You might have noticed that HR Tech companies have similar branding. They tend to serve the risk-compliant HR audience, and have become homogenised in a competitive environment.
How does an HR Tech marketer get their solution to stand out?
In our final edition of the FINITE HR Tech Interview Series, we talked to Bennett Sung, Head of Marketing at Humanly – an HR Tech company that automates candidate screening, scheduling and engagement. Bennett has over 20 years experience in HR Tech marketing, so he has a unique view of the landscape with valuable insights.
This interview covers:
Bennett: Sure. As a tech-empowered marketer, I aspire to launch and develop purpose-driven brands that delight customers and simplify work for everyone.
My employer branding and HR tech marketing career spans over 20 years. Anchored in Consumer Behaviour studies, I’m laser focused on crafting messaging and campaigns through the voice of the customer. Each career journey layers in different experiences and growth mindset, and teaches me “every company is a snowflake, and it is the organisation’s brand voice that serves as the unique differentiator and attention grabber.”
Reflecting upon my first three months as Humanly.io’s Head of Marketing, I’ve realized it’s the culmination of my past three employers — Koru (talent assessments), AllyO (recruitment automation), and Avoma (conversation intelligence). I am excited to collaborate with the Humanly.io team on brand development and activation, coupled with building the foundation for solid product, customer marketing and demand generation behaviors at scale.
Bennett: Here are my observations around why HR Tech marketing is homogenised and vanilla:
Bennett: Conducting win-loss interviews is a mission critical service to the business. I’ve heard more than 50% of lost opportunities voiced a “no decision” more frequently than “went to the competition“ As further explored their feedback, undifferentiated products were the top reason for their “no decision”.
Simply examine the company positioning of interview intelligence providers. Would you be able to quickly identify the following brand associated with company positioning?
Crafting differentiated messaging empowers buyer researchers to fill out their checklist effectively. Have you ever wondered how many times your company was not invited to sales process? In fact, it is a bold move for an HR Tech company to enlist a ghost author, who happens to also be an industry analyst, to deliver a product comparison article or the best of request for a proposal template. This approach will empower the researcher to make the right decision on next steps in the purchasing lifecycle.
Bennett: No doubt buyers lean on messaging to help drive the research phase of their purchasing process. They seek answers to the obvious — “what functionality does your solution provide?”, “what use cases does your solution solve for?” and “how it works.” When all solution providers say they “hire faster or smarter or now even fairer,” buyers have no baseline to score, compare, and shortlist the solutions that best meet their needs.
It’s the differentiators (e g proprietary technology, founders background, experience, pricing transparency, social proof) that facilitates the knowledge buyers need.
Bennett: When building out your brand strategy, here are essential steps you will need to take to build out differentiated messaging:
To read the last FINITE HR Tech interview and to learn more about SEO for an HR audience, head here.