HRmarketer Supplier 2007-2008 Marketing Report Final

8/3/2019 HRmarketer Supplier 2007-2008 Marketing Report Final

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Trends in HR Marketing: Where HR SuppliersSpent Their Dollars in 2007 and What’s Ahead in 2008

P.O. Box 10 • Capitola, CA 95010 • 831.685.9700

1

Trends in HR Marketing

Where HR Suppliers Spent their Marketing andPR Dollars in 2007 and What’s Ahead in 2008





2

Abstract

This research report was produced by HRmarketer, a marketing services firm

focusing exclusively on the human resource (HR) marketplace. Since 2001, hundreds

of HR suppliers have used HRmarketer.com and the HRmarketer Services Group to

generate publicity, website traffic, sales leads and improved SEO.

This report covers the latest trends and best practices for marketing to the human

resource (HR) and employee benefits marketplace going into 2008. The data

presented in this report is based on responses from a diverse group of HR and

employee benefits suppliers collected during July, August and September of 2007.

Topics covered in this report include:

• Patterns of adoption and use of various marketing and PR tactics by HR and

employee benefits suppliers – including social networking, social media,

blogging, podcasting and RSS – also known as “Web 2.0” activities.

• Marketing and PR activities most important to HR suppliers in 2007 and their

budgeting plans for 2008.

• The marketing and PR activities that generate the most sales leads for HR

suppliers, and those presenting the greatest challenges.

•

How HR suppliers measure the success of their marketing and PR.• Who and what suppliers rely on to stay knowledgeable about the human

resources marketplace – and how optimistic suppliers are about the overall

health of the human capital marketplace heading into 2008.

The key trends outlined in this report include:

• Growth of direct e-mail marketing and devaluation of print advertising.

• Growing importance of search engine optimization (SEO). A majority of

suppliers will increase their SEO budgets in 2008.

• Growth of “Web 2.0” tactics like blogging, podcasting and social networking

as a means of lead generation. Larger vendors, however, remain laggards.

Finally, our team of experts provides analysis on what these findings mean for HR

suppliers and recommendations for 2008.





3

Table of Contents

Abstract..........................................................................................................2 Table of Contents.............................................................................................3 Introduction ....................................................................................................4 The respondents ..............................................................................................5 Who’s Doing What? HR Suppliers’ Marketing and PR Activities in 2007 –

And Plans for 2008. ..........................................................................................6 The Importance of Various Marketing and PR Activities .........................................8 Marketing and PR Budgets for 2008....................................................................9 Where The Sales Leads Came From..................................................................11 Suppliers’ Marketing and PR Challenges ............................................................13 How Do You Know You’re Winning? Metrics, Metrics, Metrics...............................14 Press Releases, Public Relations and RSS ..........................................................16 Social Networking Participation ........................................................................18 Staying Knowledgeable ...................................................................................18 Supplier Optimism Heading into 2008 ...............................................................19 Conclusion: Where the Suppliers Are Headed in 2008 ........................................20 About HRmarketer..........................................................................................21 About Fisher Vista, LLC...................................................................................21





4

Introduction

We began the “Trends in HR Marketing” research series in late 2005, with the firstTrends report published in early 2006. Our goal in launching this series was to

offer valuable insights and “windows” into the practice of marketing in the HR

marketplace. While many organizations provide research about Human Resources

solutions, and others report on marketing topics of all sorts, no firm was covering the

practices of marketing in our particular market space. To our knowledge, other than

this series, that continues to be the case. We eventually settled on two types of

surveys and reports, which we now alternate: the buyers of HR products and

services (the HR buyer), and the sellers of HR products and services (the HR vendors

and suppliers).

Your participation and feedback has been and will continue to be vital to the

continued success of this series. Indeed, vendor participation in the surveys

continues to rise. The first six reports are the most popular white papers and

research downloads from our HRmarketer Web site. Many of you have offered your

comments directly to us through conversations and blog posts. You’ve told us these

reports are valuable to you and you’ve offered comments on how to make them even

better. We appreciate all of your feedback. It’s been phenomenal.

