Comments on: What's The Difference Between PR, Marketing, and Advertising, and Why Recruiters Should Care

By: Research Is The Backbone of… Everything! « Amybeth Hale – Research Goddess

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:03:23 +0000

[...] 2, 2009, 7:00 am Filed under: Recruiting, Research There was a LOT of great feedback from my post on why recruiters should care about marketing, advertising, and PR. I hope that everyone who read it got some new knowledge and possibly some ideas on how to improve [...]

By: EmDub

EmDub — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:52:57 +0000

A PR guy here.

As one of your earier commenters noted, PR is about influence, and in that arena, there’s a lot of crossover with recruiting. To be able to understand the motivations of your audience, to be able to change your strategy based on those motivations, and to come to a mutually-agreeable position, is the goal of both.

With exercising any kind of influence, transparency is key. In PR, we want to be up front and honest with our audiences (often, the media) and provide them the information they need to produce a piece that includes our messaging. In recruiting, you want to be honest when outreaching to candidates and provide them the information they need to come to a decision about their future career with your company.

By: Nick Corcodilos

Nick Corcodilos — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:08:33 +0000

I’m a headhunter, also host of Ask The Headhunter. This dialogue provides great insight on the PR aspects of HR and the search biz – thanks, Amybeth! But I thought some might like to see how recruiting is viewed from the other side (the “P” in PR) – the professional communities we recruit from. To me, this is where theory often falls apart, and common sense gets a bit lost. Take a look at the impact of recruiter behavior on company image:

http://corcodilos.com/blog/1072/overqualified-applicants-we-are-terrified-of-you

http://corcodilos.com/blog/1096/readers-forum-no-phone-calls-please-version-2

By: Kevin W. Grossman

Kevin W. Grossman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:20:24 +0000

The old rules of marketing and PR have weakened to the point that marketing encompasses all disciplines now because of the Internet and social media: marketing, PR and advertising. I’ve been in marketing communications for over 20 years and all roads lead to company growth – marketing is lead gen and recruitment and hiring and HR and communications and visibility and branding and performance management and leadership development and website traffic – it’s everything. Savvy recruiters who survived the dot.com bust began to understand this and noted the interchangeable parts. Marcom and PR professionals who hold on to the old rules and separate delineation will not survive in said professions. It’s not possible. All roads lead to growth and people are growth and companies that get that will eventually combine marketing with HR/recruiting. That’s where I believe it’s all going.

By: Geoff Peterson

Geoff Peterson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:56:42 +0000

Good topic Amybeth! I’ve been in the recruiting industry for about 10 years, and have owned and worked under my company General Lead for most of that time. It is a small business, and therefore, in addition to recruiting, I also wear the hats for marketing, advertising and public relations. I agree with a few other comments made above in that the line has become blurred with all three of those job functions. Marketing, advertising and public relations are almost one in the same for me at this point, but with slight differences.

You asked for advice to give to recruiters…so here is mine. I have always looked for new ways to promote my business, my brand and to attract talent. In order to do this, I have kept a close eye on emerging trends in the market, and became an early adopter of many things along the way. I found out quickly what worked for me, and what didn’t. About four years ago, LinkedIn was the new shiny toy, and I was one of the first out there learning about it. About two years ago, Twitter was a very small community of techies poking around. I signed up then and started kicking the tires. Now, mobile technologies is the new frontier, and I’m right there getting my hands dirty. A few recruiters in our industry are dabbling with mobile strategies, and will be rewarded for being the trendsetters and early adopters. I also see that AT&T has a great recruiting presence in mobile as well! My advice regarding this topic is to stay up to speed on emerging trends, and work strategies into your business that make sense. Don’t be afraid to try something new, even if you don’t know of anyone already doing it.

By: Bryan Starbuck

Bryan Starbuck — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:49:33 +0000

Hi Amybeth,

I wrote a very long comment in adding some ideas. I decided to move it to a blog post because this is such an interesting topic.

