RecruitingNevada.com - Video Response

Posted on November 23, 2007
Filed Under Advertising Mistakes, Video |

A reader sent me an e-mail asking if we were successful in selling video job postings in the 1990s. The short answer is “yes.” We were successful in ’selling’ them, but video was not successful in producing response for our clients.

Let me share my experience (and story):

Our business model with the Las Vegas Employment News was proven. Our clients were effectively measuring our results. When measured by “cost-per-applicant” or “cost-per-hire” (which today are standardized metrics) we always ranked on top. And - we provided our clients a money-back-guarantee on all of our advertising products if they were not the most cost-effective.

Let’s just say, it was not a very happy day for me when I learned we had to refund two months worth of revenues because video did not work.

We sold-out each program with 20 second slated messages and 30 second commercials. Clients flocked to the idea of adding audio and video to what were once one-dimensional print ads. Clients loved bringing their employment brand to life. The problem was - very few jobseekers ever saw it. The Internet was in its’ infant stages in 1995 so virtually no one had a website. The videos were produced for Employment Television, nothing else. Unless we were able to convince, or capture, a jobseeker between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. - we did not have a viewership. And our viewers quickly became bored watching 20 and 30 second messages for job advertisements that were not relevant or they were not qualified for.

Furthermore, every ad that was on Employment Television was already in our newspaper. So a jobseeker could quickly flip thru the pages and find exactly what they were looking for and apply by the time the first commercial break would come on.

Today - the Internet changes the dynamics. Jobseekers can control the medium. They search and watch only what they want, when they want and where they want.

I am confident video recruitment ads are here to stay.

And if you are wondering - did we really live up to our ‘money back guarantee’ - we did. I personally visited each and every client and either gave them their money back, or offered them double the amount in future print advertising. There were several companies that did not pay for advertising for many, many months. As the saying goes - “there are good days and then there are learning days.” Let me tell you - that was more than a learning ‘day.’ We paid dearly for that mistake. But clients respect the fact that we fulfilled our promise. Many vendors do not.