Marketing
that actually
bills.
Three plays for turning recruitment marketing into revenue. From the TRN talk by Bradley Edwards.
Three plays.Marketing
that actually
bills.
Get the playbook
The three plays from the TRN talk, written down so you can actually use them.
If you watched the talk, you know the argument. Most recruitment marketing doesn't bill. The firms winning right now are the ones using marketing as a direct revenue tool, not a brand exercise. Three plays. That's it.
This is the version you can come back to on Monday morning when you're trying to convince your leadership, your recruiters, and yourself that the marketing you're making is worth the spend.
Play one · The commercial case
Stop defending the budget.
Start billing it.
Most recruitment firms treat marketing as a cost - money out, results vague, hope for the best. The firms making real money have flipped it: same activity, sold back to clients as a service. The moment marketing becomes a profit centre, the leadership conversation changes for good.
Defending the spend.
Reach, impressions, brand health. Useful, but hard to protect in a downturn. The question becomes: why are we still paying for this?
Forecasting billings.
Revenue billed, attached to clients. Protected because it pays its own way. The question becomes: what can we sell next quarter?
Asset ledger
What you
already own.
Not channels. Media. Price them like media. Sell them like media.
- 01Audience
Company LinkedIn page
5,000-10,000+ followers most firms already sit on. Agencies charge clients to build this.
- 02Direct
Newsletter list
A direct line into hundreds of decision-makers in the niche.
- 03Reach
Company page distribution
Organic distribution clients can't replicate quickly.
- 04Attention
The podcast, if there is one
A captive audience of buyers, listening for 30+ minutes.
Two ways to sell it
Standalone collab content.
Paid placement. Client features in your newsletter, on your LinkedIn, on your podcast. Priced and invoiced like media. Most firms massively under-charge - media buyers pay these rates every day for the audiences you've built for free.
Bundled into retainers.
Use audience access as the lever to push contingent clients onto retained terms. "We'll feature you across our channels as part of the package." Gives sales a non-financial way to justify the retainer when cost gets pushed back on.
Internal pushback
"We're not a marketing agency."
Reframe. You're not asking recruiters to become marketers. You're asking them to use marketing as a sales tool when they pitch retainers. The marketing team builds. Recruiters sell. Same as always - just with a new product in the bag.
Pick your three biggest current clients. For each, identify one asset they'd pay to access: a newsletter feature, a LinkedIn post, a podcast guest spot. Put a price on it. Get your sales lead to pitch it on the next call.
You're not selling something new. You're charging for something the firm does anyway.
Play two · The field guide
Video is not a brand exercise.
It's a BD weapon.
Recruitment is a trust business. Video is the fastest way to build trust. Every recruiter sounds the same on paper - nobody sounds the same on camera. Your job as the marketer is to make recording useful videos easy enough that the team actually does it.
Lives on a channel.
Polished, slow, hard to attribute. Defends the marketing function but rarely moves a live deal.
Lives in conversations.
Short, named, sent in DMs, replies and follow-ups. Tied to a real opportunity, measured in replies.
Three videos every team should have
Record once.
Send forever.
Three reusable assets that do the work of a hundred follow-up emails.
- 01Pre-call
Send trust before the meeting starts.
A 60-second video the day before a discovery call: what we'll cover, what I want to understand, looking forward to it.
Where it goes - Before discovery calls · After intro emails · When a prospect goes quiet
- 02Objection
Record the answers your team repeats every week.
60-90 seconds per answer: why are you more expensive, contingent vs retained, how you source candidates.
Where it goes - In replies · In proposals · In nurture · In LinkedIn DMs
- 03Case study
Let the client say the valuable bit.
Two-minute clip of the client explaining the problem, what changed, and why it mattered. Their words beat yours.
Where it goes - After the first call · In retainer pitches · When credibility is the blocker
FAQ for the room
The three objections that come up every time. Answered, not hidden.
Q01What if recruiters say they're too busy?
Keep production simple. Phone, decent mic, window light, four-line script. If it takes 10 minutes, they'll do it. If it takes an hour, they won't.
Q02What if they hate being on camera?
Start with the person most comfortable. Build three working examples, prove replies improve, then roll templates out to the team.
Q03What if leadership wants polish?
Hold the line. Polished video builds brand. Specific, direct, slightly imperfect video closes sales. You need both - they aren't the same thing.
Your first shoot
Four steps · One afternoon- Step 01
Pick the recruiter who's most comfortable on camera.
- Step 02
Write three four-line scripts.
- Step 03
Record one intro, one objection answer, one follow-up.
- Step 04
Send them in live sales conversations and track replies.
Pick the recruiter most comfortable on camera. Record three 60-second videos with them: an intro for a prospect who's never met them, an answer to the single most common objection, and a "thanks for the chat" follow-up.
Watch what happens. Then roll it out to the team using what worked.
Play three · The pipeline map
Your podcast doesn't need listeners.
The guest list is the product.
The show isn't a media play, it's a prospecting mechanism. The value sits in who you put in the chair, not who's in the audience. Pick the guests like you'd pick a target list - because that's what it is.
Closed door.
Low reply rate, defensive 15 minutes, pitch obvious before it starts.
Open door.
High accept rate, 45 honest minutes, you leave understanding their business better than most of their team.
From cold name to warm meeting
Four moves · One relationship- 01
Pre-call
Learn their world.
Fifteen minutes of prep framed as podcast planning. What are they working on? What do they care about?
- 02
Recording
Let them talk.
Forty-five minutes where the guest leaves feeling understood, not pitched. That's the relationship asset.
- 03
Clips
Give value back.
Send them clips they can post. Free content for them, distribution and credibility for the firm.
- 04
Follow-up
Make the warm ask.
A week later: something you said made me think we could help with X. Worth a quick chat?
The bit that bills
The interview opens the door.
The follow-up walks through it.
This is where most firms fluff it. They run the podcast, get the guest, never do the follow-up. Build the follow-up into the workflow. Brief the host. Track it. Without the follow-up you've made content. With it, you've made pipeline.
- - The perfect podcast name
- - Intro music
- - A huge audience
- - The founder's ego to approve every episode
Pitch the topic, not the show.
Pick the top three names on the firm's dream client list. Brief the most senior recruiter you can get buy-in from. Pitch each guest a topic, not a show. Record the first three episodes. Worry about the audience later.
Pick one play.We'll turn itinto next week's move.
Bradley runs Strawberry Studios. If you want help turning one of these plays into something your firm can actually sell, use, or get bought into - book a call. No pitch, no deck.