Greetings!
Welcome to the latest edition of the HRintelligence eNewsletter, the monthly marketing intelligence newsletter from HRmarketer.com.
We've release two new informative marketing articles entitled "Mastering Traditional & Marketing Press Releases" and "Eleven Steps for Successful Demand Generation." You can download them here, or HRmarketer members can log in and download them direct from their accounts.
Top Advertisers |
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 Top advertisers in the major HR, insurance and employee benefit broker trades (listed alphabetically below) are determined by measuring advertising placements across these major monthly trades, not including buyer guide or product directory listings.
March 2006
Major HR Trades:
- ActiveHealth Management
- Aetna
- American Express
- Kenexa
- Lawson Software
- MetLife
- Oracle
- PreVisor
- Prudential Financial
- Rite Aid
- Select International
- SHRM
- Ultimate Software
Major Insurance and Employee Benefit Broker Trades:
- Aetna
- AIG
- American Express
Commentary and Analysis: A recent article in our local paper discussed the growing unpopularity of print newspapers. Daily newspaper circulation has been in a slow decline since about 1970, but readership by the current 18- to 24-year-old age group has been plummeting. The fate of many print business periodicals isn't much better. Many have scrapped their print pub and gone to an ePub version or, like in the case of Chief Marketing Officer magazine, stopped publishing entirely. An entire generation is now growing up that rarely reads printed media. This generation will soon be transitioning to corporate America and eventually assume management roles and be making purchasing decisions - including buying HR products and services. We are already seeing research that shows people often start with the Internet when researching products/services they may purchase. And while much of the research on purchasing behavior is limited to consumer goods, parallels can be drawn to the B2B world of how human resource professionals make their purchasing decisions (see our Buying Behavior Blog on this subject).
Our own HRmarketer researchers have noticed a decline in readership of many HR trade publications. We've seen circulation of many print publications decrease from last year to this year, sometimes dramatically. One HR trade journal for instance went from 25,000 to 12,000 subscribers in the span of a few years. As readership rates across most print media outlets decline, so does the power of your print advertising. Increasing numbers of "consumers", from digital cameras to recruiting software, start their buying process online. Therefore, it is crucial that sellers have and maintain a visible presence online. And having a great web site is no longer enough. Your Web site must be search engine optimized and have scores of other Web sites and online media outlets linking to your Web site or referencing your company. And making sure this happens along with generating sales leads is the primary responsibility of the marketing department (and PR team), and what they should be spending the majority of their time doing. Don't get us wrong, there is value in print media placements but a disproportionate amount of time and money is spent on securing and measuring these placements at the expense of an equally or more important metric of online visibility. Getting and maintaining high online visibility can be accomplished by following a few basic principles of what we like to call "Marketing PR." For a primer on Marketing PR, download our latest free report.
HRintelligence subscribers click here... |
Top Editorial Placements |
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To determine the organizations receiving the most media coverage, we look at the number of non-paid editorial placements across the major monthly HR, insurance and employee benefit broker trade publications (listed alphabetically below).
March 2006
Major HR Trades:
- Ceridian
- Fidelity Investments
- General Motors
- Hewitt Associates
- IBM
- Mercer Human Resource Consulting
- SAP
- Towers Perrin
- WalMart
- Watson Wyatt
Major Insurance and Employee Benefit Broker Trades:
- AIG
- Aon
- Lloyds of London
- Marsh
- National Business Group on Health
- Towers Perrin
- USA Risk Group
- Watson Wyatt
- Willis Management
HRintelligence subscribers click here... |
Top Stories in the HR Marketplace |
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Here are some of the top stories in the major HR, insurance and employee benefit broker trade publications from last month. Visit HRmarketer News for a comprehensive listing of HR marketplace news releases and articles over the last 90 days.
The “Fair Share Health Care” Campaign Is Launched
Labor groups, including the AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union, have launched a campaign to mandate the health benefits spending by large employers or have them pay into states’ health insurance programs for the poor.