Here is my blog post addition to yours: Blog Post on Recruiting = Marketing + Sales

I love your blog post.

By: Mike Carden

Mike Carden — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:05:53 +0000

I work in marketing at an HR business. HR and marketing are actually much more similar disciplines than most people realise… They are both involved in summarising and influencing human behavior!

By: Frank Strong

Frank Strong — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:49:01 +0000

It’s an interesting post, Amybeth, and I bet if you polled advertising and PR pros, the cross-tab analysis would have very different answers. It’s important to note that calling out differences between advertising and PR is not the same as saying one is better than the other, rather your definition of marketing (which sounds something like what Phillip Kotler might have written), encapsulates both.

Each have benefits and drawbacks; each industry is undergoing substantive changes — marketing leaders should seek to integrate the two so that they are complementary.

In my mind, advertising is comes down to paying for the ability to tell people about yourself. PR is about getting others to say it for you: it’s about third-party credibility. Advertisers have control — they pay for space or time. PR pros, have no control, or at least less control — a writer, a reporter, a Tweeter, can say what they wish. PR means doing good, and having others say it for you — after all what’s the likelihood a company would buy and advertisement only to promote a drawback?

It seems fitting to paraphrase best-selling author David Meerman Scott: We’re all after attention: Advertising pays for attention, PR persuades for attention and Sales begs for attention. I’ve left off the good part about social media. You’ll have to read his book. There’s no irony, that my last comment is, well, sort of like PR.

By: Nick Corcodilos

Nick Corcodilos — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:43:21 +0000

PR as a practice is all well and good in HR, until an HR rep fails to communicate a decision in a timely way to a job candidate, asks her to fill out a form before meeting a manager, insists on a credit and background-check release prior to interviews or warns a candidate not to call a hiring manager. PR in recruiting is not just about “creating a positive company image.” It’s about stepping back and asking, How does my behavior and my company policy get reflected by candidates in the professional community after they interact with me?

By: Karla Porter

Karla Porter — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:31:42 +0000

Doing more with less has placed many in the quadrangle of Recruiting, marketing, advertising & PR. If one understands and practices the principles of these disciplines then indeed a rose is a rose……

By: laurie ruettimann

laurie ruettimann — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:15:29 +0000

This is so interesting because I attended a social media conference, last week, and participated in a session for community managers.

I’m like, “Punk Rock HR is built on software. It has an infrastructure. People participate. I moderate it.”

The room was not friendly. “Just because you participate in a community doesn’t mean you manage it.”

Snap. That’s so true.

My point: we’re all dilettantes in the 21st century.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:10:09 +0000

Well I am not a recruiter, or involved in socail media, but as Excutive VP of Sales and Marketing for over 20 years for a Fortune 500 company, all three functions fell under my area of responsibility.
I think Amybeth’s post touched lightly and correctly on the three functions, but these functions go much deeper then what Ms Hale sited in her post.
I am only going to touch on the marketing phase. The true function of marketing is research. The job of the marketing department is to search for products or services needed by the end user(the customer). It is their job to work closely with the engineering and sales departments, giving these the departments the proper research and data needed to have a successful launch of a product. Of course there is the glitz of coming up with the proper slogan, packaging and promotional items, but these are very minor compared to the mountain of research which must be done first if a product or service is going to be successful

By: Peter Gold

Peter Gold — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:30:03 +0000

The role of the recruiter has become so much more complex with all of the aspects you mention whilst most just think job board = applicants = hire.

I think that we will see new roles emerge within large teams with a dedicated Recruitment Marketing Exec to drive relevant candidates to the recruiters; just like marketing do for the sales team! Ad agencies may even get to realise they can make money if they become experts in the new marketing strategies – maybe.

That’s my thoughts anyway.

Great post.

