It’s a question we get asked all the time...how much should startup recruitment businesses invest in marketing in the early days?
In most cases, the answer is: very little. Getting the basics sorted is important, but what we always say to founders is to spend at least the first 12 months focusing on your personal brand. Why? Investing in marketing at that early stage isn’t going to win you any business — it's your existing networks that will bring revenue through the door.
What you need from day one
When you launch a recruitment business, it’s less about things like awareness and lead gen and more about helping the right people trust you, faster. Even the most basic brand presence will make a big difference, while keeping overheads to a minimum:
Building out your core brand files, including logos, colours, fonts and a simple brand guidelines document.
Basic branded asset,s e.g. social media banners, email signatures and a one-pager or capability statement
Templates to allow you to DIY, while staying on brand. Canva (for social media), PowerPoint/Word (or Docs/Sheets if you’re a Google fan).
A website. Going all in on an expensive website build from day one won’t add much value. Instead, start off with something simple and cost-effective.
Keep the social media lights on. Your company’s presence doesn’t need to be perfect from launch – just enough that people know someone’s home. Share insights, celebrate wins, talk about your niche, etc.
Scaling up
You’ve been in business a year or two, had a few consultants join the founding team, and now you’re wondering what’s next. It tends to be at this point where the company brand is in need of some love (and you’ll likely have the cash flow to support it, too).
Think about the expertise you need
Will you look to internal marketers and freelancers, or engage an agency? It’s the first question a lot of businesses have, and they both have their pros and cons. An in-house marketer will be able to learn your business inside out and always be on hand. On the other side, outsourcing to an agency allows you to tap into all the expertise of a full-service marketing team, usually at a lower cost than hiring one marketer. Read more about this here.
Don’t forget about personal brand
While they can often be neglected once attention turns towards your business, make sure you continue working on the brands of consultants and founders, too – they'll feed off each other’s success.
Be strategic.
It’s easy to just do a lot of stuff and hope something sticks. Your marketing strategy should talk to your business goals, what you want to achieve and how you’re going to get there. We recently outlined this process in more detail here.
Define your audience
Craft your key messaging and tone of voice
Set goals
Leverage your key channels
Report and track
Don’t go overboard with your tech stack
The market is overwhelmed with the latest and greatest tools, but be careful not to eat into your bottom line through unnecessary products and subscriptions that aren’t bringing in revenue or genuinely making your consultants’ lives easier. And remember, whatever marketing tools you decide to implement, consultant buy-in will be critical.
Start small but smart
The best advice we can give is to start small but smart. Especially in those first 12-24 months, keeping your overheads lean means staying away from activity that isn’t directly bringing in revenue. As you scale, there’ll be plenty of time to focus on the company, but in the meantime, stick to the essentials we covered earlier and spend most of your ‘marketing energy’ on personal brand.
Need a hand to get your startup branding off the ground? Maybe what you really need is for someone to handle the essentials for you. Learn why more APAC recruiters choose Three Sixty Digital, or start the conversation here.