This is the seventh installment: the 2007 Vendor/Supplier Report. In our view, the

findings are some of the most interesting to date.

One interesting survey result shows that most suppliers do not rely on any single

marketing or PR tactic for more than 25% of their sales leads. This statistic indicates

most suppliers have an integrated, multi-channel, and robust approach to marketing

and PR that incorporates online and offline, traditional and Web 2.0 activities. Asyou’ll notice in the findings covered below, while budgets shift, the new media and

marketing activities don’t eliminate the old, and HR suppliers are generally

expanding their range of activities across the board.





5

The respondents

Representing HR and benefits suppliers across a broad spectrum of companies, the

research sample from this survey includes a diverse population of suppliers with a

common goal: marketing to HR professionals and C-level decision-makers and

buyers of HR and benefits products and services.

Most industry verticals were equally represented in our sample, including Recruiting

and Staffing (12%), Screening/Assessments (10%), Employee Benefits (11%),

Talent Management/Employee Relations (10%), Training and Development (13%),

HR Consulting (12%), Payroll Processing/Compensation/Incentive Programs (7%)

and Outsourcing – HRO and RPO (8%). Other highly specialized verticals included

HRIS and/or ERP Solutions, Compliance, Change Management, Career Planning,

Relocation Services, and Tax Credit Processing.

Annual revenues of respondents ranged from $1M to more than $50M

17.50%

3.75%

10.00%

16.25%

52.50%

0% 20% 40% 60%

Over $50M

$30-$50M

$15-$30M

$5-$15M

$1-$5M

The majority of respondents were made up of CEO/President/Owners (17%), Vice

Presidents (9%), Directors (7%) and Managers (10%). Other types of respondents

included Specialists, Analysts, Consultants/Contractors and those identifying

themselves as “Staff.”





6

Who’s Doing What? HR Suppliers’ Marketing andPR Activities in 2007 – And Plans for 2008.

We asked respondents to report which marketing and PR activities they used in 2007

and which ones they plan to use in 2008. The most popular marketing tactic for

suppliers was direct e–mail marketing with over 80% of suppliers saying they used

e-mail marketing in 2007 and plan to use it again in 2008. Other tactics of choice in

2007 (with plans to use in 2008) included trade show exhibiting (65%), print direct

marketing (60%), speaking at events (66%), press releases (63%) and self-

publishing original content such as white papers (61%).

The most often cited marketing and PR tactic that

suppliers used the last 12 months but do NOT plan

on using the next 12 months was print advertising.

Twelve percent of respondents reported doing print

advertising last year but will not do so in the next

12 months.

The least often used tactics in 2007 included sponsoring analyst reports (79% of

respondents reported not using this tactic in 2007), followed by podcasting (80%),

blogging (76%) and online advertising (56%).

However, the low usage of Web 2.0 tactics may be coming to an end. Marketing and

PR tactics that suppliers did not use during the last twelve months but plan on doing

in the next twelve months include a variety of Web 2.0 tactics such as online pay-

per-click advertising (22% of respondents), blogging (28%), podcasting (24%),

search engine optimization (31%) and press release distribution (22%).

The next chart summarizes the marketing and PR activities suppliers used during thelast 12 months and whether they intend to use them in the next 12 months.

Twelve percent of supplierswho invested in print

advertising in 2007 do not

plan on doing so in 2008.





7

It is notable that, with few exceptions, HR suppliers are expanding their marketing

and PR activities across the board. This is consistent with previous HRmarketer.com

findings that to be effective in today’s competitive landscape, HR suppliers cannot

rely on just a few proven marketing tactics. Instead, suppliers must use a variety of

traditional and Web 2.0 tactics to engage their buyers. This puts increased pressure

on marketing and PR departments to not only understand these newer tactics butalso properly integrate them into their marketing and PR plans. And this continues to

be a challenge based on the fact that after lead generation, Web site SEO and Web

2.0 technologies were reported to be the biggest marketing and PR challenges by

respondents.

