Someone mentioned that they firmly believed that the print classified (jobs,cars,homes) would return due to dissatisfaction with quality and quantity of response etc.
And then someone said so on twitter (my former golf buddy @alconcalcia) too
My first thought was they were joking but apparently not.
now the solution to quantity and quality response problems are
Clear employer/job offering and compelling reason to apply
Good copy - keywords / seo etc
Plan and buy the Relevant and best media
'attractive' advertising
Simple response mechanism
And great process/screening/resp mgmt
Now by definition these are broad topics that will differ and the solutions need to fit each client, but give me the above or let me create the above and your responss problems will disappear.
Now to use response as a reason to go back in time 5 years is to like reacting to some repairs that need doing to your car by ditching it and getting a horse instead.
To be fair it would mean i made a hell of an entrance when i arrived at my next meeting.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Service vs Growth - or Service and Growth
Speaking at a conference tomorrow (Caterer/recruitment/social media) and organised a networking event last thursday www.omexperts.co.uk/events (a good friend of the biz Gill Davies really organised it but we sponsored it.)Now the problem is we meet lots of great people - many of whom are lovely enough to want to discuss digital/PPC/Social and what they can do/should be doing better.
However - we are a service led business - we have to deliver on our promises. So how do you prioritise new business??
Answer - its just growing pains i guess and a good problem to have but we have made a very clear decision to split new biz and delivery. what we won't do is compromise on our service standards as it has been in our DNA since Day 1 and if i am being mercenary about it - clients recommending us to friends, peers etc has been by far and away our best source of growth.
However - we are a service led business - we have to deliver on our promises. So how do you prioritise new business??
Answer - its just growing pains i guess and a good problem to have but we have made a very clear decision to split new biz and delivery. what we won't do is compromise on our service standards as it has been in our DNA since Day 1 and if i am being mercenary about it - clients recommending us to friends, peers etc has been by far and away our best source of growth.
Thursday, 24 February 2011
A disconnect with the real world
So in the real world
- rumours of a double dip recession
- inflation getting to be a nasty problem
- 'savage' cuts happening that will further drive down consumer confidence
- retailers saying feb figures look grim
In the OME world
- wildly busy
- most agencies and media i respect also say they are doing great
- retail clients expanding
- even had some not very interesting enquiries about taking a stake in our biz
Where is the truth? I have not got a clue but i prefer the latter scenario.
- rumours of a double dip recession
- inflation getting to be a nasty problem
- 'savage' cuts happening that will further drive down consumer confidence
- retailers saying feb figures look grim
In the OME world
- wildly busy
- most agencies and media i respect also say they are doing great
- retail clients expanding
- even had some not very interesting enquiries about taking a stake in our biz
Where is the truth? I have not got a clue but i prefer the latter scenario.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Tribal Resourcing sold to TMP (UK)
So sale of Tribal to TMP is clearly quite interesting. This is my very quick take on it.
1. sold for £1 - puts it in same cost bracket as the Evening Standard sale in 2009. Statement of the obvious but there is clearly something wrong with underlying profitability of a company that is given away, is it crippled by high costbase? declining markets? losing too much money? duff product? or more likely a combo on some or all of the above.
2. 2010 - £37000 profit on £39m turnover - is a 0.1% return. Ouch...One presumes that most of this turnover was media billings and such like so those figures are pretty horrible given that 2011 is going to be uglier in their markets (government/health)
3. My non insider view is that they are caught in perfect storm of reliance on public sector and still largely print revenues which are in cyclical and terminal decline respectively.
4. TMP (UK) taking it on - possibly most interesting thing. Their mgmt (and investors) must believe that they can convert the client base to digital, sell more product and retain in long term relationships. And economies of sale are obvious too. But, and i say this no relish, one would presume the cost cutting would be quick and deep to get things moving in right direction. Their must be some brand equity in the Tribal name and i have no idea how they intend to run the brands.
Anyway - i am sure we will get some statements from both parties in next few days - which will clarify the situation.
1. sold for £1 - puts it in same cost bracket as the Evening Standard sale in 2009. Statement of the obvious but there is clearly something wrong with underlying profitability of a company that is given away, is it crippled by high costbase? declining markets? losing too much money? duff product? or more likely a combo on some or all of the above.
