I am a marketer by heart and as someone who has grown up in the HR technology industry over the past 20 years I have come to appreciate good marketing when I see it. And I also cringe when I see marketing fail.
Over the past few years our industry has seen an influx of vendors come to market with various software solutions for HR and recruiting, but for the most part these vendors fail to market themselves properly. They don’t stand out in a sea of other vendors. Their messaging is off. They fail to capitalize on media wins, they don’t invest in building their brand.
I could go on.
Today we are living in the golden age of HR technology which means the space is crowded and getting noisier every day. Only the vendors who invest in their brand awareness will survive and thrive now that the job market is normalizing.
Of course you’ll need a good product market fit too. If there’s one thing I learned in Marketing 101, even the best advertising won’t sell a bad product.
Founder Led Marketing
For startups in our space, those with founder led marketing strategies tend to get more traction if the founder is an outspoken/communicative champion for the brand.
There are many benefits to founder-led marketing for a software company. Some of the most notable benefits include:
Authenticity and credibility: Founders are often seen as the most knowledgeable and passionate advocates for their products. This can give their marketing efforts a level of authenticity and credibility that is difficult to replicate with hired marketers.
Deep understanding of the product and market: Founders have a deep understanding of their product and the market they are operating in. This allows them to create marketing campaigns that are targeted and resonate with their ideal customers.
Flexibility and agility: Founder-led marketing teams are typically more flexible and agile than traditional marketing teams. This allows them to quickly adapt to changing market conditions and make decisions without having to go through layers of bureaucracy.
Cost-effectiveness: Founder-led marketing can be a very cost-effective way to market a software company. Founders can often leverage their own personal networks and relationships to reach potential customers.
Passion and enthusiasm: Founders are often passionate and enthusiastic about their products. This passion can be contagious and can help to create a positive buzz around the company.
Of course, there are also some potential challenges to founder-led marketing. For example, founders may not have the time or expertise to handle all aspects of marketing. They may also need to be careful not to let their personal opinions and biases cloud their marketing judgment.
If you are a founder of an HR tech startup, I encourage you to consider using founder-led marketing to reach your target audience. Founders can build relationships with key influencers in their industry. This can help to generate positive word-of-mouth for the company. With careful planning and execution, founder-led marketing can be a very successful way to market your software company.
Memorable examples of founder led startups include;
Amit Parmar of Cliquify, I see him everywhere at events and making the rounds on industry podcasts talking about employer branding and the Cliquify platform. He is constantly on the go.
Job van der Voort of Remote.com: Not only does he have the best first name in the industry but he leads arguably the best vendor in the global payroll category. I see Job’s name all over the news.
Aman Brar of Canvas: A few years back, Canvas was a hot text recruiting startup led by its jovial leader Aman Brar. The company was later acquired by Employ Inc.
Adam Gordon of CandidatedID: acquired by iCIMS last year, Adam Gordon led the CRM platform from start to finish. He was a constant champion of the tool online and off.
Daniel Chait of Greenhouse: back in the 2010’s Co-founder Daniel Chait led the charge for what would become an ATS powerhouse.
Johnny Campbell from SocialTalent: I remember Johnny was ever present on the conference circuit touting the benefits of their recruiter learning platform and talkin’ tactics. If there was a panel he was on it.
I’ll also give a shoutout to a couple of rising stars, Mark Simpson (Pillar) and Darrian Mikell (Qualifi).
HR Tech Marketing Masters
I asked my network which companies stand out in their minds, here’s the names that came up most often.
Plum: ”The way they showed up at RecFest and their online marketing is just so well done. Leaders are true experts and share on LinkedIn too. (Will Staney) Plum definitely stole the show at HRtech with an amazing "All you need is Plum" play, inspired by the Beatles LOVE By Cirque du Soleil event they sponsored. If that wasn't enough, you could create your own Beatles inspired t-shirt at their exhibit.” (Ryan Affolter)
HireEZ: Probably the best example of leveraging community. They are famous for getting early traction in the recruiter community by leveraging influencers and fostering a community around their sourcing platform.
Phenom: One of the most consistent firms in our space. They are masters at content creation, events (virtual/in-person) and staying engaged with all facets of the recruitment industry. They’re persistent too…you see their efforts week in and week out.
HiBob: Great at event marketing. I always tend to notice their booth and offering. AT HR tech they are always near the front with massages or profile photo shoots.
Paradox.ai. “They are very consistent in their digital and offline visual identity. And in today's market, they are bringing to the forefront outcomes data as social proof.”(Bennet Sung)
A HiBob ad from Facebook. Love the Austin Powers angle they took.
Plum has come on fast in the past year with a great event strategy and its outreach online with influencers, podcasters and others in the space to highlight the Plum brand. The HireEZ marketing team led by Shannon Pritchett, are masters at building community around a software product.