On-Demand HR Software on the Rise
The use of on-demand software has skyrocketed among HR departments: A study released late last year my the Yankee Group, a Boston-based analyst firm, found that approximately 60 percent of HR software deployments as of mid-year 2005 consisted of on-demand applications, rising to 75 percent or more for specific functions such as performance management and talent management.
Advisors to Help with Retirement Plan Designs
Retirement plan sponsors already look to their advisors to advise them on both plan performance and investment performance. The three main concerns for plan sponsors are the service component, the fund performance, and the educational aspects of the plan. In the future, advisors will not be able to limit their focus to one or two things; the retirement plan committee will want them to read the regulatory landscape and tell committee members how to function.
The Challenges and Opportunities of Today’s Wired Workforce
Today’s wired workforce presents challenges and opportunities for HR and total rewards professionals. Buck Consultants and WorldatWork recently completed a third in a series of biennial electronic communication surveys that address these challenges and opportunities. And while there is no question that electronic communication capabilities are growing, it seems employers still have doubts about the return on investment (ROI).
The Graying Transformation
Most employers are aware that the baby boom generation is getting older and inching closer to retirement, but few have implemented strategies to effectively handle the impending transformation. By 2015, the number of workers 55 and older will hover around 30 million, or 20 percent of the total labor force. Today, this group constitutes just 12 percent of all workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For more HR industry news, click here... |
This Month's Human Capital Health Indicator Is... |
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Great!
Our unscientific measure of the human capital industry's health looks at the aggregate number of advertising placements across the major HR, insurance and employee benefit broker trade publications and our subjective analysis of other "activity" within the sector including new investment money flowing into the space, IPOs, M&As, closures, etc. We then benchmark against the previous month to come up with a 5 point rating system of Excellent / Great / Good / Average / Poor. Again, we caution readers that our rating is a subjective analysis and may not be a true reflection of the industry's health.
Commentary and Analysis: This month we continue to rate the HR industry health as "Great." There continues to be a lot of M&A activity (a summary of some recent deals is presented below), positive earnings from publicly traded HR suppliers (see below) and quite a few new suppliers entering or expanding into the HR space. Shares of staffing companies surged in April and helped raise the tide of the entire HR services marketplace after several firms reported better than expected first-quarter net earnings. The continued improvement in the labor market should continue to reflect favorably on HR staffing and services firms. The Yankee Group recently announced that the worldwide talent management market is experiencing exponential growth and will reach more than $4 billion in revenue by 2009. The Yankee Group announcement also stated that many leading vendors experienced growth rates of 50% to 100% in 2005, with some vendors adding more than 100 new clients. Yankee Group reported that several factors are fueling the growth of the talent management market including increased focus on retaining talent, continued convergence of organizational expertise, renewed focus on acquiring and managing talent, and the mobilization of the global workforce. By the way, Yankee Group's leading human capital analyst, Jason Corsello, has a great Blog entitled The Human Capitalist - check it out.
First Quarter Earnings from Publicly traded "HR" Companies:
- Automatic Data Processing Inc. said quarterly profit rose 9.5 percent as revenue increased in all major business lines. ADP said revenue in employer services, its main business, increased 9 percent to $1.65 billion. Revenue rose 6 percent in brokerage services to $482.9 million, and by 21 percent in dealer services to $300.4 million.
- Administaff Inc. gave a second-quarter outlook that reported first-quarter profit more than doubled on strong demand for workers and better pricing and raised its full-year forecast. The company's stock has more than tripled in value over the past year.
- Ceridian's first Quarter 2006 highlights included revenue of $384.3 million, up almost 8 percent over prior year and Human Resource Solutions revenue up almost 6 percent, to $279.9 million.
- Clark Inc., a benefits and compensation consulting firm, said its first-quarter income dropped 43 percent as operating costs from a newly launched unit ate into profits. Clark's new Clark Benson financial-planning unit incurred $600,000, or 2 cents per share, in expenses for the quarter without generating any revenue.