2. 2010 - £37000 profit on £39m turnover - is a 0.1% return. Ouch...One presumes that most of this turnover was media billings and such like so those figures are pretty horrible given that 2011 is going to be uglier in their markets (government/health)
3. My non insider view is that they are caught in perfect storm of reliance on public sector and still largely print revenues which are in cyclical and terminal decline respectively.
4. TMP (UK) taking it on - possibly most interesting thing. Their mgmt (and investors) must believe that they can convert the client base to digital, sell more product and retain in long term relationships. And economies of sale are obvious too. But, and i say this no relish, one would presume the cost cutting would be quick and deep to get things moving in right direction. Their must be some brand equity in the Tribal name and i have no idea how they intend to run the brands.
Anyway - i am sure we will get some statements from both parties in next few days - which will clarify the situation.
Monday, 24 January 2011
SMART 2011 / RAD Awards
Thursday was a long day - i attended and spoke at the Smart 2011 conference - where i put extra stress on myself by deciding i would cover a new topic and also go for a workshop interactive session rather than more standard pres. Now the sad thing about speaking is i dont get as much as value from the other sessions (too busy selfishly thinking about my slot) but i really found the approach of conf refreshing. It was a world away from the uber bullshit world of social that existed in Q1 2010 - maybe it was the speakers (#mattallder #andyheadworth #steve_fogarty) but it was really grounded stuff - real world, practical advice etc.
would loved to have networked more but had the Dinner Jacket on for the RAD Awards in evening. Now this is the biggest awards in our world but our industry has changed so much - i always feel that this is an "old" industry event - still has awards for best local press advert etc. To be fair to them - they have made huge strides to make categories more modern and digital but i still feel like a bit of an outsider in the room - explaining to people/other agencies who we are and what we do - which is a bit odd 4.5 years in.
The brilliant bit of night was that our clients had 3 nominations (Pizza Express and YO! Sushi) and Pizza Express/Pink Squid won for www.pizzaexpressyourself.co.uk) - so congrats to all involved.
Friday was a quieter day....
would loved to have networked more but had the Dinner Jacket on for the RAD Awards in evening. Now this is the biggest awards in our world but our industry has changed so much - i always feel that this is an "old" industry event - still has awards for best local press advert etc. To be fair to them - they have made huge strides to make categories more modern and digital but i still feel like a bit of an outsider in the room - explaining to people/other agencies who we are and what we do - which is a bit odd 4.5 years in.
The brilliant bit of night was that our clients had 3 nominations (Pizza Express and YO! Sushi) and Pizza Express/Pink Squid won for www.pizzaexpressyourself.co.uk) - so congrats to all involved.
Friday was a quieter day....
Monday, 10 January 2011
Conference Speaking - Smart 2011
Speaking at the www.smart2011.com conference next week. And via a complex set of circumstances - i am covering a slightly different topic from my initial brief. My session title is "impact of social media on recruitment value chain". After my initial thought of blimey - i am going to actually do some proper work to organise all my thoughts/experience/analysis into something coherent (he hopes....) i am quite excited. Why?
- I am a bit bored with the "building blocks to a social media rec strategy" which i have been updating and delvering in 2011. Its good stuff but the Do's and Don'ts may be quite simple for what i think looks a more experienced audience.
- I actually think the topic is very interesting (see below for why)
In last 5 years i have spoken at quite a few conferences/seminars etc and the breakthrough for me was to stop trying to cover everything, don't think it has to be perfect, don't worry about people disgareeing with you and dont watch other speakers and panic that they are nicking all your good stuff! When i am in the audience all i want is not to get sold to (very dull) and to hear a few things that are interesting. I don't want comprehensive - i want to be stimulated or even better provoked.
So for me when i look at this conference - there are some great people like @mattalder @billboorman @andyheadworth who know their stuff and will give great overviews of industry trends and great tools and techniques. And they will do this better than me, So what do i bring???
