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You need to hire more police officers. You’ve tried seemingly everything and are still struggling to get people in the door. I’ve been there...but I guarantee you, you haven’t tried this super simple tactic that will help get more police officer applicants interested in your agency. Wanna know what it is? Keep reading! 👀
Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO, and this week, we’re talking about how to get more police officer applicants interested in your agency. Now, there’s a million approaches to this and many different ways to try and accomplish it...lord knows, we’ve all been trying like crazy to get more people in the door. 🤪
From recruiting videos to fancy websites, billboards, radio and tv ads, out of state recruiting trips, sign on bonuses and even hiring someone else to try and do your recruiting for you on the promise they’re going to get you so many applicants you’re not even gonna believe it, there’s a lot of options out there. 😒
So, while you’ve been out there dumping endless dollars on recruiting and wondering why nothing is working, it’s because you’re forgetting about one really simple step in the whole process. You gotta have a plan. 💡
Let me tell you a quick story.
A couple of years ago, I got called up to the Chiefs office. He wanted to talk recruiting. I told him all about my new ideas for a campaign targeting younger folks so we could boost our recruit numbers, and he said, ‘that’s great Tom, but I want to hire a bunch of laterals’. It was non-negotiable. 🚫
I returned to my desk, took out a notepad and went to work on a marketing plan. Nothing fancy like they teach you in college...no mission statements, product descriptions, competitors, or any of the other nonsense that’s not going to help you take care of business and get people in the door. 🚪
Basic stuff. What’s the goal, what’s the message, what am I going to post, where am I going to post it? 🤔
When it was all said and done, our ‘be a cop again’ campaign netted a record number of police officer laterals hired by our agency and made our Chief, a very happy one. 😁
Here’s three ways that a basic marketing plan helped me do that...and will help you do the same...
1. It gave me direction
Having this information written down made it very clear as to what I would be saying, how I would be saying it, where I would be saying it, and how often it would be said. I came up with the ‘be a cop again’ slogan as a way to appeal to laterals who had been struggling with all the changes happening in law enforcement around the country. Granted, we were fortunate that we didn’t have the scrutiny and calls for defunding that other areas had...which is also why I did it...you have to play to your strengths. 💪
I also knew that I didn’t want to bad mouth any other agency with the campaign, so I made notes to make sure my tone was that of the benefits of working for Glendale and not why it was awful somewhere else. 🗒️
I wrote down my ideas for social media posts, electronic billboards that we got for free through the city, vinyl banners that we hung outside all of our stations, and website banner ads that ran at the top of our recruiting website. ✍️
I planned how often I was going to post our message and when I would change pictures and verbiage. This plan, in particular, covered a six-month period, yours can be as long or as short as you want it to be, and I wanted to rotate pictures out on pinned posts every month to keep it fresh so I wrote that down too. 📅
My plan covered everything I wanted to do and gave me a general idea of how and when I would do it. 👍
2. It kept me on track
Because I had a written plan of what I wanted to do, how I wanted to say it, and when and where I would be saying it, I never had to wonder what I would be doing next. There was no guessing involved. This allowed me to get all of our advertising materials in place, create a social media posting calendar, and, most importantly, start executing the plan. 😎
Often times in police recruiting, you’re getting pulled in a hundred different directions because we wear a lot of hats. One day we’re creating social media posts, the next day we’re at a job fair, then we’re out at police testing...sometimes, all of that stuff happens in the same day! 😑
So, with all that’s going on, it’s going to be hard to stick to the plan...if you don’t have a plan. 🤷
3. It helped to deliver a consistent message
One of the biggest misconceptions in police recruiting, especially on social media, is that you make a post and everyone in your audience is going to see it. That’s just not true. The simple fact is that even your most popular posts are only going to be seen by around a quarter of your audience and then, only around 2 to 3 percent of them are actually going to engage with the post. That’s a lot of eyeballs not seeing what you’re putting out. 🙈
This is where consistency in both posting and messaging comes into play. By constantly posting and hammering your message, you give your whole audience a chance to see it. This should not be confused with posting the same picture, video, or captions over and over again though. The message should be the same, but it should always look different. 💯
Having consistency allowed laterals to receive your messages, process them, talk them over with their families, and constantly be reminded that you are there. That’s what leads to getting more people to your front door. 🧲
So, what do you say? You going to keep flying by the seat of your pants and struggle with recruiting...or is it time to start writing some things down to keep you on task? Remember, recruiting is a long game, but you can do this. You just got to use the tools to help you pull it off! ⚒️
Want to know more about what it takes to start recruiting like it’s 2024? My Road to Better Recruiting course is enrolling now and it will absolutely change the way you look at police recruiting forever. Check it out and see the full course description on my website by visiting forcopstraining.com/rtbr.
Have a friend at another agency whose recruiting plan, or lack thereof, is all over the place too? Share this video with them so they can get on track! We’re all in this together and the future of police recruiting will thank you later! 🤝
Have more questions about police recruiting, marketing, or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. ⛑
Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃
Tom
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👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.
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