16%

17%

20%

22%

23%

37%

39%

39%

44%

45%

50%

50%

53%

55%

60%

61%

63%

65%

66%

81%

4%

4%

4%

3%

1%

7%

6%

6%

5%

3%

12%

5%

4%

4%

5%

3%

2%

5%

2%

3%

24%

17%

24%

22%

26%

13%

22%

22%

16%

14%

8%

26%

31%

15%

10%

23%

22%

8%

17%

11%

56%

62%

52%

53%

50%

43%

33%

33%

35%

38%

31%

19%

12%

26%

25%

13%

13%

21%

15%

5%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Podcasting (participating)

Sponsoring analyst research (e.g. Gartner, Aberdeen)

Podcasting (publishing)

Blogging (commenting)

Blogging (publishing)

Advertising online - display (e.g. banner)

Advertising online - PPC (e.g. Google AdWords)

Media outlet published content (e.g. byline articles)

Media relations

Applying for awards

Advertising - print

Webcasts/webinars

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Distributing press releases over a "wire" service

Direct marketing - print

Self-publishing original content (e.g. white papers, e-books)Distributing press releases to media contact list

Trade show exhibiting

Speaking at conference(s)

Direct marketing - email

Used last 12 months and plan to use next 12 months

Used last 12 months but will NOT use next 12 monthsHave NOT used last 12 months but plan to use next 12 monthsHave NOT used last 12 months and will NOT use next 12 months





8

The Importance of Various Marketing and PR Activities

The top five “must have” marketing and PR tactics for HR suppliers were (1) direct e-

mail marketing, (2) speaking at conferences, (3) search engine optimization, (4)

self-publishing original content (e.g., white papers) and (5) Webcasts/ Webinars.

The top five “replaceable” marketing and PR activities – those that suppliers said

were important yet would be cut if budgets were reduced – included (1) online

banner or display advertising, (2) print advertising, (3) sponsoring analyst research,

(4) print direct marketing and (5) trade show exhibiting. The following section of this

report, Budgeting in 2008, further supports these findings by showing many

suppliers’ intentions of cutting budgets for these activities in 2008.

Not surprisingly, respondents from large business (greater than $50 million in annual

revenue) are much more likely to favor more traditional marketing and PR activities

like print direct marketing and print advertising. Large businesses also place

considerably less importance on Web 2.0 activities like blogging and podcasting.

Larger suppliers also have more established brands and larger budgets with which to

build brand awareness. Many experts place advertising and certain aspects of public

relations as brand “maintenance.” Once companies obtain a well-known brandstatus, they will forever spend money just to keep that position. Smaller firms need

to drive leads and revenue while they slowly build brand, so they’re naturally led into

the lower-cost, highly measurable and democratized realm of Internet marketing.

But while larger firms tend to be the slow adopters and stick with what has worked in

the past, they are most definitely warming up to Web 2.0 tactics – they just aren’t

sold on them (e.g., Must Have) as much as smaller suppliers are.





9

The Importance of Various Marketing and PR Tactics

4%

6%

6%

7%

7%

9%

11%12%

16%

19%

23%

23%

30%

32%

34%

36%

41%

42%

47%

60%

21%

19%

26%

26%

27%

25%

29%34%

36%

29%

28%

26%

27%

29%

42%

31%

39%

33%

30%

29%

29%

21%

20%

19%

29%

32%

16%21%

26%

22%

28%

26%

22%

18%

14%

15%

9%

12%

14%

5%

46%

54%

49%

48%

37%

34%

44%33%

22%

31%

21%

25%

21%

21%

10%

18%

11%

13%

10%

6%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%





Advertising - print


Blogging (publishing) Applying for awards





Media relations


Distributing press releases to media contact list

Webcasts/Webinars

Self-publishing original content (e.g. white papers, eBooks)


Speaking at conferences


Must haveImportantImportant, but would cut if budget reducedNot important

Marketing and PR Budgets for 2008

For most of the marketing and PR activities we surveyed (see chart), a majority of

suppliers intend to either keep their budgets the same or increase them in 2008.

