Are you using one of the most effective – and least costly – marketing tactics for your staffing company? While traditional direct mail sent through the U.S. Post Office can cost as much as one dollar or more a piece, email can cost as little as pennies, or even a fraction thereof. Email can be an extremely effective tool for reaching prospective employees and customers, as well as help retain existing customers and employees.

The Direct Marketing Association puts email marketing's ROI for 2011 at $40.56 for every $1 invested. The figure for 2012 is predicted to "fall" to $39.40, when email will account for $67.8 billion in sales. Although that includes both B2B and B2C figures, it still speaks volumes about the effectiveness of email marketing.

To say that the Internet has transformed society would be an understatement. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users, while it took TV 13 years. For the Internet, it only took 4 years. And Facebook? It added 100 million users in only nine months. That’s what happens when you combine something as powerful as the Internet with people’s interests in learning, sharing and connecting to others. That’s social media.

Social media has gone beyond keeping up with friends from college or sharing family photos with relatives. It’s become so integrated into people’s daily lives that it’s now the go-to source for nearly all types of searches — both personal and professional. That’s evidenced in Enquiro’s most recent Business to Business survey that found 51 percent of B2B buyers start research online directly at a search engine. In addition, 83 percent of B2B buyers said they found the company they made a purchase with online.

If your staffing company doesn’t have a social media strategy, there’s a good chance you’re missing out on a great way to connect with new recruits and new customers.

We’re now well into 2012 — well, we’re at least past the point of accidentally writing 2011 by mistake. 2011 has come and gone, the numbers are all in, and you should now have a pretty good picture of how your staffing business weathered the year. For most staffing companies, January 2012 started off stronger than January 2011. All indicators show the staffing industry to be fairly strong for the coming year. With spring just around the corner, now is a great time to focus on a little bit of house keeping.

With all the tax changes that have occurred in the last few months, have you spent the time to review the profitability of each of your placements?

By: Julie Ann Blazei, President / CEO , Tricom Funding

In Wisconsin, the snow has already started to fall, signaling the end of another year. For many of us, it’s the time of the year when we are busy wrapping up all the loose ends of the current year and looking over what still needs to be accomplished in 2011 — next year is still a distant month away. Others may already be deep in the trenches with budget planning for the New Year.

Regardless of where you’re at in the process, as 2011 comes to an end, I encourage you to take a few hours this month to review the successes and failures of the current year and do some strategic planning for the new year with a group of your staff

Not sure where to start? Has your current strategic planning process not been as impactful as you had hoped in the past?

Take the stress out of December and preparing for Year End by using Tricom’s Year End Bulletin to stay on top of legislative changes that are important to the staffing industry.

We’ve collected all the relevant, timely and necessary information you need to ensure your staffing company is staying up-to-date with changes that directly impact your business.

By: Kerri Quigley, CPCU, ARM, AU

Given the nature of your business, owners and risk managers of temporary staffing agencies must address a number of unique liability exposures that frequently are not covered by standard insurance policies. While an agency retains liability for the actions of its employees, those employees are primarily supervised at off-site locations by the agency’s clients. This arrangement can create gaps in insurance coverage that are not always evident without a thorough examination of the policy by an expert in temporary staffing insurance. Often, such gaps are not noticed until an uncovered claim forces the staffing agency to pay full damages out of its own pocket. The following scenarios illustrate this point by examining two plausible situations that may not be covered by a traditional policy.

Every once in a while as I speak with staffing company owners, I’ll meet someone who doesn’t use any source of outside payroll funding assistance.

While I respect anyone’s decision on how he or she chooses to run his or her business, I’m always curious as to why they choose this path. So I tend to ask a few questions and learn more about their business.

What I’ve found is interesting. The same types of comments keep coming up in my conversations. “It’s irresponsible.” “It’s not how I do business.” “I’ll lose control of my financial well being.”

In speaking with self-funded staffing company owners, I’ve found they tend to fall into three schools of thought.

The Wage Theft Prevention Act, effective April 9, 2011, applies to all New York employers. It modifies current new hire notification requirements that have been in effect since late 2009, imposes an annual notification requirement and modifies the information required to be included on pay stubs.

Integrity.

It’s something you’d naturally expect from any company you work with. Unfortunately, being forthright, professional and honest isn’t always standard operating procedure these days.

When you’re dealing with something so critical to your staffing company as funding, it’s imperative that you know your dealings with that company will be professional and honest.

“It’s very important to have flexibility in a funding partner.”

“And if in fact it was a major chore for us to be able to flex our credit line and so on, then we would probably have to look for a different funding partner.” — Karl McCoy, President & Founder, ProTech Search

After some trying years, the staffing industry is starting to see the light at the end of the recession. Many staffing companies are experiencing opportunities for solid sales and strong growth. These are the start of some exciting times.

There’s still time to make your plans to head to Miami at the end of February.

The 20th Annual Staffing Industry Analysts Executive Forum is this February 28th – March 3rd at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach, Florida.

Executive Forum is a great opportunity for staffing company executives from around the country to gather and learn about strategic issues, developing trends, future opportunities and current challenges in the staffing industry.