Recruitment Blog

6 lessons Kylie Jenner can teach recruiters about marketing

Guest Author

Recruitment Expert

Lessons from the Kylie Jenner marketing machine.

No doubt you’ve heard that Kylie Jenner is now the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. The 21-year-old is now worth $1.02 billion, having founded her company Kylie Cosmetics in 2015.

Whether or not you agree with the “self -made” tag, recruiters can learn a great deal from the methods Jenner has used to market her brand and her products. So let’s dive into what those are!

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1. Nurture your tribe

While you may struggle to amass the sort of following Jenner has on social (128 million Instagram followers and counting), you can focus on the tribe you have and make them feel special and engaged. Give them a journey worth travelling with you on by providing valuable content and experiences and sharing insights that will help them reach their goals faster. For example, if you recruit for a specialised industry, focus on providing on-the-ground insights that can help your followers keep up to date with industry happenings. Originality counts and taking the time to provide advice and guidance they won’t get elsewhere will increase your value.

2. Have goals for each stage of the journey

Understand the journey you want your followers to take before they finally enlist your recruiting services. Map that out and for each stage, understand what you want your followers to do. If you align this to the customer journey used in Marketing, it would look something like this:

Engagement (making them aware of yourself/your agency and services)
Education (identifying potential problems and helping your followers to solve them)
Research (at this stage, your followers would be investigating solutions to their problems and hopefully, your services would be on that list)
Evaluation (this is where they would be assessing their needs and requirements)
Justification (they would be getting that internal buy-in and justifying the use of your recruitment services)
Purchase (this is where you come in and do your best work)

Ensure to track your efforts and assign metrics to allow you to measure your success.

3. Use content to educate

When you recruit for specific industries, you’re in a prime position to become the go-to person for your audience to keep themselves up to date and in-the-know. By educating people, they are more likely to see the value and share that with others. The more this happens, the higher the likelihood they will become evangelists on your behalf. Word-of-mouth advertising is powerful and content is a great way to get that working for you.

Understand the challenges your audience is facing and present them solutions in the form of content. If for example, you recruit for the cybersecurity space, interviewing a key influencer in that space about a trending topic such as data breaches not only gives them insights that are unique but positions you as someone they can trust to keep them informed.

4. Consider aligning with influencers and micro-influencers

Every industry has its macro influencers and micro influencers. Not sure what the difference is? According to this article from Social Media Today, a micro influencer usually has less than 10,000 followers and tend to be normal people. Macro influencers, on the other hand, tend to be household names, like Kylie Jenner, allowing a brand to be positioned in front of millions.

Find a macro or micro influencer in the industry you recruit for and engage with them. Find ways you can get on their radar and align your goals with theirs to provide mutual benefit for your audience. If you’re unsure about approaching the larger identities, start with someone more approachable and build your confidence from there.

5. Be (and stay) authentic

It goes without saying that, despite the superficiality that can surround social media, the need to be (and be seen to be) authentic is paramount. The modern audience is pretty savvy and able to spot fakeness a mile away.

What does being authentic on social look like for a recruiter? Here are some ideas:

If you’re unfamiliar with your industry and newly starting out, let people know that and affirm your desire to get educated, teaching them as you learn yourself.
If a reader asks about a competitor, be respectful in your response and allow them to have all the information they would need to make an educated decision.
Engage with your audience and don’t simply use social to promote yourself and your services. Get to know them as much as you want them to get to know you.

6. Deliver your message in unique ways

Don’t always go with the same methods everyone else is using. Consider the needs of your particular audience, their time constraints, their preferred ways to access information and find a way to get in front of them that others aren’t using.

Want some alternative content ideas? The below chart should get you started with some out-of-the-box options.

Sourced from Econsultancy Ltd

If other recruiters in your industry are focussed on articles and video, try group meet-ups or even a podcast, if you can commit to a schedule. Consider creating a closed group on LinkedIn and invite the best people in your space to help drive thoughtful discussion and engagement.

Keep an eye open for what other people are doing successfully (and not just within recruitment) as that can spark an idea that could be successfully translated to your industry.

If you build it (well), they will come

While some may smirk at the latest headlines surrounding the youngest member of the ‘Kardashian Klan’, being worth more than a billion dollars is no joke. It took Jenner years to get to the point where she is today and she followed a solid marketing plan. Take note of the steps above and remember to be strategic. Your hard work is bound to pay off.