Creating a Recruitment Brand

Devising a logo for Northern Marketing Jobs

We started the branding process with a deep dive into Jonathan’s vision for the new business and what it stood for. Jonathan’s positioning focussed around experience, trust and the ability to deliver, whilst shunning the corporate, standoff-ish approach of others in the industry. The brand needed to reflect him and his clients’ view of Jonathan and what it was like to work with him. After a lengthy discovery meeting, we determined several key pillars that would shape the foundation of the NMJ brand and logo.

• Northern roots – It was important for Jonathan that NMJ be a northern brand through and through, both in visuals and in values.
• Approachable feel – To create a warm visual identity which reflects the fact that NMJ’s  clients and candidates are supported and looked after in a friendly, approachable manner.
• Professionalism and expertise – Showcasing Jonathan’s wealth of experience in recruitment and visually conveying that working with NMJ propels businesses and candidates forward.

Our ideation process included devising a visual representation of these pillars. The compass pointing north to represent the location, the arrow pointing up as a marker of progress, and rounded shapes to signify approachability.

Selecting a colour scheme and font

The general look and feel that the client was aiming for, was one reminiscent of a coffee shop. A place for people to meet in formal or informal settings and enjoy spending time. Jonathan’s brief specified the Leeds location of Knoops as inspiration for the colour palette. The team headed there to take some images and draw inspiration directly from the source. 

Following the brief, we decided on warm, chocolate browns, neutral tones and a muted, warm palette. 

In terms of font, we went for a sans-serif design to match the clean coffee shop aesthetic and as a nod to the Knoops brand the client was so fond of. We gave the client two options for fonts – Ubuntu and Sen.

It was important that chosen fonts were accessible across both Microsoft and Google, to ensure the client would be able to create their own assets like invoices, and use these fonts across social media graphics and a range of recruitment agency marketing activities.

Marketing a Recruitment Agency

Website design and build

With the brand created, we could begin deploying the recruitment agency marketing work outlined in our strategy, starting with perhaps NMJ’s most fundamental marketing tool; their website.

The website design and build incorporated the same approachable, coffee shop-inspired look and feel, using colour blocking to showcase the chosen colour palette and a mix of stock photography and custom photographs, directed and shot specifically for Northern Marketing Jobs.

The website navigation and content are focussed on how Northern Marketing Jobs supports clients looking for marketing talents to join their business. Jonathan opted to write his own content, which gives the site a very personal feel. We merely helped to develop his understanding of keywords and on page optimisation, leaving the site’s optimisation in the client’s hands.

In addition to the design and build of the website we also handled the migration of old content and domains Jonathan owned. This involved porting content from an old legacy system and redirecting Domains and URLs to aid search engine ranking for the new domain.

Capturing bespoke photography

To capture Jonathan’s personality and convey the desired aesthetic for the recruitment agency, we scouted out several venues that gave us the light, airy coffee shop vibe that was crucial to the brief, and enlisted the skills of a professional photographer.

The final location of choice was Department, a Leeds office space and cafe bar. It’s great lighting and attractive interior made it the perfect backdrop for our photos.

From the photoshoot, we created a library of images that were used to bring the Northern Marketing Jobs website to life, and can be used across future recruitment agency marketing activities.

Jonathan Hirst is an expert in the field of marketing recruitment. With over 30 years of experience as the founder of Network Marketing and The Book, his credentials recruiting for big brands and SME’s alike are strong.

So, we were overjoyed when Jonathan gave us the challenge of creating and marketing the brand of his new venture in marketing recruitment, Northern Marketing Jobs.

Jonathan’s ideal clients for the new business are Chief Marketing Officers, Marketing Directors and HR teams working in the marketing sector, who are looking for specialist marketers in the North of England, and want the reassurance of an experienced, trusted, specialist recruiter to help them handle them find the best people.