It’s often difficult for HR professionals to figure out where they should start when it comes to finding a solution for their business needs, because the brands and messages created by vendors are so conflicted and confusing.
As the HR Marketplace continues its rapid maturation, the distinctions between brands become blurred. The combination of competitive marketing rhetoric, the changing role of HR and shifting technology make for a cluttered marketplace. There is nearly uniform agreement that one brand is often misunderstood for another.
Creating the essential elements of sales and marketing that help buyers overcome their skepticism, confusion and fear is hard work. And it requires a lot of information about the buyer. Unfortunately, information about the HRS buyer has heretofore been hard to come by.
Only the shallowest demographic information has been available to sales and marketing professionals to help them craft strategies that appeal to buyers on both a professional and personal level. Consequently, our sales and marketing departments make important decisions about brand, message, communications strategies and sales based on opinion and anecdote.
When the HRS market was in the early stages of maturation, excellence in sales and marketing was not as critical as it is today. Unfortunately, it is no longer acceptable to create important sales and marketing strategies without an intimate understanding of the demographics, attitudes, behaviors and beliefs of our primary customer – the Human Resources professional.