markets about three years ago.  However, early into this, they found challenges in segmenting the podcast content by geography, so they then focused on the challenges and issues that were common to both countries and then expanded the program across the wider APAC region.

This effort has provided ongoing rewards and relevance. Even podcasts that are three years old continue to get play today. The continually expanding podcast series can be found  here. There have definitely been some titles that generate more attention than others – the “How to Deal with a Difficult Boss” was one of the most popular registering several thousand downloads in a month.

The Video Program

Alan is proud of the integration of their online presence with their traditional PR activities. While Robert Half receives enviable television coverage, they felt that the reach of a single broadcast could be limiting. So, they purchased the rights to television interviews. RHI has further extended the reach and relevance of these videos by incorporating them into the RHiWatch video series available through the website

E-books

Another way RHI maintains the dialogue and lives the new rule of “blogs, podcasts, e-books, news releases and other forms of online content let organisations communicate directly with buyers in a form they appreciate” is through the availability of e-books  and regular e-newsletters.

A popular E-Book title was “How to Keep Your Best People.” After rounds of recent staff reductions companies around the world are keen to hold on to their start performers and this E-book offered clear guidance.

In making this information available, RHI needs to strike a balance between maintaining an open and accessible distribution of material (that requiring no data capture prior to download) and the need to capture some visitor information that can be used to build the database and create the buyer personas of the high volume consumers of this information.

Media Releases

RHI also employs a news release strategy that uses the power of media releases to further the dissemination of information and keep the conversation going. Alan says that they issue regular releases aimed at direct audiences as well as journalists.

LinkedIn

RHI leverages LinkedIn profiles to promote its consultants and the company overall and to build the candidate database. They are increasingly participating in relevant Groups discussions by sharing updates and creating a variety of RHI related groups like the Robert Half International Alumni Group.

Twitter

RHI Australia just recently began twittering this past May. When asked why they delayed tweeting, Alan explained that it was based on the findings of a Media Usage Study of both their clients and candidates and that their particular stakeholder group’s usage was still low. Alan admits that the study was conducted back in July 2008, and will have risen by now but suspects that adoption within the finance, accounting and banking community may lag other sectors. Their tweets reflect current career opportunities, links to content and basic editorial. You can follow RHI on twitter @roberthalf_au  and Alan directly @Alan_Chapman.

Measuring Social Media Success

As with most sales teams, they are driven by results. The RHI management team seems to be happy that these initiatives increase traffic and dialogue (creating leads) while providing them with an innovative offering to bring to the marketplace. The success metrics are mostly quantified through the numbers of downloads, but overall sales seem to reflect these increased efforts and the anecdotal references are on the rise. This feedback is very supportive of the value provided by the online content. Alan also assures us that this feedback is being captured and will be used for future testimonials.

In measuring success against the New Rule that states, “marketers must shift their thinking from mainstream marketing to the masses to a strategy of reaching vast numbers of underserved audiences via the web”, the downloads numbers indicate that RHI is doing a great job of this in filling an underserved need for useful content.

Alan sums up by saying, “By creating innovative tools that we integrate together to extend conversations and maintain relevance, we trust that this will continue to increase RHI’s competitive advantage by maintaining our thought leadership, ensuring we’re maintaining ongoing relevance and that we allow our consultants to concentrate on their core duties”.

Robert Half International is just one organisation foregoing some of the old rules and using podcasts, video broadcasts, e-books, e-newsletters, LinkedIn, twitter and online press releases to maintain dialogue and thought leadership in a highly competitive marketplace.

What might we see next from a company who has successfully adopted new rules to create new relevance and new results? I can’t help but wonder if it just might be a World Wide Rave!

Questions of the Day

What “new rules” have you been using in your business? With what results? What old ones are you finding difficult to give up?

My shiny red ipod seems to accompany me everywhere these days. I’ll pop it on the walk to the post office, the train ride to the city or even when I’m vacuuming. This tiny rectangle contains weeks of  eclectic education covering marketing, technology, business, communication, public [...]]]> To be honest, I think mine screams I’m a girl geek.

My shiny red ipod seems to accompany me everywhere these days. I’ll pop it on the walk to the post office, the train ride to the city or even when I’m vacuuming. This tiny rectangle contains weeks of  eclectic education covering marketing, technology, business, communication, public relations, personal development, inspiration and fiction writing. As my list continues to grow, I try to share those that become favourties.

Mignon Fogarty’s weekly Grammar Girl podcast is near the top of the list. It’s short, powerful and bursting with grammar tips, hints, explanations and clear examples. If you’re in communications, it’s definitely one worth adding to your library.

A few more that are right up there are Leo Laporte’s  This Week in Tech (TWiT, for short), Net@Night with Leo and Amber MacArthur , Managing the Gray with C.C. Chapman and Six Pixels of Separation, by Montreal’s Mitch Joel. And, as you might suspect, IABC’s Shel and Neville’s FIR, For Immediate Release, the Hobson and Holtz Report.

What does your podcast library say about you? What titles would I find if I took a peek?

My beloved little red rectangle isn’t quite full yet, and I do have some long flights ahead, so let me know what you suggest.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Question of the Day

What podcasts would  you recommend?