Marketing plays a crucial role when selling a recruitment agency, making your business attractive to investors and increasing the potential valuation and multiples. By focusing on brand identity, reputation, intellectual property, customer loyalty, and having robust marketing plans and systems in place, you can make your agency much more appealing to investors while significantly improving its value. But knowing how to market a recruitment agency has its own unique challenges and opportunities.
This blog will explore how targeted marketing can support small and medium recruitment agencies who are considering an exit and therefore preparing for valuation and sale.
First, we’ll look specifically at some of the key marketing factors that can impact the value of a recruitment agency.
1. Brand Identity
Who are you? That seems like a relatively straightforward question, but you’d be surprised at how often we encounter agencies with a confused or incoherent brand identity. What we mean by ‘brand’ today is so much more than a logo and colour palette and includes elements including an approach to technology and AI, processes and value creation.
The first thing to establish is a clear differentiation between your business’s brand and your own personal brand as the founder/leader. In many small businesses, especially recruitment agencies, the owner’s personal brand can be deeply intertwined with the company brand. However, for a smoother transition during a sale, it’s beneficial to differentiate the two. A strong, independent company brand will be more appealing to buyers who may be concerned about the business’s viability without the current owner.
The second thing to establish are the elements that will make up your company brand. This includes your vision, values, and beliefs. Prospective buyers are not just purchasing a list of clients and candidates but also the ethos and work environment that have attracted those clients and candidates. Your company culture and leadership team can set you apart from competitors and can be a major selling point.
The final step in creating your business brand identity is to fit those pieces into a coherent and compelling brand narrative. Your brand narrative tells the story of your company’s journey, mission, and impact. A compelling brand narrative can enhance your company’s appeal by showcasing its growth, resilience, and commitment to clients, candidates and employees. It can be a powerful tool in demonstrating your value to potential buyers and selling a recruitment agency.
2. Brand Reputation​
Building a reputable brand takes time, and repairing a damaged reputation takes even longer. Both your company’s and individual consultants’ reputations matter. A team of well-regarded consultants can enhance the agency’s value and attractiveness to buyers, while uplifting (not replacing) the central company brand. A strong brand reputation can make selling a recruitment agency easier and is essential for a higher valuation.
There are many ways to measure, influence and showcase your brand reputation. Here are just a few to consider:
- Google reviews​
Positive Google reviews can enhance your agency’s credibility and attractiveness to buyers. Encourage satisfied clients and candidates to leave positive reviews. - Glassdoor reviews​
Your agency’s reputation as an employer is equally important. Positive Glassdoor reviews can indicate a healthy company culture and low staff turnover, which are attractive qualities to potential buyers. - NPS scores​
Net Promoter Scores (NPS) measure client and candidate satisfaction and loyalty. High NPS scores can be a significant selling point, indicating that your agency provides high-quality services. - Social engagement
Active and positive engagement on social media platforms can demonstrate a strong community, which can be appealing to buyers looking for a vibrant brand presence. - Active participation in industry and target market communities
Establishing your company presence and voice, whether online or in-person events, will further establish your business as a thought leader, making you attractive to investors.
3. Brand Intellectual Property​
Just as important as who you are, are the assets which underpin your brand identity. This includes your social media ownership, prospect and lead lists, processes and knowledge as well as your CRM integrity. Which is why understanding CRM best practices is so important.
A clean and well-maintained CRM system provides a clear picture of your client and candidate base and showcases the potential for future business. Any sales reports and analytics coming from your CRM are behind informed decision-making and increased productivity, as well as enhanced customer service. They also underpin how you market and sell your recruitment agency by improving customer segmentation and brand reach.
Reliance on consultant networks without a centralised CRM can be risky, as client relationships may be tied to specific consultants rather than the agency. This is especially important for those businesses or consultants who use LinkedIn like a glorified database.
4. Customer Loyalty and Diversity​
Investors expect a strong engagement rate with your client and candidate database. Ideally, 60% of your database should be regularly engaged, far exceeding the industry average of 10-15%. High engagement levels indicate strong relationships and trust, enhancing your agency’s value.
An engaged customer base is also one that comes back to you again and again. High customer retention rates are also going to influence investor appetite and valuation rates. Remember it costs significantly more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one!
At the same time, you need your customer base to be diverse. A diverse customer base provides increased stability, broader market reach, better insights, and greater resilience against market changes. Showcasing a diverse client portfolio can be a significant selling point.