The marketing and PR activities showing the largest budget increases in 2008 include

direct e-mail marketing, search engine optimization and the self-publishing of

original content (e.g., white papers) with 55%, 54% and 53% percent of suppliers

intending to increase budgets in these areas, respectively.





10

The growing importance of self-published original content is a byproduct of direct e-

mail’s popularity. As we highlighted earlier, direct e-mail is the most popular

marketing tactic for suppliers, and the most effective direct e-mail campaigns are

those with a content offer associated with them – like a white paper. We expect this

emphasis on original content will transfer to other mediums in the Web 2.0 realm.

Blogging, while not a major line item in the budget, plays an increasingly important

role in marketing communications for many suppliers.

The marketing and PR activity suffering the most budget cuts in 2008 will be print

advertising, with 16% of suppliers intending to spend less on this activity – and as

we reported earlier some suppliers are cutting their entire print advertising budgets.

Other activities where suppliers intend to cut budgets include trade show exhibiting,

print direct marketing and online “banner” advertising.

For smaller suppliers (under $50 million in annual revenue), there is a shift in

spending taking place from more traditional marketing and PR activities to Web 2.0

activities. However, larger suppliers appear to be maintaining their investments in

traditional marketing and PR activities while at the same time increasing their

spending on Web 2.0. This is likely due to the fact that larger companies have the

available capital to “experiment” with Web 2.0 and are not ready to abandon

traditional tactics, whereas smaller supplier with limited budgets must make an “either-or” decision – and they obviously feel Web 2.0-type activities give them more

bang for the buck. And while print advertising continues to decline and online

advertising closes the divide, print still leads by billions in revenue.





11

Increasing or Decreasing Budgets in 2008?

12%

17%

17%

17%

19%

22%

23%

23%

24%

25%

27%

28%

28%

34%

38%

43%

53%

53%

54%

55%

30%

26%

27%

33%

29%

42%

46%

31%

41%

27%

36%

42%

36%

48%

26%

42%

26%

31%

29%

32%

3%

4%

3%

16%

2%

4%

7%

8%

22%

3%

5%

5%

12%

2%

2%

2%

4%

4%

3%

3%

55%

53%

53%

35%

50%

32%

25%

38%

32%

45%

32%

25%

24%

16%

34%

13%

17%

12%

14%

10%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%




Advertising - print


Applying for awards



Media relations








Webcasts/Webinars




Increase Same Decrease N/A

Where The Sales Leads Came From

The most popular lead-generating activity continues to be direct e-mail marketing,

with 43% of suppliers attributing between 11% and 50% of their leads to direct e-

mail, and 14% relying on direct e-mail for between 26% and 50% of leads. Pay-per-

click advertising was also an effective lead generating activity, with 18% of suppliers

saying it resulted in between 26% and 50% of their leads.

Interestingly, 28% of suppliers attributed their search engine optimization efforts

and their self-published original content to about 11% to 25% of sales leads.

However, this makes more sense when you realize that the two go hand-in-hand:

the more relevant content you have on a Web site (e.g., white papers), the better

your SEO.





12

Trade show participation (exhibiting or speaking) continues to be a popular lead-

generating activity, as it remains the best way to meet prospects face to face. This is

particularly the case for larger suppliers ($50 million+ annual revenue) who report

attending more events and attributing more leads to exhibiting than smaller

suppliers.

However, with the exception of a few outlier respondents, most suppliers did not rely

on any single marketing or PR tactic for more than 25% of their sales leads. This is

an important finding as it shows the importance of spreading your marketing and PR

budgets across a variety of tactics – both traditional and Web 2.0.

