Branding is something we associate with big companies like Coca Cola, but anyone can have a brand. It’s there to show the world exactly what you do better than everyone else.

To build a recognisable personal brand you need to weave your USPs into everything you do – from the tag line on your website, to your social media bios – celebrate the things that differentiate you and you won’t look and sound like any other recruiter out there. 

A strong personal brand needs a strong visual identity, but this is also something we tend to associate with big companies (and big budgets). But the good news is, there are affordable options. Fiverr is a great resource for commissioning everything from logos to website copy. 

Branding only works if you keep all your channels consistent so brand everything up, from your recruitment website to your social profile’s headers, and you’ll be instantly recognisable. 

Search engines are the first place candidates turn to when they’re looking for a new job, so focusing your marketing efforts on improving your SEO is a sure-fire way to drive candidates to your recruitment website and get them applying for your jobs. 

Even if you’re new to SEO, don’t let it intimidate you; in practice it’s pretty straightforward. Essentially, you need to include keywords relevant to the roles, location and industry you recruit for in your website content to make sure it’s easily searchable. Here’s a guide to creating a strong SEO strategy. 

If your job ads aren’t optimised, you could still miss out on a lot of applicants. To learn how to optimise your jobs so they appear in search engines and Google for Jobs (and even get posted on LinkedIn for free) read this blog.

Social media is one of the best channels for reaching and engaging with candidates. Every profile you have is an advert for what you do – use it right and it will help build up your personal brand, directly interact with your candidates and will establish you as a recruiter worth knowing.

A common mistake is thinking one channel fits all, but what works on Twitter won’t necessarily work on Instagram or LinkedIn. Each channel has its unique strengths, but to get the most out of your social channels you need to build a strategy around the interests and behaviours of the candidates (and clients) you’re trying to reach.

Building candidate personas can help you break down your target market and learn where each of these groups are spending time on social. For example, if your niche is in construction – what social channels do these candidates use? Knowing this can help you build a solid social media strategy that targets the right audience and the right social platform they’re using. Bonus: Candidate personas will help you target the right job boards too!

Marketing is all about telling your audience you’re great at what you do – but without proof, how can you expect people to fully invest in you as a recruiter? 63% of consumers are more likely to trust a website if it has reviews on it and you can be sure your candidates are no different.

Building up a bank of candidate reviews is a cost-effective and powerful marketing tool that can help you attract and convert new candidates. To build up reviews, you need to make it easy for candidates to submit positive words about their experiences with you on your recruitment website.

It’s also worth creating an automated email campaign to follow up with candidates and ask them to fill out a review. That way, you’ll pull in a steady stream of reviews to display on your website (set up a page dedicated to reviews) and shout about on your social channels. This is the key to establishing yourself as a credible recruiter!