5. Marketing Plans, Processes and Procedures​
Selling a recruitment agency at any stage of your business’s life cycle should always be supported by a clear, documented marketing strategy that is aligned with your sales goals and opportunities. Marketers with a documented strategy are 313% more likely to report success.
Your marketing plan should always be:
- KPI-driven with monthly and quarterly deliverables, campaigns and programmes
- Clearly budgeted to enable resource allocation and prioritisation
- Multi-channel, focussing on those that yield the best and most efficient ROI
To be clear a marketing plan is not ad hoc social media posting without clear aims or a scattered approach.
6. Technology & Marketing Systems​
The technology you invest in also has an impact on how you go about marketing and selling a recruitment agency, your agency’s valuation and ultimately the success of your sale.
Investing in marketing automation can improve efficiency, personalisation, and ROI. It also provides better data analysis and insights, improves data integrity, and enhances customer engagement. These can all make your marketing more effective and make your agency more attractive to buyers looking for a streamlined and efficient operation.
How an agency adopts and leverages AI to make the business more efficient, effective and/or innovative, we believe, will play an increasingly important role in investors’ decision making. The recruitment industry is evolving and those who embrace change will see the greatest opportunity when selling their business.
Marketing to Support an Exit PlanÂ
When planning an exit strategy, boosting your company’s value is key. A great way to do this is by adding Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) to your services. RPO is becoming a major factor in increasing agency valuation as it offers recurring and forecastable revenue, a more strategic and consultative service offering and a competitive advantage to contingency-first agencies. Â
But RPO is more than just high-volume recruitment. To differentiate your offering and USP, you need to include employer branding in the mix. Employer branding helps your clients attract and retain top talent, making the RPO service more effective and creating legacy value for your clients to engage you.Â
By combining RPO with strong employer branding, you elevate recruitment to a more total talent acquisition offering. This makes your service more “sticky,” meaning clients are more likely to extend and renew your services, which is very attractive to potential buyers.Â
Incorporating these elements into your agency not only makes your business more competitive but also increases its appeal to investors. This can lead to higher valuations when you’re ready to exit.Â
If you’re thinking about how RPO can help grow your business and boost your valuation, check out our full report here.Â
Getting Ready for Valuation and Sale: An Action Plan
Because selling a recruitment agency can be so complex we’ve created an easy-to-follow marketing action plan to help point you in the right direction. Effectively prepare your recruitment agency for sale by following this three-point small business marketing checklist designed specifically for the recruitment industry.
1. Improving quality of brand and service​​
- Review Your Online Presence: Ensure that your website and social media profiles are professional, updated, and reflect your brand identity.
- Promote a Visual and Narrative Brand: Consistently communicate your brand story and values across all marketing channels.
- Articulate Your Value Proposition: Clearly define what sets your agency apart from competitors.
- Ensure All Materials Reflect the Company Identity: Consistency in branding materials reinforces your brand identity.
- Invest in SEO: Increase your online visibility to attract more clients and candidates.
- Invest in Company/Executive PR: Enhance your agency’s reputation through positive media coverage and public relations efforts.
2. Defining scalability
- Review Your Customer Ecosystem: Understand your client and candidate base to identify growth opportunities.
- Consider Cross-Sell and Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Implement strategies to maximise the value of existing relationships, especially when recruiting across department or geography.
- Assess Your CRM and Engagement Levels: Ensure your CRM system is up-to-date and that engagement rates are high.
- Invest in Marketing Automation: Streamline marketing efforts and improve efficiency.
- Identify Your Cost Per Customer Acquisition: Understand and optimise the costs associated with acquiring new clients and candidates.
- Develop an Annual Marketing Strategy: Plan for long-term growth with a comprehensive marketing strategy.
3. Strengthening systems and controls
- Ensure Your Website is Primed for Inbound Traffic and Conversion: Prime your website to attract and convert visitors.
- Invest in Marketing with Website at the Core: Make your website the central hub of your marketing efforts.
- Use Marketing Automation: Use automation tools to engage your database and nurture leads.
- Consider Your Wider Tech Stack: Ensure that your marketing technology aligns with business development and operations for seamless integration.
At Thrive RMO we’re experts in recruitment marketing that really moves the dial. Whether that means driving short-term growth, facilitating expansion or longer-term goals like selling a recruitment agency, our fantastic team knows just how to support your business.
For more information or to talk through your options, contact us today.