- Gevity HR Inc. reported first-quarter profit rose as revenue jumped 10 percent, driven by increased demand for its services and better pricing. The human resources outsourcing company said profit rose to $8.2 million, or 30 cents per share, from $7.5 million, or 26 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $169.7 million from $153.9 million last year.
- Kenexa reported total revenue of $23.0 million for the first quarter, representing an increase of 61% over the $14.3 million recorded for the first quarter of 2005. Subscription revenue and professional services and other revenue for the quarter increased 62% and 54%, respectively, over the first quarter of 2005, to $17.6 million and $5.4 million, respectively.
- Kronos earned $9.9 million on $144 million in sales during its second fiscal quarter ending April 1, a 19 percent lift in revenue from a year ago. Growth was led by a sharp 47 percent jump in hardware sales. Baird & Co. analyst Mark Marcon noted that Kronos saw an uptick in new deals during the period, including six deals worth more than $1 million including contracts from DHL Worldwide Express of Plantation, Fla.; Maine supermarket chain Hannaford Bros. Co.; and GameStop Corp.
- Monster Worldwide Inc. said its first-quarter profit more than doubled as its namesake job search site continued to extend its reach overseas. Quarterly net income grew to $42.3 million, or 32 cents per share, from $20.6 million, or 17 cents per share. Income from continuing operations increased 58 percent to $37.4 million from $23.7 million in the comparable quarter in 2005. Revenue climbed 28 percent to $291.7 million from $228.5 million, Monster said, with organic revenue growing 27 percent.
- Manpower Inc. reported increase of first-quarter earnings to $52.6 million, or 59 cents per share, from $32.2 million, or 35 cents per share, a year ago.
- Workstream reported fiscal third-quarter loss of 4 cents per share on revenue of $6.7 million and a 4 cent loss, missing the expectation of analysts who estimated $7.7 million and a loss of 3 cents per share. Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Nemeroff stated Workstream had retained a financial adviser to explore strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value, which could include a potential sale of the company.
- Ultimate Software reported a first-quarter loss on higher expenses, even as revenue increased 22 percent.
Recent M&A activity in the HR space:
- Valtera Corporation and Jeanneret and Associates, Inc., two leaders in the science-based human capital consulting arena, announced that they have merged and will continue operations as one company under the Valtera name.
- Resolve Staffing, Inc. announced the acquisition of Ready Nurses, a Fulton, Missouri-based medical staffing firm. Ready Nurses, located in Fulton, Missouri, provides a variety of medical staffing services including travel nurses and other healthcare related professionals. This acquisition is Resolve's fourth in the burgeoning medical staffing industry. This acquisition brings Resolve's medical staffing division to approximately 15% of the company's annualized staffing sales, which are currently approaching over $75 million.
- PACEL Corp. has acquired World Wide Personnel Services of Maine, Inc. World Wide Personnel Services of Maine, Inc. is a Professional Employment
- TALX announced the acquisition of Performance Assessment Network, Inc. ("pan"), a provider of secure, electronic-based psychometric testing and assessments, as well as comprehensive talent management services. TALX financed the approximately $75 million cash purchase through its revolving credit facility, which was expanded to $200 million of availability from $150.0 million. "pan" had revenues of approximately $25 million in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.
- Workplace Options, a provider of work-life employee benefits, announced the acquisition of HelpHorizons.com, Inc., the country's leading provider of practice management and connectivity solutions for mental health professionals and behavioral health organizations.
- Accenture announced the acquisition of Pecaso, a German-based firm specializing in SAP HCM consulting and integration services. The company will be integrated into Accenture's HR consulting business known as the Human Performance practice. Pecaso customers include Lufthansa, Henkel, Cadbury Schweppes, Zurich Financial Services.
- Kenexa has acquired Knowledge Workers Inc., a Denver human resources and technology services company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Through the purchase, Kenexa of Wayne, Pa., will acquire expertise in staffing and human capital management, which it can use to break into the government sector, company officials said.
