Author: Buyer Advertising

Steve Jobs and the Timelessness of Innovation

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Last night, the nation began mourning the loss of Steve Jobs. His personality and brand represented more than just the genesis of a successful company (Apple Computer)—his vision and pursuit of new user experiences, as well as infusing life and charm into an all-too-often dry technology sector, changed history.

But if one were to distill his legacy to tactical moves, there’s a lot to unpack. Black turtlenecks instead of suits. Revolution instead of status quo. Calm, personal speeches instead of hackneyed, over-exuberant displays that similar companies had employed in the past (cough, cough, Microsoft). Above all else, Steve employed a willingness to ignore everyone else while following a rhythm all his own.

Innovation comes in many forms. For Steve, they were in the promotion of the user experience, and a new amalgamation of great music and geek tech. For you, they can be an exploration into new arenas, a marketing message unique to your organization that’s never been heard from before. Above all else, never stop innovating and amazing results will follow.

‘Til next time,

Buyer Advertising
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Weird-vertising

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Finding the balance between “edgy” and “on-point” can be a tricky tightrope to walk. You watch in wonder as the goofy commercials from Old Spice become viral hits on YouTube, and can only sit back and contemplate if a similar strategy would work for your company. But for every successful venture into the land of bizarre advertising, there are a hundred examples of spacey videos, confounding print ads, and even re-brands that have left company loyals confused and consumers scratching their heads.

As always in our industry, we need to think of the customer first. Old Spice is deodorant that goes under the armpit so you smell nice. Medical instruments and baby formulas have an entirely separate consumer base—weird shouldn’t be part of your vocabulary. In order to be different, make sure your customers are hip enough to “get it”. Even if you do decide to take a plunge in to the odd, make sure
you still convey your message. Advertising that doesn’t make a point is just… well, weird.

Above all, challenge the conventional with a fresh approach that doesn’t sacrifice your integrity, offend the masses, or lose track of your message. You’ll be surprised at the results.

Signing off for now,
Buyer Advertising
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Recruitment Drive Initiatives: Part 2

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You’ve done a great job setting up smart hiring efforts using a variety of modern vectors to connect with qualified talent. You efforts in social media hiring efforts are paying off. Now is the time to investigate ways to access your efforts.

The most important thing to remember is that an online hiring campaign isn’t strictly a game of numbers. You’ve furthering your employer brand. You’re increasing engagement. You’re disseminating information about your place of business. To evaluate effectiveness, you need to look at traditional online metrics including page views, landing page visits (if you’ve set up your system that way), and fan/follower counts. Actual conversions or hires remains a solid method to determine whether your campaign is working or not.

New, Web 2.0-savvy ways of tracking your hiring efforts include counting the frequency of re-tweets and searching out mentions of your campaign in other “new media” sources such as blogs and on personal posts. Using traditional and emerging metrics, evaluating your campaign makes a shift from quantitative to qualitative, but is still a very real and obtainable goal.

Signing off for now,

Buyer Advertising
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Recruitment Drive Initiatives: Part 1

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Faced with the task of launching a brand new recruitment initiative for your company, you could find yourself at a standstill. Between the many new types of media available today (including social media avenues like Twitter and Facebook) the options are more numerous than ever. The best solution for filling an open position is to first attract top talent, and then keep them at your organization. But with limited budgets, how do you make this happen?

No matter your medium, make a strong case for your open positions. Just what about your company provides value to your employees? Is the work culture? Compensation? Location? All have are important selling points to top talent. Consider allowing more personal expression into the workplace. Although an admitted time sink, companies are experimenting with opening up sites like Facebook and Twitter—often for business, networking related purposes. Companies are also providing time for music and exercise, finding that the resources they’re expending catering to high-performing employees is more than worth the investment.

Above all, remember that a plethora of available talent doesn’t necessarily translate into increased productivity, and ultimately higher revenue for your business. Taking the time to plan a thoughtful, fun, creative, rewarding workplace is a great strategy for truly utilizing emerging graduates with a lot to offer your organization.

Signing off for now,

Buyer Advertising
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Tweeting for Jobs

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Social media remains an amazing resource for companies seeking to attract quality candidates—without spending large sums of money. The “popcorn message” nature of Twitter allows businesses to present relevant information while skipping everything non-essential. However, it’s still up to you to make your tweets count. Here are a few tips to help you along.

Cover the essentials: Job title, responsibilities, location, and qualifications.

Answer direct messages: It’s impossible to explain the full scope of a job in 140 characters. Many job seekers root out further information by writing direct messages, that can in turn help you connect with potential hires.

Tweetup. Mix up your job posting by hosting hiring events, advertised in part by your Twitter account.

Join networks. If your “followers” list is a little slim, get the word out by joining job-specific networking groups. Your messages will be re-tweeted and you’ll get more impressions per post.

Don’t spam. If you post more than once or twice in day, you’ll be running the risk of annoying your base. Just like the length of your messages, keep things slim.

Good luck!

