Is your recruitment message trying to persuade them or yourself?

Any employer brand needs to understand its audience to thrive. As a result of this, a company's marketing efforts are more successful in building brand equity and increasing profits.

It's not a destination to get at "understanding." It's a journey.

It's a never-ending cycle of revision, modification, and refinement. A brand's performance will worsen at worst or stagnate at best if it does not routinely revisit its target demographic.

Recruitment message, that makes individuals feel like you're reading their minds is the most effective in the long run. As if you're living in their thoughts, you can express their pain areas, struggles, aspirations, and wants so vividly that it feels like you're living in their minds.

Consider for a moment that you are faced with a challenge. Whether you're micromanaged by your boss, trying to find a remote opportunity, or looking into a growth opportunity, there's a solution out there for you.

Assume that the person you seek assistance from understands your situation precisely. They know your thoughts, values, and attitudes concerning your circumstance. You have the impression that they are aware of your case.

They will be able to articulate your situation more clearly than you will describe it. All you can do is nod along as they speak. When you know your target audience, you can take the words directly out of their mouths and use them in your recruitment marketing.

You can read people's minds.

The best sales and marketing campaigns use persuasive language. One of the styles of copywriting that allows you to engage directly with prospective candidates and encourage them to convert is direct response copywriting.

As a result, this kind of copywriting tries to offer potential candidates customized messages that trigger emotions and persuade them to execute specified activities without hesitation. If you want your audience's immediate reaction, you must adapt to your audience's needs and their preferred speaking/reading style.

What style of writing will you use: casual, business, or academic? Use principles of Plain Language!

Plain language is writing designed to ensure the reader understands as quickly, easily, and thoroughly as possible. Plain language strives to be easy to read, understand, and use. It avoids verbose, convoluted language, and jargon. Even highly educated readers crave brief information that is easy to scan, just like everyone else.

"On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely" - Jakob Nielsen.

My advice?

1. Don't use academic, corporate or business terminology, and don't write in the third person unless you're sure they'll appreciate it. This style is quite cold and impersonal, and it definitely lacks any warmth. In "you" language, writing in the first person is more warm and friendly, making it simpler to speak to the reader.

2. Don't use complex terms to seem more sophisticated and intelligent. It has the exact opposite effect - you will feel like a fool!

3. Use words that are familiar to your reader

4. Avoid expression and idioms (especially when talking to an international audience)

5. Avoid recruitment, employee, or your company jargon

6. Be concise

Alright, so we know who we're talking to. We have a clear tone and goal in mind. Now comes the tricky part: how can we persuade our audience to assist us in achieving our goal?

Everything boils down to the reader's reaction.

Based on Frederick's book on Persuasive writing, there are two components to the reader-response: Emotional reaction. This is the sensation triggered in the reader (pity, sadness, joy, etc.). And an intentional response. As a consequence of these previously triggered sentiments and emotions, the reader plans to accomplish something (apply, write back something, stop doing something, etc.).

Make sure the content you provide is matched to the reader's needs. It's not about your needs. "I need you to apply!" or it's not about what you find appealing, "I like my email".

Remember: persuade your audience, not yourself!

A persuasive writer's ultimate goal is to trigger sentiments like "That's bad; I have to do something to change it." "This is obviously urgent; I'll take care of it immediately." "That's a pretty creative email; I like it."

Although the final of these may not immediately result in an intent reaction, the goal may be to establish brand identification rather than encourage potential candidates to straight apply.

What are you hoping to achieve by posting a job ad? You may make it to appeal to a particular sort of applicant.

You will probably want to discourage undesirable people from applying, or you will be swamped with them.

For example, the writing requirement: "You must have at least a master's degree," This attracts competent people who feel proud of themselves for attaining their high degree.

Furthermore, it discourages unqualified applicants. But think twice about your audience, who you might exclude by your copy. Depending on who you want to receive a reaction from, consider developing good and negative reader replies.

Final thoughts

As you've presumably gathered, I believe that knowing your audience is an absolute must. But knowing your audience is more complex than it appears, I think.

Understanding your audience is more complex than creating a "persona" based on a few demographics.

You may take your message to the next level once you identify your target audience's most pressing concerns (and the language they use to express those concerns).

The visitors who visit your career website and land on a specific job page are shown to you through behavioral data. Did you set up Google Analytics, Hotjar, Hubspot, or other tools? Yes? You may now follow up automatically and know precisely what to say to attract new candidates.

When you say you know your audience, you mean it.

Learn how to write compelling messages with my digital workbook.