Building a brand for a new recruitment business can be a daunting thing. You will probably want to meet with a specialist in branding to help with your designs, but the first thing they are likely to want is a brief. Here are a few tips from Christina Robinson at Green Umbrella Marketing to help you make the most of that meeting and get your brand off the ground.
A few key questions first
It’s maddening, isn’t it?! You look at your competitors and they all have fantastic brands, and you know you need one too…and now! The problem is; you have no idea how they did it. Well, you are not on your own, we see a lot of recruiters who only have the vaguest idea of how they want their brand to develop. I mean, why would you? it’s not what you do.
When we first meet with a new recruitment space client, we work through a few key questions so we can advise on what will (and sometimes won’t) work for them. Budget, how you intend to go to market, and a lot of other factors will affect your final branding, but to start with, a few simple questions will get us started.
- Who are we talking to with your new brand? You probably want a very different look and feel for a recruiter in the engineering arena to one who works exclusively with temporary staff for nursery schools. Who are your target audience? The more you can tell your designers about them, obviously the better!
- Can you show us other brands you like? They don’t need to be in the recruitment space but it’s great if they are. Think about colours or fonts you particularly like or that you think match your ideal brand image.
- How do you want to be seen by clients and candidates? This is the big question. Your brand is your calling card, so it needs to completely reflect how you want to be seen by your target market. If you have your company values this is a good place to talk about them.
Story always helps
The more your designer knows you, the better the result will be. So, if you have an interesting back story to your business, make sure they know it! Coupled with the information in the last paragraph it could be the spark they need. Designers are looking for something that ‘wows’ them so they can use that ‘wow’ in your brand design.
Is it best to play safe or go with the latest trend?
Actually, sort of both, but beware too much of the latest thing. A good brand design will allow you to be a little flexible but there are certain conventions that you may want to stick with. This is particularly true if you are doing a rebrand or a development. If you suddenly break away from something you have been using for a while it can feel strange to your existing client base and candidates. Let your designer work within your industry expectations and (where you have any) existing brand styles and concepts, to come up with something new.
Latest trends come and go. If you look at branding from even a few years ago you can see some clear trends that have since started to look a bit outdated. Jumping on trends is not a good idea but adapting may be. So, you are looking to a brand design that is distinctively ‘you’ but capable of change as it develops.
One of the biggest mistakes to make in branding
It’s not a good idea to get too fixed on an idea before you see your designer. They are experts in their field, so it’s best listen to them. If they seem reluctant to go with your design just ask them to explain why, I guarantee they will have a good reason. It could be unsuitable for the industry, perhaps the colours don’t work together or sometimes what seems like a good design won’t work very well on print or isn’t suitable for small things such as email signatures. Occasionally we do see a recruiter who has a very strong idea of what they want, and we get excited about it because it’s a great idea that we can build on. To be honest though, it’s rare that someone is that sure of what they need. In all the years we have been doing this we have never been unable to bring something to the table that hasn’t improved things. So, one of the biggest mistakes in branding is the same one you can make in almost any consultancy process – not allowing the specialist to do their job. It’s much better to build a working relationship so they can continue to help you as you develop and mature your brand over the years.
Final advice
Fall in love with your brand. Make sure you are happy with it because you will be living with it for some time to come. Don’t make compromises to stay ‘on-trend’, always keep your core values and the essence of your brand in the mix and avoid the temptations to constantly tinker and change. Fix your brand with a great designer, then revisit it regularly and you will have something that will serve you for years.
