Newspapers and magazines belonging to regions with smaller populations or that publish on niche topics have in some cases had a difficult time bridging the gaps between their traditional print circulation and the digital realm.
When it comes to recruitment advertising sales, it’s a big deal to transition from employment classified ads to a job board branded to your publication. There are three main areas around which the change may be focused – the experience of your customers, your internal sales processes, and the experience of your job seekers.
Customer Experience
Advertisers accustomed to buying print ads in your publication will likely fall into two groups – those who welcome the change, and those who are left bewildered with having to adapt to a new process. The latter group may not be Internet-savvy in general, or their company/organization may not be swift to adjust to changes. Those who welcome the change may be glad to purchase ads themselves through ecommerce and appreciate the efficiency of your new service.
Either way, how you sell to your customers will change. You may spend more time and money on digital marketing, and on customer support as you guide advertisers through the transition.
Internal Sales Processes
For those newspapers and magazines whose digital job board is designed to complement rather than replace print recruitment ads, you may consider bundling advertisements in both mediums to make things efficient for customers and maximize their exposure to your readership.
When customers initially call about print ads, try offering them an upsell to post their job online. This is especially handy for those customers who aren’t interested in doing the work of posting a job online themselves – you can post the job for them as part of a service package you offer. Some companies may choose to offer job post copyrighting and optimizing for SEO as part of the deal or as another upsell.
For customers who post jobs online through a self-serve ecommerce system, you may also choose to offer a print ad as part of a larger package or upsell. In some cases, employers may wish to receive applications digitally through your job board, but they will still want to reach your print readership. You can help facilitate this by including a URL to their job posting in their print advertisement.
Job Seekers and Readers
When launching an online job board to pair with your publication, it’s important that you use every opportunity to make your readership – regardless of which format they consume – aware of it. Include the URL and a line about finding more jobs on every job ad or the pages where recruitment ads appear and include promotions or a standard ad that prompts readers to visit the website and job board.
The beauty of an online job board for your publication is that you can use it to attract readers and job seekers from beyond your current circulation and readership. Digital marketing is needed not just to attract new people to your job board and publication, but to continually engage your current readership and job seekers so that you can consistently deliver quality candidates to your employment advertisers.
For publishers looking to generate new revenue streams, stay relevant and accessible, and to grow readership, a digital job board can be a powerful tool along the way. To learn more about how Careerleaf helps publishers with their job boards, click here.
Image credit:Alvaro Pinot