By: Carmen Hudson

Carmen Hudson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:11:49 +0000

Hi Amybeth,
I once worked in PR, I have been a marketer of B-to-B services, a recruiter and recruiting leader of course, and now leader of my own company. All of the roles required marketing, advertising, PR and sales. As recruiters we are natural marketers, most of us aware that our messages represent our corporate brands. Until very recently, very few recruiting organizations employed formal marketing and PR strategies to achieve “sales” (hires). We’re very accustomed to running advertisements and, like all industries, we’re finding that advertising delivers diminishing ROI. Social media provides the opportunity to engage with “customers” (jobseekers) with more authenticity than advertising, yet many of us do not have formal training in marketing and PR. Understanding marketing psychology, how to measure intangible results, relationship theory, etc. etc. is critical to developing social recruiting strategies that work. Having spent the last 10 years “posting and praying”, recruiters are bewildered by tactics that require relationship development, targeted messaging and branding. All of that stuff takes time and attention to detail, and is hard to scale. So recruiters are quick to write off such tactics. In a talent market where fewer and fewer workers will have the required skills, however, companies will find themselves competing for talent that is impervious to advertising. The time to prepare for this, I think, is today. Thanks for a thoughtful post and, the invitation to comment. I like your style!

By: Tim Esse

Tim Esse — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:36:06 +0000

I think that for Corporate Recruiters it is about marketing to the candidates. Why they should want to work for you ( the best people are always in demand ). Independents also have to market their services. What will differentiate them from the 1000′s of other search firms out there.

By: William

William — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:46:48 +0000

Amybeth – Yes, most corporations have these as separate functions focusing on each of these responsibilities. The interesting thing is that social media has made it EVERYONE’S responsibility to be versed in these areas – EVEN recruiters. To say “It isn’t my job” only marginalizes you. Thanks for calling this out to the community!

Other articles that talk about the differentials between PR, marketing and advertising: http://www.jmorganmarketing.com/the-difference-between-a-social-media-strategy-and-a-social-media-campaign/ (strategy vs campaign), http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/79460 (PR vs publicity).

By: Jenny DeVaughn

Jenny DeVaughn — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:20:02 +0000

Insightful post, Amybeth! Building genuine relationships is still the cornerstone of a successful executive. All marketing, advertising and public relations professionals must understand the importance of balancing their social media interactions with sensible offline activities.
As a recruiter, salesperson or member of the media, it is now more important than ever to engage your target audience using the wealth of social media and research tools available. Then continue to follow up and follow through preferably in person or over the phone to truly develop a trusting relationship.

By: Michael Glenn

Michael Glenn — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:11:13 +0000

Very good topic here. But, something that really interest me is Geo Tagging. A lot of online apps and social communities seem to be about GPS and Geo Tagging. That is knowing where your friends are and/or letting your friends know where you are.

Using some of these features is good PR for a Recruiter. It lets the job seeker community know what they are doing and how to find us.

Just my 2 cents.

By: medXcentral (Jim)

medXcentral (Jim) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:30:50 +0000

I’m a former recruiter turned healthcare social networking entrepreneur while building out social recruiting tools for the health care space. Sseems obvious they will work together.

That said, I have only one basic piece of advice; Don’t “sell” until the time is right. Taken just a bit further; Don’t underestimate what your audience will perceive as “selling.”

IMO; Savvy jobseekers don’t care that you have the job until they feel you are the person they would like to speak with about a job. This speaks to trust and integrity. Take that direction first. It’s the tougher road and ROI is slower. But, long-term, it’s the right strategy; IMO.

Remember; You, the recruiter, corporate or otherwise, are a brand. And, “brand awareness” is NOT a transaction…it’s a result.

Hope that helps.
Happy Halloween.
- Jim

By: john simonds

john simonds — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:20:09 +0000

This draws the lines well in job descriptions. When I worked for big firms, many times the different groups thought they were experts in the other area’s when they should have left the job to the professionals. Good work Amybeth.