The Recap Recap

Skill Point Season 1 ended with a final Bonus Level summarizing six months of recruitment marketing lessons.?

I touched on the biggest lessons I’ve learned from each of my 16 guests, including snippets of our conversations, creating a value-packed 32-minute wrap-up.?

Now, on The Skill Point Recap, I’m recapping the recap - just in case you missed it!

First off, Richard Williams taught us what branding really is. Turns out, it’s more than just a shiny logo - it’s actually a combination of your mission, purpose and vision and the resulting identity that you build off them.?

Our second episode was all about SEO, with David Ellis taking us on a deep dive of how to make the most out of SEO as a small business. He told us the best strategy for your keywords, which is finding the sweet spot between search volume and competition. The more specific you can be, the better.?

Luca Rosi joined me for Episode 3, where he explained the importance of good copywriting. Turns out, your copy could be what stands between you and success. Put your best foot forwards by fine-tuning your copy to speak to your audience and not just about yourselves.?

Next up was our first Bonus Level. I gave away my top tips for building an impactful recruitment website, including the importance of putting your audience first. It doesn’t matter how many awards you’ve won for your work if your potential clients can’t actually tell what you do. Building out custom pages with filterable job boards and insight hubs will put you a step ahead of the competition.?

Episode 5 was a masterclass on communities with Hishem Azzouz. The recruitment podcasting OG joined me to share his insights on building alignment and the importance of interacting with your listeners to build an engaged community. Our key takeaway was getting clear about the purpose of your podcast while giving people something to buy into. That’s what creates an emotional connection between you and your audience.?

That tied perfectly into what Rich Evans had to say in Episode 6. He asked the question “What do you want to be known for?”, and I’ve been asking myself that ever since. If you can push past the existential spiral that might send you into, figuring out the answer to Rich’s question will transform the way you create content and present yourself, creating a purposeful brand for years to come.?

In Episode 7 I had the pleasure of talking to Clair Bush, who helped me explore the psychology of recruitment marketing. She explained the parallels between employer branding and parenting your people in the sense that you should always be trying to do better for the people who come after you. Anything you hate about working for someone else is exactly what you should avoid doing as a leader. It’s all about a growth mindset for you and your company.?

After that we had another Bonus Level, this time all about working smarter, not harder. Content marketing can take up a lot of time and effort, so it’s important to create a clear plan before you get started, as this will help you stay on track. I revisited our core methodology of creating keystone content and stretching it into a whole week’s worth of clips, blogs and emails.?

Episode 9 returned to our usual guest format with a visit from my old mentor Gordon Stoddart. We talked about our shared passion for reputations, which are often overlooked in recruitment. If you want to level up your reputation, Gordon recommends prioritising your customer relationships, service delivery, and incident responses. Honesty and reliability are key factors when building a solid reputation.?

Fellow recruitment marketer Chris Cranshaw joined me for Episode 10, where we unpacked all the best practices for adding value to your marketing. Chris defined value as something useful, whether that’s to you, your clients, or your candidates. If nobody’s actually benefiting from your content, you’re doing something wrong. Creating insightful, actionable content is the secret sauce we’ve all been looking for.?

Elle Nash was my guest for Episode 11. She talked us through using events to promote your recruitment company, including how to promote the events themselves. It all got a bit meta / multi-layered, but the highlight was when she explained how to create an email journey for people who express interest in the event, from getting them excited about your speakers to keeping them updated as tickets sell out.?

Speaking of meta content, Episode 12 was a Bonus Level about how to create a great podcast. I shared the tips and tricks I’ve learned from hosting The Skill Point Podcast as well as the business case that I present to potential clients. An interview podcast is a brilliant content machine, as well as a business development tool. You can connect with industry experts in an informal setting and tell them about your company - which has led to new leads for several of our clients!

Episode 13 was a bit different, as I talked about social sales with Jamie Rose. He told us that using your customers’ pain points is the secret to effective sales online, as this creates an emotional response. People are much more likely to part with their money when something promises to solve their problems than if you just tell them you’re doing a good job.?

Claire Stapley joined me for Episode 14, where she shared her insights on the recruitment industry. Having worked as a recruiter, copywriter and now brand strategist within the space, Claire’s advice is well-rounded and research-based. She told us that investing in marketing is actually investing in your future.? Making sure you stand out in your market and building a reputation online is one of the best ways to future-proof your company against recessions and global pandemics.?

On Episode 15, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Matt Comber, who explained how to measure and use ROI for recruitment marketing. Measuring your ROI is a great way to figure out which marketing channels are working for you and where you can reallocate your budget. Setting clear goals for each campaign will allow you to assess its effectiveness, whether you’re aiming for more eyes on your business or active conversions and increased sales. I’ve never loved numbers more.?

Episode 16 was focussed on advice for marketers. I sat down with Jess Cook to talk about what life is like in the recruitment marketing space, and she shared valuable pointers for anyone who’s starting a new marketing role. The tip that stood out the most to me was to figure out how to link your marketing actions to the business’s wider objectives and pitch that buyer journey alongside your marketing strategy to create buy-in from senior leadership.?

Jade Brar-Hasse joined me for Episode 17 and shared her advice for new marketing managers. She advised everyone to adopt a continual learning mindset and share their knowledge with the people around them. Educating people about what your role contributes to the company is one of the best ways to ensure your invaluableness to the company.?

Joining us from the legal sector, Robert Hanna was my guest for Episode 18, where he told us how to find our topic of influence. He suggested talking to your audience and incentivising them to engage with you by putting their feedback into action and building your content around their needs. He also recommended tying your content back to their pain points and using your platform to solve their problems.?

My final guest of the season was Justin Rowe, who gave us a masterclass on using LinkedIn ads. He explained that LinkedIn is the best place to promote your business because it’s the only social media platform where influential business people come to be informed about other people’s buying decisions and are therefore the most open to cold advertising.?

And that brings us to the recap in Episode 20!?

If you’ve enjoyed Season 1 of The Skill Point Podcast, let me know which topics you learned the most from and what else you’d like me to cover on Season 2.?