Phenom, who I know well, is a well oiled marketing machine and is particularly great at content. They also do a great job at keeping influencers and analysts up to date with emails like their Analyst Newsletter which I get monthly.
I asked my friend Tim Sackett, Mr. “HR Famous” himself, who he thinks are the best marketers.
He had a lot to say;
“That’s a big question”, he said over an email exchange…“because it could be broken down into who does the best job within the community, and who does the best job overall. Because that leads to who is the real buyer? If you look at Workday, Oracle, SAP, and the "Pays" all the payroll companies do the best job. You see them everywhere and obviously, they have massive budgets to get their brand in front of everyone.”
But a big budget doesn't mean the best marketing that resonates with buyers. The big vendors all have their own conferences these days and seem to mimic each other so I don't see much differentiation among them. It can come across as rather generic marketing. But payroll tech is not that sexy so…
In terms of the Big 3- WD, Oracle, SAP – “they know the real buyer at the enterprise level is the CFO, CIO, and CEO” Sackett added. “That’s why you see them sponsoring PGA events, sailing, etc. It's big money stuff that most people can’t afford, but those kinds of titles can. In terms of the payroll companies, it’s about establishing your brand everywhere because it’s so easy to switch from one to the other, and they all cost basically the same and do 90% of the same stuff. But, when that HR leader, payroll manager, or office manager gets frustrated, you better be top of mind because they are most likely only making one call to switch.”
The vast majority of HR and TA technology is not bought. It’s sold.
~Tim Sackett
The best vendors are the ones who definitely have a brand but are also great at selling and following up. And that isn’t always the best technology. They are just the best at selling it.
“I like what BambooHR does on a consistent basis”, Sackett continued. “They might be the best HR technology company on the planet in terms of creating lead generation. BambooHR got there by building a massive content marketing machine, and they feed it constantly, and by creating a massive email marketing engine. Any week of the year, BambooHR has informational webinars running with topics that HR professionals find interesting that others might find boring. They are constantly educating HR pros for free, and it’s amazing branding.
The other one that is hard to miss is Eightfold. It doesn’t matter what enterprise CHRO or Head of Talent I’m talking about; they will ask me about Eightfold. Eightfold also has a rather large budget for marketing and not a lot of competition in what they do. Still, they have also done a great job in content marketing and making sure they are a part of every conference and opportunity to be in front of their potential users and buyers.
Building brand awareness isn’t some secret sauce. It’s about a conscious, consistent effort to get your message out. And stay on message. As marketers, we tend to get tired of hearing our own message, but a small fraction of your audience actually hears it each time you broadcast it. You need to beat the drum over and over and over, then beat it some more. We hate to hear this, but it’s also about building a lead gen list of emails and contacts that you can consistently message to and never stop building and refreshing.”
He’s right about the messaging. I’ve seen too many vendors muddle their unique value proposition with too many buzzwords which tends to just confuse potential buyers. You need to quickly tell buyers what problem it solves and consistently (and persistently) hammer home that message with your prospects.
Recruiters are not technologists. So I’ve always felt you have to simplify and clarify your message into terms they understand. Speak their language and don’t over complicate your pitch.
What Buyers Want
Sarah White, Founder of Aspect43 a strategy and analyst group focused on HR Tech, conducts an annual Insights at Work research, a yearly study looking at how technology is impacting employees, HR and leaders at work. As part of that, they conduct voice of customer research and how buyers want to engage differently with vendors during the marketing and sales process.
Here’s a few numbers to chew on from their most recent data.
60% want more stats/research from vendors
45% want more infographics
40% want more video demos on vendor website
39% want more expert led webinars
75% of all buyers want fewer sales calls/emails
36% want more regional roadshow events
40% of buyers use conferences to shortlist vendors
54% say brand is essential to get a signed contract
94% use brand awareness to inform buying decisions
Those last two stand out to me. Brand awareness has to be there if you want to be a player. To do that you must have a consistent presence offline as you do online.
And you have to invest in metrics for the industry. The more you can prove your product works with studies and reports, the more ammunition you’ll have to back up your claims. That includes case studies and detailing how clients are successful with it.
MARKETING RESOURCE: 2024 HR and Recruiting Event Calendar
Fostering Community
Engaging the community online and off is another key to great HR tech marketing. There are dozens of groups across social media where recruiters and HR pros gather to talk shop in an unfiltered way. Vendors can learn a lot about their struggles and day to life by lurking in them.
Back when sourcing platform HireEZ was known as Hiretual they did one of the best jobs I’d ever seen by a vendor when it comes to leveraging these groups and channels to drive product adoption. They gave away their tool to some of the top sorcerers in the industry and let them drive the conversation about the product. I first learned of the tool from the various recruiter facebook groups where people were talking about it and showing it off. It was a very grass roots approach that put them on the map.