Based on our findings, the must-do marketing and PR tactics for measurable lead

generation include (in no ranked order):

• Direct marketing (majority with e-mail but some print).

• Search engine optimization.

• Publishing of original content (e.g., white papers) tied to direct e-mail

marketing and SEO efforts.

• Trade show exhibiting and speaking (at least two key events).

• Webinars/Webcasts.

•

Pay-per-click advertising.• Search-optimized press releases.

In fact, with the exception of trade show participation, all the above tactics integrate

well together. For example, a supplier may produce a white paper or Webcast,

announce its availability via direct e-mail marketing, search-optimized press releases

and a PPC campaign, and then publish the content to their Web site. Each step plays

a critical role in lead generation and SEO.





13

Where the Sales Lead Come From

88%

95%

94%

95%

86%

83%

90%

91%

73%

71%

73%

66%

81%

79%

86%

64%

65%

62%

65%

50%

6%

2%

3%

2%

7%

13%

8%

5%

16%

19%

15%

29%

10%

12%

7%

20%

28%

28%

24%

29%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%





Advertising - print



Applying for awards





Media relations



Webcasts/Webinars





0-10% 11-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100%

Suppliers’ Marketing and PR Challenges

Some of the challenges are familiar and perennial:

generating more qualified leads, properly allocating

the marketing budget, and developing the company’s

brand and message. However, outside of generating

more qualified leads, the biggest marketing and PR

challenges for HR suppliers in 2007 were search

engine optimization (SEO) and understanding Web

2.0 technologies.

The biggest marketing

and PR challenges for HR

suppliers in 2007 were search

engine optimization (SEO)

and understanding Web2.0 technologies.





14

As we pointed out in our last two Trends Reports, HR buying behavior is now

reflecting overall consumer buying behavior—buyers turn first to the Internet.

Marketing successfully to the HR buyer has always been challenging, but in a rapidly

changing technological environment, and because of shifting patterns of buyers’

behavior, it is more important than ever for suppliers to master new channels and

new technologies.

Percentage of Suppliers Identifying as Somewhat Challenging or as aMajor Challenge

16%

10%

13%

29%

23%

25%27%

28%

32%

61%

15%

39%

49%

38%

44%

44%51%

51%

49%

30%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Securing print media placements

Winning awards

Securing speaking engagements

Understanding “Web 2.0” technologies

Developing good content for use in marketing

Allocating the marketing budgetBranding/messaging

Understanding buyer behavior

Website SEO

Generating qualified leads

Major Challenge Somewhat Challenging

91%

81%

79%

78%

69%

67%

67%

62%

49%

31%

How Do You Know You’re Winning?Metrics, Metrics, Metrics.

In the following table, we show the importance that suppliers place on various

marketing and PR metrics. Gaining an understanding of the relative importance of all

these marketing metrics is key to grasping how suppliers as a whole will be

measuring their own performance in 2008.





15

The Level of Importance Suppliers Give Each Tactic When Evaluating theEffectiveness of Their Marketing Investments.

4%

6%

26%

28%

31%

43%

58%

58%

74%

88%

21%

19%

51%

49%

54%

46%

38%

38%

25%

11%

29%

21%

24%

23%

15%

11%

4%

4%

1%

1%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%



Media visibility (print)

Securing speaking engagements

Media visibility (print)

Website search engine rankings

Brand recognition

Website traffic

Lead generation (qualified leads)

Sales

Very important Important Not important

While sales was ranked as the most important metric to almost every business

selling services to HR and benefits buyers, it is misleading to use this metric when

evaluating the effectiveness of your marketing and PR activities. True, if you stopped

all marketing and PR activities, your sales leads would likely dry up and new sales

would soon grind to a halt. Yet, while a supplier’s marketing and PR activities may

generate hundreds of qualified leads, it may not automatically result in new sales if

the supplier was unable to convert those leads. In other words, sales are not a good

measurement of marketing and PR because for most suppliers, marketing and PR

alone do not close deals. Marketing and PR bring the leads in, but sales must close

those leads. For these reasons, we excluded “sales” from this discussion on metrics.

