This post originally appeared on SRSC’s blog.

A few weeks ago I attended the Social Recruiting Strategies Conference in Austin. In one of the earliest sessions, an audience member mentioned that marketing is often focused on consumer brand, not employer brand. How can she get started in recruitment marketing, without marketing help? At Stories Inc, we hear this every day.

Although we’re getting there as an industry, recruitment marketing isn’t often a top 3 priority for stretched marketing teams, in organizations where talent acquisition needs to rely on their commercial-serving marketing friends. That’s still the reality for most small talent acquisition teams.

So, what can talent acquisition do, right now, for free (with a little time and effort)?

You know I’m going to say stories. You’ve heard that your candidates want to hear more from employees than any other person. And recruiters are uniquely qualified to get the good stuff (speaking from experience: I used to be one/will always be one!). Here’s how to get great content, for free:

1. Flip your process! Find your superstars. These are the people you always want in the interview process, because they are thriving in the environment, they’re engaged, they know the job and the company. Bring them to the candidates as the first step (before the candidate applies) instead of one of the last (the team interview).

2. Ask good questions to identify things that could only happen there. There’s one: What is something that has happened here, that wouldn’t have happened anywhere else you worked? Perhaps your team carried someone out of the office Winning-the-Superbowl-style when they broke a company record.

3. Listen for the generic. I know, I know, we’re looking for things unique to your environment. But your employees (and now storytellers) don’t do this every day, and they aren’t reading other career site content to know what everyone else is saying about work. What they feel about their environment is almost everything. The why is what you’re after. You’re used to digging around to find the special in the candidate over a phone screen; find the story in the storyteller in a similarly structured get-to-know-you conversation, without the salary stuff.

Here’s how to create great content, for free (with a little time and effort):

1. Record the conversations (ask storytellers first, and get waivers so your company owns the content). You can do video! Or, at least record the audio on your phone.

2. Get it transcribed — saves time, money, effort. It’s cheap and easy. Just make sure you’re paying per interview hour, instead of per hour of contractor time.

3. Lift the best quotes (quick stories) from the transcripts and pair with pictures and distribute through your social channels. Try Canva, for design novices.

     3b. Lift from the transcripts (longer stories) and write blog posts.

There’s more when it comes to distributing, testing, measuring… but this should get you started!