Well (excuse the immodesty) OME work with some of the UK's biggest recruiters, who have grasped the digital nettle and now want to have same success with social. However like most organisations - budget for innovation is limited and the precious time of the recruitment team is extremely short. So our views have to be based on the practical nature of implementing social programmes and how to avoid wrong turns. All of our clients want/demand that we save time and money and increase quality. And what does "save money and increase quality" typically mean
- reduce reliance on rec cons
- reduce candidate attraction costs from direct sourcing
- find new channels for candidates
- have more relevant response/less irrelevant response
- beat the competition
and all those points above have SEISMIC impact on the Recruitment Value Chain!!
- I am a bit bored with the "building blocks to a social media rec strategy" which i have been updating and delvering in 2011. Its good stuff but the Do's and Don'ts may be quite simple for what i think looks a more experienced audience.
- I actually think the topic is very interesting (see below for why)
In last 5 years i have spoken at quite a few conferences/seminars etc and the breakthrough for me was to stop trying to cover everything, don't think it has to be perfect, don't worry about people disgareeing with you and dont watch other speakers and panic that they are nicking all your good stuff! When i am in the audience all i want is not to get sold to (very dull) and to hear a few things that are interesting. I don't want comprehensive - i want to be stimulated or even better provoked.
So for me when i look at this conference - there are some great people like @mattalder @billboorman @andyheadworth who know their stuff and will give great overviews of industry trends and great tools and techniques. And they will do this better than me, So what do i bring???
Well (excuse the immodesty) OME work with some of the UK's biggest recruiters, who have grasped the digital nettle and now want to have same success with social. However like most organisations - budget for innovation is limited and the precious time of the recruitment team is extremely short. So our views have to be based on the practical nature of implementing social programmes and how to avoid wrong turns. All of our clients want/demand that we save time and money and increase quality. And what does "save money and increase quality" typically mean
- reduce reliance on rec cons
- reduce candidate attraction costs from direct sourcing
- find new channels for candidates
- have more relevant response/less irrelevant response
- beat the competition
and all those points above have SEISMIC impact on the Recruitment Value Chain!!
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Re-appraising Facebook for our clients
My relationship with FB as a corporate recruiting tool is a complex one (and all stuff below is a gross over simplification but its a blog post so why not)
1. We use it increasingly for PPC campaigns - very efficient/highly targeted for a certain demographic
2. We have set up with caution - Company Pages. the caution is an area i have covered many times previously. But all the classic caveats - fitting corp culture, unregulated content, a place for social interaction not biz etc
3. Therefore - our general advice is tread with care - and invest first in LI and Twitter and industry related networks/forums/blogs
But......
i know one should not be too dogmatic and permanent in any view in digital (i have been and will continue to be wrong on many issues) but i can't help that what became a 2009 view - has almost became a mantra and that is bad.
I keep up to date and know what is going on (particularly in US) and am aware that many companies use FB as their go to place for landing pages for marketing campaigns and indeed permanent sites for talking about product/with their customers etc. However it was only when i was in US a couple of weeks ago that i saw juts how much US corporate big brand marketing is centred around and through FB. If they are happy to engage then why not UK recruitment brands??
So once again - in this hugely exciting ever changing industry - its time to dump my preconceptions/assumptions in the bin and think again - i would not want it any other way.............................
i think
1. We use it increasingly for PPC campaigns - very efficient/highly targeted for a certain demographic
2. We have set up with caution - Company Pages. the caution is an area i have covered many times previously. But all the classic caveats - fitting corp culture, unregulated content, a place for social interaction not biz etc
3. Therefore - our general advice is tread with care - and invest first in LI and Twitter and industry related networks/forums/blogs
But......
i know one should not be too dogmatic and permanent in any view in digital (i have been and will continue to be wrong on many issues) but i can't help that what became a 2009 view - has almost became a mantra and that is bad.
I keep up to date and know what is going on (particularly in US) and am aware that many companies use FB as their go to place for landing pages for marketing campaigns and indeed permanent sites for talking about product/with their customers etc. However it was only when i was in US a couple of weeks ago that i saw juts how much US corporate big brand marketing is centred around and through FB. If they are happy to engage then why not UK recruitment brands??
So once again - in this hugely exciting ever changing industry - its time to dump my preconceptions/assumptions in the bin and think again - i would not want it any other way.............................
i think
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