Would human resources officers be the ideal customers for your products or services?
This brief guide will introduce you to some of the most important things you need to know about marketing to HR professionals.
Know Your Target Market: The HR Professional’s Background
HR officers and managers are a diverse group. Virtually every industry employs them. They can come from a multitude of different backgrounds, but there are a few things that many of them have in common.
Many, but not all HR professionals have obtained formal education in either human resources or management. A common credential for this group is a Level 5 Diploma in a subject such as business management and human resources.
Alternatively, many of them have taken courses through the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), an organisation that mentors human resources professionals and empowers them for success. It is possible for people to enrol in online CIPD courses or, alternatively, through local training centres.
CIPD grants credentials to successful graduates of their courses. These credentials could include either a level 5 award in human resources or a level 5 certificate in human resources management.
If your prospect doesn’t have this sort of formal education, it is possible that s/he may have completed an apprenticeship in HR support.
HR professionals can be generalists, but some of them specialise in a particular aspect of human resources. For example, there are specialists who focus exclusively on employee retention. Others focus their efforts on various aspects of employee development and training. Still others focus on legislative issues that affect personnel and staffing.
Check more articles on HR >>>>>
Large companies might employ a small army of HR officers with different specialties. In that case, you would likely have to target your marketing efforts to the HR professional within your target organisation whose specialisation is most closely aligned with the products or services your company has to offer.
Pain Points HR Officers Are Currently Facing
Skills Shortages
There are multiple industries in the UK where talent is undersupplied in proportion to the demand for workers. Filling vacancies in these roles is a top challenge facing HR officers in the current environment.
Brexit uncertainties have added to the challenge. As a result of the anticipated Brexit, there has been a marked decrease in the numbers of European job applicants to British companies from outside the UK.
Legislative Changes
Brexit will bring with it a massive amount of change, and HR professionals will no doubt have quite a bit of change to manage during the transition.
One of the most stressful issues at hand for HR professionals is how to best transition from EU-mandated employment practices back to the environment devoid of EU legislation.
Changing Technologies
UK companies are implementing new software and other technologies at an overwhelming pace. This creates multiple challenges for HR professionals. The burden typically falls on HR to either find cost effective ways of upskilling current staff to use a newly implemented technology, or to hire new staff who can do so. Sometimes all this is expected on a less than sufficient budget.
Your marketing efforts are much more likely to be successful if you can help your prospects solve these compelling problems they are currently facing at work.
How to Reach HR Professionals
Content marketing, telemarketing and direct mail marketing can all be effective ways of reaching HR officers. In-person events, webinars and teleconferences can also be effective if executed thoughtfully. If your offerings truly solve a problem for this group, any of these methods could potentially be successful.
Telemarketing to Human Resources Professionals
If you plan to conduct telemarketing outreach to human resources professionals, you must be absolutely certain of complying with all applicable marketing and advertising laws.
It is best to do your own networking and prospecting, and to develop and maintain your own database of HR professionals. However, it is also possible to use marketing lists that other companies have developed. Prospect360 maintains a database of contacts in various human resources departments that they claim can be legally contacted.
Of course, you will want to do sufficient due diligence on each prospective customer you plan to contact before you initiate a conversation to ensure s/he is truly a good prospect for your offerings.
One of the greatest challenges in telemarketing to human resources officers will be to actually reach them on the phone. It is typical for HR officers to spend up to 40 percent of their workdays in meetings, so don’t expect instant success with this particular marketing method.
We hope this information is helpful in giving you the insights you need about marketing to human resources professionals. Best wishes for establishing mutually rewarding relationships with the HR departments you seek to do business with.
……………………………….
New research : How to leverage next-gen CCM – TheMarketingblog https://t.co/cfnTuNMOrO pic.twitter.com/66Epnscrvh
— Will Corry (@slievemore) April 10, 2019