Increased retention of cadets going through the academy even in a difficult climate
The challenge
The New Mexico State Police came to boomtime because their recruitment numbers were diminishing.
The NMSP is the foremost law enforcement agency in New Mexico. They span every corner of the state and maintain 13 different specialty teams. An officer with the NMSP receives competitive wages, great benefits, and a lifetime pension upon retirement. Even with this kind of offering over the last decade, they saw their recruitment numbers diminish. Their recruitment numbers were lower than their annual retirement numbers, causing an unsustainable situation.
NMSP came to boomtime for help optimizing their website to capture potential new recruits and to create a strategy for attracting more recruits to apply.
How we provided value
Our combination of solutions that did the job
We established an automated communication stream that engaged interested candidates from their first point of contact. This email stream starts a conversation with the reader that is ongoing and aims to answer many of the questions they are asking, and even those they haven’t thought of yet.
We captured prospects’ information through a series of on-site pop-ups, in-line opt-ins, and cookies that allowed us to retarget our messaging beyond a user’s interaction with an ad or visit to the site.
Using storytelling to inspire potential recruits to take action
Next, we created an ongoing conversation, a lifestyle marketing campaign, that allowed visitors to experience what it is like to be an officer with the NMSP. We designed a narrative that resonates beyond their interaction with a campaign and ultimately inspires them to take action to bring that narrative to fruition.
The outcome
Mobile-centered, video-focused website
This immersion strategy established emotional buy-in by taking visitors on a journey through a career with the New Mexico State Police. The site enables them to walk in the shoes of an officer, from recruitment to a career in the 13 special units, to a trip around the 12 districts of New Mexico, and on to earning a lifetime pension.
Leverage social media to reach out to a targeted audience and track results
We implemented a strategically targeted social media campaign that allows us to target by interest, demographic, and region. We also track the effectiveness of every dollar spent. Within 3 months of launching this final piece, we reached more than 600k potential candidates resulting in thousands of interactions with the site.
Tracking and reporting
By implementing tracking scripts throughout all campaigns and the website we have been able to identify what has worked well and what has fallen short of expectations. This ongoing testing has resulted in campaigns continually outperforming the previous iterations. With monthly analytic reporting of campaign results, we have been able to work with the NMSP to help them better understand their own recruitment process from the earliest stages.
In just one year, New Mexico State Police saw a 75% increase in submitted applications and a substantial improvement in their recruit retention rates.
