Houston employment agency outpaces staffing industry growth by 140% in 2004

For 25 years Kingwood Personnel rode the staffing industry ups and downs along with other Houston employment agencies. Back in 2003 Carol McCord, owner of Kingwood Personnel, decided to break that trend by launching an innovative marketing campaign. In 2004 her foresight paid off as her employment agency outgrew the staffing industry average by more than 2 to 1.

The American Staffing Association reports that staffing placements grew 13.8% in the third quarter of 2004 from the same quarter in 2003. Through the first three quarters employment agency placements were up 13.1% from the same period in 2003. During 2004 Kingwood Personnel grew at a rate of 31.5%, outpacing industry average growth by 140%. But how?

In 2003, in the midst of a recession and when employment agencies were cutting budgets to the minimums, Kingwood Personnel decided to invest in marketing. They focused on two areas, their brand and their website. While most placement firms were neglecting aging websites or seeking budget-level offerings, Kingwood turned to a high-end e-Media agency, LevelTen Design, to develop a world-class brand and web presence.

After the website launch, the plan had an immediate impact. Kingwood Personnel boosted profits an estimated $48,000 in the last four months of 2003. In 2004, Kingwood’s placement revenues grew by over $500,000 above the already elevated 2003 numbers.

One of the key factors cited for the growth was the use of Internet marketing to drive new employers and applicants to the site. ìMost local services firms ignore online marketing because they think it will drive mostly national or world-wide leads.î, states Tom McCracken, director of LevelTenís Internet marketing services. ìIn reality Internet marketing can be geo targeted around a metro area for specific services such as Houston employment agencies in a way that provides a superior return over other advertising.î

ìIn 25 years of business in the Houston area, Iíve been able to network and develop relationships with much of the business community. However, our new website has brought us clients that I wasnít even aware were out there and has helped old clients find us as the economy is improving and hiring is picking upî, replies Carol McCord.

ìIt helps to have a site that you have confidence in when visiting clients. Iím proud to direct people to our site. Itís also nice to have leads come in versus developing all our new leads from cold sourcesî says outside salesperson Kelly Schrader.

Kingwood Personnel has decided to increase their Internet marketing expenditures for 2005 using a technique LevelTen calls Local SEMS. In the first 4 weeks since the Local SEMS launch traffic to the kingwoodpersonnel.com has doubled.

With an ever growing number of business decision makers using the Web coupled with a strong employment outlook, Kingwood Personnel expects more continued growth in 2005.