Then when Hiretual changed its name to HireEZ they flew out 30 of the top influencers (including me) to silicon valley to announce the news and their latest funding round. That effort both them tons of mentions and goodwill in the TA community.
I asked their Head of Marketing Shannon Pritchett how they foster community around their software. She writes;
“Fostering a thriving community means embracing service, active listening, and continuous support beyond merely delivering a product. We value every user's input, acknowledging that we don't possess all the answers. Our inclusive approach builds belonging and ownership within the community, essential for success.
With a servant-leader mindset, we prioritize the community's needs, offering resources like the Outbound Recruiting Academy and facilitating connections to encourage collaboration. Trust is pivotal, established through transparent, honest interactions that go beyond product sales to create relationships based on mutual respect.
Continual adaptation ensures we evolve alongside the community, meeting changing needs effectively. Ultimately, our focus extends beyond the product; it's about nurturing relationships, delivering value, and empowering collective success within the HireEZ community.”
Educating the Industry
At RecTech Media our goal is to inform the modern recruiter and today’s vendors can be hit or miss with their content marketing. Phenom the talent experience platform, is one of my favorites when it comes to generating good content. They have a great video series on Linkedin, they churn out tons of research and they hold a lot of online and in person events to educate the masses. For example, they recently held an “AI Day” which I thought was a timely online event for the industry.
Some vendors crank out content for SEO purposes (the Workable blog is a good example) while others like Phenom take a more holistic approach.
I asked Phenom’s Director of Content Marketing, Monica Montesa to give me a sense of how they approach their strategy. She said the following;
“For us, the purpose of any piece of content is to make an impact across various HR stakeholders: talent acquisition, talent management, HRIS, HRBPs, and the c-suite. Ensuring we address relevant pain points and solutions, elevate inspiring stories from our customers, empower our audience to navigate the ever-changing talent landscape — and distribute this content in the right formats and across the right channels — is key. Before publishing content, we always ask: Who are we speaking to? Is it relevant and helpful? Is it engaging/telling a compelling story? Is it in the right format (e.g., video, social, blog)?
Last year we began publishing industry and vertical content to add another layer of relevancy to our audiences. We push the limits for the types of content we create, as well as the channels where it's available — and we're always looking for new ways to do more. Our social engagement alone has tripled YoY, which signals that HR teams are connecting with what we're sharing.”
Good HR tech content marketing takes time and effort. Any vendor who wants to do it right needs to invest in that kind of strategy. Becoming a trusted source of industry insights and tactics means playing the long game.
Leverage Industry Influencers
If you want to amplify your message you’ll need to partner with industry thought leaders, bloggers, and social media influencers to reach a wider audience.
Collaborate with them on content creation, webinars, and social media campaigns to gain credibility and trust.
In addition to myself, some of my favorite influencers include Tim Sackett, Chad/Cheese, Keirsten Greggs, William Tincupp and any/all HR podcasters with an audience.
Influencers are trusted people in the community, use them to your advantage. Joel Cheesman from the popular Chad & Cheese podcast also gave me his take on what HR tech vendors should be doing today;
“The future belongs to those who build trust. Anyone with a Series A round of funding can buy as many eyeballs and get as much attention as they want. That only goes so far though. Even in America, money doesn't buy you trust, which has become the real equity of any successful brand. The process takes time, and you have to give lots before you start taking. Too many companies are trying to get lucky on the first date, to use a common analogy. Give great content, which does not include another lame blog post or webinar. Entertain and be real, which social media now rewards exponentially. Partner with trusted industry leaders, who are all over the place and are great at lighting the fires of word-of-mouth. Become an exceptional storyteller.”
Conclusion
I see a lot of bad PR in our industry as well. I launched RecTech PR to help with that by creating a targeted, industry specific way to spread your important news. I’m not sure your latest award qualifies for a press release (employers don't care you won some award) but when you have new features, funding, acquisitions, new hires or important research to announce make sure that outreach goes to the right places. There are plenty of news outlets such as HRtechfeed.com, RecruitngDaily, ERE Media, HR Dive, HR Executive, SHRM and more.
And let me share one specific pet peeve I have about vendors.
Too often I see this one mistake: not sharing media wins. If you get on a podcast, are quoted in an article, are appearing in an upcoming webinar, etc you need to SHARE that in a timely manner. I can't tell you how many vendors I’ve had on my podcast who don't leverage that free advertising as much as they can.
There are other aspects of marketing such as SEO and Analyst relations that I didn’t cover in depth so perhaps we’ll save that for another post. But I hope this article spurs your team to become better at HR tech marketing.
For me, marketing an HR technology tool today means crafting an A to Z marketing approach that includes both online and offline tactics (aka events). Those firms that can master this strategy will be the ones to watch.
Author
Chris Russell is the Managing Director of RecTech Media and founder of RecTech PR. Connect with him on LinkedIn.