Online advertising is up, and projected to increase. Recruitment advertising is also on the rise. Combine the two, and you could have a powerhouse. The key is using that knowledge the right way.

The majority of digital publishers have taken the mass approach, trying everything imaginable, knowing that something, somewhere, would probably work. With so many opportunities available, how could it not?

But a more savvy, efficient, and consequently cost-effective, approach focuses on quality over quantity. Quality means the right ads at the right place at the right time. And that’s difficult to nail down.

The RealMatch recruitment advertising whitepaper helps clear the murky waters of what works, what doesn’t, and why. It doesn’t cost a dime, but the insights you’ll gain are invaluable.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

The Current State of Digital Advertising

Online advertising isn’t just where it’s at; it’s where it’s going. New opportunities for revenue, which translates to real estate for ads, emerge daily. Some methods, such as display ads, show growth, but the numbers reveal that the performance could be a lot better.

There has to be a better way. By analyzing data, advertisers can study ad placement, audience engagement, visibility and content quality to make a more informed decision about where to spend advertising dollars.

Using this approach, advertisers have learned that the better the publisher, the better the all-around success rate of the ads. Unfortunately, ad visibility took a hit. In 2012, 3 out of every 10 ads was displayed.

Recruitment advertising mitigates that problem.

Why Recruitment Advertising is the Way of the Future

Recruitment advertising benefits everyone — the host, the advertiser, and the users. It does so by creating and providing something of value that everyone can use. It’s a revenue stream within a revenue stream, or at least it can be.

Digital real estate might not be hard to find, but premium ad placement is. With the addition of job boards, publishers have found new premium real estate, which allows advertisers to branch out into new territory. New territory equals new revenue streams.

Through recruitment advertising, the host gets a boost in traffic, ads have a higher level of engagement, and the user benefits from more relevant content.

How Recruitment Advertising Works

There are three primary ways most publishers elect to step into recruitment advertising. One is fully in-house, another is a co-branded solution, and the third is a hosted solution.

In-house recruitment advertising seems like a good plan, and it is for some publishers. It offers the highest level of control over the job board and company branding. But full control also means total responsibility for everything from the planning stage to the continual upgrades. DIY solutions are also insular communities that limit the reach of advertisers.

Co-branding offers the benefits of less in-house work and a relatively dependable source of job ads, but it comes with a price. The national job board that partners with the publisher gets more of the reward, as job board traffic is ultimately driven back to the source. Publishers can also lose out when advertisers opt to spend budgets at the national site where the traffic originates from and returns to.

More and more, hosted solutions are the best of all worlds. The publisher keeps control over what matters most — pricing, branding, design, and the creation of new ad space. Visibility improves, as the publisher’s job postings can be searched and viewed on any site within the network. When users click on the posting, regardless of where it is, traffic is driven back to the publisher.

Finding the Right Hosted Solution

All hosted solutions aren’t the same. You’ll want to examine the branding options, effectiveness, performance and network effect, and the service and support.

There are different levels of branding control available, and effectiveness is measured by how well the hosted solution matches jobs to both active and passive job seekers. Performance and network effect show you the size and scope of the network, and its ability to improve performance or clicks to view an ad.

Service and support can make or break a hosted solution. Most are partnerships. And you might need marketing and sales support, convenient training, and e-marketing programs.

Additional revenue streams are at the forefront of every publisher’s mind. With recruitment advertising, you can create new ad space, generate more revenue through job postings, build site traffic, and increase overall user engagement.