Making a difference at JazzHR with thought leadership content
We teamed up with JazzHR in early 2020. Yes, in the ‘before times’.
Their marketing team were looking for an agency with agency. That is, with the agency to create thought leadership content that brings value beyond numbers, with the impetus to turn good ideas into great ones, and with the means to deliver on a consistent basis, gig after gig.
Ambitious. Thankfully, they found Articulate Marketing.
"In Jazz, like in America, the group works together toward a common cause with lots of room left for each individual to shine."
— Richie Gerber
Jazz: America’s Gift: From Its Birth to George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue & Beyond
About JazzHR
JazzHR is the US-based organisation behind an award-winning hiring software. Their Applicant Tracking System (ATS) helps small and mid-sized businesses to screen and hire the best talent for their businesses.
JazzHR was looking for more opportunities to engage with this audience through meaningful content on topics like HR technology and hiring best practices. It was also important for them to be able to work together with third parties and other partners to build campaigns using a global network of diverse voices.
The problem
Although JazzHR had worked with agencies in the past, they hadn’t seen the levels of engagement that they’d hoped for — both as a partnership, and in terms of content performance.
More and more voices were - and are - crowding the front page of Google. Back in the ‘90s when Google started, the search engine was averaging about 10,000 searches a day. Now, that number looks more like 70,000. Per second.
Content has to stand out. To do so, it needs to be timely, have a clear point of view and make a real difference to the reader. For JazzHR, their existing setup was more transactional than collaborative, and didn’t match their drive to reach these goals.
How it started
That’s what prompted their Communications and Content Manager, Kelly Peters, to research alternatives, and, ultimately, get in touch with Articulate:
‘I was searching around on Google and came across an article that demonstrated exactly the thought leadership information I needed on ‘how to build a good relationship with the media’. I really liked the voice and the tone of it. Although I had talked to some agencies through referrals and so on, Articulate was the only one that I came to organically through the content itself, which was a big plus. It was all very meta!’
– Kelly Peters, Communications and Content Manager at JazzHR
Kelly ended up downloading our marketing maturity matrix, which kickstarted the conversation. She spoke to our CEO, Matthew Stibbe, and other members of the team. Given our alignment of values and ways of working, this connection was what sealed the deal: ‘I like these people!’
We began a content and design retainer that continues to this day. It includes thought leadership articles, lead generation whitepapers, case studies (speaking of “meta”), infographics and interactive calculators. We’ve even worked alongside JazzHR’s technology partners on pieces of high-profile content as well as guest blogs.
"The processes are night and day with Articulate - in a good way. I really love and sincerely enjoy our brainstorming sessions. What stands out to me is the research that goes into them. The team comes with well thought-out, topical, and evidence-backed ideas. They are very flexible when we give our input too, pivoting on the spot to take those thoughts onboard, which always comes through in the final content plans.”
— Kelly Peters, Communications and Content Manager at JazzHR
Client partnership is one of our values at Articulate. With JazzHR, we’ve established a successful cadence of communication, from campaign planning to check-ins every two weeks. They - like all our clients - get a dedicated single point of contact that they can turn to for any questions or requests. It’s a person-to-person relationship.
JazzHR was also with us when we made the move to Notion and ClickUp. Using these project management tools, we provide JazzHR with access to their own digital portal, which contains progress views, plans, meeting notes and deliverables, all in one place. Kelly’s a fan: ‘It’s a living, breathing, centralised system. I know I can count on it.’
The results
We started seeing some great results. Here’s a snapshot from our Slack ‘validation’ channel:
Since then, our ‘The HR Manager of the Future: Skills to Develop for 2021’ ebook has surpassed this, with a whopping 460 downloads. By working with Articulate, they’ve managed to decrease their blog bounce rate by 13 percent compared to the previous year, which is a measurable indicator of our content’s impact. Readers are sticking around.
Numbers aside, what’s kept us excited is the fact that we’ve written about such a range of socially relevant topics, from remote working to diversity, equity and inclusion:
"We’ve done two dedicated DEI campaigns that have been impactful and engaging for our audience in a really important way. It’s been so valuable to shed light on topics for the HR world that need to be talked about.”
— Kelly Peters, Communications and Content Manager at JazzHR
Our blog on neurodiversity in the workplace ended up leading to conversations within JazzHR’s own diversity committee. Pride of place (so far), though, has to be this piece on including gender nonconforming employees. It actually won an award for the Recruiting Brief MVP Awards ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ category. It’s this kind of thought leadership content that really makes a difference.
