In today’s competitive recruitment landscape, standing out requires more than just industry expertise. It demands a strategic approach to digital marketing that many recruitment business owners struggle to implement effectively.
When Lacie Marshall founded Onward Recruiting in 2023, she knew she wanted to take a “future-forward” approach to distinguish her legal recruitment agency from more traditional competitors.
Despite having deep industry knowledge and strong relationships, she lacked a clear marketing strategy to increase brand visibility and engagement. That’s when she connected with SuperFast Circle, and within just nine months, her approach to digital marketing was completely transformed.
In this conversation, Lacie shares how she went from posting haphazardly on LinkedIn to implementing a comprehensive, multi-channel marketing strategy that has positioned her boutique agency to compete with much larger competitors in the legal recruitment space.
Where It All Began: Recognizing the Need For Change
When I founded Onward Recruiting in the summer of 2023, I specialized in legal recruitment for US-based lawyers. Our client base primarily consisted of law firms, in-house counsel, and general counsel offices across major US markets like LA, San Francisco, New York, and more recently growing markets like Denver and Texas.
When I connected with SuperFast Circle about a year later, I had two recruiters working with me. Legal recruiting is very bespoke—it’s high-touch, low-volume, and extremely relationship-driven.
We were leveraging our existing networks and relationships well, but I wanted to move Onward forward. I noticed many of my counterparts in legal recruiting were very senior, traditional, and not doing much with social media marketing.
I started seeing some larger agencies online and wanted to increase our presence on LinkedIn, particularly. But my efforts were haphazard—posting a couple of times a week without any strategic plan or vision—and I did not get much traction.
I knew I needed to increase our brand awareness and engagement on social media, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know when, what to post, or how to drive engagement.
The biggest challenge was that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I recognized I needed to do something, but I wasn’t sure what that something was.
The Content Package: The Lighter Fluid for New Ideas
Initially, the content package of SuperFast Circle was very appealing. I was lost about what to post, and figuring this out was overwhelming. Having that monthly content package gave me a baseline to start with.
From there, things took off like a rocket ship. Even if every piece of content didn’t fit my industry perfectly, I could repurpose it. The content package was like a lighter fluid – the starter brick I needed to unlock new ideas.
As I repurposed content, I discovered interesting nuggets that sparked new ideas. But the benefits went beyond just the monthly content package. I found tremendous value in the additional resources—campaign emails, personal branding templates, and different marketing thinking methods.
Everything solidified for me.
I clarified what we should be doing, and our efforts have grown continuously. Marketing became such a significant part of my role that I’ve expanded my team to include people skilled in content creation and visuals to take us to the next level.
Beyond LinkedIn: Expanding Our Digital Footprint
The impact of our work with SuperFast Circle has expanded far beyond our initial goals. We’ve built out additional resources and pages on our website – something we didn’t have before joining. Now, we have blog content, reports, and case studies.
We’re leveraging these assets for social media posts, driving significant traffic to our website. We’ve even started creating video content, something I wouldn’t have considered before.
My thinking has evolved beyond marketing to how we engage with potential candidates. Our industry is very candidate-driven rather than position-driven, and it’s a saturated market with recruiters.
I’m now thinking about our targeted audience (27-35-year-olds), what mediums they’re using, and how we can leverage marketing beyond LinkedIn to attract candidates and get people to engage with us on a personal level.
Measuring Success: Engagement, Connections, And Nurture Campaigns
Our engagement with both personal profiles and our company profile has increased dramatically. We’re getting more followers, and people are engaging more with our content.
Measuring exactly what drives people to connect with us is difficult, but we get better engagement when we reach out on LinkedIn. More people accept our connection requests and respond to our outreach because we’ve established legitimacy in the space.
We’re constantly posting relevant content, which helps prove we’re not just some random agency reaching out. We know what we’re talking about within our industry.
An unexpected benefit has been implementing nurture campaigns – something that wasn’t even on my radar. This allows us to stay top of mind with candidates even when they’re not actively looking.
We target specific demographics of lawyers based on what’s hot in the market. For example, corporate M&A lawyers in Los Angeles currently have two to six years of experience. We put them into a long-running campaign where we’re not pitching anything, just staying on their radar so they think of us when they want to have a conversation.
Punching Above Our Weight With The Big Players
The support from Superfast Circle has far exceeded my expectations. I enjoy working with Sharon and Denise personally, and I appreciate the weekly calls, which provide an open forum to exchange ideas.
Another unexpected benefit is that I’ve learned from other members. Connecting with recruiters outside my space has led to the cross-pollination of ideas and even collaboration.
Hearing about challenges in other industries or approaches has expanded my thinking about what’s possible. Sharon and Denise have been good about pushing me out of my comfort zone and challenging my assumptions about my industry’s limitations or capabilities.
When I look at my LinkedIn analytics compared to my competitors – including some pretty big agencies in my space – I see that we’re performing well. I’m proud that we’re punching above our weight. We’ve built a bigger brand than others for a three-recruiter agency, largely due to joining SuperFast Circle and focusing on building that presence.
This growth is helping me attract potential talent to my team. One recruiter commented, “You guys are doing so much. I see your stuff online all the time. I like the content you’re pushing. You seem to have good systems in place.”
Every piece of content we create as a company is shared with our team, helping them elevate their own brands and authority on social media. It’s not just about me or the company expanding—it’s about each team member’s personal brand and how that connects with the business.
Personal Branding: Finding The Right Balance
One challenge I’ve faced is determining how much personal information to share in my personal branding posts. Earlier in my career, before social media was what it is now, I was happy to post pictures and share details of my life online.
I’m more private about my personal life and family and no longer use social media. Finding the right balance between personal and professional content has been difficult.
With 25 years in the industry, I have many stories to share, but organizing my thoughts can be challenging. I’m learning to think about not just what knowledge I have but why I have that knowledge and what story I can weave into it.
Recently, I helped one of my recruiters develop a personal branding story about counteroffers based on something she recently experienced. I immediately recognized this needed to be a post—something I wouldn’t have considered.
Looking Forward: Expanding Our Social Presence
We’ve expanded our social presence beyond LinkedIn in the last few weeks. While LinkedIn remains our core platform, we post shorts and stories on YouTube and Instagram.
I’m also working to enhance our website by transforming our blog posts into podcasts and video content. Even though I prefer reading content, I recognize many people would rather listen than read, so we’re offering alternatives.
The exciting part is that we now have so much content to work with, even in such a short period, and we can leverage it in many ways. My focus now is figuring out what we can do with the valuable content we’ve already created.
I’m thankful that SuperFast Circle found me on LinkedIn because otherwise, I’d probably still be doing one-off posts here and there with no strategy, plan, or vision.
I can’t wait to see what the next 6-12 months bring as we build on this strong foundation.
Ready To Transform Your Recruitment Agency’s Digital Presence?
If you’re struggling to build your brand or stand out amongst your peers in the recruitment industry, you need guidance and a plan to move the needle. Like Lacie, you might be facing competition within your market, feeling stagnant, or uncertain about your marketing direction.
SuperFast Circle provides the resources, guidance, and supportive community to help you transform your digital presence and compete with larger agencies. From content packages that spark ideas to strategic guidance that challenges your thinking, we’re here to help you punch above your weight.
Book a call to discuss how we can help you develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy tailored to your recruitment niche.
