How to Attract Your Ideal Clients with Content Marketing, with Mark Whitby, Ep #172

Do you want to attract new clients and grow your recruitment practice, regardless of market conditions? 

 

In this episode, you’ll hear me being interviewed by Tom Burkinshaw, the Group Marketing Director at Recruitment Entrepreneur, the world’s leading investor in recruitment start-ups and scale-ups. James Caan’s team invited me to London to record an in-person interview for The Recruitment Entrepreneur Podcast. 

 

You’ll learn how to leverage content marketing to build your brand, attract more of your ideal clients, and be treated as a trusted advisor.  In particular, Tom grills me about the secrets of starting and growing a successful podcast. I also share our Expert Interview Strategy, which enables you to become a thought leader in your industry, produce high-quality content consistently and develop new business at the same time.

 

Episode Outline and Highlights

 

• [01:56] Why I started The Resilient Recruiter podcast.

• [03:16] Overcoming imposter syndrome to become a thought leader in your industry.

• [04:10] How I got started in recruitment.

• [07:27] Starting my coaching business was a “combination of fear and excitement.”

• [10:42] The differences between being self-employed and being a true entrepreneur.

• [12:53] Launching The Resilient Recruiter podcast.

• [15:37] How I stay at the forefront of digital marketing strategies and automation tools.

• [17:22] The number one key to having a successful podcast.

• [18:58] How recruitment companies can stand out from the competition.

• [24:34] The benefits of learning and development for business owners and their teams; including people who are already top billers.

• [27:50] What’s next for Recruitment Coach and The Resilient Recruiter in 2023?  

• [30:47] The value of being consistent in marketing.

 

Why I Transitioned From Recruiting to Coaching Recruiters

 

Tom asked me a question I often get asked, “why did you become a coach instead of continuing as a recruitment consultant?” 

 

I shared the story of how I got started in the recruiting industry, experiencing the same struggles and challenges that a lot of recruiters can relate to. Despite working incredibly hard, I was only an average biller, hitting my sales targets but stuck around the middle of the leader board. Being quite money motivated at the time, I wasn’t satisfied with my performance, so I hired a coach to help me maximize my results. He helped me to double my billings in 90 days and I quickly become the top-producer in my team of 8 and climbed to the top 15% of 200 recruiters. 

 

This was such a life-changing experience that it inspired me to become a coach myself, which I consider to be my true calling. Since launching Recruitment Coach in 2001, I’ve helped more than 10,000 recruiters in 34 countries to maximize performance and increase their billings.

 

In the course of the interview, I also revealed how the ‘08 recession was a devastating experience. I shared how I came back from the brink of bankruptcy to turn things around by leveraging content marketing. 

 

We also discussed the difference between being self-employed from being a true entrepreneur. After being a solopreneur for many years, I’m finally scaling my business. We discussed the benefits of building a team and that it’s often fear and limiting beliefs that hold us back from growing our business.

 

How to Grow a Successful Podcast

 

The Resilient Recruiter podcast will exceed 200+ episodes this year. I’m so happy that this podcast has reached recruiters across the globe with more than 150,000 downloads. One of the reasons I started the podcast is that I love learning and sharing ideas with like-minded people. I get so much value, personally, from interviewing successful recruiters and recruitment business owners that I would do this even if there was no direct benefit to my business.

 

Because my podcast has been so successful, recruiters started asking us for help to launch their own podcast. So we created an online course for our coaching clients and in the last few months, we’ve helped multiple recruitment and executive search firm owners to start a podcast. One of our clients won a new client before even launching, simply by inviting them to be a guest on her show! The benefit is that our clients can learn from all the mistakes we’ve made over the last 3 years. Plus, we have a 38-step process for producing, publishing and promoting the podcast so our clients have a blueprint to follow.  In this conversation with Tom, I revealed a few of the best practices for running a successful podcast. The number one key is to keep working on it and never give up.

 

How Recruiters Can Build Their Brand with Content Marketing

 

Tom and I discussed how imposter syndrome is one of the biggest barriers to becoming a thought leader.  Content marketing requires recruiters to have confidence in their own market knowledge and believe in the value their own insights can bring to their audience.  We talked about the benefit of delivering value-adding content to your network in terms of establishing credibility and trust within the community of your potential clients and candidates. 

 

Mark elaborated on how recruitment business owners can do this with the expert interview strategy. This strategy works for podcasts, videos and even in written article format.  You will hear Mark explain how this strategy combines business development with inbound marketing. You will also learn how this can be a differentiator for your recruitment business when it comes to creating high-quality, industry specific content.

 

Our Sponsors 

 

This podcast is proudly sponsored by i-intro and Recruitment Entrepreneur.

 

i-intro® is an end-to-end retained recruitment platform. Their technology and methodology allow recruiters to differentiate themselves from the competition, win more retained business, bigger fees, and increase their billings. Their software combined with world-class training enables you to transition from transactional, contingency recruiter to consultative, retained recruiter. Instead of being perceived as a “me too” vendor, you’ll be positioned as a “me only” solutions provider. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Book your free, no-obligation consultation here: www.recruitmentcoach.com/retained

Recruitment Entrepreneur is the world’s leading Private Equity firm specializing in the international recruitment industry. If you’ve dreamed of starting, scaling, and selling your recruitment business, this is your chance. James Caan and his team at Recruitment Entrepreneur are actively seeking ambitious recruiters in who they can invest. They provide everything you need to grow a successful recruitment business including funding, financial expertise, coaching and mentoring, operational strategy, back-office support, marketing, and talent attraction solutions. Be sure to mention Mark Whitby or The Resilient Recruiter. Start a conversation here: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/vc

People and Resources Mentioned

 

• Tom Burkinshaw on LinkedIn

 

Connect with Mark Whitby

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call

• Mark on LinkedIn

• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby

• Mark on Facebook

• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

 

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