For a long time, marketing was pretty simple. Whether you were peddling cars, toasters or job openings, it pretty much dwindled down to a few major options: TV, radio, newspaper, billboards, magazines, direct mail, etc. For HR, the bulk of these dollars went to newspapers.

 

Now your options aren't so clear-cut. Technology - the Internet in particular - is on a nonstop beat-down of marketing's status quo.

 

In terms of adopting to the latest marketing tactics, HR tends to be on the backend of the bell curve. It's not all their fault, as most recruitment advertising agencies aren't about to lose their grip on the dollars that old school mediums deliver. But nonetheless, it's the reality.

 

Therefore, if you want to be ahead of that curve, simply look to what mainstream marketing professionals are doing today, because that's HR's tomorrow.

 

In my own business, HRSEO, I saw the impact search engines like Google were having on the marketing community and planned accordingly. Hey, if job boards get it, certainly corporate recruitment will get it eventually, right?

 

That said, do yourself a favor and pick-up the latest edition of Fortune. It features the current and future impact of Yahoo!, Google and other online powerhouses on marketing.

 

Here's a nice gem that sums it all up if you can't make it to your friendly neighborhood Barnes & Noble:

 

 

As a result, Madison Avenue is faced with learning to love the Web or losing to those who do.

 

Likewise, HR marketing strategies will follow suite. In many regards, they already have. Print revenues continue to nosedive as more money gets thrown online.

 

By my account, HR marketing has a long way to go before it equals the online strategies of Crysler. However, I also believe it's just a matter of time before utilization of the Web goes beyond online classifieds and corporate Web site listings.