Sales excluded, the three most important metrics suppliers use to measure the

effectiveness of their marketing and PR are sales leads, Web site traffic and brand

recognition. Two other very important metrics included search engine rankings and

online media visibility.

All these metrics overlap and are a byproduct of effective marketing and PR. For

example, if you have high online visibility, you will likely have more brand

recognition, higher site traffic, increased sales leads and improved search engine

rankings. But it all starts with online visibility. This is a critical point. In a recent

HRmarketer.com survey of HR buyers, 41.2% of HR professionals said they go to the





16

Internet when beginning their search for HR products and services – second only to

asking a peer. Therefore, the importance of an online presence is growing every day.

And with the exception of brand recognition, all these metrics are easily measured

and extremely quantifiable. For these reasons, HRmarketer has always endorsed

using online visibility, Web site traffic and sales leads as three key metrics to use

when evaluating the effectiveness of marketing and PR investments – in fact, it’s the

tagline and marketing mantra of HRmarketer.com.

It’s the combination of both marketing and PR activities that drive these metrics,

although PR is less “accountable” for leads and sales than marketing. But the

significant differences end there. HR and benefits suppliers already see marketing

and PR in highly overlapping ways, indicating that “Marketing PR” as a unified

concept is well on its way to complete acceptance among this population and that

2008 will see a greater integration and synchronization of these formerly separate

disciplines than ever before.

Press Releases, Public Relations and RSS

Nearly half (41%) of HR and employee benefit suppliers contract with an outside

public relations firm or marketing agency, and more than half (54%) of those are

either very satisfied or satisfied with the firm’s effectiveness. Only 15 percent of

suppliers who contract with an outside public relations firm or marketing agency

were not satisfied with the firm’s performance. Sixty-one percent of those using an

outside firm pay a monthly retainer and 28 percent pay $5,000 or more.

Over 60% of large suppliers (those with annual revenue of $50 million or more)

contract with an outside public relations firm or marketing agency and the majority

pay in excess of $7,000 a month in retainers. Yet, nearly 33% of large suppliers

were not satisfied with their outside public relations firm or marketing agency.

One of the more surprising findings of our survey was the number of monthly press

releases suppliers distribute, and how few of the suppliers search-optimize these

releases. As the charts on this page reflect, over half (51%) of suppliers do not send





17

any press releases via a wire service and 64% don’t search-optimize their releases or

don’t know what a search-optimized release is.

Number of Monthly Press Releases

Distributed Over a “Wire” Service

Do You Search-Optimize

Your Press Releases?

At first glance, this is a surprising finding because a search-optimized press release

sent via a wire service directly impacts a supplier’s Web site traffic, search engine

rankings, online visibility (brand recognition) and sales leads – all of which were

reported to be the most important metrics suppliers use to measure the

effectiveness of their marketing and PR. In fact, there is little doubt that regular

distribution of search-optimized press releases is one of the most important

marketing tactics – and most cost-effective – a supplier can invest in. (Editorial

disclaimer: the HRmarketer membership service provides online search-optimized

press release distribution, which affords us unique insight into this particular tactic;

whether or not a supplier uses the HRmarketer wire service or some other, the

practice should be strongly considered by every supplier, large or small.)

It is also a surprising finding because our research showed that 82% of respondents

said the marketing department manages their company’s PR. Marketing should know

better. Right?

3 or more

3%

2

14%

1

32%

0

51%

Not Sure

16%

No

48%

Yes

36%





18

However, as discussed earlier in our report, two of the biggest marketing and PR

challenges for HR suppliers were search engine optimization (SEO) and

understanding Web 2.0 technologies. In other words, while suppliers admittedly want

to know more about SEO and Web 2.0 (both of which relate to search-optimized

releases sent via wire service), many are hesitant to take specific action in or make

concrete strategic commitments to these new disciplines of marketing.