Buyer Advertising
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Anatomy of a Viral Video

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Ah, the viral video!  It’s both a striking media debut and a tool many marketers aspire to, but few achieve. There is no 100% magic success formula that will send a video spiraling across Facebook pages and racking up the “likes” on YouTube, but there are some common themes and characteristics you can aim to hit when crafting your own spot. Here’s what it takes:

Short. A viral video needs to be fit for mass consumptions, and if there’s one thing the masses have in common, it’s a short attention span. Keep the length of your video under a minute.

Weird. Puppets smelling fingers? News reporters flubbing it on air? Shirtless men swan diving out of kitchens? Viral videos all have a touch of the bizarre, and it’s often that impulse to “figure it out” that keeps people viewing and sending it to their friends to weigh in. Aim for the offbeat if you’re looking to go mainstream.

Accessible. Make sure your video is hosted in a place that can support the bandwidth that you’re hoping to achieve. Keeping it on your website is great for company exposure, yes, but if your counter hits the tens of thousands, your site will be down and your video’s 15 minutes will be over before they begin. The tried and true usually works: go with YouTube.

Siging off for now,

Buyer Advertising
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Online Tips for Health Care Recruitment

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When one considers social media, it evokes thoughts about real-time interaction and a healthy dose of anxiety if you haven’t been keeping up with the trend. With an astronomical growth in popularity of Facebook and Twitter—not to mention a user base who is spending more and more of their leisure time online—social media remains a premier way to tackle your recruitment initiatives. Recruitment trends in health care are distinct in the ways people interface with your company and unique offerings. Here’s an overview.

The big players. Facebook, Twitter, blogging: Health care organizations offer a range of opportunities that encompass high-profile physician openings to spots in an IT department. By separating Facebook and Twitter pages to specially to advertise jobs opportunities, you can maximize your social media opportunities.

Real-time feedback for job seekers. Nothing is more discouraging to potential job applicants than submitting their letter of interest or resume and then waiting… and waiting… and waiting. Posting their interest as a Facebook entry or blog comment allows an administrator to acknowledge them as a person and give feedback.

Research goes both ways. Just as candidates can click through and explore the culture and information on a health care institution, so too can a school explore the personality of a person. The tables have turned, and some hiring decisions are being made without ever meeting a candidate in person.

Signing off for now,
Buyer Advertising
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Quick SEO Tips for Recruitment

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Promoting jobs online is a great strategy. Not only is it a cost-effective way to advertise specific opportunities, online venues have the potential to reach a younger demographic—often an attractive hiring range for companies looking to fill positions. But even by accessing a variety of online job posting opportunities, if nobody’s reading your postings, there isn’t anybody who’s going to apply through this medium.
One important topic to address is optimizing your jobs for search engines. The more index-able your postings, the more potential employees will connect with your opportunities. Here are a few tips.
Cross post: Promote opportunities on your site, as well as through Facebook, Twitter, and your blog.
Optimize: Use searchable phrases common to the industry. Shoot to hit these job phrases that are based on what people would actually type into their search engine.
Integrate real media: Use print and brochures to send potential hires to your job listings.
Stay current: Post often. If you don’t have any new openings, stay fresh by posting topical news and other career-related interest bits.

Signing off for now,
Buyer Advertising
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3 Tips for Smarter Recruitment

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Recruitment strategies are like a good engine: many separate elements working in unison to achieve an overall goal. Despite your best intentions, oiling any one part of your engine too frequently could lead to neglect of the overall machine. Here are some quick tips on how to stay organized and focused as you approach the important task of recruiting for your organization.

Stay focused. Oftentimes, as strategies grow more elaborate, the goal is lost, having given way to packing in as much flash and pizzazz as possible. Even award-winning campaigns are still failures if you’re not attracting the population you want to hire. Gathering attention is great, but don’t forget to plainly state the type of candidate you’re looking for, and what they can exact as your employee.

Remain diverse. An extensive recruitment campaign brings to mind subway posters, giant billboards, and magazine inserts aplenty, but it doesn’t cover where America is spending most of their time: online. Most job seekers, especially young ones, spend more time logged into their personal computer than ever before. Don’t forget to post job opportunities and promote your employer brand on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, through blogs, and on your company site.

Follow through. Carry campaigns into other mediums. Have mailers than send recipients to your website, and have mailing sign-ups on your site.  The more candidates you can gather, the smarter, more effective workforce you’re find yourself working beside.

Reading into QR Codes

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You may have seen them everywhere—from restaurant menus to car dealerships. QR codes are a sign of the times: the ability of our smartphones to quickly decode short bits of information that are the hallmark of these digital stamps. QR codes, short for “Quick Response” codes, can be quickly scanned into smartphones and decoded with an appropriate “app”. The result could be a short, meaningful phrase, an “ecard” with information about an individual or business, instructions on how to enter a contest, or an email contact. The amount of data varies by type of QR code used, and the possibilities are many.

While an interesting diversion, the ability of QR codes to convey meaningful information is limited as things stand right now. As most things in the advertising world, it is up to the businesses and people therein to employ a tool like QR codes creatively and effectively. Look to utilize QR codes as part of a larger strategy: a campaign or a viral endeavor. Don’t pin the hopes of your business on a QR code effort without the gusto to back it up.

Signing off for now,
Buyer Advertising
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