Finding, recruiting, and hiring employees, especially in the manufacturing sector, is more than just putting job vacancies on job boards and industry trade journals. These days, candidates are more choosy about where they want to work, and want to work for companies that seem interesting, are doing meaningful work, and have different professional opportunities.

One way you can show these different opportunities and benefits is through marketing, showing your company in a positive light, and demonstrating what makes your company and products and services better than other options. Because when you're marketing your company, you're not just marketing it to customers, you're trying to reach new employees as well. After all, marketing your company puts your brand message in front of everyone, including the people who think, "I'd like to work there."

Here are just four ways you can use marketing to help you with recruiting and hiring new employees.

Topics: Case Studies, Marketing Tactics, Industrial Marketing, Marketing Operations, Marketing Content

It’s Friday late afternoon and you’re either leaving work, on your way home, or (hopefully) on your way to an awesome event to ring in the weekend. Nearly every small businesses, nonprofit, and tourist attraction relies on holding events to bring customers through their doors or raise money to fund their missions.

From Chambers of Commerce holding wine walks and festivals to retail trunk shows and vendor-led classes, it’s vital to your bottom line to use events to bring people through the door - but how do you increase your chances for success? This week's Friday Five is focused on Event Marketing Basics: Tools and Tips for Marketing Your Event Successfully. Here are five great resources to help you not only pull off your next function, but watch it grow:

1. How to Promote an Event Using Video: 7 Steps to Video Marketing
2. Event Promotion: 100 Creative (Free and Cheap) Ideas to Try Now
3. How to Use Facebook Live: The Ultimate Guide
4. How to Use Hashtags Before, During, and After Your Event
5. How to Add a Facebook Virtual Event to Your Launch Strategy 

Topics: Marketing Tactics, Measuring Marketing, Marketing Budgets, Small Businesses, Social Media Tactics, Brand Awareness, Marketing Content

This week's Friday Five is focused on small business marketing 101: Marketing tips and tricks for creating successful strategies, the benefits of using Google My Business, Facebook Ads, and Effective Budgeting. Here are some great resources when looking to market your small business:

1. Small Business Marketing 101
2. 5 Marketing Strategies for a Business in a Small Town
3. 10 Ways to Market Your Small Business on a Shoestring Budget
4. Benefits of Google My Business for Small Businesses
5. 62% of Small Businesses Fail with Facebook Ads. Here's How to Fix that 

Topics: Economic Development, Marketing Tactics, Measuring Marketing, Strategic Planning, Search Engine Optimization, Marketing Budgets, Small Businesses, Social Media Tactics, Marketing Content