Finally, when asked if suppliers allowed visitors to their Web site to subscribe to an

RSS feed of their company news, 25% said no and 75% said yes.

Social Networking Participation

The popularity of social networking is surging and most HR suppliers are

participating. In fact, our research found only 12% of suppliers not participating in

social networking. For those that do participate in social networking, LinkedIn is the

favorite community, with 36% of suppliers using this service. The next most popular

community was Facebook (11%), followed by MySpace (7%). But after that, no

social networking site received more than 5% interest from HR suppliers and most

were non-business oriented sites like Yelp or Classmates.com.

Staying Knowledgeable

As expected, suppliers rely on a variety of sources to keep up with what’s going on in

the HR marketplace. However, eNewsletters were the favorite amongst suppliers for

staying abreast of what’s going on in the human resource marketplace with 34% of

suppliers reading an eNewsletter daily. Other popular media outlets include HR Web

sites and the general business press. The least relied-on vehicles for staying current

about HR news were podcasts and blogs, with 72% and 45% of suppliers “rarely”

using these, respectively.





19

How Suppliers Stay Knowledgeable About the HR Marketplace

3%

4%

8%

12%

15%

22%26%

29%

34%

7%

19%

8%

21%

16%

48%

40%47%

54%

44%

51%

47%

16%

32%

27%

31%

30%20%

15%

16%

41%

31%

72%

39%

45%

6%

9%7%

6%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Attending events, seminars, trade shows

Webcasts/webinars

Podcasts

Analysts

Blogs

Print trade publications or newsletters

Industry insight from thought leaders and/or experts

General business press (e.g. WSJ, BusinessWeek)

Websites

eNewsletters or ePubs

Read/visit/attend daily Read/visit/attend weeklyRead/visit/attend monthly Read/visit/attend rarely

Supplier Optimism Heading into 2008

The majority of suppliers (58%) were “Somewhat Optimistic” about the overall

health of the human resource marketplace heading into 2008, expecting their

revenues to grow “moderately.” However, 30% of suppliers were “very optimistic”

and expect their revenues to grow significantly. Only 2% were pessimistic and

expecting their revenues to decline in 2008.

How Optimistic Are You About the Health of the Human Capital Marketplacein the Next Twelve Months?

30%

58%

9%

2%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Very Optimistic: I expect our revenues to grow

significantly

Somewhat Optimistic: I expect our revenues to grow

moderately

Neutral: I expect our revenues to be about the same

as this year

Pessimistic: I expect our revenues to decrease





20

Conclusion:Where the Suppliers Are Headed in 2008

We do not expect to see major differences in marketing and PR activities in 2008

compared to 2007 based on what our respondents report. Budgets will rise overall.

Spending will shift incrementally; what worked this past year will be repeated next

year. Testing and experimenting with Web 2.0 technologies offers the promise of

bringing suppliers both large and small closer to their potential buyers and existing

customers.

What continues to be worth our attention is the breakdown of the barriers betweentraditional marketing and PR disciplines and the convergence of Web 2.0 practices as

evidenced by a new breed of marketing and PR professionals. While not directly

addressed by our research data, a deeper reading combined with what we know of

marketing and PR professionals shows another subset of convergences happening.

PR and media pros are learning how their work impacts Web visibility and SEO.

Internet marketers who are often thought of as tacticians and technical mavens of

SEO are coming to the fore of marketing communications and impacting company

brands as much as or more than the ad execs or the PR team. Multi-disciplinary

generalists are working alongside tactical specialists in a more unified approach to

marketing and PR.

As the people behind the marketing/PR curtain continue to reorient and reinvent

themselves in an increasingly noisy and competitive marketing communications

environment, we expect to see the mix of traditional marketing and PR, online and

Web 2.0 marketing, and public relations evolve accordingly.





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About HRmarketer

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22

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HRmarketer Supplier 2007-2008 Marketing Report Final

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