- KAG Ventures, a talent acquisition investment firm and holding company, has purchased a franchise from SearchPath International.
- Acordia, Inc., America’s largest bank-affiliated insurance brokerage and a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company, acquired the assets of Edward C. Brodie Insurance Brokers, Inc. in Sacramento, Calif. The acquisition closed April 1, 2006. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
- KCS Group , a supplier of integrated HR & Payroll Systems and Services, acquired the UK Domestic Payroll business of Ernst & Young LLP. The acquired business will operate from the new KCS Birmingham Office.
- WellPoint, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement in principle to acquire the Medicaid plan from QualChoice Health Plan, Inc. (QualChoice), an Ohio- based managed care organization.
- Dalrada Financial Corporation announced that it has acquired Strategic Alternative Staffing, LLC, a Dallas-based broker of staffing and insurance services in an all-cash transaction.
- Fort Dearborn Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, announced an intent to acquire the life and disability business of Highmark Life Insurance Company.
HRintelligence subscribers click here... |
Marketing and Media Visibility Tip of the Month |
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Lead-Generating Tips for Your Websites and Landing Pages
We’re always recommending to our HRmarketer.com members valuable tips on how to enhance the lead- generating capacity of their websites and landing pages (e.g., splash pages) – specific call-to-action links, testimonials, news links and postings, special offers, appealing graphics, marketing PR releases optimized for search engines, and so much more.
A recent case study posted on MarketingSherpa.com entitled "5 Best Practices to Create a High-impact Sales Lead Generation Web Site" validates some of the best website lead-generation tips with real-world results...
Click here to read the complete tip... |
How HRmarketer Helps Me |
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This monthly feature highlights how HRmarketer helps our loyal members...
“ProcessWorks, Inc. has been using HRmarketer.com for just a few months but we’re already seeing a return on our investment. We have several senior level executives with excellent speaking and presentation experience. I don’t have the time to scour the regional and national industry organizations for speaking opportunities. The frequent email notices I receive from HRmarketer let me know which organizations are looking for speakers and which topics are open. This is a huge time-saver for me. We also introduced a new FSA communication tool last year on CD-ROM. The feedback from our clients and referral sources told us we had come up with something pretty innovative. We want to leverage this and have signed up to receive notices of award programs. We hope to gain additional visibility by entering the CD-ROM in the multiple award programs. Finally, the media tools have been another time-saver for us. We’re able to centralize our regional media lists and can quickly send out press releases. In addition, we can track how many people have viewed them. This is a great way to quantify marketing efforts. We know there is a lot more to the site and we look forward to integrating into our initiatives even more in the future.”
Susan Shimshak, Director of Marketing & Communications, ProcessWorks Inc.
Click here to login to your HRmarketer.com account... |
What's Your HR Marketing IQ? |
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HRmarketer.com recently launched a HR Marketing Quiz that will test your knowledge of marketing in the human resource marketplace. Here is a sample question:
Question: All of the following were actual names of HR suppliers in the 1990's. All either changed their name or were absorbed by another HR supplier. Which was never the name of a HR supplier?
A. Perks at Work
B. CFN
C. Rewards Plus
D. IIRC
E. Unlimited Benefits
F. Employee Communications Services
G. Whereiwork
H. Perks4U
Take the 20-question quiz today and find the answer to this question (including the current names of the above companies)!
Find out your HR Marketing IQ by clicking here... |
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HRmarketer's Direct2Net Wire Service |
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HRmarketer's Direct2Net wire service allows you to dramatically increase the exposure of your press releases by submitting your releases to hundreds of search engines and news portals like Google, Google News, Yahoo, Yahoo News, MSN, AltaVista, Ask.com, Topix.net, Lycos, and AlltheWeb, along with being submitted to the new Google Finance site that is quite significant for the financial and analyst communities.
For more information about Direct2Net or any of HRmarketer's services, call us at 831-685-9700 or email us at info@hrmarketer.com for a free 20-minute demo!
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