There is one niche in marketing that draws a great deal of attention and an overwhelming number of questions in the community of marketing professionals. While many resources are available to help guide a marketer in developing strategy for marketing a product or service, there are relatively few resources and little common understanding of how to market people, a people network, or a knowledge network. Can we apply the same principles to the marketing of human resources as we do to B2B product marketing? Do we attempt to develop value propositions based on the strengths of the professional, expert, or network in question, or do we write value propositions based on the needs of the customer who is searching for these people (as we typically would in other B2B marketing arenas)? Is there a special level of sensitivity that needs to be applied? Is there a greater risk associated with marketing people than with marketing inanimate objects? Perhaps these sound like silly questions, but the intricacies and concerns involved with marketing living, breathing individuals and/or what those individuals know are far more complex.
Starting with a simple concept, we recognize that the typical value proposition model for product marketing has to do with filling the needs or solving the problems of the customer. While the concern of a “good fit” is present, it is completely unidirectional. We concern ourselves with whether the product and its benefits will be a good fit for the customer, but we certainly never concern ourselves with whether the customer will be a good fit for the product. We never have to ask ourselves, “Will the customer fit this product’s needs or meet its expectations”? As a matter of fact, such a consideration sounds completely absurd. In marketing of human resources, people, and knowledge networks, this seemingly absurd concern becomes a true factor. The “product” (a person!) now also has to buy into the “good fit, ” and your value proposition must become bidirectional, addressing both the needs of the person in question, and the solutions that person can provide to your customer.
While most of us do not have to worry about bidirectional value propositions, there are a few industries where marketing strategies and value proposition models must inherently take such considerations into account. International recruiters, for example, must market themselves at the same time to people searching for positions and people looking to fill positions. How does one tackle a marketing task that must always be approached from two sides? Here are a few strategies:
- Make two lists of factors that most influence the decisions and satisfaction of the two “customers,” and focus marketing on where those two lists intersect.
- If possible, have different introductions/purpose statements aimed at the two groups.
- Make sure you avoid any language that may make one side or the other feel undervalued or undermined. For example, a prominent slogan on an international expertise recruiting website or brochure that promises the highest level of expertise without having to pay U.S. wages would be highly objectionable to the persons seeking positions.
While the specific strategies that could be applied could to be discussed in great depth, the take-away is to paint a win-win picture every time (rather than just the single-win picture that typical B2B marketing requires).
Dana Martin
Marketing Professional