Practice what you preach

Perhaps one of my biggest pet peeves in the entire world is when people or companies don't practice what they preach.

Being a marketer, that means that I should use my marketing knowledge and apply it to my own life. I am constanstly shocked to see companies, schools and students that show little evidence of actually doing this.

I came to this conclusion a few years ago but being back at school has really solidified the importance of it. Here are a few examples of how I have applied some simple marketing concepts to my own life:

Value Proposition: I have taken the time to define a clear value proposition for myself that I believe is clear and to the point. When I get into interview situations, it helps me communicate what I can offer potential employers and do it quickly.

Segmentation & Targeting: I see alot of students out there wasting time trying to target everyone and anyone for a job. You need to understand what types of companies your skills will appeal to and target them. I you don't have the skills they are looking for then get involved, volunteer or beg your way into opporunities to get those skills. They are all around you, but you have to go out and find them.

Channel Strategy: As with marketing any product or service, you need to have a clear channel strategy. Find out where your potential employers hang out and who they hang out with and then attend those events. Make your resume look awesome as it will serve as your ad and lastly, MARKET YOURSELF AT ALL TIMES. Make sure everyone knows who you are, what you can do and what you want do to... this way you can start to build some word of mouth.

Marketing Plan & Measurement: Take the time to write your plan and goals down. Set clear objectives so that you can measure yourself against them. I have a weekly goal to put at least three new opportunities in my "sales pipeline" every week. It's hard because I am juggling many balls and because there are times where I'm not seeing tangeable returns BUT you need to build up a funnel with some real prospects if you have any chance of finding a job/internship. I also go into every networking event with three or four main goals like meeting 3 new people in my field or making sure to make good eye contact... after the event is over I take 5 minutes and see how I did and write down what to work on next time.

Finding internships and jobs is exactly that... A JOB. And there is no reason why you shouldn't apply the knowlege you intend on using in the position to find the position itself.

Given this then, how do you think my blog fits into my promotional strategy?????

To answer that, I will only give you one simple tid-bit: If I want to help companies market themselves online that are either online companies or trying to reach online customers, does it not make sense that I maintain some type of web presence myself?

The simple process of setting up this blog, buying my domain and getting it out there taught me 5 things I will use going forward and maybe I will blog about them soon.

Have a great day!