Traditional media advertising is no match for digital media advertising in today’s climate. Increasing the quality and quantity of candidates will not come easy if police departments do not start to reassess and improve on their recruiting efforts. Find out why it is so important to optimize a police recruiting budget.
The beginning of 2021 is the time for departments to get recruiting budgets together to submit to the city for approval. It is important to allocate a portion of that spend to digital marketing. Why? Digital marketing is data driven and proves to be the driving force behind police recruiting in the 21st century.
While job fairs at near by colleges are an effective way to recruit; the limited amount of recruiting officers and their time won’t produce enough applicants to make up for a department’s turnover.
Search Engine Marketing
Online paid advertising will allow a department to stretch the allotted recruitment budget they are given for the fiscal year. Utilizing digital marketing generates incentives and awareness to those who were already looking for careers in law enforcement. This is a strategy that can’t be mimicked by traditional recruiting efforts like, radio, billboards, and T.V. commercials.
With paid digital advertising, departments know they are getting their recruiting campaigns in front of the right individuals; unlike the cost heavey traditional recruiting campaigns. Google helps candidates find you when they’re actively seeking a career in law enforcement; not only when your candidates are searching, but when they’re using YouTube, other social media channels, and third party websites. Search engine marketing for recruitment means multiple platforms advertising a department’s job listings 24/7, which gives back time in the field to the recruitment unit officers.
Below are examples of what potential new candidates will see as they browse the web. Using Google to search things like, “berkeley police jobs” will produce a recruiting Ad at the very top of the list that directs candidates to a website with options to learn about the department and apply. Searching “A Day in the Life of Law Enforcement” on YouTube will prompt an Ad to play before, during, or after the video the user is watching. Although there are many more capabilities of digital advertising, these two examples alone demonstrate how efficient and effective officer recruiting for police departments can become. Optimize recruiting budget by utilizing online advertising.
Optimize Recruiting Budget
Think of the cost and time it takes to have officers on the ground, promoting their department. Travel, accommodations, and other fees add up fast with little result to show for it; as well as, taking hours away from police officers. This is the year to focus on a more effective way to bring in potential new recruits who will become successful in a career in law enforcement.
The best part about online police officer recruiting is the ability to track the success of a campaign by the data it accumulates. Investing in online recruiting lets PDs run multiple Ads on multiple platforms, track the results, and watch quality candidates roll in. To make this happen, departments must use paid digital marketing, the most effective resource out there, by optimizing recruitment budgets to cater to a results driven strategy.
Digital recruiting is a 24/7 job fair, minus the extra costs and manpower with more interested potential candidates.
Start Digital Recruiting
Epic Recruiting knows what it takes. The focus isn’t about re-creating the wheel, but making the wheel more effective. We do that by offering modern solutions increasing quality applicants. Our online efforts allow your department to stay ahead of the game. Attract the next generation of police officers and overcome the challenges most police departments face in today’s digital era.
Dropping all existing efforts to gain candidates isn’t necessary, but integrating digital marketing to any strategy will increase the quality and quantity of potential new recruits.
Start improving your police officer recruiting efforts today. Contact an Epic Recruiter and let’s develop a personalized strategy that optimizes your department.