How Zeeman generated +2500 applications

Good clothes don't have to be expensive.
Neither does recruiting.

Zeeman is the store for clothing and textiles for the whole family, such as underwear, socks, T-shirts, towels and panties. Good quality at the lowest possible price. And made sustainably. We believe things get better when you make them simple. And we do that for as many people as possible. Zeeman has more than 1,300 stores in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Austria and Luxembourg.
ESTABLISHED:​

1967

INDUSTRY

Retail

Facilities

1.300 stores in 7 european countries

The challenge

“Zeeman is well known for its clothing stores – but as an employer brand it has not yet entered the minds of the general public,” explains Inge de Graaf, Corporate Recruiter at Zeeman. The company lacks a marketing strategy for a permanent recruiting pipeline.

In order to develop a tailored campaign approach to strengthen Zeeman’s employer brand and continuously reach and hire the required target groups in retail, VONQ addresses Zeeman’s recruiting challenges and hiring goals.

Despite its many locations, the company’s HR department is very small. To combat its shortage of service and back-office staff, the recruitment team relies on recommendations from the team in the local stores. It was a challenge for Zeeman to mitigate the shortage of employees in part time, full time and store management. Hiring temporary workers was a short-term solution to meet the need, but too expensive in the long run. Zeeman is widely known for its stores, but more often had to be considered as an employer.

The main goal of Zeeman’s recruitment marketing campaign is to reduce the number of open ‘store vacancies’ as quickly as possible. Hiring temporary employees does not fit with Zeeman’s vision, nor is it a long-term solution. In addition, Zeeman’s recruitment process needed to be reviewed. A lot of time and effort has gone into this over the past period, resulting in some nice efficiency improvements.

The solution

Developing a flexible & effective recruitment marketing strategy. Creating a suitable recruitment marketing strategy is the backbone of a well performing campaign and consists of selecting the right channels, campaign content and its continuous measurement of success.

The primary goal of Zeeman's Recruitment Marketing Campaign is to reduce the number of open 'store vacancies' as quickly as possible, as hiring temporary staff through an employment agency to keep stores open is quite expensive and does not promote job satisfaction. To achieve these goals, VONQ developed a flexible recruitment marketing strategy where Zeeman had the ability to change targeting locations on a monthly basis to those where recruitment needs were highest.

To get the target group in touch with Zeeman's employer brand, it is important to distribute vacancy and employer branding ads through selected online channels. For an optimal candidate journey, the candidate needs between 8 - 12 touch points with Zeeman to be convinced to apply.

 “VONQ has a proven track record regarding Recruitment Marketing strategies. Their previous experience with similar target groups gave us useful insights in establishing the recruitment strategy. The ability to scale up to other countries if necessary is also important to us.”

Inge de Graaf, Corporate Recruiter at Zeeman 

1. Increase brand awareness via Google and Social Media among the desired target group

To position Zeeman as the Employer of Choice in the eyes of their target audience and thereby increase online reach for open positions on Zeeman’s career page, VONQ’s Social Media and Google experts built an awareness campaign including Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook and Google Display. Image but also Video ads are an excellent way to increase awareness for Zeeman as a top employer and to get attention of the audience through precise targeting.

This way, among others, Zeeman generated 1.454.448 video impressions via one of the TikTok ads. In total, Zeeman managed to generate more than 9 million impressions via Facebook/Instagram. For example, on one of the ads above, the textile company received 1,071,527 impressions. At the beginning of the campaign, numerous A/B tests were carried out to discover which content resonated best with the target audience.

2. Promotion of targeted job offers via social media and selected job boards to drive engagement

The next step was to use the newfound attention on Zeeman as an employer to advertise jobs by using specific content and highlighting unique benefits. This way, candidates who have been in touch with Zeeman in the past through the awareness campaign via will be nudged towards applying for a job during selected social media platforms.

In this phase, Facebook, Instagram and Google Search ads are used to convince the candidates to apply for a specific job. On the ads above, Zeeman was able to get 199.208 impressions on Instagram and Facebook advertisements.

Google Search is a great opportunity for Zeeman to be listed as one of the best results in Google above organic results. This maximizes the visibility and findability of Zeeman’s career options. Looking at the objectives defined and Google Search results achieved, Zeeman reached 223.373 impressions. This proves the relevance and that the targeting fits with the audience.

3. Boost performance with real-time dashboard and consultancy to constantly monitor success

Zeeman can now flexibly adjust the targeting radius per advertisement on a monthly basis to those areas where staffing needs are the highest. This allows the budget to be used efficiently according to need and minimizes media spend losses.

In addition, to keep control over the performance of each ad, Zeeman uses VONQ’s performance dashboards, which provides insights into campaign results and the overall channel performance for optimization. This enables Zeeman to provide comprehensive information and advice to management at all times and allows the company to run small and large employer branding campaigns and analyze their impact.

The Outcome
Constant visibility to establish a recruiting pipeline

As part of the campaign planning, HR processes are transformed from the ad hoc hiring that has been the norm to a long-term, sustainable recruitment marketing strategy. The adaptation of Zeeman’s career site helps to develop a strong recruiting pipeline. Based on this, Zeeman not only assesses acute staffing gaps, but also calculates future staffing needs, saving time and budget for future postings and hiring.

Overall results and successes of the campaign

15+ million

impressions on the ads

1.9+ million

unique users reached via Facebook, Instagram and TiKTok.
During the entire campaign duration, Zeeman was able to generate more than 2500 applications in 10 areas in the Netherlands via specific targeting during social media channels and google:
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applicants

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applicants

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applicants

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applicants

"It impresses us to see the vigor with which VONQ works on our challenges. VONQ is constantly looking for ways to help us find solutions. Thanks to its insights and advice, we can make informed decisions for our HR strategy."
Inge de Graaf
Corporate Recruiter at Zeeman

The Case Study at a glance

Download here a compact overview of the case study as a PDF file.

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