I think they can...It's a while since I've worked in a large organisation with a dedicated HR staff. I've ran my own small businesses with up to 20 employees fo the past 12 years. I haven't had someone to manage the HR role for me in those businesses, so I've handled it myself.
So, with that said - I feel your pain. I know what it's like to recruit staff - the right kind of staff.
I know what it's like to retain staff too. Recruiting for me, at the outset, seemed to be the only struggle - but you have to keep them happy, and you need to keep them busy.
My experience was that marketing certainly helped on both fronts.
I'm talkig
small business marketing - the kind that brings direct, measurable, profitable results to the business - and quickly.
Here's my take. It might seem blunt to those with corporate or brand marketing experience - but...You want to attract new employees. This is not the 1980's - prospective employees are going to do as much homework on you and your business - as you will on them. They'll be scrolling through your social media, your website, ratings pages - looking for info that will help then decide whether you're worth the risk or not.
Social profiles and comments of your posts and pages are going to give the new employee and good idea of the type of business that you operate. They'll get a goodidea from employee profiles on facebook - about how you treat your customers and your existing staff.Ratings sites like YELP give a good idea of how you treat your customers and what the attitudes of your staff are towards customers.
This is where reputation management comes into play. Great reviews should be promoted, and cooler or critical reviews should be buried all - though action must be taken to prevent a re-occurance of the actions that caused the negative reviews.
What and how you post on your social media profiles matters. It will reflect the personality and the feel of the business. If you want to attract the young, skilled, creatives to your firm - it would be a huge mistake to portray and stiff, corporate image on social media.To keep employees busy and happy at their work - you need a continuous flow of need leads and customers. SEO can get your organic search in top form - so that you're business is getting found on page 1 of google.
Facebook ads are not only a great way to attract new business leads, but they are also a more competitive way to attract interest in a new role or vacancy, than the traditional recruit agency.
In summary. Digilat marketing helps you create and manage the right reputation, and it brings in a steady from of yourideal customer - and that makes me happy.
You can find out more about me, my agency or the various aspects of digital marketing at the link below - by emailing me at adrian@Leading-Results.com or clicking on
http://www.Leading-Results.com/SEO 
